Italy

Bartolus of Sassoferrato, 1566. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

Count Binface Should Read Bartolus

The jurisprudence of the Middle Ages may complement the legal efforts of today’s environmentalists.

An Allegory of the Triumph over Heresy, with St. Domenic to the Fore, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, c.1650-60. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘The Cheese and the Worms’ by Carlo Ginzburg review

A new translation marks the 50th anniversary of Carlo Ginzburg’s pioneering microhistory The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller.

Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, first century BC. Bridgeman Images.

Caesar and Cicero’s War of Words

As ancient Rome was divided by civil war Cicero found himself torn. Caesar was his old adversary, but he was also powerful, and it was politically and personally expedient to support him.

Pope Sixtus V, surrounded by achievements of his papacy and places with which he was associated, c.1589. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Gambling on the Pope

The death of a pope presented a lucrative opportunity in Renaissance Italy. Fortunes could be made – but only if you could correctly guess the conclave’s chosen successor.

The Pazzi Conspiracy

On 26 April 1478 the attempted coup against Florentine tyrant Lorenzo de’ Medici ended in disaster.

Dancing Party in the Forecourt of an Imaginary Palace with a Capriccio View of Venice in the Distance, c.1615. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

‘Lying Abroad’ by Carol Chillington Rutter review

Lying Abroad: Henry Wotton and the Invention of Diplomacy by Carol Chillington Rutter is a case study of the archetypal early modern ambassador.

The entrance to the Venice Biennale, from Isabella Gardner’s scrapbook, 1895. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum/Bridgeman Images.

The First Venice Biennale

By the late 19th century the relationship between art and Italy felt consigned to history. On 30 April 1895 creativity and controversy returned with the first Venice Biennale.

Italo Calvino, Rome, 1960. Farabola/Bridgeman Images.

Italo Calvino: A Traveller in a World of Uncertainty

If the present, with its conflicts and uncertainties, is impossible to know, asks Italo Calvino, how can we hope to understand the past?

Sicilian Vespers, by Erulo Eroli, 1890-91. A. Dagli Orti/NPL - DeA Picture Library/ Bridgeman Images.

The Sicilian Vespers

Two thousand were slain on the night of 30 March 1282 as the Kingdom of Sicily rose against the hated Charles of Anjou in the Sicilian Vespers.

Piazza San Marco, Venice, by Canaletto, 1720s. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Servants on the Grand Tour

An army of help accompanied wealthy British sightseers on their 18th-century sojourns across the Continent. What was it like to travel as a servant on the Grand Tour?