The Roman Catholic War on Wigs
The Catholic Church’s ban on wigs in the 18th century was as revealing of attitudes towards disability as vanity and sanctity.
Italy
‘Catherine de’ Medici’ by Mary Hollingsworth review
In Catherine de’ Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen, Mary Hollingsworth helps the pragmatic queen escape her ‘black legend’.
The Ethiopians Who Changed Rome
A community of Ethiopian monk-scholars in Renaissance Rome brought their learning, language and liturgy into the heart of the Roman Church.
Italy’s Cult of Fascist Martyrs
Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, public ceremonies honouring the eternal life of Italy’s far-right dead have grown larger.
The Appian Way: Rome’s Greatest Achievement?
Once Rome’s main artery south, for centuries the Via Appia has been taken as proof of Roman greatness.
Sabbatai Sevi: The Lost Messiah
In the 17th century news spread that the Jewish messiah had finally arrived. Within a year he had converted to Islam. Who was he, and what had happened?
The Original Bonfire of the Vanities
On 7 February 1497, the Piagnoni of Florence set sin ablaze in the original ‘bonfire of the vanities’
Byzantine Bishops at War with Women
Early Christianity brought new opportunities for Roman and Byzantine women – it also brought new reasons to vilify them.
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.