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

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

This enchanting 600-year-old tree is so magical it inspired the beloved tale of Pinocchio.

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.

Natural cathedral designed by Italian artist Giuliano Mauri.

A collection of objects supposedly singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

Abandoned medieval hill town.

Jesus' footprints and the first catacombs in the world.

A fairy tale castle in modern Rome.

The once forbidden "secret cabinet" of erotic art from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Ruins of a 10th century church tucked away deep in a botanical garden.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.

Architectural monsters are devouring this palace's every door and window.

An Italian hillside ghost town.

This 16th-century monastery has been turned into a surrealist architecture compound.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

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

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.