Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes

This guide to the Grand Master's Palace in Rhodes starts with the 1856 lightning strike that ignited three-century-old gunpowder hidden beneath the neighboring church, gutting the Knights' Gothic residence for decades. It follows the 1930s rebuild under Fascist Italy, when architect Vittorio Mesturino restored the palace as a retreat first for King Victor Emmanuel III and then for Mussolini himself, shipping in ancient mosaics from the island of Kos. Look down as you cross the halls: those floors were laid over a hundred kilometers from where they were quarried.