chatoyancy's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Belpasso, Italy

Mount Etna

The world's most active stratovolcano is almost always erupting.
Verona, Italy

Juliet's Balcony

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.
Vernazza, Italy

Cinque Terre

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

Plaster Citizens of Pompeii

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

Herculaneum

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.
Mont Saint-Michel, France

Mont Saint-Michel

This 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.
Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum

A pride of the state, this working museum crafts pottery mosaics in the style of Pennsylvania's earliest European settlers.
Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle

Eccentric concrete mansion and museum designed and built by hand from the inside out.
Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania

The Sonorous Stones of Ringing Rocks Park

Mysterious rocks that ring musically when struck.
Alexandria, Virginia

Torpedo Factory Art Center

A former major munitions plant that has been converted into a sprawling art space.
Venice, Italy

Libreria Acqua Alta

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

Temple of Hercules Victor

This curious, round temple is the oldest still-standing marble building in Rome.
Rome, Italy

Parco degli Acquedotti

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

Campo de Fiori

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy

Via Appia

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.
Rome, Italy

The Dome Illusion

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

Porta Alchemica

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

The Mouth of Truth

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

The Aventine Keyhole

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

Ponte dei Pugni (Bridge of Fists)

100 year tradition of fist fights, marked by marble footsteps.
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.
Venice, Italy

San Servolo Insane Asylum Museum

Venice's "Island of the Mad."
Venice, Italy

The Mad Colored Houses of Burano

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.