Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

The bomb-ravaged remains of of a colossal Neptune.

The now-abandoned Fascist summer colony served a dark purpose during World War II.

The top of society once luxuriated in this world-class hotel, which continues to impress, even in ruin.

A beautiful discovery site of prehistoric burials.

A wood-and-steel sculpture garden featuring an artful interplay of nature and machinery.

Claude Monet immortalized this medieval bridge in two of his paintings.

An ancient rogue artist community hidden next to one of the world's most glitzy and glamorous cities.

Abandoned medieval hill town.

A formerly opulent Italian village is now a crumbling ghost town that no one really knows what to do with.

A fake medieval village in the middle of Turin.

The mountaintop inspiration for Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose."

Eco-village hidden in the foothills of the Alps that created a massive system of psychedelic underground temples.

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

Where Venice's gondolas go for a tune-up.

100 year tradition of fist fights, marked by marble footsteps.

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

A sinister pyramid in the Frari contains the heart of the famous neoclassical sculptor.

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

The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

Venice's island of the dead.

The small peaceful island off the Venice tourist circuit is where the city began more than 1,500 years ago.

This old medieval prison tower has been a site of astronomical research for more than 250 years.

The oldest botanical garden in the world that technically isn't the oldest.