Paola Totaro
04 December 2024
The comeback of Notre Dame
President Macron said Notre Dame would be rebuilt within five years and would be even more beautiful. And so it came to pass
Read the full article04 November 2024
Is this Trump’s woman in Europe?
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has held her extreme political instincts in check – so far. If Trump wins, will that change?
Read the full article07 August 2024
France stages a lost opera
If opera needs a way to entrance new, younger audiences, this production of Samson needs to get on the road
Read the full article15 May 2024
An immigrant’s love letter to Britain
Cheer up, you miserable lot. Yes, your country has its problems – but there is so much to be proud of
Read the full article06 March 2024
Naples: the city of trans magic
For centuries, the city has had an inclusive relationship what locals call the femminielli, celebrating the joy and glamour of the third sex
Read the full article19 December 2023
The Vatican scandal has ended in long jail terms. But has the Pope kicked a hornet’s nest?
Cardinal Angelo Becciu has been sent to prison for embezzlement and a full clean-up may follow
Read the full article28 June 2023
Is the Turin Shroud real after all?
A 1988 report wrote off the relic as a medieval fake. But now the science seems to be turning. Could it have been a miracle all along?
Read the full article10 May 2023
Napoli’s Scudetto and the revenge of Italy’s ‘sewer’
Napoli’s joy at winning Serie A is about much more than their long wait – it is about a history of abuse from their northern rivals
Read the full article05 May 2023
In the shadow of Vesuvius, a city erupts as Napoli win the title
Fireworks go on through the night ad Naples celebrates
Read the full article01 May 2023
Paradise postponed for Napoli
Can the football-mad Italian city achieve the ultimate goal?
Read the full article02 February 2023
Holy war in the Vatican
After mourning Pope Emeritus Benedict, Catholic traditionalists are again lining up against Pope Francis
Read the full article13 November 2022
Senseless: My journey through a world without smell
Authorities initially dismissed the link between Covid and a loss of smell and taste - until they couldn't. Now, a deeply disconcerting experience for millions has prompted a rush of research that will have benefits for the future
Read the full article10 November 2022
Fiddling in Rome
Is a huge financial scandal about to engulf the Vatican?
Read the full article04 August 2022
The bones of Waterloo
Around 20,000 people died in the battle, yet mass graves have never been found. Now, we are getting closer to the truth
Read the full article09 June 2022
Sex in the shadow of Vesuvius
A new exhibition celebrates Pompeii’s erotic art and artefacts, many hidden from public view since their excavation in the 19th century
Read the full article02 June 2022
Notre-Dame after the fire
The world watched Paris’s greatest treasure burn. Two years on, restoration is beginning in earnest
Read the full article21 April 2022
A stain of corruption haunts Pope Francis
Pope Francis’s credentials as a reformer and the future of the Vatican’s finances are being laid bare as a financial crimes mega-trial unfolds in Rome
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