Loo's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Rome, Italy

The Martyr Murals at Santo Stefano Rotondo

Charles Dickens was not a fan of the ghastly wall dressings in this 6th century church.
Rome, Italy

The "Little London"

A modern sliver of architecture in Roma.
Rome, Italy

Santa Francesca Romana

St. Francesca Romana, patron saint of drivers, resides in the church she founded.
Rome, Italy

The Sweating Cenotaph at the Archbasilica San Giovanni in Laterano

Stone memorial that's said to predict the death of the pope and the site of the Cadaver Synod.
Cerveteri, Italy

Necropolis of the Banditaccia

Largest necropolis in the Mediterranean.
Florence, Italy

La Specola Zoological Museum

An incredible menagerie of more than 3 million taxidermied animals at the oldest science museum in Europe.
Rome, Italy

Cloaca Maxima

The "Greatest Sewer" of ancient Rome is one of the oldest sewer systems in the world, and is still in use.
Rome, Italy

Centrale Montemartini

Gods clash with machines in a power plant regenerated as a museum.
Capri, Italy

Villa Jovis

The Emperor Tiberius' palace of debauchery.
Bologna, Italy

Bologna Zoological Museum

This zoological museum began as the first great curiosity cabinet.
Rome, Italy

Cinecittà

The studio built by fascists in the hopes of "reviving the film industry" with the occasional propaganda film opportunity thrown in.
Rome, Italy

Monte Testaccio

This hill made entirely of ancient Roman jars was simply a garbage dump to the people of the time.
Vatican City

La Resurrezione

If you want to talk to the Pope you will have to stare down this surreal vision of Jesus rising from a nuclear hell.
Rome, Italy

Museo Nazionale delle Paste Alimentari

This delightful little museum is dedicated to only one thing: pasta.
Rome, Italy

Veii

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

Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio

More sculpture than building, this architecturally significant temple was built on the spot of Saint Peter's crucifixion.
Pozzuoli, Italy

Phlegraean Fields

A sulfuric hellscape in southern Italy.
Rome, Italy

Vigna Randanini

One of seven Jewish catacombs in Rome and one of only two open to the public.
Rome, Italy

Lacus Curtius

A mysterious chasm in the heart of the ancient Roman Forum, the Lacus Curtius was once believed to be a gateway to hell.
Rome, Italy

Keats-Shelley Memorial House

Museum dedicated to literary greats of the Romantic Period is also the home in which Keats met his untimely end.
Capalbio, Italy

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi

Gigantic mosaic sculptures of the figures on Tarot cards fill this colorful Tuscan garden.
Rome, Italy

Mamertine Prison

This ancient Roman prison is decorated with an upside-down cross not as blasphemy but as saintly tribute.
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.
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.