Places Laura Andersen Wants to Go

A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.

A young Italian couple has been locked in an embrace for over 6,000 years.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

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 half-finished "city of toys" was almost Italy's own Las Vegas.

This winding road through an Italian canyon may be the most scenic drive in the world.

Medieval torture techniques with a modern conscience.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

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

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

Walk through a fairytale in Tuscany.

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

Virgil's many-mouthed gateway to the underworld.

This real life asylum of horrors is now an abandoned ruin that hides the unbreakable code to one patient's insanity.

This sword isn't waiting for a king to pull it out. It was placed there by a saint.

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

This enchanting 600-year-old tree is so magical it inspired the beloved tale of Pinocchio.

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

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

The oldest operating pharmacy in the world features 800-year-old recipes.

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.