Mingle with the most impressive handlebar moustaches in the country, pay your respects at the dog cemetery in Hyde Park, visit a masonic temple, take trapeze lessons in a former power station, pray in a floating church, sail on a disused reservoir, discover the stone from which Arthur dreaw Excalibur, admire the sacred penis of a pharaoh, have a game on the City’s last bowling green, examine a cucumber straightener, a stuffed mermaid or a cow’s heart, go stargazing at Greenwich Observatory …
Far from the crowds and the usual clichés, London still reserves any number of hidden treasures for those who know how to wander off the beaten track.
An indispensable guide for those who thought they knew London well, or who would like to discover the hidden face of the city.

Visit a church in a prison, learn how Florence became the centre of hermetism during the Renaissance and where you can still find traces of it today, escape from the crowds of tourists to visit little-known artistic masterpieces, head off to hunt for the 34 plaques displaying quotes from the “Divine Comedy”, fill up your tank at a vintage service station, have your children count the number of bees sculpted on the monument to the glory of Ferdinand I, look for the last wine distributors of the Renaissance, notice the minuscule windows designed to let children look out quietly onto the street, visit superb private gardens that even the Florentines don’t know about, learn how the purple colour of the Fiorentina football team is connected to the pee of a Florentine crusader in Palestine . . .
Far from the crowds and usual clichés, Florence holds many well-hidden treasures that are revealed only to the city’s inhabitants or travellers who know how to step off the beaten track. An essential guide for those who think they know Florence well or for those looking to discover the hidden side of the city.

Have your favourite pet blessed, visit an underground mine in the centre of Madrid, see the astounding liquefaction of the blood of Saint Pantaleon once a year, meet Spain’s only Catholic exorcist, find out how the king had his medicine made using alchemy, smell the apple odour that wafts once a year from the still-intact body of Mariana de Jesús who died in the 17th century, visit an underground art gallery, dine in a car park...
Madrid is overflowing with extraordinary and little-known places and curiosities. You just have to know where to look...
An essential guide for those who think they know Madrid well or for those looking to discover the hidden side of the city.

Discover the secrets of St. Mark’s Basilica with not a tourist in sight, finally crack the mystery of the pillars around the Doge’s Palace, take a trip on the only underground canal in Venice in search of the alchemical sculpture of the winged horse, have lunch at a restaurant tucked away in a lagoon fisherman’s house, track down Teriaca, that miracle potion brewed in Venice from time immemorial, decode the paintings of the Scuola di San Rocco applying the principles of the Jewish Kabbalah and see how Kabbalistic music influenced the construction of San Francesco della Vigna, visit an unknown underground cemetery, stroll through unsuspected gardens beyond the gates of palazzos and monasteries, admire the extraordinary forgotten library of the Venice Seminary, sleep in a sublime bedroom concealed within a palazzo, go shopping in Giudecca women’s prison market, play petanque in the heart of the city, retreat to a wonderful lakeside monastery, away from the crowds…

Five years of research have gone into the compilation of this exceptional guide, an opportunity for all who love Venice, as well as Venetians themselves, to leave the beaten track far behind and rediscover the most extraordinary city in the world.