Places aestheticsnafu Wants to Go

Despite their macabre past, these hooks are said to bring good luck to those who touch them.

Inside this building is another country within Rome, a sovereign entity without a physical territory.

Also known as the Temple of Poseidon, this is one of the best-preserved Greek temples in the world.

Sip a Negroni Sbagliato in the bar that invented it.

An oasis of beauty, tranquility and botanical research in the middle of Rome.

A statue representing a lost Roman profession that was vandalized for centuries.

This cathedral hides a sculpted dog that determines your fate and an unexploded shell from World War II.

An 18th century fountain and two columns are all that remains of Rome's forgotten river harbor.

A rococo room covered entirely in porcelain originally constructed for another royal residence.

The oldest of Venice's plague quarantine stations, designed to keep the medieval city safe from disease.

An exclusive waiting room built for the royal family in the 1920s is hidden in Milan’s central station.

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

A fortified medieval basilica on the Caelian Hill preserves extraordinary frescoes and one of Rome's most beautiful hidden cloisters.

Rome is now home to a stunning food museum and library.

Where Venice's gondolas go for a tune-up.

One of the world's oldest working clocks is curiously missing the Zodiac sign of Libra.

The first Russian Orthodox church in the Catholic city of Rome in almost a thousand years.

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

A detailed pachyderm supports Rome's smallest Egyptian obelisk.

Rome's ancient Etruscan rival, now a park full of ruins.

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

One of seven Jewish catacombs in Rome and one of only two open to the public.

This shining multicolored metro station deep under Naples is said to be the most beautiful in Europe.

Drink wine handed out through a window as part of an age-old tradition.