alessandrocattani90's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Botafumeiro

This enormous censer uses a pulley system installed over 400 years ago.
Oviedo, Spain

Culis Monumentalibus

Two large posteriors in one giant statue.
Mantua, Italy

Dropped Triglyphs of Palazzo Te

An architectural oddity where the triglyphs of the courtyard of walls create an optical illusion.
Mantua, Italy

Sala dei Giganti (Chamber of the Giants)

A room filled with frescos that make it seem like the walls are crumbling down while giants die in despair.
Castelnovo ne' Monti, Italy

Pietra Di Bismantova

An Italian geologic wonder that served as the inspiration for the landscape of Dante's hell.
Fiorano modenese, Italy

Salse di Nirano

Italy's curious field of mud volcanoes is named for being both gross AND salty.
Marmore, Italy

Cascata delle Marmore (Marmore Falls)

Romans built the world's tallest artificial waterfall in 271 BC.
Volterra, Italy

Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra

This real life asylum of horrors is now an abandoned ruin that hides the unbreakable code to one patient's insanity.
Ravenna, Italy

Flooded Crypt of San Francesco

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

The Sword in the Stone at Montesiepi Chapel

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

Il Porcellino

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.
Verona, Italy

Juliet's Balcony

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.
Genga, Italy

Temple of Valadier

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

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.
Civita, Italy

Civita di Bagnoregio

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

Medici Hall of Maps (Sala delle Carte Geografiche)

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

Cinque Terre

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.
Riola, Italy

Rocchetta Mattei

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

The Protestant Cemetery

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

Buontalenti Grotta

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

The Mouth of Truth

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

Libreria Acqua Alta

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

The Monsters of Bomarzo

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.
Parma, Italy

Cattedrale di Parma (Parma Cathedral)

The city of Parma's cathedral is home to one of the greatest illusionistic frescoes of the Renaissance.