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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new sculpture calls attention to climate change in the centuries-old city it threatens.

Hand-crafted tributes to a stray cat named "Room 8" now cover this LA elementary school.

This well-traveled chess park offers scenic views of the pacific and a colorful, eclectic clientele.

"The greatest unknown literary treasure in Los Angeles."

This collector's home is a constant work in progress.

Large but largely ignored, these 42 life-size Liberty Bell replicas were a peculiar, unexplained feature on the facade of a Macy's department store.

This "synagogue" is not what it seems to be.

This forgotten Frank Lloyd Wright house is an architectural marvel at the end of a sleepy residential street.

A historic fort commemorating the United States' naval history.

Common all over Japan, kōbans are small community police boxes, and now one is guarding one of L.A.’s megamalls.

A lonely Gondola stuck on a traffic circle sits in a spot where it once would have floated down the Grand Canal.

Inside this clubhouse is a cinephile's paradise.