9 November 2023
Newspapers around the world printed pictures of Indian tribes in the Amazon jungle in 2015. The discovery of new tribes in South America was also hot news in Europe. The fate of these Indian tribes is uncertain. Contact with ‘civilisation’ could mean the end. They are threatened minorities, not known and not beloved. Many Europeans … Read more » “Europeada”
6 November 2023
The Rhine is one of the longest rivers of Europe (1320 km). This river, the Rhenus in Roman times, became the frontier of the Roman Empire after 260 AD, when Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine on the right bank, called Germania Superior. The other part of the occupied German territory was called Raetia, the territory on both sides of the … Read more » “The Middle Rhine Valley”
18 September 2023
The current exhibition ‘Americans in Florence’ in the Strozzi Palace in Florence covers the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century. Many American artists travelled to Europe after the Civil War (1860-1864). They took up residence in France, Holland, Germany, Spain, and other countries considered crucial to a … Read more » “The Americans in Florence: thank you forever”
18 September 2023
The most impressive and improvised airlift in European history started on 24 June 1948. Germany was divided into four occupation zones after the defeat in May 1945. ‘The United States, Great Britain and France controlled West Germany. ‘The Soviet Union occupied East’ Germany. The city of Berlin was divided into four Allied zones. The Soviets … Read more » “The Candy Bombers over Berlin”
25 June 2023
The Council of Trent met for the first time on 13 December 1545 and ended in 1563. The choice to meet in Trent, equidistant from the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Pope Paul III, was symbolic: the Counter-Reformation needed a pragmatic solution and, above all, answers to the protestant challenge. Charles V expected a … Read more » “The Eternal City”