Europe Italy

The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial - and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages. On March 15, 1348, 22-year-old Joanna I, queen of Naples, stood trial for the murder of her husband before the pope and his court in Avignon. Determined to defend herself, Joanna won her acquittal against overwhelming odds. Victorious, she returned to Naples and ruled over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for the next three decades - until she herself was killed.

At the start of World War II, the US Army had two cavalry divisions - and no mountain troops. The German Wehrmacht, in contrast, had many well-trained and battle-hardened mountain divisions, some of whom by 1943 blocked the Allied advance in the Italian campaign. Starting from scratch, the US Army developed a unique military fighting force, the 10th Mountain Division, drawn from the ranks of civilian skiers, mountaineers, and others with outdoor experience.

A proposito della nascita di Milano, numerose fonti letterarie raccontano che nel VI secolo a.C. Ambigato, re dei Celti, mandò suo nipote Belloveso al di qua delle Alpi in cerca di nuove terre, e che questi, arrivando nella Pianura Padana in un luogo non lontano dal Ticino, vi fondò una città chiamata Medhelan. Il sito gli venne indicato da una scrofa semilanuta, il cui arrivo era stato predetto da un oracolo. Che valore possiamo dare a questi racconti?

A metà marzo 1610 Galileo pubblica il "Sidereus Nuncius", l'opera che annuncia una serie straordinaria di novità celesti che avrebbero inferto un colpo definitivo alla concezione geometrica dell'universo elaborata da Aristotele e sistematizzata da Tolomeo. Le scoperte galileiane, ottenute col supporto essenziale del cannocchiale, contribuiscono all'affermazione della teoria eliocentrica delineata da Copernico nel suo "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" del 1543.

Sticking out into the Mediterranean Sea, Italy has some of the nicest weather in Europe. It is famous for its art, architecture, and cuisine. Listeners will discover the physical geography of Italy through descriptions of the landscape, waters, and coasts. They will also learn about the cultural geography of Italy, hearing about Italian schools, businesses, and communities.

1 novembre 1535-19 dicembre 1548: fra queste due date, che segnano l'una la morte senza eredi di Francesco II Sforza e l'altra l'ingresso trionfale di Filippo II a Milano, si compie la parabola del Ducato da stato autonomo a periferia della Spagna. L'estinzione della dinastia milanese apre infatti un vuoto di potere legittimo di cui profitta Carlo V, sovrano del Sacro Romano Impero, per impossessarsi della città e trasmetterla poi al figlio ed erede Filippo II, re di Spagna.

Tre papi attraversano la vita di san Francesco contrastandone il dirompente potere spirituale e il desiderio innovatore: Innocenzo III, Onorio III e Gregorio IX. Il primo di loro, Innocenzo III, nel 1209 alla proposta di vita cristiana portata da Francesco dà una risposta estremamente cauta e, secondo alcune fonti, sprezzante e negativa. Non è l'unico rifiuto. Più volte Francesco cerca di far approvare una regola per il proprio ordine e più volte gli viene negato.

Una noche de enero de 1993, en una apartada provincia italiana, dos jóvenes soldados carabinieri detienen a un vehículo. Una semana después, el 15 de enero, Totò Riina es aprehendido tras 24 años de vivir en la clandestinidad. "El último capo" narra los hechos de aquella semana decisiva. Esos días enmarcan el relato de la etapa más sanguinaria de la mafia de Corleone, en boca de quienes la vivieron en carne propia y de los hombres que cazaron a Riina. Una semana que representa la historia de una época.

Fino all'inizio del XIV secolo il Medioevo europeo registra una crescita demografica e urbana, del commercio e della tecnica. Ma l'aumento della popolazione provoca una domanda alimentare superiore all'offerta e si avvertono i segni della crisi. Poi, a metà del secolo, un terribile flagello si abbatte sul Vecchio Continente: nel giro di pochi anni la peste riduce di un terzo circa la popolazione. È l’apice di una crisi profonda che trasforma radicalmente il paesaggio e l'economia e provoca aspri conflitti tra Stati.

Jackpot Winner Dead on Cruise Ship The Grand Voyager is in Europe and Meg Butler and friends are making the most of it. Meg is looking forward to visiting Monte Carlo and trying her luck at the casino. She learns of a secret pact made by a group of passengers who pool their money and agree to split the winnings. None of them win but back on the ship, the rumor mill is in full swing. Apparently, someone has won the jackpot and speculation is high around which passenger won and how much. The frenzy around the jackpot reaches a crescendo when a passenger is found dead in his cabin. Meg has no ...

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642 something happened that transformed the entire culture of Western civilisation. Painting, sculpture and architecture would all visibly change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back on what had taken place. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Sciences would be born or emerge in an entirely new guise. The ideas that broke this mould largely began, and continued to flourish, in the city of Florence in the province of Tuscany.

From the beginning, Rome was a hotbed of power, overweening ambition, desire, political genius, and corruption. Hughes details the turbulent years that saw the formation of empire and the establishment of the sociopolitical system, along the way providing colorful portraits of all the major figures, both political and cultural. For almost a thousand years, Rome would remain the most politically important, richest, and largest city in the Western world.

Mussolini has rarely been taken seriously as a totalitarian dictator; Hitler and Stalin have always cast too long a shadow. But what was a negative judgement on the Duce, considered innocuous and ineffective, has begun to work to his advantage. As has occurred with many other European dictators, present-day popular memory of Mussolini is increasingly indulgent; in Italy and elsewhere he is remembered as a strong, decisive leader. Mussolini in Myth and Memory argues against this rehabilitation.

Since childhood Helene Stapinski heard lurid tales about her great-great-grandmother, Vita. In Southern Italy she was a loose woman who had murdered someone. Immigrating to America with three children, she lost one along the way. Helene's youthful obsession with Vita deepened as she grew up, eventually propelling the journalist to Italy, where, with her own children in tow, she pursued the story, determined to set the record straight.

In 1967, veteran travel writer Eric Newby and his heroic wife, Wanda, fulfilled their dream of a return to life in the Italian hills where they first met during World War II. But this fulfillment would not come easy. The dream materialised in the form of I Castagni ('The Chestnuts'), a small, decrepit farmhouse with no roof, an abandoned septic tank and its own indigenous wildlife reluctant to give up their home. But in the foothills of the Apuan Alps on the border of Liguria and Northern Tuscany, this ramshackle house would soon become a hub of love, friendship and activity.

In the early morning of 6 May, 1527, the 20,000 starving, unpaid troops of Emperor Charles V began their assault on the great walls of Rome. After only a few hours they had overcome the barricades; the city into which they streamed was now in their grip. This uncontrollable force of German landsknechts, Spanish soldiers, and Italian mercenaries showed no mercy as they plundered, raped, and slayed their way through the holy city.

THE RELUCTANT EXPAT is Alan Laycock’s light-hearted account of his transition to life in a new country. Alan has no desire to move to Spain, but his sister Cathy and brother-in-law Bernie are going regardless, so he decides to tag along. Despite his initial pessimism, he soon sees that life in their new home has more to offer than he first suspected, and by befriending a pair of local oldies he finds surprising new opportunities opening up to him. A coin dealer by trade and an idler by nature, his new, dynamic attitude surprises Cathy, Bernie and, most of all, himself, as he gets to grips...

Do you daydream of the week you once spent in Spain? Maybe you envy house hunters on travel shows buying properties in Greece or Portugal. Are there days you wish you could drop everything and just move? Move to Europe and a new life? What if you could? It's not as difficult as you might believe. It's also not as expensive as you might assume. It doesn't matter where you are in life. It doesn't matter if you're where you want to be, or if you want to change it all. You, yes you, can move to Europe. Because, the beauty of Europe is there is something for everyone. Whether you want beaches or...

The very name Lucrezia Borgia conjures up everything that was sinister and corrupt about the Renaissance: incest, political assassination, papal sexual abuse, poisonous intrigue, unscrupulous power grabs. Yet, as best-selling biographer Sarah Bradford reveals in this breathtaking new portrait, the truth is far more fascinating than the myth.

It was the splendor and the scandal of the age. In 1506, the ferociously ambitious Renaissance Pope Julius II tore down the most sacred shrine in Europe, the millennium-old St. Peter's Basilica built by the Emperor Constantine over the apostle's grave, to build a better basilica.