It was a narrow room with no exterior views, featuring small windows with iron bars for light. Notches on the floor coordinated the movement of the animals, forced to walk for hours with blindfolds. The facility was unearthed in Regio IX, insula 10, as part of ongoing excavations in a broader project to secure and […]
Italy
Posted inAntiquity, Archaeology
Two Ancient Stone Anchors Found off the Coast of Siracusa, in Sicily
During a joint operation by the Maritime Superintendency of the Sicily Region and the Diving Unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Messina, an archaeological protection operation was conducted on the seabed off the coast of San Lorenzo, in the municipality of Noto, province of Siracusa (Sicily). The verification and survey operation was triggered by […]
Posted inArchaeology, Prehistory
Archaeologists recover Neolithic Ship Cargo off the Coast of Capri in Italy
The Metropolitan Area Superintendence of Naples recovered a series of Neolithic-era obsidian cores near Capri’s Blue Grotto in October 2023, suggesting broader area usage in prehistoric times.
Posted inAncient Rome, Archaeology
Bilingual Etruscan and Latin Inscription, Alongside Apollo’s Statue, Revealed at Bagno Grande Thermal Sanctuary
The 2023 excavation at Italy’s Bagno Grande archaeological site revealed an Etruscan-era structure, a bilingual inscription, and a marble Apollo statue, confirming the area’s long-standing religious and healing purposes.
Posted inSecond World War
Remains of Missing WWII Pilot Found in Sicily After Eight Decades
Almost 80 years after WWII bomber pilot Lieutenant Gilbert Haldeen Myers’ plane crashed in Sicily, his remains were found and identified by UK and US investigators, providing closure to his family.
Posted inAncient Rome, Archaeology
3,000 Coins and 50 Gems Dedicated to Deities Found in the Ancient Roman City of Claternae
A series of significant discoveries has recently been revealed during ongoing archaeological excavations at the site of the ancient Roman city of Claternae, located in the municipality of Ozzano dell’Emilia in the Emilia-Romagna region, about 15 kilometers southeast of Bologna. Last Tuesday, an event was held where the Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of […]
Posted inAntiquity, Art
The Warrior of Capestrano: The Strange Iron Age Sculpture Representing the Second King of Rome
In September 1934, a farmer was tending to his fields in the municipality of Capestrano, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, when his tools came across fragments of stone that would soon reveal themselves to be part of a grand sculpture. After notifying the authorities, archaeological excavations began, uncovering one of the masterpieces of pre-Roman […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
Celestine V, the pope who resigned and was imprisoned in a castle for the rest of his life
Times have changed, and social evolution makes it possible that, if in the past access to the throne of St. Peter was in the hands of a dominant caste formed by families of ancient lineage linked to a series of class privileges and economically well-off, today that situation has been democratized, and it is no […]
Posted inArt
Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli’s model for his Renaissance prince and alleged inspiration for Leonardo’s face of Christ
Cesare Borgia, commonly known as the Duke of Valentinois, gained his state through his father’s fortune, and lost it with that same fortune, despite employing every imaginable means and doing everything that a prudent and skillful man should do to establish himself in a state acquired with the help of arms and the support of […]
Posted inModern Era
Giovanni della Porta, the Renaissance scholar who encrypted messages inside eggs to fool the Inquisition
Giovanni Battista della Porta was born in November 1535 in Vico Equense, a municipality of the Kingdom of Naples that since 1504, by the Treaty of Lyon, belonged to the Crown of Aragon and with the rise to the throne of Joanna the Mad was transformed into a viceroyalty, remaining in Spanish possession until 1704. […]