Byzantine Bishops at War with Women
Early Christianity brought new opportunities for Roman and Byzantine women – it also brought new reasons to vilify them.
Italy
The Bruneri-Canella Case
The curious case of an apparent amnesiac in Collegno paved the way for forensic science to become one of the pillars of Italian law.
The Death of St Francis of Assisi
St Francis of Assisi died on 4 October 1226, leaving behind the question of how we venerate a saint who resisted veneration.
Behind Closed Doors: Women and the Inquisition
What was there to fear from a medieval inquisition? For the inquisitors, quite a lot.
George McMahon: Fascist Assassin or British Spy?
Mystery surrounds George McMahon who, having tried to assassinate Edward VIII, outed himself as an agent of a ‘foreign power’. Does the discovery of new Italian documents solve the puzzle or obscure it further?
Pompeii is Found
Identified on 20 August 1763, Pompeii’s value was as a source of antiquities for Charles VII, king of Naples.
David Reubeni and Africa’s Lost Tribe of Israel
A Black Jewish man arrived in Venice with stories of a lost Jewish kingdom that could save Europe’s Jews. Why was he believed?
‘Edda Mussolini’ by Caroline Moorehead review
Edda Mussolini: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe by Caroline Moorehead explores how Italy became enslaved by ‘a corrupt gang of warmongers’.
Shut Up and Eat!
Does silence endure in Italy over Mussolini’s murderous regime?
A Century of Fascism
Fascism would plague the 20th century, but when Benito Mussolini seized power in October 1922 few could agree on exactly what it was.