Italy

A few small structures and trees dot the Lessinia Plateau, where sunlight casts shadows that accentuate the hilly terrain.

These 15 Photos Capture the Beauty of Italy

Scenes from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest prove there’s always more to love about the bel paese

One side of the amphora, which dates to 530 B.C.E., depicts the mythological figure Heracles fighting the Nemean lion.

Australian Museum Will Return Prized 2,500-Year-Old Vase to Italy

The institution will also repatriate two additional looted items discovered during investigations

Divers from the University of Malta began exploring the sunken plane in 2018.

Divers Recover Remains of WWII Airman, 80 Years After He Crashed in the Mediterranean

Underwater archeologists in Malta worked with the U.S. government to identify the 22-year-old from California

A German general ordered his troops to “destroy Viannos and promptly execute all males beyond the age of 16, as well as everyone who was arrested in the countryside, irrespective of age or gender.”

When the Nazis Massacred Greek Civilians to Send a Warning to Those Who Resisted

Eighty years ago, German soldiers killed an estimated 500 Cretans in Viannos and Ierapetra in retaliation for an attack by local partisans

Venice is struggling to manage an overwhelming number of visitors.

Venice Will Start Charging an Entry Fee Next Year

By charging daytrippers to visit on peak travel days, the city hopes to combat overtourism

Archaeologists unearthed the bedroom in a Roman villa near Pompeii.

Enslaved Individuals Slept in This Bedroom, Untouched Since Mount Vesuvius' Eruption 2,000 Years Ago

The small room with two beds—but only one mattress—sheds new light on slavery in a Roman villa near Pompeii

The Tyrolean Iceman Ötzi is one of the oldest known human glacier mummies.

Famed 5,300-Year-Old Alps Iceman Was a Balding Middle-Aged Man With Dark Skin and Eyes

Genetic analysis shows that Ötzi was descended from farmers who migrated from an area that is now part of Turkey

Pienza's historic city center, which Pope Pius II redesigned in the 15th century, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This Italian Town Silenced a Historic Bell That Kept Tourists Awake. Now, Locals Can't Sleep

The bell battle in Pienza, located in Tuscany, is just the latest example of Italy's tourism troubles

The new Orient Express La Dolce Vita train, which is set to launch next year, is one part of Italy's new train tourism strategy.

Grappling With Climate Change and Overtourism, Italy Is Betting Big on Train Travel

New rail routes will help throngs of tourists get around the country in a sustainable way

An aerial view of the city's canal system taken in 2012

UNESCO Recommends Adding Venice to List of World Heritage in Danger

Throngs of tourists and rising water levels are threatening to overwhelm the historic city

Archaeologists recovered a collection of blown-glass tableware in excellent condition.

'Perfectly Preserved' Glassware Recovered From 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck

The Roman vessel may have sunk while transporting glass from the Middle East to France

U.S. authorities have returned a rare copy of a letter by Christopher Columbus, which vanished from Venice decades ago.

Stolen in the 1980s, a Rare Christopher Columbus Letter Returns to Italy

The document is among several missing copies of the letter to be recovered from the U.S. in recent years

The sun sets during a record heat wave in Tempe, Arizona, on July 18, 2023.

From Japan to Louisiana to Rome, Here Are Ten Heat Records Earth Has Broken Since June

As the planet clocks the warmest June ever, here's a list of temperature marks that fell this summer

Twenty Blues trains are now running—and plans are in the works to bring more than 100 into operation.

Europe's First Battery-Powered Trains Are Here

The tribrid trains now running in Italy can switch between battery power, electricity and diesel

A recently unearthed fresco at a house in Pompeii shows a flatbread that could have been a precursor to pizza.

Does This Pompeii Painting Depict a 2,000-Year-Old Pizza?

The fresco features a flatbread with a variety of toppings—but no tomato and mozzarella

Visited by millions every year, the Colosseum has already been vandalized four times in 2023.

Tourist Carves Girlfriend's Name Into the Colosseum

Video footage shows a man using keys to scratch a message into the 2,000-year-old amphitheater's wall

A free exhibition in Washington, D.C., shows 12 pages from the multi-volume collection of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks called the Codex Atlanticus.

Leonardo da Vinci Sketches Go on Display in the U.S. for the First Time

Pages of the "Codex Atlanticus" provide a rare glimpse into the Renaissance icon's imagination and scientific prowess

Inscriptions on the statues in both Etruscan and Latin are still legible after thousands of years.

Found in Ancient Spa, Stunningly Preserved Bronze Statues Go on View in Rome

The trove of 2,300-year-old bronzes was discovered last year in a thermal spring in Tuscany

A walkway for visitors to tour the newly opened site

You Can Now Visit the Site Where Julius Caesar Was Stabbed

Rediscovered in the 1920s, the Roman square is now welcoming visitors for the first time

Paula Rego drew inspiration for her triptych Crivelli’s Garden (top) from a 1490s altarpiece, La Madonna della Rondine (above), by Carlo Crivelli. She said of her fanciful, figure-packed work: “The whole thing is full of stories, it’s just story after story after story.”

The Inspiration Behind a Monumental Display of Biblical Women

An artist conjures a whimsical new version of a magnificent 15th-century mural

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