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

An Italian hillside ghost town.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

A Milanese café entirely designed by the American director Wes Anderson.

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

Jesus' footprints and the first catacombs in the world.

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

This beautiful park on the outskirts of Rome protects the ruins of two colossal ancient aqueducts.

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

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.

An Italian crevasse filled with abandoned buildings gives visitors a look at the world without humans.

Japan Railways' southernmost train station offers a view of a volcano and a mailbox said to grant happiness.

The first Venetian glass exhibit in Japan and one of the largest in the world.

Two ogres stand guard at the Oga Visitor Center.

A colorful, architectural experiment designed to increase a resident's longevity.

The only natural gorge in metropolitan Tokyo, with lots of greenery and ancient burial chambers.

They say the internet is forever but just in case, the shiba inu behind an iconic meme has been immortalized in bronze.

This theme park is not in Tokyo, not especially German, and certainly not a village.

Unchanged for decades, World War II-era bullet holes and nostalgic ghost signs still haunt this desolate train station.