Stare out over the lagoon and beyond from this 10th-century campanile on the island where the city of Venice began.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.

The small peaceful island off the Venice tourist circuit is where the city began more than 1,500 years ago.

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

The marble facade hides a little-known medical museum with early surgical instruments and rare copies of canonical texts.

A sinister pyramid in the Frari contains the heart of the famous neoclassical sculptor.

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

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

This curious building hides eclectic details like medieval gargoyles alongside naked angels and Art Nouveau mosaics.

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

A brutalist gem towering over the heart of Milan.

Third time's a charm, or in this case, two testicles are.

The secret medieval communication system will whisk your words above the noise of the crowd.

"The prettiest love letters in the world" ... or so said Lord Byron.

See what remains of a once grand ancient Roman circus.

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

Da Vinci's equestrian statue, 500 years in the making.

Two very green residential towers cleaning the air in one of Europe's most polluted cities.

Artistic tombs, monuments, and a beautiful "Hall of Fame" lurk inside this cemetery.

This grisly effigy displays an early Christian martyr who was skinned alive and beheaded.

Milan's duomo is covered in beautiful carving including a curious "dinosaur-like" beast.

Archeologists can't decide if these two hand-holding skeletons were brothers or lovers.

This beautiful 150-year-old synagogue survived Italy's fascist period and the Second World War.