Articles tagged as Italy | Smithsonian Magazine

A cross marks the Austrian line in the Pasubio mountains, a relic of their 1916 “Punishment Expedition.”

The Most Treacherous Battle of World War I Took Place in the Italian Mountains

Even amid the carnage of the war, the battle in the Dolomites was like nothing the world had ever seen—or has seen since

June 2016

Cool Finds

An Italian Senator Wants Kids to Learn About Wine in School

A bill would add wine classes to elementary school curriculums

April 7, 2016

This 12,000-year-old city could soon be inundated thanks to a hydroelectric dam.

Unless things change, these historic sites could disappear from the map forever

March 24, 2016

Blu and local activists erased 20 years' worth of his street art from Bologna, Italy.

Blu used a chisel and gray paint to make a point

March 14, 2016

Cool Finds

World War II Survivor Tips Off Geologists to Hidden Tunnels Beneath Naples

The forgotten tunnels were used as bomb shelters

March 14, 2016

Italy wants its Neapolitan pizza to be added to Unesco’s cultural heritage list

March 9, 2016

Italy to Limit Tourists to Cinque Terre

It’s about to get harder to visit Cinque Terre—but that might be a good thing

March 7, 2016

Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet, is preventing new eateries from opening that primarily serve kebabs, gyros and fried food

March 4, 2016

A gondolier navigates the Venetian Lagoon, a shallow, 210-square-mile bay fed by the Adriatic Sea, at sunset.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Enduring Mystique of the Venetian Lagoon

Among islands barely emerging from the water, you find yourself in an ageless world

December 23, 2015

Animals prowled across St. Peter’s Basilica in a move to connect Earth’s beauty with the dangers of climate change

December 9, 2015

Centurions drink from a fountain near Rome's Coliseum during a heat wave in summer 2014. A recent announcement that centurion reenactors will be banned from the Coliseum during 2016 has led to protests and public outcry.

Trending Today

Rome Just Banned Centurions

Officials stir up controversy by kicking impersonators out of the Colosseum

November 30, 2015

Youngsters play soccer near a fort at the port of Korčula, which once served as the arsenal of the Venetian Empire in the Adriatic.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Old-World Charm of Venice’s Windy Sister City

On the Adriatic island of Korčula, where Venice once ruled, ancient habits and attitudes persist—including a tendency toward blissful indolence

November 24, 2015

A Byzantine-style motif is woven on 18th-century looms by the weavers of Bevilacqua. A winged lion is the symbol of St. Mark, the city’s patron saint, and of the city. Mario e Paola Bevilacqua, 337/b, San Marco, Fondamenta della Canonica.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

Nine Luxury Gifts You Can Only Find in Venice

November 23, 2015

Five hundred years ago, officials welcomed foreign Jews to Venice, but confined them to a seven-acre section of the Cannaregio district, a quarter soon known as the Ghetto after the Venetian word for copper foundry, the site’s previous tenant.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Centuries-Old History of Venice’s Jewish Ghetto

A look back on the 500-year history and intellectual life of one of the world’s oldest Jewish quarters

November 6, 2015

A 17th-century engraving of the revolutionary printer

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Man Who Changed Reading Forever

The Venetian roots of revolutionary modern book printer Aldus Manutius shaped books as we know them today

November 6, 2015

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Beauty of Venice’s Everyday

Instagram photographer Alvise Giovannini discovers Venice beyond its iconic symbols and places

October 28, 2015

Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s vineyards benefit from the breezy, sunny microclimate created by their equidistance from the Austrian Alps to the north and the Adriatic Sea to the south.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Best Italian Wine Region You’ve Never Heard Of

The world does not yet come to the Friuli region, and so much the better

October 23, 2015

"We pass from one realm of water to another," Brodsky told the author during their late-night walk through the city, which lasted until the first rays of dawn glinted over the sea.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The City Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky Called Paradise

A journalist recalls his witching-hour walk through Venice with the famous poet

October 20, 2015

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

The Genius of Venice

The seafaring republic borrowed from cultures far and wide but ultimately created a city that was perfectly unique

October 15, 2015

Director Federico Fellini had Sutherland’s eyebrows removed, built out his nose and chin, and partially shaved his forehead for the role of Casanova.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Venice

Donald Sutherland on Fellini, Near-Death and the Haunting Allure of Venice

October 14, 2015