Benito Mussolini on a visit to inspect Italian troops in a North African battle zone, 1942

Mussolini’s Colonial Inspiration

In its plans for the conquest of Eastern Europe, the Third Reich looked to the example set in Africa by Fascist Italy.
A portrait of Italian philosopher, writer and politician Niccolo Machiavelli

Machiavelli, Prince of…Democracy?

The other side of the Renaissance man, known today for promoting autocratic power.
Length of Brocaded Silk, Italy, 18th century

Eighteenth-Century Spies in the European Silk Industry

Curious about the advancing wonders of the age, savants traveled abroad to gather trade secrets for their homeland.
Garlic

Garlic and Social Class

Immigrants from southern Italy were stereotyped for their use of the aromatic vegetable.
The Visit, 1746, Pietro Longhi

Socially Sanctioned Love Triangles of Romantic-Era Italy

Eighteenth-century Italian noblewomen had one indispensable accessory: an extramarital lover.
Casa Malaparte

Casa Malaparte Is a Strangely Awesome House

Built by a fascist-turned-communist writer in the 1940s, it belongs to no one architectural style. But the views!
from The Battle of San Pietro

The War Documentary That Never Was

John Huston's 1945 movie The Battle of San Pietro presents itself as a war documentary, but contains staged scenes. What should we make of it?
Piazza San Marco in Venice, November 4, 1966

The Highest Flood in Italy This Century

Recent flooding in Venice has revived memories of a record-setting 1966 flood, which sparked an international rescue program for art and architecture.
Scottish Highlanders

What Does It Mean To Be Celtic?

How various nationalist groups have come to use "Celtic" as a coded way of saying "white."
Colourful sunset over famous shipwreck beach. Zakynthos, Greek Islands, Greece

The Romanticization of the Mediterranean

The idea that the disparate nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea represent a single region is the product of the nineteenth century.