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

This medieval Italian town is a sheer (and beautiful) cliffside defense.

The remains of a town so thoroughly destroyed by French forces that the citizens simply left.

This former Roman Catholic Church still contains the embalmed hearts and organs of 22 popes.

This domed temple was built in a hidden cave mouth as a refuge for sinners seeking absolution.

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

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

Giant, pink stuffed rabbit on an Italian mountain.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.

Architectureal fantasy quarter of Rome.

An alchemist's "magic door" stands in the middle of a Roman park.