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Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli after a Painting by Santi di Tito (Original Caption) Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). Italian statesman and political philosopher. Portrait by Santi di Tito (1538-1603). Ca. 16th century.

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Machiavelli

The Prince As leaders rapidly rose and fell, Machiavelli observed traits that, he believed, bolstered power and influence. In 1513, after being expelled from political service with the takeover of Florence by the Medici family, Machiavelli penned his outline of what makes an effective leader in The Prince. Unlike the noble princes portrayed in fairy […]

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Detail of 'The Birth of Venus,' c. 1485, by Sandro Botticelli, an Italian painter of the early Renaissance in Florence.

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance in Context Fifteenth-century Italy was unlike any other place in Europe. It was divided into independent city-states, each with a different form of government. Florence, where the Italian Renaissance began, was an independent republic. It was also a banking and commercial capital and, after London and Constantinople, the third-largest city in Europe. […]

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Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945) surveys the new Caselle Airport during a visit to Turin in 1939.

Benito Mussolini

Childhood Born on July 29, 1883, in Verano di Costa, Italy, Mussolini was the son of blacksmith and ardent socialist Alessandro Mussolini and a devout Catholic mother, Rosa Maltoni. By most accounts, Mussolini’s family lived in simple, small quarters. Young Mussolini was expelled from his first boarding school at age 10 for stabbing a fellow […]

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Stories


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Why America Targeted Italian-Americans During World War II

Over 600,000 “enemy aliens” were singled out during the early days of the war.

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Picture of a street in Gavinana area in Florence after the flood, 04 November 1966. (Credit: RAFFAELLO BENCINI/AFP/Getty Images)

The Disaster that Deluged Florence’s Cultural Treasures

Explore what happened during the 1966 disaster when the Arno River burst its banks in the city of Florence.

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(Credit: FABIO MUZZI/Getty Images)

Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean?

Pick any day in the Piazza del Duomo in the Italian city of Pisa, and you will undoubtedly spot a bunch of tourists posing for the same photo: hands outstretched towards the cathedral’s conspicuously tilting bell tower, as if they are supporting it with their sheer strength. The so-called Leaning Tower of Pisa is one […]

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This Day in History


1908

Worst European earthquake ever recorded

Natural Disasters & Environment
1900

Italian American assassinates Italian king

Crime
1978

Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is found dead

Crime
2001

Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens

Landmarks
1945

Benito Mussolini executed

World War II
1963

Landslide kills thousands in Italy

Natural Disasters & Environment
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