The Sitch's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Loading map...
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

Piraeus Lion

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

Vartanush

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

Tomb of Antonio Canova

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

Torcello Bell Tower

Stare out over the lagoon and beyond from this 10th-century campanile on the island where the city of Venice began.
Florence, Italy

Bronze Replica of Michelangelo’s David

A copy of the famous statue can be found in this Florence piazza, along with one of the most breathtaking views of the city below.
Florence, Italy

Vasari Corridor

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.
Florence, Italy

Medici Hall of Maps (Sala delle Carte Geografiche)

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.
Florence, Italy

La Specola Anatomical Collection

The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.
Florence, Italy

Buontalenti Grotta

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.
Florence, Italy

Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy

The oldest operating pharmacy in the world features 800-year-old recipes.
Florence, Italy

Michelangelo's Hidden Drawings

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

Pasticceria Boccione

In Rome’s Jewish ghetto, a 200-year-old bakery still makes the neighborhood’s historic sweets.
Rome, Italy

Metropoliz Museum of the Other and the Elsewhere

An abandoned Roman salami factory has found new life as an art space home to 200 squatters.
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.
Rome, Italy

Parco degli Acquedotti

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

The Protestant Cemetery

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.
Rome, Italy

St. Valentine's Skull

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.
Rome, Italy

Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte

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

The Mithraeum at Circus Maximus

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.
Rome, Italy

The Aventine Keyhole

Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.
London, England

Ye Olde Mitre

Down a pint of ale where the Bishop of Ely's servants slept in 1546.
London, England

Dirty Dick's

This pub boasts a curious history and may have inspired a Dickens character.