The first botanical garden, a feather in the cap of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

Two very green residential towers cleaning the air in one of Europe's most polluted cities.

Da Vinci's equestrian statue, 500 years in the making.

The mark of the Devil's horns on a marble column in Milan.

Milan's duomo is covered in beautiful carving including a curious "dinosaur-like" beast.

Before there were doorbells this bronze ear was installed for visitors to announce their arrival.

This museum is rotten with a century of wax medical deformities.

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

This giant middle finger statue sends an unambiguous message to Italy's bankers.

Fortified medieval tower house with lovely roof garden.

Contains some of the world's more disturbing wax anatomical models.

Small on the outside, big on the inside, this church is an astonishing act of visual deception.

This Tuscan lake hides a 13th century town that is still visible when the water recedes.

The mummified relic of St. Antoninus.

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

The giant skeleton sculpture is surprisingly well-traveled.

Anatomical cabinet holds unexpected treasures.

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

The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."

Filled with goldfish swimming in a shallow pool of sea water, this ancient crypt is more wishing well than burial site.