Italy

A Pompeian fresco from the first century showing a woman tuning a musical instrument. Excavations at the partially buried Roman city reveal that women played a prominent role in the home, and that they took personal grooming very seriously indeed. (Photo by: Werner Forman/UIG via Getty Images)

At home with the Romans

Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Florence 1380

George Frederick Handel married opera's passion with the respectability of biblical texts, says Tim Blanning. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

10 milestones in the history of western music

An illustration depicting medieval pilgrims. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Library Medieval tourism: pilgrimages and tourist destinations

Industrial might: Blenheim bombers in production in England, late 1939. The Allies’ combined industrial strength proved too much for the Axis. (Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library The world in flames

The Fire of Rome, by Hubert Robert (1733-1808).

The Library A big day in history: the Great Fire of Rome

Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in the centre of Florence (Getty)

A big day in history: Florence’s bonfire of the vanities

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Ten Popes Who Shook the World

Illustration by Jonty Clark

Ye olde travel guide: Pompeii 79 Ad

Illustration by Jonty Clark

Ye olde travel guide: Venice 1500

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Second World War

Mission Accomplished: SOE and Italy 1943–45

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Q&A: Why didn’t Britain attempt to hinder Italy’s 1935 invasion of Abyssinia by preventing the Italian fleet from using the Suez Canal?

The Holy Face by Andrei Rublev. Tempera on wood, 14th century. Moscow, Russia. (Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)

The mutation of Christianity

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Over the Alps

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Inside Pompeii and a date with Elizabeth I