Places ElSilencio Wants to Go

David Sedaris called it "The greatest shop in the world."

Skulls from the plague of 1656 and World War II bombings are united by a cult dedicated to caring for the ancient dead.

The abandoned "Ghost Mansion" was left to decay in the mountains of Northern Italy.

The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.

Architectural monsters are devouring this palace's every door and window.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

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

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

The middle finger of modernity.

At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.

This hidden Art Nouveau courtyard is an opulent feast for the eyes.

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.

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

An alchemist's “magic door” stands in the middle of a Roman park.

Architectureal fantasy quarter of Rome.

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.