A local prank turned town icon.

Water and windows define this defensive Italian well.

Nine caves filled with recently-discovered archaeological finds under the houses and the streets of the most ancient district of an old town.

This picturesque Umbrian city has a subterranean side that has long remained hidden.

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

This giant middle finger statue sends an unambiguous message to Italy's bankers.

This grisly effigy displays an early Christian martyr who was skinned alive and beheaded.

The odd depiction of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus is rooted in the Catholic Church's eradication of Catharism.

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

Venice's island of the dead.

This abandoned island off the Venetian coast has been a radical monastery, a political prison, and a secret Nazi base.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.

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

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.

A striking memorial recalls thousands of Bolognese men and women killed fighting fascists in World War II.

Legend has it this fountain built to symbolize the Pope’s power hides a strange secret concerning Neptune's manliness.

An extraordinary collection of 18th century anatomical waxworks.

A large statue of Pope Gregory XIII in Bologna was disguised as Saint Petronius to avoid destruction.

Time has been frozen at this station since the bombing in 1980—or so it was believed.

A small window on Via Piella offers a lovely and rare peek at Bologna's lost canals.

This zoological museum began as the first great curiosity cabinet.

The mummified relic of St. Catherine sits forever on a golden throne.