Places istnbl Wants to Go

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

This tiny islet has somehow housed an ancient temple, two monasteries, a church, a fortress, and a restaurant.

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

Erotic art covers the walls of the largest ancient pleasure palace.

Ancient snack bar of the Roman Empire re-opened.

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

More than 450 years ago, an Italian nun became the first woman to paint the iconic subject.

Overlooked amid the tourist bustle of Florence, this museum is dedicated to the craft of stone inlay.

An extraordinary house museum and cabinet of curiosities in the heart of Florence.

Art and armour fill every inch of this rich kid's Italian villa.

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

Legend says this mysterious stone head belongs to a woman who was petrified by an alchemist.

A medieval weapon rumored to have been used by the brilliant poet himself.

The graveyard is filled with beautiful funerary art and boasts breathtaking views of Florence.

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

An incredible menagerie of more than 3 million taxidermied animals at the oldest science museum in Europe.

This museum is rotten with a century of wax medical deformities.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.

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

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.

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

The famous sculptor left his mark on this Italian wall in an internationally protected example of street art.