This domed temple was built in a hidden cave mouth as a refuge for sinners seeking absolution.

A complex, nine-layer maze on the grounds of a Venetian doge's playground.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

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

Medieval town turned hippie commune, once home to the secret foreskin of Jesus Christ.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

This immaculate and historic water garden culminates in a massive stone dining table with an inset fountain for chilling the wine of the Cardinal's guests.

This sword isn't waiting for a king to pull it out. It was placed there by a saint.

The once forbidden "secret cabinet" of erotic art from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Natural cathedral designed by Italian artist Giuliano Mauri.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

An Italian hillside ghost town.

Abandoned medieval hill town.

Ruins of a 10th century church tucked away deep in a botanical garden.

This 16th-century monastery has been turned into a surrealist architecture compound.

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

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

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.