The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

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

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

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

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.

The middle finger of modernity.

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.

Architectureal fantasy quarter of Rome.

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

An alchemist's "magic door" stands in the middle of a Roman park.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.

A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past.

A submerged archeological park still holds the wonders of a Roman Sodom.

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."

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.

A mysterious plaque to the even more mysterious "Fr. Pat Noise," killed in "suspicious circumstances."