Places benjaminfreyart Wants to Go

The mountaintop inspiration for Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose."

A fake medieval village in the middle of Turin.

Medieval town turned hippie commune, once home to the secret foreskin of Jesus Christ.

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.

This immaculate and historic water garden culminates in a massive stone dining table with an inset fountain for chilling the wine of the Cardinal's guests.

Gigantic mosaic sculptures of the figures on Tarot cards fill this colorful Tuscan garden.

A unique Tuscan hideaway acts as an art mecca as well as a hotel.

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

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

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

These gutted monastery ruins still stand proudly in the middle of the Italian countryside.

This sword isn't waiting for a king to pull it out. It was placed there by a saint.

Does this strange mural depict witches battling beneath a penis tree?

An unusual house built using an iso-elastic membrane.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

The middle finger of modernity.

On rare days, this abandoned castle's gatekeepers open its doors, revealing the eye-popping splendor hidden inside.

One Italian taxi driver covered his entire house in small seashells creating a weird bit of architecture that is preserved to this day.

A gorgeous medieval library where the books are kept in chains.

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

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.

Art and armour fill every inch of this rich kid's Italian villa.

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

In Florence's great Duomo, a 26 foot fresco honors a mercenary famous for attacking Florence.