This eye-popping room might resemble an op art installation, but it is in fact the chapel of the Rocchetta Mattei, an extraordinary 19th-century fortress in the Bolognese Apennines. It was built by Cesare Mattei, the eccentric inventor of electrohomeopathy (a once wildly popular derivative of homeopathy), who lived there from 1859 until his death in 1896. The building is a bizarre hybrid of Middle-Eastern, Norman and Gothic architectural styles, replete with striped minarets, golden domes and elaborate crenellation. Inside is just as grand and eclectic—this undulating chapel is a reproduction of the interior of Cordoba’s famous Mezquita, while the courtyard replicates that of the Alhambra. Where will you visit once holidays can resume?
