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The Museum of Roman Ships at Fiumicino in Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy

The Museum of Roman Ships at Fiumicino

Roman-era ships unearthed...

An accidental discovery delivered this unique collection. In the early 50s when the Italian government began excavating for a new airport, they stumbled upon an ancient port built by Emperor Claudius in 46 C.E... »

Incredible Ruins | Submitted by M. Rebekah Otto

The Criminology Museum in Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy

The Criminology Museum

Ever hear of the Milazzo Cage?

Operated by Italy's federal Prison Administration, this unique collection of prisons, torture, and criminal anthropology was open only to government officials from its founding in 1931 until 1994... »

Unique Collections | Submitted by M. Rebekah Otto

Veii in Region of Rome, Italy
Region of Rome, Italy

Veii

Rome's ancient Etruscan rival, now a park full of ruins

Only 17 km northwest of the Eternal City stand the ruins of the rival that almost snuffed out early Roman civilization, long before Caesar or Augustus were born... »

Cultures and Civilizations | Submitted by wythe

Restauri Artistici Squatriti - Ospedale delle Bambole in Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy

Restauri Artistici Squatriti - Ospedale delle Bambole

A hospital where antique dolls are given new life

In a cobblestone alley near the Piazza del Popolo, a weather-striped window showcases the porcelain heads, limbs, and bodies of dolls long lost and in complete disrepair... »

Wonder Cabinets | Submitted by Erin

The dome illusion - The dome illusion in Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy

The dome illusion

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling

The Jesuit church of Saint Ignazio was supposed to have a glorious dome, but when the money ran out in 1642, the plans were scrapped... »

Optical Oddities | Submitted by Annetta

The incorruptible body of St. Zita of Lucca - The Incorruptible St. Zita in Tuscany, Italy
Tuscany, Italy

The Incorruptible St. Zita

The naturally mummified body of a peasant girl saint

The patron Saint of Lucca, of servants, and of lost keys lies in rest in the church of San Frediano, dressed and in full view, some 700-plus years after her death in 1272. Zita is one of the Incorruptibles, bodies of Catholic saints that were foun... »

Relics and Reliquaries | Submitted by Annetta

Antro della Sibilla - Antro della Sibilla (Cave of the Sibyl) in Napoli, Italy
Napoli, Italy

Antro della Sibilla (Cave of the Sibyl)

Virgil's many-mouthed gateway to the Underworld

"The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labor lies..... »

Subterranean Sites | Submitted by Annetta

Villa Pisani Labirinto in Veneto, Italy
Veneto, Italy

Villa Pisani Labirinto

A complex nine layer maze on the grounds of a Venetian Doge's playground

Local lore holds that the hedge maze at Villa Pisani is so challenging, Napoleon was lost in it when he lived in the villa, and Hitler and Mussolini were too chicken to go into it at all. The maze is a classic medieval circular path with nine conc... »

Mazes | Submitted by Annetta

Fontanelle Cemetery Caves in Naples, Italy
Naples, Italy

Fontanelle Cemetery Caves

The plague of 1656 and the bombings of WWII united by a cult dedicated to caring for the ancient dead

Like many ossuaries in Europe, the Cimitero Fontanelle began as an secondary burial ground when the church yards and crypts began to overflow... »

Subterranean Sites | Submitted by Annetta

"Venus Kallipygos" - "Venus with the lovely ass" - Gabinetto Segreto in Napoli, Italy
Napoli, Italy

Gabinetto Segreto

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

Roman sexuality was a big problem for the 19th-century archaeologists and curators responsible for excavating and preserving the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum... »

Unique Collections | Submitted by Annetta