Places CalWhimsey Wants to Go

Da Vinci's equestrian statue, 500 years in the making.

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

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

The ruins of an abbey believed to have been founded by Charlemagne in the 9th century.

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

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

This breathtaking monastery was established by Saint Benedict himself 1,500 years ago.

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

Vast network of air raid tunnels beneath Lombardy's capital.

This curious building hides eclectic details like medieval gargoyles alongside naked angels and Art Nouveau mosaics.

A line of abandoned, alien-like fortresses dot the mountains of North Italy.

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

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

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

The world's oldest surviving anatomical theater, where "the dead are pleased to help the living."

This large, circular tomb is the final resting place of the first emperor of Rome.

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

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

Roman-era ships unearthed...

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

Small on the outside, big on the inside, this church is an astonishing act of visual deception.

The best preserved Paleochristian basilica in Rome hides a number of oddities and secrets.

A massive natural rock arch gives the Tuscan mountain its own window to the sky.

Bell tower juts out from a village buried under a lake.