Venice

An anonymous marble bust picked up in a Paris art market has turned out to be a 200-year-old sculpture of a young Napoleon Bonaparte, Sotheby's said on July 1.

The auction house said the once-famous bust was going up for sale on July 5 in London, expected to fetch between £120,000 and £180,000 ($145,000 and $217,000).

Venice's Jewish ghetto is considered the first in Europe and one of the first in the world, and a new effort is underway to preserve its 16th-century synagogues for the Jews who have remained and tourists who
pass through.

Actress Claudia Cardinale may have been a sixties legend of Italian and French cinema, but in Tunisia, in the portside district where she grew up, she says she feels "at home."

"I left very young, but I spent my whole childhood here, my adolescence," said Cardinale, now 84. "My origins are here."

Venice plans to trial a reservation system for day-trippers, an official said Wednesday, in a bid to ease over-tourism as visitors flock back to the Italian city following the pandemic.

The pay-to-visit scheme will not cap tourist numbers but aims to entice some people to visit during the low season by charging them less.

Around 70 percent of restoration works in the 2,000-year-old ancient Roman theater ongoing since 2020 as part of the Archaeopark Project have concluded.

Being restored in accordance with many international ancient theater reconstruction works, the theater can be used as an open-air stage with an audience capacity of approximately 1,500 people when the work is done.

A cast of "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin will be auctioned in Paris on June 30, expected to reach between 9 and 14 million euros ($10-$15 million), Christie's said on April 7.

One of the most iconic works of art in the world, it features a man resting his chin on his hand and was originally conceived as a representation of Italian author Dante.

On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Maria Lanko loaded her car with several works of art and, like thousands of other Kyiv residents, headed west.

One of those pieces, a monumental installation by Ukrainian artist Pavlo Makov, was set to be displayed in Ukraine's pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

For centuries the impressive arcades flanking St Mark's Square in Venice have embodied the watery city's elegance, harmony, and architectural significance.

Now, the Renaissance-era palazzo whose galleries span as far as the eye can see on the north side of the square opened to the public for the first time on April 8, following a three-year renovation.

The 72nd Berlin film festival awarded its Golden Bear top prize on Feb. 16 to Spanish director Carla Simon's semi-autobiographical drama "Alcarras," about a family of peach farmers fighting for their future.

A shot of dark, velvety coffee is more than just a quick caffeine hit: Italy's espresso is a prized social and cultural ritual the country considers a national heritage worthy of UNESCO status.

Italians knock back some 30 million espressos a day, from Venice to Sicily, in porcelain cups or little glasses, with or without a splash of milk and see each one as a gesture of friendship.