At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

The astonishing collection of an infamous criminologist.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

The remains of a town so thoroughly destroyed by French forces that the citizens simply left.

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.

A lover's walk between hilltop towns, decorated with graffiti love notes.

The 1936 Summer Olympics site is a crumbling remnant of sportsmanship and a history its host country would like to forget.

A taste of the macabre Tokyo's ritzy shopping district.

The city of Palestrina was built around this magnificent terraced sanctuary dedicated to the pagan goddess Fortuna.

Macabre symbols of death and mummies on display set the tone of this Italian purgatory church.

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

Filled with goldfish swimming in a shallow pool of sea water, this ancient crypt is more wishing well than burial site.

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

Virgil's many-mouthed gateway to the underworld.

An archaeological treasure trove towers over the valley of Chiavenna.

Skulls from the plague of 1656 and World War II bombings are united by a cult dedicated to caring for the ancient dead.

Skulls and skeletons are omnipresent in this church dedicated to souls trapped in purgatory.

Jesus' footprints and the first catacombs in the world.

An Italian hillside ghost town.

Nestled in the hills of Tuscany are gorgeous, multicolored hot springs.

These delicate sand pyramids look like naturally occurring gothic spires.

A massive mausoleum towers over the gravestones in a 19th-century Italian "model village."