Places piccolo8va Wants to Go

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

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

This immaculate and historic water garden culminates in a massive stone dining table with an inset fountain for chilling the wine of the Cardinal's guests.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

Jesus' footprints and the first catacombs in the world.

A fairy tale castle in modern Rome.

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

This hidden Art Nouveau courtyard is an opulent feast for the eyes.

Natural cathedral designed by Italian artist Giuliano Mauri.

The once forbidden "secret cabinet" of erotic art from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.

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

Ruins of a 10th century church tucked away deep in a botanical garden.

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

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

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

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

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

As can be expected from a centuries-old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.