“He who controls the high ground controls the battle,” goes the old military adage – and it doesn’t get much higher than the Rocca Calascio. Standing at 1,460 metres above sea level – that’s 300 metres higher than Ben Nevis – this medieval fortress provides a vantage point over huge swathes of land… Standing in […]
Commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family, the Castel Sant’Angelo has been a fortress, a castle, and is now a museum… This unusual, cylindrical edifice used to be the tallest building in Rome. Built to a height of 48 metres on the right bank of the Tiber by Hadrian […]
What few examples have been found reflect a wealthy and sophisticated culture with refined tastes This fascinating civilization is often overshadowed by its more ‘famous’ fellow Ancients, the Greeks and the Romans; however, the Etruscans stand on their own for their cultural development, artistic production and commercial prowess. They were contemporaneous with the Ancient Greeks; […]
In the hidden hilltop town of Ripatransone, Le Marche, Nina Richards discovers the narrowest alley in Italy among the medieval architecture In exploring the hills around Ascoli Piceno, on Picenus Hill, in southern Le Marche, you will chance upon the small town of Ripatransone. With its medieval architecture still intact, including some charming towers, churches […]
A turbulent era in Italian politics saw the emergence of a great aviator, the flamboyant Marshal Balbo, as famous for his stand against Hitler as for his revolutionary leadership. Of the many colourful personalities to come out of Italy’s fascist era, Italo Balbo was among the most exuberant. He was a prominent member of the […]
Only second to Brazil in the rankings as the most successful World Cup football team ever, the Italian team basks in the glory of its second title in 1938, in Paris. Victory on the football field seems almost second nature to the Italians. In the third staging of the Fifa World Cup, the Italian […]
One thousand miles of open-road racing launched some of the greatest car manufacturers in the world. Italia! explores the turbulent history of the legendary car race The legend of the Mille Miglia is remembered to this day, but what lead to the demise of the great thousand mile car race? In 1927, the race was […]
At the height of Mussolini’s powers, physical fitness was used to demonstrate the ‘supremacy’ of the fascist movement. As these diminutive skiers show, children were not exempt. Between 1926 and 1937, when the fascist regime was at its peak, Mussolini founded the Operazione Nazionale Balilla – Italy’s version of the Hitler Youth. Part of Il […]
It would take Titian the generation following Giovanni Bellini to really exploit the full potential of oil. He digested the expertise of Bellini and then took it to another level. Titian (Tiziano in Italian) was one of the greatest painters Venice ever produced – perhaps the greatest painter Venice ever produced. He was the […]
Joe Gartman reveals the ghosts of the past in Ferrera, a city where long-gone rulers and clergymen left unfinished business… Ghosts don’t exist, I am inclined to believe, but the atmosphere of Ferrara is distinctly eerie. Maybe it’s the mist floating in from the Po Delta, to east of the city, where the great river […]