Originally a leper colony, the island is now an Armenian monastery that's home to an incredible manuscript library and eclectic museum.

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

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

An extensive collection of reliquaries containing the bones of saints housed in the largest Catholic church in Venice.

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

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

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.

Those who own or stay at this 500-year-old, allegedly cursed house often meet terrible fates.

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

Hanging within this medieval church are the bones of a beast allegedly slain by a fourth-century saint.

Armenian monks at an island monastery in the Venetian Lagoon make a rare rose petal jam.

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

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

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

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

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

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

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

This amazingly well-preserved villa just outside Pompeii boasts rare examples of ancient Roman paintings.

Before it was buried by volcanic ash, this fast-food restaurant fed the hungry hordes of ancient Rome.

This tiny islet has somehow housed an ancient temple, two monasteries, a church, a fortress, and a restaurant.

The walls and streets of the ancient city are peppered with penises.

Erotic art covers the walls of the largest ancient pleasure palace.