Places sammckeand Wants to Go

An ancient stone with mysterious origins stands in a residential neighborhood.

Naturally preserved bodies are eerily staged throughout the crypt in varying poses.

Geometry and mystery come together in an epic show of octagonal masonry.

This abandoned island off the Venetian coast has been a radical monastery, a political prison, and a secret Nazi base.

The studio built by fascists in the hopes of "reviving the film industry" with the occasional propaganda film opportunity thrown in.

The Roman Emperor's lost summer home and grotto full of enormous sculptures sit along the Italian seashore.

The skulls and bones of thousands of soldiers line the walls of this small Italian chapel.

An incredible menagerie of more than 3 million taxidermied animals at the oldest science museum in Europe.

Italian cave with exceptional acoustics and an unsavory history.

An underground paleo-Christian burial site composed of the remains of several cemeteries and Basilicas.

Venice's island of the dead.

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

Virgil's many-mouthed gateway to the underworld.

A sunken idol welcomes parishioners to Davy Jones' Locker.

A fairytale island floats in the middle of Italy's little-known Lake Orta.

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

This beautiful park on the outskirts of Rome protects the ruins of two colossal ancient aqueducts.

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

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

Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

A submerged archeological park still holds the wonders of a Roman Sodom.