As we file, Jannik Sinner, the leading Italian tennis player and world No. 1, is playing point for point against the Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz. If the latter is heir to the immortal Rafael Nadal, the former carries the athletic…
The eyes of the world are focused on Rome right now because of the death of the pope, but they should also be directed at Italy’s increasingly influential prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Last week, the Italian prime minister was in…
VENICE, Italy — When Gasparo Contarini surveyed the political chaos of Italy’s city-states in the 1500s, he grew somber: “It is evident that almost every city in Italy, whether it is governed by a popular order or even by one…
A Refiner’s Fire: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery (The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries, 33) By Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly Press, 288 pages, $22.00) Donna Leon’s 33rd installment of her immensely popular Commissario (detective inspector) Guido Brunetti series shows that at 82…
I have read about the Coliseum of Rome since I was a pre-teen interested in Roman history and civilization. I had never visited it until this evening, and it was an accident. All the pictures and photos that I have…
Older and more mature now, in matters of the heart I have come to the same conclusion as Dave Barry, who said “never again will I underestimate the persuasive power of a woman with legal training and big tits.” If…
You’ve almost surely seen the famous photograph taken from space of the Koreas at night. North Korea is almost totally dark, South Korea is bright with lights. In one image, it conveys the dramatic difference between communism and capitalism. Perhaps…
Dictators rarely have happy, quiet deaths surrounded by family and friends after a long, happy life. Instead, death tends to be a rather hurried affair that cuts them down in their prime. More often than not it takes them a…
You might be forgiven for assuming that Italy, the cradle of Catholicism and Western Christianity more broadly, is a Christian nation. After all, a cursory glance at statistics (and the country’s recent conservative voting record) suggests that it is —…
