The Curious Tale of The Laocoön And His Sons’ Missing Arm
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 12, 2021
The story of Laocoön, the Trojan priest who was attacked and killed along with his two sons by giant serpents for attempting to expose the r...
Showing posts with the label Italy
The Fake Dome of The Church of St. Ignatius
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 10, 2020
One of Rome’s lesser-known attractions, the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola ( Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Italian), lies just ...
Hostile Façades
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 27, 2020
The old city of Segovia, about 90 km north of Madrid, is best known for its aqueduct , but this historic city is full of architectural curio...
The Ruins of Gleno Dam
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 27, 2020
In a small valley, among the mountains of Lombardy, in northern Italy, stands a dam, or rather, half a dam. Built on the Gleno Creek, the Gl...
Christopher Columbus’s House in Genoa
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 24, 2020
It would have been wonderful to see the actual house where Christopher Columbus grew up. Unfortunately, the one that stands in Genoa today i...
The Vajont Dam Disaster
Kaushik Patowary
Jul 7, 2020
In the valley of the Vajont River, about a hundred kilometers north of Venice, stands an old, disused dam. The vast wall of white, wedged hi...
Monte Stella: Milan’s Rubble Mountain
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 12, 2020
The city of Milan is as flat as a pancake, save for a little bump in the northwest called Monte Stella. In the vast expanse of Po valley, ...
The Unknown Martyrs Who Became Catacomb Saints
Kaushik Patowary
Jun 1, 2020
Relics of saint and holy people have always been an integral part of Christianity. There was a time when bones, skins, fingernails, severe...
Draining of Fucine Lake
Kaushik Patowary
May 21, 2020
In western Abruzzo, in central Italy, about 80 kilometers east of Rome, lies one of Italy's most fertile plains. The vegetables that a...
The Earliest Depiction of Jesus Was a Mocking Tribute to Christianity
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 13, 2020
In the Palatine museum in Rome there is a collection of ancient graffiti etched on slabs of marble and limestone that once defaced the wal...
Scalae Gemoniae: The Stairs of Death
Kaushik Patowary
Mar 5, 2020
Not too far from Tarpeian Rock , a cliff on Capitoline Hill in the center of Rome, where convicted criminals were once flung to their deaths...
Circus Maximus
Kaushik Patowary
Feb 12, 2020
The Colosseum was the Roman Empire’s largest amphitheater, but it was not the largest stadium. That title belonged to Circus Maximus, situat...
The Meteorite That Changed The Course of Christianity
Kaushik Patowary
Jan 2, 2020
For more than two centuries, Christianity suffered under the Roman Empire. Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned, and starve...
Villa Girasole: The House That Rotates
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 21, 2019
In the hills of northern Italy near Verona stands an L-shaped house called Villa Girasole, which means “sunflower” in Italian. And just li...
The Unbelievably Delicate Marble Sculptures at Cappella Sansevero
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 9, 2019
In the late 16th century, the Duke of Torremaggiore, Giovan Francesco di Sangro, after a miraculous recovery from a serious illness, erected...
The Mosaics of Villa Romana del Casale
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 4, 2019
Many Roman villas, private residences, as well as public buildings, were lavishly decorated with mosaic floors. Mosaics served as a symbol o...
Caligula’s Pleasure Ships of Lake Nemi
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 18, 2019
Two thousand years ago, the debauched Roman emperor Caligula ordered the construction of two large floating pleasure barges on the relativel...
Fist Fights on Venetian Bridges
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 1, 2019
Throughout the Middle Ages and the early Modern Period, Venice was divided into many administrative districts and rival factions, who disp...
The Citrus Gardens of Pantelleria
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 26, 2019
Located halfway between Sicily and Tunisia’s coastline, lies a small speck of an island called Pantelleria. Pantelleria has a typical Medit...
Republic of Cospaia: The Italian Hamlet That Became an Independent State For Four Centuries Due to Surveying Error
Kaushik Patowary
Aug 9, 2019
Nuzzled next to Tuscany, in northern Umbria, lies a small Italian village called Cospaia. For nearly four centuries, this territory of just ...
