The Pinocchio Park ©Simona Bottone/shutterstock.com
Ciao! Welcome to Italy, the beautiful, boot-shaped European country known for its art, fashion, historical cities, and sunny beaches. Few countries have had as strong an impact on Western cuisine and culture as Italy.
Florence, Venice, Milan, Rome—these are all cities you may have seen on the news, WBD, or the History Channel. However, on this list, we’ll take you off the beaten path and through some of the most bizarre, expensive, and unique things you can only find in Bel Paese.
Found in: Curon, South Tyrol
Est. Cost: $140,240* (2009 Restoration Cost)
Right in the middle of a lake is not exactly the place you’d expect to find a bell tower, but such is the case with the Sunken Bell Tower of Curon. It juts out of Lago di Resia in South Tyrol, and the story behind it is a rather sad one.
In 1950, despite residential resistance and even an entreaty from the pope, the Italian government allowed a corporation to flood the valley of Curon, a small town. Curon, along with other tiny towns, was destroyed, and now, only the bell tower of the sunken city sometimes emerges to cast a ghostly shadow over what was. Perhaps we’ll see a Netflix horror series based on this strange tale.
Found in: Ivrea
Est. Cost: $10.79 per ticket to attend*
If you want to see a real extreme sport, you’ll attend the Battle of the Oranges, hosted by the Carnival of Ivrea in Northern Italy. The Battle is a tried-and-true tradition that features orange-throwing by competitive, organized teams.
While not quite on the level of the WWE, the Battle of the Oranges is still quite fierce, with one backpacking site calling it “Italy’s craziest festival.” The Battle dates back to medieval times when it was commenced to commemorate the liberation of the Ivrea townspeople from the control of a harsh, evil duke.
Found in: Itria Valley, Puglia
Est. Cost: $50-$174 per night to stay*
You likely don’t have houses like this in your neighborhood. They are called trullo, and they are made from dry stone. These huts have a corbelled roof. The word “trullo” comes from the Greek for “dome,” and it is specific to the Itria Valley in Puglia.
Pictured here is Alberobello, the city known for its trullo homes. These hotels range from $50 to $174 a night. For a solo traveler, taking a seven-day trip will cost you around $1,169, which is about the price of a down payment on a used Ford or Chevy.
Found in: Galileo Museum, Florence
Est. Cost: $7-$11 per ticket to visit the Museum*
When you think of a saintly relic encased in a shrine, a middle finger likely doesn’t jump to mind. This bony, ghostly middle finger belonged to Galileo Galilei, who was, when he was alive, considered a heretic and enemy to the church.
The finger was removed in the 1730s, almost a century after Galileo died. It was snapped off by Anton Gori, who passed it around for years until it finally came to rest in the halls of the Galileo Museum. Those wanting to learn more about Galileo can find many different documentaries on YouTube and other platforms, as he is one of science’s most famous figures.
Found in: Montesiepi Chapel, Tuscany
Est. Cost: $2.16 per ticket to visit*
A man named Galagno Guidotti was born in Chiusdino in 1148. He spent his youth as a rich knight before retiring as a religious hermit in his hometown. He experienced visions of angels, which led to him, after a challenge from the Archangel Michael, stabbing a sword into a rock.
The sword, impossibly, went through the rock as though it were water. After Giudotti died, the Pope declared him a saint. As for the Sword in the Stone, it has been proven real, and it is considered a religious relic. It is kept in the Montesiepi Chapel in Tuscany, along with the severed hands of a thief foolish enough to try to steal it. Giudotti’s heroic tale is so otherworldly, it could be the subject of a blockbuster hit from MGM.
Found in: Burano, Venice
Est. Cost: $8 for a ferry ticket from Venice*
Venice can, according to travelers, sometimes have a bit of a melancholy feel, but such is not the case with Burano, a fisherman’s island in the Venetian lagoon. The brightly-painted, colorful houses of Burano stand out like a rainbow, no matter the weather.
Seriously, these houses look as though their owners took every single color of paint from Sherwin Williams and went to town. Burano’s colorful homes have been around for decades, and they are repainted often to ensure their hues do not fade.
Found in: Basilica di Santa Maria, Cosmedin, Rome
Est. Cost: Your Hand
Be careful telling a lie around the Mouth of Truth (A.K.A., the Bocca della Verita), as this tall, stone, humanoid disc will bite your hand off. It has hollow holes for eyes, as well as a gaping mouth into which you can insert your hand.
When asked a question with your hand in its mouth, you better think twice before lying, or the Mouth of Truth will clamp down on your hand. The history of the Mouth of Truth, located in Rome, is murky, with some saying it represents pagan gods like Oceanus or Faunus. This rocky maw is probably as accurate as a cheap “lie detector” you could find on Amazon, if not more.
Found in: Milan
Est. Cost: $15.10 per person to reserve the bar*
Backdoor 43 is located in the fashionable city of Milan, Italy, and this hideaway is unique because it is the smallest bar in the world. Its bartender works behind a wooden door, serving four guests at a time (all the bar has room for).
Backdoor 43 isn’t exactly as roomy as the bar at your local Applebee’s, but it makes up for it with its friendly bartenders and unique atmosphere. Drinks are a tad pricey, according to TripAdvisor, but the staff is “friendly” and the atmosphere is “worth it,” as you can reserve the place to yourself for an hour or two.
Found in: Bomarzo
Est. Cost: $6-$16 per ticket to visit*
The Garden of Bomarzo is home to the Park of the Monsters, and it was commissioned in the mid-1500s by one Prince Pier Francesco Orsini. Orsini had been through a lot when he ordered the commission—his wife had died, he’d been kidnapped, and he’d gone through a brutal war.
So, he hired an architect named Pirro Ligorio to help him grieve by creating the Park of the Monsters. The very opposite of Disneyland, howling war elephants, giants ripping each other apart, a screaming head, a fish-head, and more adorn this park. The entire park is fascinating and bizarre, as well as a little sad, as you can see Orsini’s grief coming through the statues’ twisted depictions.
Found in: Naples, Rome, Reggio Emilia, and Turin
Est. Cost: Undisclosed
Italy is the home of pizza—nothing is better than an Italian slice (sorry, New Yorkers). Not only is Italy the place to go for delicious pizza, it is also the place for record-breaking pies. In 2012, pizza-makers in Rome made Ottavia, the largest pizza in the world. The pizza weighed 51,258 pounds!
That’s the same weight as fifteen-and-a-half Toyota Camrys. In 2016, Naples bakers achieved the Guinness record for the world’s longest pizza and, in the succeeding years, Italian pizza-makers also set records for the world’s longest friend pizzas, fastest pizza ever made, and the world’s longest pizza in pala, too.
Found in: Sorrento
Est. Cost: $0 to visit*
Located in Sorrento, the Valley of the Mills is an Italian crevasse that is full of abandoned buildings, and it gives visitors the chance to see what it would look like if nature took over. The crevasse in which the mills are located was formed 35,000 years ago due to a massive eruption.
The flour mills were constructed at the bottom of the crevasse to take advantage of the stream there. These mills served Sorrento for years until they became obsolete in the 1940s. Over the past decades, nature has retaken the mills, though that may come to an end, as Sorrento voted to restore them in 2019.
Found in: Nationwide
Est. Cost: $5.9 million* (Total World Heritage Fund, 2022-2023)
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are an important part of the world’s history, and they are located all across the globe. Italy holds the distinction of having the highest number of these sites in the world.
There are fifty-eight UNESCO Sites in the country—five natural and the rest cultural. In addition to those, there are many others that are under consideration by the agency, whose full name is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, & Cultural Organization.
Found in: Nationwide
Est. Cost: Free for many services at the point-of-use
Since 1978, Italy has had a universal healthcare system. Healthcare is provided to residents through the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, which the Ministry of Health organizes and administers on a regional basis.
There are also private healthcare providers, too, but the SSN provides residents with low-cost or free healthcare. This includes subsidized medicine, access to family doctors, public hospital treatment, ambulance and lab services, and some specialist care.
Found in: Rome
Est. Cost: $2.16 million* (Total Renovation Cost)
The Pyramid of Cestius is unique because it is the only “Egyptian-style” pyramid on the continent. Located in Rome near Porta San Paolo, the Pyramid of Cestius was constructed between 18 and 12 B.C. to entomb Gaius Cestius, part of one of the four great Roman religious corporations.
Inside the Pyramid is a burial chamber that is full of traces of frescoes. There are no other continents, like because it was plundered at some point. It was first opened by the Italians in 1660, and, since 2015, it has been opened to the public two days a month for visitors who reserve their spot ahead of time.
