The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

The middle finger of modernity.

The famous sculptor left his mark on this Italian wall in an internationally protected example of street art.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

This sword isn't waiting for a king to pull it out. It was placed there by a saint.

The oldest stone house in Paris was built by its most famous alchemist.

This unusual piece of Renaissance art depicting the bodily horror of crucifixion and skin disease may have been inspired by fungus-induced hallucinations.

The birthplace of the builder of the Statue of Liberty is now a museum dedicated to his work.

A copy of the Statue of Liberty greets visitors to the birthplace of Auguste Bartholdi.

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.

Beggars were miraculously "cured" of their fake ailments when they returned home to this 17th century Paris slum each night.

A subterranean shelter remains intact under a busy Paris railway station.