Venice's island of the dead.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

This abandoned island off the Venetian coast has been a radical monastery, a political prison, and a secret Nazi base.

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

A sunken idol welcomes parishioners to Davy Jones' Locker.

A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

This ultra-modern burial building would have stacked the dead like a giant filing cabinet.

Architectureal fantasy quarter of Rome.

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."

The only "Egyptian" pyramid in Europe and the legendary tomb of Remus.

Jesus' footprints and the first catacombs in the world.

Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.

A fairy tale castle in modern Rome.

A Nesting Doll of Churches.

One of seven Jewish catacombs in Rome and one of only two open to the public.

This psychedelic tourist trap is a leisurely descent into madness.

A highly symbolic tower in honor of Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung's personal philosophy.

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.

Various forms of phallic art decorate this hill in commemoration of legendary local tragedy.

An exquisite tunnel of cascading flowers.