clairedillon's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Leaderboard Highlights
clairedillon's activity rankings
1st
Places visited in Astana, Kazakhstan
1st
Places visited in Treviso, Italy
1st
Places visited in Muscat, Oman
4th
Places visited in Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Loading map...
Venice, Italy

Tomb of Antonio Canova

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

St. Mark's Lost Third Column

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

Fontana delle Tette

Centuries ago, red and white wine poured from the statue's breasts whenever a new Venetian ruler was elected.
Venice, Italy

Ponte delle Tette

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

Libreria Acqua Alta

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.
Venice, Italy

'Dragon Bones' of Santa Maria e San Donato

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

The Mad Colored Houses of Burano

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

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.
Venice, Italy

Scuola Grande di San Marco

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

Attila's Throne

An island on the Venetian Lagoon hosts this stone chair that has nothing to do with the King of the Huns.
Venice, Italy

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs

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

Torcello

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

San Lazzaro degli Armeni

Originally a leper colony, the island is now an Armenian monastery that's home to an incredible manuscript library and eclectic museum.
Lido, Italy

Vartanush

Armenian monks at an island monastery in the Venetian Lagoon make a rare rose petal jam.
Venice, Italy

San Servolo Insane Asylum Museum

Venice's "Island of the Mad."
Venice, Italy

Church of San Giacomo di Rialto

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

Piraeus Lion

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

The Flooded Crypt of San Zaccaria

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

Monument to Niccolò Tommaseo

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

Torre Bissara

One of the tallest bell towers in Italy plays a particular melody at just two times each day.
Venice, Italy

Church of Santa Margherita

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

Peggy Guggenheim's Grave

The only museum with its curator—and her pets—buried inside.
Prato, Italy

Musciattino's Hand

A local legend says the theft of a holy relic explains the hand-shaped bloodstain on the facade of this cathedral.
Florence, Italy

Gipsoteca Bartolini

A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.