Italy

Renaissance Florence’s Missing Bronzes

The controversial outcome of a sculpture competition between Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti changed the urban fabric of Renaissance Florence – or so the story goes.

Sex Workers and Salvation in the Renaissance

Renaissance Florence had a problem: it wanted female sex workers, but it also needed to offer them a way out. The solution was a new brothel district – and a nunnery for former prostitutes

The Birth of Giovanni Morelli

Giovanni Morell—later Morelli—was born in Verona on 25 February 1816 beginning a lifetime of dedication to the art of the connoisseur.

Curbing the Power of the Popes

The survival of the papacy has always been dependent on a precarious balancing act between the pope’s religious and secular powers.

‘Naples 1343’ by Amedeo Feniello review

Naples 1343: The Unexpected Origins of the Mafia – Amedeo Feniello’s history of the Camorra – has this much in common with the case against them: it’s all about the evidence.