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Dark-history

3 stories filed under dark-history.

Dark-history

Largo di Torre Argentina: Where Julius Caesar Was Killed, Now Run by Cats

In the middle of Rome there's a sunken square of ruins holding four of the city's oldest temples — and the exact spot where Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March. Today it's a cat sanctuary, and the cats own the place.

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Dark-history

Poveglia: The Plague Island Venice Won't Let You Visit

Poveglia is closed. You're not supposed to go there. My mom found a boat guide who would drop us off and refuse to set foot on it himself — and we spent half an hour inside the abandoned hospital on Venice's plague island.

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Dark-history

Vlad the Impaler: The Real Dracula's Castle Tourists Miss

Bran Castle isn't where Dracula lived — Poenari is. I climbed all 1,480 steps to the real Vlad the Impaler sites tourists never find, and the history is darker than the legend.

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