Category: Rome

The Medici: Patrons of the Florentine Renaissance

Their artworks are icons of Italy and their names are among the most well-known in the art world: Donatello, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Michelangelo. Eager viewers stop and snap photos of the instantly-recognizable paintings, sculptures, and buildings. Displayed in museums around the world, the immortal paintings invite a popular following. What remains obscured in the history books,…


Most of Italy to Enter Lockdown as Nation Faces ‘New Wave’ of CCP Virus Outbreak

Most of Italy’s 20 regions, including the regions surrounding the cities of Rome and Milan, are entering another round of lockdown that could last until Easter, in order to curb the spread of the CCP virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease. A year after Italy became the first in Europe to suffer a major CCP (Chinese Communist…


Italians Flock Back to Coffee Bars as COVID-19 Restrictions Eased

ROME—The familiar tinkling of ceramic cups and chatter returned to coffee bars across most of Italy on Monday, as rigid COVID-19 restrictions were eased. After severe curbs over the Christmas and New Year period, two-thirds of Italy was declared a “yellow zone” allowing bars in those less risky areas to serve customers at counters and…


Pompeii Is Famous for Its Ruins and Bodies, but What About Its Wine?

Pompeii is famed for plaster-cast bodies, ruins, frescoes, and the rare snapshot it provides of a rather typical ancient Roman city. But less famous is its evidence of viticulture. Wild grapevines probably existed across peninsular Italy since prehistory, but it is likely the Etruscans and colonizing Greeks promoted wine-making with domesticated grapes as early as…