This ancient Roman prison is decorated with an upside-down cross not as blasphemy but as saintly tribute.

This hill made entirely of ancient Roman jars was simply a garbage dump to the people of the time.

An Italian ghost town that fought obscurity, until a mysterious illness brought it to its knees.

This sturdy, circular stronghold served as one of the forts that protected the Venetian Lagoon.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

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

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.

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

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

Eighteen miniature death-scene dioramas.

Staves, storm-calling, and of course, necropants.

A fifth-century temple improbably built into the side of a cliff.

The small cliffside monastery known as the Tiger's Nest is said to be the meditation site of an 8th-century Buddhist master.

This precariously perched fortress was once ruled by a crow-worshipping baron.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

An otherworldly restaurant perched on the edge of a jagged cliff next to a medieval holy city.

Ninety feet off the valley floor is an ancient dwelling put under protection of the U.S. government by Teddy Roosevelt.