Lixila's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Bologna, Italy

Fountain of Neptune

Legend has it this fountain built to symbolize the Pope’s power hides a strange secret concerning Neptune's manliness.
Bologna, Italy

Towers of Bologna

Over 100 towers were built in Bologna during the Middle Ages, but only 22 survive.
Bologna, Italy

Finestrella di Via Piella

A small window on Via Piella offers a lovely and rare peek at Bologna's lost canals.
Turin, Italy

Fontana dei Dodici Mesi

See every month of the year personified at this opulent Turinese fountain.
Turin, Italy

Piazza Statuto

This fountain is dedicated to the workers who perished constructing the Fréjus Rail Tunnel.
Turin, Italy

Fetta di Polenta

When this funny little building went up in the 19th century, most people thought it would simply fall over.
Turin, Italy

Fiat Lingotto Factory

Now an entertainment complex, the Lingotto building was once an avant-garde auto factory with a test track on the roof.
Pula, Croatia

Quarter of Saint Theodore

An excavation site that signified Hercules in Pula, and a glimpse into the city's Roman history.
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Orlando's Column in Dubrovnik

An ancient knight and a symbol of the city's freedom.
Venice, Italy

Libreria Acqua Alta

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.
Venice, Italy

Giant Hands of Venice’s Grand Canal

A new sculpture calls attention to climate change in the centuries-old city it threatens.
Venice, Italy

Peggy Guggenheim's Grave

The only museum with its curator—and her pets—buried inside.
Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Lost Third Column

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.
Venice, Italy

Ponte delle Tette

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.
Venice, Italy

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.
Venice, Italy

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.
Rome, Italy

Borromini's Perspective Gallery of Palazzo Spada

This gallery commissioned by Cardinal Spada is known for its magnificent optical illusion.
Erto e Casso, Italy

Vajont Dam

When a massive landslide hit one of the world's tallest dams it created a tragic environmental disaster.
Rome, Italy

Campo de Fiori

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy

The Mouth of Truth

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

Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary)

Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.
Mantua, Italy

Torre della Gabbia (Tower Cage)

A medieval tower with a suspended iron cage used as an open-air jail for criminals who were exposed as a warning.
Mantua, Italy

Isola dei Fiori di Loto (Lotus Island)

In Lago Superiore, the largest expanse of lotus flowers outside of Asia is hard to miss.
Mantua, Italy

Dropped Triglyphs of Palazzo Te

An architectural oddity where the triglyphs of the courtyard of walls create an optical illusion.