This Arabesque Italian castle was built with a primitive, if ingenious, air-conditioning system.

Cave shrine on Monte Pellegrino.

Behind medieval walls in a corner of bustling Palermo is a breathtaking former mosque once inhabited by a wolf-taming hermit.

This mosaic-lined medieval church was built by the world's first admiral and still holds mass in ancient Greek.

The remains of an ancient Roman city are hidden underneath Bologna's beautiful public library.

In the world's oldest university is a stunning 17th century anatomical theater carved from spruce.

A diverse collection of wax, bone, papier-maché and mummified relics.

The mummified relic of St. Catherine sits forever on a golden throne.

An amazing collection of wax anatomical models and terratological models.

An extraordinary collection of 18th century anatomical waxworks.

Nestled in the heart of Milan is a real wunderkammer of morbid curiosities.

This curious building hides eclectic details like medieval gargoyles alongside naked angels and Art Nouveau mosaics.

"The prettiest love letters in the world" ... or so said Lord Byron.

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

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

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.

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

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

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

Stare out over the lagoon and beyond from this 10th-century campanile on the island where the city of Venice began.

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

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

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

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