Category: Art and History

Have you ever climbed up and down a thousand steps in a narrow staircase? Have you ever been to the place where some of the world’s finest violins come from? Have you ever tasted sweet and delicious nougat? If you can answer yes to at least at one of these questions then you know this […]

Intrigued by the sexual play and political intrigues of the Borgia family? The recent hit miniseries certainly caters to the tastes of the sordid, but can such escapades really have happened? History of contradictory Italian family that rule not only the Vatican…

If you are planning a trip to Italy, including the South of the country, do not forget to include “Reggia di Caserta” with its splendid park and gardens. During World War II, the soldiers of the US Fifth Army used the palace as a headquarters, and, in April 1945, the Allied forces signed an unconditional […]

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome is hosting a great exhibition dedicated to the Italian artist and founder of metaphysical art movement: Giorgio De Chirico.  Born of an Italian noble family in 1888 in Greece, he was educated in Munich where he was influenced by the philosopher Nietzsche.

Castel Sismondo in Rimini, Emilia Romagna, will host, from next October to March, works of extraordinary artistic value. Among them, visitors will find the very famous Caravaggio “St Francis in Ecstasy.”  The masterpieces come from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the oldest American museum and surely one of the most important. It is hard […]

The wonderful church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is a Dominican convent of immense architectural value and a rich testament to the Renaissance in Milan.

Rome hosts till April 2010 the exhibition dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci, the universal talent of Italian Renaissance, and the embodiment of the spirit of his age. An eclectic man, he was engineer, mathematician, anatomist, painter and architect, who wrote and drew all his life long. 

Venice attracts  more visitors then usual in September. In fact, this is the time for the historic regatta (regata storica), a very popular festival, held  on the fist Sundays of the month. The Regatta is probably the main event in  the Venice calendar. A spectacular procession  of traditional boats decorated in 16th century style with […]

Archaeological finds between the 6th and 3rd millennium BC attest to the presence of a population of settlers and hunters that once occupied this area. Celts invaded the region and gave the area a name meaning “capital”, it then became known as Alba Pompeia.

Arnaldo Fortini was the first to identify this house between the churches of San Nicolò and San Paolo as the paternal house of Saint Francis, a conclusion to which he was led through his extensive research into surviving records of the periods.