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

An alchemist's "magic door" stands in the middle of a Roman park.

This amazingly well-preserved villa just outside Pompeii boasts rare examples of ancient Roman paintings.

A tree that defies gravity grows in an ancient ruin.

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

A surreal botanical garden with an even more surreal tour guide.

An unusual "skull with ears" sits in the crypt of this small church tucked away at the end of a narrow alley.

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

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

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