This amazingly well-preserved villa just outside Pompeii boasts rare examples of ancient Roman paintings.

This precariously perched fortress was once ruled by a crow-worshipping baron.

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

Ride a boat through this magnificent underground world, which now doubles as a theater.

A space dedicated to contemporary art and culture, co-chaired by fashion icon Miuccia Prada.

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

A star-shaped fortress town fort built in the geometric model of the Renaissance utopian city.

A narrow opening between the mountains of the Amalfi Coast creates a scenic hidden beach.

Originally a leper colony, the island is now an Armenian monastery that's home to an incredible manuscript library and eclectic museum.

This small, ancient Roman temple was once a church dedicated to the patron saint of penitents.

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

"Stairs of the Turks", a chalky white cliff eroded conveniently into stairs, allowing for easy pillaging.

The first Russian Orthodox church in the Catholic city of Rome in almost a thousand years.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

These delicate sand pyramids look like naturally occurring gothic spires.

The bomb-ravaged remains of of a colossal Neptune.

Over 100 towers were built in Bologna during the Middle Ages, but only 22 survive.

Nestled in the hills of Tuscany are gorgeous, multicolored hot springs.

This seaside Italian village doesn't just look Escher-esque, it actually inspired the mind-bending artist.

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

People have been living in the cave houses on this Italian hillside since the Neolithic era.

A once-luxurious, now abandoned hotel in the Italian Alps.

A fake medieval village in the middle of Turin.

In the early Roman Empire, people deemed traitors and criminals were tossed to their deaths from this rock.