Florence, Italy
Gipsoteca Bartolini
A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.
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Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Rome, Italy
Cappella di San Zenone (Chapel of Saint Zeno)
Its interior is adorned with some of the best examples of early Christian mosaics.
Pompeii, Italy
Stone Phalluses of Pompeii
The walls and streets of the ancient city are peppered with penises.
Rome, Italy
Temple of Portunus
This small, ancient Roman temple was once a church dedicated to the patron saint of penitents.
Milan, Italy
Horned Madonna of Portinari Chapel
The odd depiction of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus is rooted in the Catholic Church's eradication of Catharism.
Matera, Italy
Sassi di Matera
People have been living in the cave houses on this Italian hillside since the Neolithic era.
Siena, Italy
St. Catherine of Siena's Severed Head
A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.
Rome, Italy
Elephant and Obelisk
A detailed pachyderm supports Rome's smallest Egyptian obelisk.
Syracuse, Italy
Ear of Dionysius
Italian cave with exceptional acoustics and an unsavory history.
Pompeii, Italy
The Brothels of Pompeii
Erotic art covers the walls of the largest ancient pleasure palace.
Cittadella, Italy
Cittadella City Walls
Featuring the last fully walkable parapet walkway in Europe.
Naples, Italy
Catacombs of San Gennaro
An underground paleo-Christian burial site composed of the remains of several cemeteries and Basilicas.
Rome, Italy
Temple of Hercules Victor
This curious, round temple is the oldest still-standing marble building in Rome.
Verona, Italy
Juliet's Balcony
Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.
Rome, Italy
Mercatus Traiani (Trajan's Market)
This ancient market is often referred to as the oldest shopping mall in the world.
Rome, Italy
Meridian Line of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs
Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.
Florence, Italy
Il Porcellino
This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.
Civita, Italy
Civita di Bagnoregio
This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.
Rome, Italy
The Head of St. John the Baptist at San Silvestro in Capite
One of several skulls claiming to belong to the beheaded St. John the Baptist is on display at this Roman church.
Pompeii, Italy
Plaster Citizens of Pompeii
The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.
Ercolano, Italy
Herculaneum
Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.
Rome, Italy
Campo de Fiori
This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy
The Dome Illusion
A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.
Rome, Italy
Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary)
Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.
