On the coast of Sardinia, a once-great mining village is finding new life as a coastal resort town.

Cave shrine on Monte Pellegrino.

The abandoned ruins of a failed resort hide on this verdant, picture-perfect island.

A unique form of erosion created an uncanny landscape of boulders perched atop slender columns of clay.

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

This ancient altar emerges from the thick forests to reveal the mysteries of Etruscan sacrificial rituals.

Largest necropolis in the Mediterranean.

142 ceramic steps become a mosaic once a year.

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

This natural gas vent certainly earns its name as the smallest volcano in Italy.

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

A cave in southern Italy adorned with thousand-year-old Biblical frescoes existed in obscurity until fairly recently.

The highest waterfall in Italy is only "turned on" five times a year.

Naturally preserved bodies are eerily staged throughout the crypt in varying poses.

Stumbling upon this whimsical wooded garden is like stepping into an enchanted forest full of philosophical musings.

Artist Diego Morlin's war between the natural and human worlds is a wanderer's delight.

An eccentric artist's abode in this small Italian town has been transformed into a surreal temple of mosaic madness.

An open-air museum in a mountain valley features works designed to blend in with—and disintegrate back into—their natural surroundings.

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

A factory director designed what was the world's longest suspension footbridge in 1923 so his employees could get to work safely.

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

Crumbling ruins of the thermal baths that once attracted royals and aristocrats from throughout Europe.

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

An Italian geologic wonder that served as the inspiration for the landscape of Dante's hell.