This giant middle finger statue sends an unambiguous message to Italy's bankers.

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

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

A fairy tale castle in modern Rome.

The once forbidden "secret cabinet" of erotic art from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Ruins of a 10th century church tucked away deep in a botanical garden.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.

Architectural monsters are devouring this palace's every door and window.

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

This 16th-century monastery has been turned into a surrealist architecture compound.

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

This hidden Art Nouveau courtyard is an opulent feast for the eyes.

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

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

The only "Egyptian" pyramid in Europe and the legendary tomb of Remus.

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.