Benito Mussolini

Italy

Pope Francis celebrates a priesthood ordination and mass in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP via Getty Images)

General History

Sex and the (Vatican) City: a brief history of clerical celibacy

Pope John XVII

Has there ever been a married Pope?

Cardinal John Henry Newman

How to become a saint

Daisy Dunn.

The destruction of Pompeii

The Popes Palace, or Palais des Papes, in Avignon, France.

Q&AWhy did the papacy move to Avignon in the 14th century?

Emperor Nero and the fire in Rome

Q&ADid Emperor Nero really play the fiddle while Rome burned?

The leaning tower of Pisa

Q&AWhy does the Tower of Pisa lean to one side?

Lucrezia Borgia with her father Pope Alexander VI

Lucrezia Borgia: is her bad reputation deserved?

In his native Como, Pliny the Younger's fame is reflected in his statue on the city cathedral's imposing west front, which was built in the 15th century. (Image by AKG Images)

Pliny's Rome: Vesuvius, vice and vestal virgins

The photogenic Trevi Fountain is a highlight of most visits to Rome. (Image by Getty Images)

My favourite place: Rome, Italy

A c1830 portrait of the scandalous but sublimely talented Lorenzo da Ponte. (Photo by Alamy)

My history hero: Katie Derham chooses Lorenzo Da Ponte

Marble bust of Agrippina the Younger

Agrippina the Younger: the first true empress of Ancient Rome

Roman mosaic of a dog, bearing the legend 'Cave Canem' underneath, from Pompeii, from Naples National Museum's collection, 1st century. (Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 things you (probably) didn’t know about animals in ancient Rome

Cesare Lombroso, described as the 'father of criminology'. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

The ‘born criminal’? Lombroso and the origins of modern criminology

Agrippina the Younger. (Photo by Alamy)

Agrippina the Younger: a Roman woman of great power

The 17th-century church of Santi Luca e Martina overlooks the Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman Forum

ExploreRome, Italy: the 'eternal city'

In c1500, the young Thomas Cromwell travelled from his humble Putney home to the great cities of Italy, as shown in our illustration. The connections he established on the Italian peninsula would prove key to his meteoric rise to power back in England. (Illustration by Sarah Young for BBC History Magazine)

Thomas Cromwell: the best Italian in all England

A fourth to fifth-century AD Roman mosaic shows a woman spinning. The household was considered a woman's natural environment; the political arena certainly was not. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

6 women who changed the course of Roman history

The Fountain of Arethusa on Ortygia, the historical heart of Syracuse, separated from the main city by a small channel. (Photo by Alamy)

General ancient history

My favourite place: Syracuse, Sicily

Toilette of a Roman Lady. Found in the collection of Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

What did they wear in Ancient Rome?

Comprising a large semi-circle of heavy woollen cloth, the Roman toga was a deeply impractical garment. (Photo By DEA/A.DE GREGORIO/De Agostini via Getty Images)

Q&ADid Ancient Roman togas have pockets?

The history of birthday presents dates back to the Roman period. (Photo by Lambert/Fototrove/Getty Images Plus)

Q&AWhen did people start giving birthday presents?

Bust of young Caligula. Did he really make his horse a lawmaker of Rome? (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Q&ADid Caligula really make his horse a senator?

In the ninth century Pope Nicholas I decreed that St Peter’s symbol, the cockerel, should be displayed on all churches and many incorporated the design into weather vanes. Pictured here is the St Thomas church spire, Melbury Abbas in Dorset, United Kingdom. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

Q&AWhat does Jesus have to do with cockerel weather vanes?

Bronze statue of a she-wolf suckling twin brothers Romulus and Remus, the main characters of Rome's foundation myth. (Photo By DEA/G NIMATALLAH/De Agostini/Getty Images)

10 key Roman dates you need to know

Early 20th century image showing a tribune in the Roman Republic. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Elections in the late Roman Republic: how did they work?

A group of men wearing togas assault Julius Caesar in this painting depicting his assassination.

Violence, rebellion and sexual exploitation: the darker side of Ancient Rome

Illustration by Jonty Clark

Ye olde travel guide: Rome 192 AD

A Pompeii mural depicting a slave, in the Naples Museum. (Photo by Sites & Photos/Capture Ltd/ Alamy Stock Photo)

In Ancient Rome, what was the law of the twelve tables?

The World Cup story