Strange places

Abensberg is a town in the Lower Bavarian district of Kelheim, lying around 30 km south-west of Regensburg, 40 km east of Ingolstadt, 50 km north-west of Landshut and 100 km north of Munich. It is situated on the Abens River, a tributary of the…

The Parco dei Mostri in the Sacro Bosco close to Bomarzowas created between 1522 and 1580 by Duke Vicino Orsini. The park of Bomarzo was intended not to please, but to astonish. The sphinx at the entrance of the Park of the Monsters is the work of…

Craco, an abandoned Italian village located in the region of Basilicata and the province of Matera, was called the area “Grachium” which means “from the little ploughed field”. Tombs were found suggesting the settlement dates back to the 8^th…

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi or The Garden of Tarot is a sculpture garden based on the esoteric tarot created during the late 1970s by Niki de Saint Phalle in Garavicchio, province of Grosseto, Tuscany. Influenced by Gaudí’s Parc Güell in Barcelona,…

Near the small town of Montegiove are the Franciscan Monastery and the gardens of La Scarzuola. The convent was founded by St Francis in 1218 and is situated in a wooded area. The church has an interesting fresco; it is one of the earliest…

The Maxhütte, named after the Bavarian King Maximilian II Joseph, was a traditional steel mill and is today an industrial monument in Sulzbach-Rosenberg. In its heyday, the Maxhütte employed over 9000 people. The company had branches in…

The Restauri Artistici Squatriti, 29 Via Ripetta at the coner to Via del Vantaggio in Rome, known to Romans as the “Ospedale delle Bambole”, or the “Dolls’ Hospital”, is the place where Federico Squatrito and his mother Gelsomina nurse ailing…

Pizzo is a seaport in the province of Vibo Valentia, situated on a steep cliff overlooking the Gulf of Santa Eufemia. Fishing is one of the main activities, including that of tunny and coral. Pizzo is famous for its Tartufo, a large ball of ice…