Places Loo Wants to Go

If you want to talk to the Pope you will have to stare down this surreal vision of Jesus rising from a nuclear hell.

This delightful little museum is dedicated to only one thing: pasta.

Rome's ancient Etruscan rival, now a park full of ruins.

More sculpture than building, this architecturally significant temple was built on the spot of Saint Peter's crucifixion.

A sulfuric hellscape in southern Italy.

One of seven Jewish catacombs in Rome and one of only two open to the public.

A mysterious chasm in the heart of the ancient Roman Forum, the Lacus Curtius was once believed to be a gateway to hell.

Museum dedicated to literary greats of the Romantic Period is also the home in which Keats met his untimely end.

Gigantic mosaic sculptures of the figures on Tarot cards fill this colorful Tuscan garden.

This ancient Roman prison is decorated with an upside-down cross not as blasphemy but as saintly tribute.

Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.

One of several skulls claiming to belong to the beheaded St. John the Baptist is on display at this Roman church.

This picturesque Umbrian city has a subterranean side that has long remained hidden.

A hospital where antique dolls are given new life.

A Nesting Doll of Churches.

This former Roman Catholic Church still contains the embalmed hearts and organs of 22 popes.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

Virgil's many-mouthed gateway to the underworld.

A collection of objects supposedly singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.

Medieval town turned hippie commune, once home to the secret foreskin of Jesus Christ.

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

These "anatomical machines" are only one of the many strange items in this Italian crypt.

Rome’s legendary peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.