This 6th-century church has the largest and best-preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics outside Constantinople.

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

Italian poet Dante Alighieri is entombed in this small mausoleum in Ravenna, and his hometown of Florence has never been too happy about it.

Filled with goldfish swimming in a shallow pool of sea water, this ancient crypt is more wishing well than burial site.

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

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.

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

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.

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

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.

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

A 30-foot-high stream of chocolate flows continuously at the Lindt Home of Chocolate.

A statue of Charlemagne, created in the 1400s, once overlooked the city, and is now located in a crypt.

The prototype for all Nazi concentration camps.

A small but immensely extravagant palace built by the "Night King."

The fairy tale castle of the “fairy-tale king,” this was also the inspiration for Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty.”

This tribute to the 16th-century composer is now an unusual shrine to Michael Jackson.

A small square plaque marks a failed assassination attempt that could have changed history.

Go surfing on this urban wave, "hacked" by local surfers.

The footprint of a frustrated devil in Munich's Cathedral.