Stare out over the lagoon and beyond from this 10th-century campanile on the island where the city of Venice began.

A collection of grotesques lines the walls of this Italian villa.

A climbing route in the mountains of Italy’s Dolomites, built for soldiers during World War I.

This clifftop arch is a natural stunner.

A beautifully well-preserved ancient Roman villa.

This cliff-face port is considered a masterpiece of mining engineering.

This monastery built into a cliff hides a perfectly preserved hermit in a glass coffin.

This cathedral hides a sculpted dog that determines your fate and an unexploded shell from World War II.

This serene, turquoise lake in an extraordinary nature reserve showcases a rare natural phenomenon.

Now an entertainment complex, the Lingotto building was once an avant-garde auto factory with a test track on the roof.

The world's first underwater farm is home to more than 700 plants.

An abandoned 17th-century baroque hunting lodge with a wonderfully strange architectural plan.

A surreal botanical garden with an even more surreal tour guide.

On the coast of Sardinia, a once-great mining village is finding new life as a coastal resort town.

This medieval hilltop village was abandoned at the end of the 19th century, after existing for more than 500 years.

This amazingly preserved Doric temple was abandoned before it was ever completed.

The city of Palestrina was built around this magnificent terraced sanctuary dedicated to the pagan goddess Fortuna.

This Italian stadium makes liberal use of fascist statuary to evoke classical sporting arenas.

One of the highest mountain passes in Europe has been ranked among the best driving roads in the world.

The oldest botanical garden in the world that technically isn't the oldest.

The remains of this 2nd-century Roman temple are incorporated into a modern building.

Skulls and skeletons are omnipresent in this church dedicated to souls trapped in purgatory.

A medieval fountain lined with 99 unique stone faces whose origins and meaning remain unknown.

This overgrown mountain village has been abandoned for nearly a century.