Italy

Alfio Bernabei discovers evidence of a plot to kill the Italian dictator in the early 1930s.

Robert Hole examines the often misunderstood careers of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, whose power in Renaissance Florence was wielded with great subtlety and skill.

Adrian Seville describes the humble beginnings of the earliest lottery, tracing its development from 16th-century Venice across the Channel to Britain.

Renaissance Venetians developed a sophisticated technology for keeping the city’s vital waterways free from silt and in the process, as Joseph Black explains, created a unique landscape that inspired travellers and painters.

The Sicilian Uprising of January 12th, 1848 was the first of several European revolutions. 

The son of a fisherman's revolt against Spanish taxes on fruit in Naples, on 7 July 1647, was part of a wider challenge to Spanish overlordship throughout the Habsburg domains.

Richard Cavendish describes the brief rule of Cola di Rienzi following his coup d'etat on May 20th, 1347.

Edward Coleman weighs up Modern Italy's Northern League against its medieval Lombard inspiration.

Richard Hodges wanders through the medieval village of Rocca in Tuscany.

Diana Webb looks into the pleasures and pitfalls of an early tourist experience.