The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

The small peaceful island off the Venice tourist circuit is where the city began more than 1,500 years ago.

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

The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."

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

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

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past.

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

Memorials at a Florence railway station remember the citizens who were deported from Italy and sent to extermination camps.

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.

Drink wine handed out through a window as part of an age-old tradition.

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

The mummified relic of St. Antoninus.

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

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.

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.

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.