Hidden Italy

The Castelli Romani area has long been popular for its beauty and climate, but its historical and artistic value remains greatly underappreciated. Its scenic beauty and mild climes were favoured by Roman aristocrats, who came here to refresh body and soul. Otium - or active rest, in natural surroundings but cultivating reading and friendships - became the genius loci of the Castelli.

The story of Ancona's past as a commercial hub and 'gateway to the East'. Its coastline was an alternative trade route to that of Venice stretching from the Middle East to England. From the 11th century to 1532, Ancona was a free municipality. An oligarchic republic that, at the peak of its splendour, sent consuls and operated trading posts and colonies in many ports in the East and West.

Witness the history of the Marquisate of Montferrat during its last period of glory, which corresponds to the final decades of the dynasty of the Palaeologus marquesses (1306-1533). Over the course of the 15th century, the marquesses and the great families - especially at the end of the century and the early 16th century - succeeded in creating a cultured and refined Renaissance court.

After the fall of the Kingdom, the Duchy of Benevento was the only Lombard territory to maintain its independence for almost three hundred years. This cultural autonomy is the most fascinating feature of the long history of this southern duchy, which generated highly original styles of architecture, painting, illuminated manuscripts, music and literature.

Although the Aosta Valley had been in the hands of the Duchy of Savoy since 1033, they delegated the governance to the Lords of Challant, who were rooted in the territory and became their viscounts. Our main line of investigation is the role of the Challants as castle builders: a vocation that consolidated their place in the history of modern military architecture.

With three devastating tremors on the 5th and 7th of February and the 28th of March 1783, the earthquake was known as the 'Iliade funesta', or terrible wrath. It became a dramatic turning point in history that wreaked geological turmoil and razed a large part of Calabria Ultra (or Ulteriore) to the ground. The government in Naples promptly put in place a series of economic measures.