The link between these two seemingly disparate themes is crucial to the history of this Tuscan hill town.

Tourists to the mountaintop Sicilian town often overlook its ancient fortifications.

The train platform where Jews were sent to concentration camps is now preserved as a Holocaust memorial.

Once an ancient Roman bath, now a hotbed of geothermal energy and a hub for energetic innovations.

Production site for handmade clay bricks.

This cathedral hides a sculpted dog that determines your fate and an unexploded shell from World War II.

There once was a man named Lear / Who found limericks so dear / His final resting space / Is an unusual place / Most people don’t know he’s here.

A magnificent Neogothic tomb hides within this Italian fairytale-like forest.

A dreamlike medieval church dug into the tuff rock, with unusual carvings and possible traces of the Templar knights.

This artistic temple brings together multiple architecture styles, but is only an example of one.

One of the earliest relics of Italian art is this ornately equipped stone soldier.

Why a column on the entrance is inscribed with a verse from the Quran is one of Sicily's many mysteries.

A rare example of an octagonal Catholic church.

This triumphal 16th-century arched gateway leads to the oldest street in Palermo.

Deceased nuns were placed on stone chairs to decompose, while the surviving nuns prayed near the lifeless bodies.

A modest museum in the final home of Italian poet and father of modern Italian, Francesco Petrarca.

This overgrown mountain village has been abandoned for nearly a century.

A fascinating assortment of cave dwellings, medieval ruins, and sarcophagi are being devoured by the forest.

For hundreds of years, this huge figure has been blessing visitors before they explore his body.

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

The roof of this ancient mausoleum is made from a single Istrian stone weighing a massive 230 tons.

What better way to honor a pioneering anatomist than by preserving his severed head like a specimen?

This ancient altar emerges from the thick forests to reveal the mysteries of Etruscan sacrificial rituals.

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