Places Pengwn Wants to Go

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

Medieval torture techniques with a modern conscience.

On rare days, this abandoned castle's gatekeepers open its doors, revealing the eye-popping splendor hidden inside.

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

A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.

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 middle finger of modernity.

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

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

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

A domed disco abandoned since the '70s now attracts artists and explorers under its unique roof.

High in the clouds of San Marino sits an ancient tower with some curious prisoner graffiti.

One Italian taxi driver covered his entire house in small seashells creating a weird bit of architecture that is preserved to this day.

Water and windows define this defensive Italian well.

A secret hatch containing two parchments was discovered in this statue over 40 years after its installation.

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.

One of Catholicism's four major basilicas has a series of papal portraits that are said to predict the end of the world.

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

Gods clash with machines in a power plant regenerated as a museum.

This hill made entirely of ancient Roman jars was simply a garbage dump to the people of the time.

These spartan apartments are provided to clergymen visiting Vatican City.

The only "Egyptian" pyramid in Europe and the legendary tomb of Remus.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.