Places Loec Wants to Go

This abandoned island off the Venetian coast has been a radical monastery, a political prison, and a secret Nazi base.

This medieval castle was home to a known tyrant and features several hidden passages.

It’s said this crypt was the setting for the tragic finale of the Shakespeare play.

This amazing medieval fortress stands atop a promontory along the famous Cinque Terre.

A miniature train-ride through Slovenia's largest cave system.

Long-abandoned art nouveau baths beneath Milan's Piazza Oberdan.

This 21st century cabinet of curiosities includes dinosaur bones, moon rocks, film memorabilia, and more.

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.

A 17th-century doorway in a small Sabine village is a portal into the mysteries of alchemy.

Templar knights fleeing persecution are said to have left this sword in stone as a landmark in 1307.

An 11th-century mountaintop fortress that played a crucial role in Italy's papal wars is now a vacation rental.

An Italian geologic wonder that served as the inspiration for the landscape of Dante's hell.

Italy's curious field of mud volcanoes is named for being both gross AND salty.

These caves are home to a small church and were used to age cheese.

A complex, nine-layer maze on the grounds of a Venetian doge's playground.

Known as the Royal Palace of the Euganean Hills, this often overlooked castle has been home for multiple noble families over the centuries.

Roman politician Herodes Atticus built this nymphaeum to honor his wife, whom he may have murdered.

A forgotten "city of water" underneath the famous Trevi district.

Originally a leper colony, the island is now an Armenian monastery that's home to an incredible manuscript library and eclectic museum.

Armenian monks at an island monastery in the Venetian Lagoon make a rare rose petal jam.

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

This overgrown mountain village has been abandoned for nearly a century.

A small window on Via Piella offers a lovely and rare peek at Bologna's lost canals.