Galway, Ireland
Seven Churches
While only two of the ancient buildings at this site are actually churches this was one of the earliest Irish pilgrimage sites ever.
25
Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Duluth, Minnesota
Uncle Harvey's Mausoleum
The watery grave of an impractical idea.
St. Joseph, Minnesota
Saint John's Abbey Church
A jaw-dropping brutalist space church seems to have crash-landed in the middle of America.
Cold Spring, Minnesota
Grasshopper Chapel
After four years of grasshopper plagues, this chapel was erected as a plea to God to make them end.
Rome, Italy
Basilica di San Clemente
A Nesting Doll of Churches.
Rome, Italy
Passetto di Borgo
The Pope’s secret escape route.
Rome, Italy
Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio
More sculpture than building, this architecturally significant temple was built on the spot of Saint Peter's crucifixion.
Rome, Italy
Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte
At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.
Rome, Italy
Campo de Fiori
This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy
Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
A collection of objects supposedly singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.
Rome, Italy
The Head of St. John the Baptist at San Silvestro in Capite
One of several skulls claiming to belong to the beheaded St. John the Baptist is on display at this Roman church.
Rome, Italy
The Dome Illusion
A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.
Rome, Italy
Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary)
Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.
Rome, Italy
St. Valentine's Skull
The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.
Rome, Italy
Porta Alchemica
An alchemist's “magic door” stands in the middle of a Roman park.
Rome, Italy
Meridian Line of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs
Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.
Rome, Italy
Keats-Shelley Memorial House
Museum dedicated to literary greats of the Romantic Period is also the home in which Keats met his untimely end.
Rome, Italy
Santa Maria della Concezione Crypts
The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."
Rome, Italy
Papal Hearts at Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi
This former Roman Catholic Church still contains the embalmed hearts and organs of 22 popes.
Florence, Italy
Galileo's Middle Finger
The middle finger of modernity.
Siena, Italy
St. Catherine of Siena's Severed Head
A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.
Rome, Italy
Santa Francesca Romana
St. Francesca Romana, patron saint of drivers, resides in the church she founded.
Rome, Italy
Lacus Curtius
A mysterious chasm in the heart of the ancient Roman Forum, the Lacus Curtius was once believed to be a gateway to hell.
Rome, Italy
The Mouth of Truth
The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.
