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

A treasure trove of Renaissance-era funerary art in a Roman church built on top of Nero's grave.

Dug as a secret royal escape route, the tunnel became a wartime bomb shelter and dumping ground for vintage cars.

A labyrinth of ancient tunnels hidden below the city holds the ruins of 2,500 years of history.

Some say this medieval church is where the poet Dante married his wife and also met the love of his life.

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

A medieval weapon rumored to have been used by the brilliant poet himself.

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

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.

The remains of the left arm of the levitating philosopher-saint are kept in a 13th-century Neapolitan basilica.

The burial place of an obscure North African saint was turned into a macabre body preservation factory for the 17th-century Neapolitan elite.

Suffocating dogs was a common spectacle in the fumes of this noxious cave.

An eerie, little-known Neapolitan museum filled with preserved human remains.

This Neapolitan exhibition hall grants weird and wonderful insight into the intricacies of human biology.

A rather vulgar example of the transition from Latin to the Italian vernacular.

The best preserved Paleochristian basilica in Rome hides a number of oddities and secrets.

A huge enchanting public park just outside the ancient walls of Rome.

Those who own or stay at this 500-year-old, allegedly cursed house often meet terrible fates.

Hanging within this medieval church are the bones of a beast allegedly slain by a fourth-century saint.

This magical-looking island is notorious for the misfortunes suffered by its owners.

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

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