Italy

Engraving depicting the assassination of Julius Caesar

Q&A What are the Ides of March?

A portrait of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c1340-1400), who modern literary scholars credit for turning Valentine into the patron of love. Chaucer was a major influencer in his day – after him, everyone began calling their beloved “Valentine” and writing love poems on 14 February, says Lisa Bitel. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Who was Saint Valentine? A history of the figure’s origins

Richard Bosworth answers listener questions on the authoritarian ideology that emerged in Italy a century ago. (Image by Getty Images)

Fascism: everything you wanted to know

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How did pasta come to Europe and when did it first become established in Italy?

An illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo, showing a teenage Marco on the deck of a ship sailing away from Venice

Why are Marco Polo’s travels so famous?

Sophie Hay answers listener questions on the Roman city that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in AD 79. (Image by Getty Images)

Pompeii: everything you wanted to know

A mosaic that shows two Roman women exercising, one holds a flower and another holds a leaf

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Roman women

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The death of Domitian: how aristocrats conspired against the Roman emperor

A portrait of a member of the Borgias family

The Borgias: everything you wanted to know

Bust of Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo de’ Medici, the Magnificent: the astounding life of the ‘delightful tyrant’ of Florence

'The last Day of Pompeii', 1833. Briullov, Karl Pavlovich (1799-1852). Found in the collection of the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Pompeii: a remarkable window into ancient Roman life

'The Journey of the Magi' by Benozzo Gozzoli, commissioned by Piero the Gouty for the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. It features his son Lorenzo, who would become known as Lorenzo the Magnificent, as one of the three kings

“They were on a level with today’s billionaires” – your guide to the Medici: bankers to the Pope, rulers of Florence, patrons of the Renaissance

A bust of Marcus Aurelius and a detail on Marcus Aurelius’s column in Rome

Marcus Aurelius: Rome’s reluctant killer

Historian Catherine Fletcher responds to listener questions about the infamous Italian family, from their role in the Renaissance to stories of dark deeds and scandalous affairs. (Image by Getty Images)

The Medici: everything you wanted to know

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Photo by Alamy)

Ravenna: from Roman powerhouse to artistic hub