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

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

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

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

One of several skulls claiming to belong to the beheaded St. John the Baptist is on display at this Roman church.

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

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

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

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

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.

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

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

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

Tucked inside a South Bank bar is an epic expressionist chronicle of the 20th century.

A network of bells in the pubs and restaurants around Westminster alerts politicians when it's time to cast their votes.

A tribute to the intrepid explorer and his crew who perished in terrible conditions on an ill-fated expedition to the Arctic.

The British monarchy's stamp collection is one of the most impressive in all of Europe revealing generations of royal nerdery.

A relic from one of London's worst 19th-century slums.

This historic London residence was once the womb of Scientology.

A monolithic monument in Greater London.

Historic church where a number of Shakespeare's actors are buried.

The "beautiful" equation predicting the movement of all electromagnetic particles is engraved in front of Newton's tomb.

This medieval church tower has maintained its clockworks since the 16th century.

A boutique perfumery fashioned to look like a Victorian-era shop.