Here is a parade of buildings scattered throughout Italy, from the Aosta Valley to Sicily: castles, villas and palaces that stand out for their bizarre, eccentric, extravagant or unconventional architectural features. Most of them can be described as "eclectic", a term that points to their voluntary and conscious syncretism of various architectural elements and styles – taken from the past or present, inspired by different cultures and distant traditions. Eclecticism in Europe had some of its most vibrant and significant epiphanies between the 18th and 19th centuries, a time of great voyages and frequent contacts with distant and exotic places, only partly motivated by colonialist strategies.

However, sometimes these unique buildings originated more plainly from the particular temperament of unique personalities, who wished to customize their homes. Let's set out to discover the singular beauty of this heritage, in seven beautiful stops.

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Fonte: Italian Ways