Places Ian Engweiler Wants to Go

A beautiful discovery site of prehistoric burials.

One Italian taxi driver covered his entire house in small seashells creating a weird bit of architecture that is preserved to this day.

A petite white lighthouse perched on the ancient core of Stromboli Volcano.

One of the oldest libraries in the world is still operating and contains the oldest existing document in the Italian language.

The old church, buried by the 1784 Mount Vesuvius eruption, is a remarkably well-preserved place where people now pray for the souls of the dead.

What looks like a link in Gondor's early warning system is actually a centuries-old Italian fortress.

At an estimated 3,800 years old, this olive tree is one of the oldest on earth.

Hidden in a high mountain cave, this hermitage dates back to the ninth century.

When this funny little building went up in the 19th century, most people thought it would simply fall over.

Remnants of cone-shaped fascist bomb shelters in Milan.

A series of caves, tunnels, and wells filled with fascinating figures and symbols.

An incredible mosaic-lined monument said to have held the remains of an ancient Roman empress.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

A mysterious ancient elephant said to possess magic powers is now the symbol of a Sicilian city.

This unassuming bridge is most likely one of Michelangelo's unfinished masterworks.

A semi-abandoned village destroyed by U.S. bombings during World War II dominates the valley of Turano.

South of Bologna, a limestone grotto with a protruding waterfall and a floor full of cave pearls.

The “Sistine Chapel” of the Middle Ages merges 11th-century science and religion in wondrous hues.

Featuring the last fully walkable parapet walkway in Europe.

A colossal aqueduct from the second century B.C., deeply hidden in a gorge on the outskirts of Rome.

A beloved local artist has been honored with this statue of a man emerging from a toilet.

Suffocating dogs was a common spectacle in the fumes of this noxious cave.

This medieval city gate is now a blend of the past and the modern world.

For decades, vendors have sold clothes once worn by American soldiers who stormed Italy in the 1940s.