Places daveschaaf Wants to Go

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

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

A plaque on the base of this statue holds a bewitching design.

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

A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.

A copy of the famous statue can be found in this Florence piazza, along with one of the most breathtaking views of the city below.

This strange bovine gargoyle is said to have been put in as a passive aggressive form of revenge.

The graveyard is filled with beautiful funerary art and boasts breathtaking views of Florence.

An incredible menagerie of more than 3 million taxidermied animals at the oldest science museum in Europe.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

The famous sculptor left his mark on this Italian wall in an internationally protected example of street art.

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.

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

The oldest operating pharmacy in the world features 800-year-old recipes.

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 middle finger of modernity.

Explore the quarry where the marble was sourced for Michaelangelo's David.

The bomb-ravaged remains of of a colossal Neptune.

On the walking path from Monterosso to Vernazza, a small shrine dedicated to feline friends.