Places piccolo8va Wants to Go

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

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

A hospital where antique dolls are given new life.

A labyrinth of ancient tunnels hidden below the city holds the ruins of 2,500 years of history.

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.

This centuries-old Italian chapel hangs midway down a sheer cliffside.

A sunken idol welcomes parishioners to Davy Jones' Locker.

This medieval Italian town is a sheer (and beautiful) cliffside defense.

A Nesting Doll of Churches.

The remains of a town so thoroughly destroyed by French forces that the citizens simply left.

This Italian foot path winds through the mountains via 52 individual tunnels.

The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."

Virgil's many-mouthed gateway to the underworld.

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

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

This giant middle finger statue sends an unambiguous message to Italy's bankers.

David Sedaris called it "The greatest shop in the world."

This domed temple was built in a hidden cave mouth as a refuge for sinners seeking absolution.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

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

Giant, pink stuffed rabbit on an Italian mountain.

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

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

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