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A painting found hanging in an elderly French woman's kitchen was found to be a long-lost panel from a polyptych by 13th-century Italian artist Cimabue. The painting, titled "Mocking of Christ," is scheduled to be auctioned Oct. 27. Photo courtesy of Acteon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VIDEO AT LINK................. Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A long-lost masterpiece dating back to 1280 is headed to the Louvre after it was found hanging in a French grandmother's kitchen. "Christ Mocked," a 10-inch-by-8-inch painting by Florentine artist Cimabue, aka Cenni di Pepo, was rediscovered in 2019, when an elderly woman from the town of Compiegne decided to...

Despite costing €9 million, the campaign has been slammed by art critics and government officials.For many, Botticelli’s Venus embodies the Renaissance ideal of beauty, but have you ever wondered what that might look like today? Italy’s ministry of tourism has launched a campaign that reimagines the iconic figure as an influencer—and it has been swiftly ridiculed on social media. “Hi there, everybody. My name is Venus,” the ad’s digitally altered protagonist announced on her Instagram. “But that’s something you probably already know. I’m 30, ok maybe just a wee bit more than that… And I am a virtual influencer. What...

Tuscan church reveals answer to mystery of Medici deaths John Hooper in Rome Thursday December 28, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Picking through centuries-old rubbish, masonry and discarded body parts beneath an abandoned Tuscan church, an Italian historian believes she has solved one of history's great crime mysteries. For more than four centuries, researchers have puzzled over the fact that Francesco I Medici, the son of the first Grand Duke, Cosimo, died within hours of his wife in October 1587. Legend had it they were poisoned by his brother and successor, a cardinal. Modern historians have tended to settle for the...

Medici philosopher's mystery death is solved By Malcolm Moore, Rome Correspondent Last Updated: 2:35am GMT 07/02/2008 After 500 years, one of Renaissance Italy's most enduring murder mysteries has been solved by forensic scientists. Ever since Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a mystical and mercurial philosopher at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, suddenly became sick and died in 1494, it has been rumoured that foul play was involved. Scientists display the bones of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Pico's fame has faded, but he was a celebrated figure at the Medici court. He gained notoriety when, at the age of 23, he...

talian eco-zealots glue their hands to Botticelli's masterpiece Primavera at a Florence art gallery in the latest climate change stunt inspired by Just Stop Oil vandals. Three environmental activists attached themselves to the glass cover of the iconic renaissance painting in the Sala Botticelli of the Uffizi Gallery in Italy at 10:30am on Friday. The protest was carried out by an unnamed man and two women - from the climate activist group Ultima Generazione 'Last Generation' - who rolled out a banner in front of them that read: 'Last Generation No Gas No Coal'. The activists, who had paid for...

A manhunt for a corrections officer who disappeared last month with an inmate accused of murder in Alabama ended Monday with the two in custody after a police pursuit resulted in a crash in Indiana, the authorities said. The officer, Vicky White, had been on the run with the inmate, Casey White, since April 29, when they left the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Ala., for a courthouse appointment that was later revealed to be a fabrication. The two, who are not related, had last been seen on that day in Rogersville, Ala., about 24 miles east of Florence, Marty...

Shrouded within the park of Villa Demidoff, in Medici Villas (Unesco World Heritage List, 2013), Pratolino, Vaglia, Tuscany, just 7 miles north of Florence, Italy, there sits a gigantic 16th century sculpture - 14-meter-tall masterpiece statue - known as Colosso dell'Appennino, or the Appennine Colossus. The brooding structure was first erected in 1580 by Flemish sculptor Giambologna, pseudonym of Jean de Boulogne (Douai, 1529 - Florence, 1608).Created between 1579 and 1580, the statue was included in Francesco I de’ Medici’s collection of natural and artificial wonders, and ended up costing twice as much as the works needed to complete the...

A jury has awarded $10 million to a South Carolina woman who sued Walmart after she needed multiple surgeries because of an infection that resulted from stepping on a rusty nail inside one of the company’s stores in Florence, her lawyers said. “The weakness of Walmart’s case, among other things, was their failure to produce a video that they claim showed their conforming behavior to a company policy calling for employees to perform regular safety sweeps,” the news release said. “No such evidence was presented for the duration of the five-day-long trial.”

More than 3,000 people were believed to have been killed when the River Arno flooded the streets of Florence on this day in 1333.More than six centuries later, 101 people died when the city was flooded on the same day in 1966. The 50th anniversary of the most recent catastrophe, which took a staggering toll of priceless books and works of art in the Cradle of the Renaissance, is being commemorated in the city today.The 1333 disaster - the first recorded flood of the Arno - was chronicled for posterity by Giovanni Villani, a diplomat and banker living in the...

The hidden gems, which depict Ferdinando I and Cosimo II de Medici, were discovered during an expansion project. ...According to the museum, an unknown person “protected” the Cosimo II artwork before it was plastered over. “Maybe this unknown savior wanted it to be preserved for the future generations,” the spokesperson said. “Obviously our researchers are already trying to figure out the story behind this.” In addition, workers also found previously hidden ant motifs adorning the walls and ceiling vault in a nearby room. The decorative work was likely carried out during the 18th century, during the reign of Pietro Leopoldo...

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - Hunter S. Thompson's body was found in a chair in the kitchen in front of his typewriter with the word "counselor" typed in the center of the page, according to sheriff's reports. The word was typed on stationery from the Fourth Amendment Foundation, which was started to defend victims of unwarranted search and seizure, according to reports released Tuesday. It was not immediately known what, if any, significance the word had to the founder of "gonzo" journalism or to his family. Juan Thompson found his father dead Feb. 20 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the...

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) wrote in The Prince (1505 in Italian, 1513 in English) what has been translated as “Never do an enemy a small injury.” If one is striking out at an opponent, one should make sure that the fatal blow is struck, successfully ending the confrontation. Machiavelli wrote that “the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.”

Two people were killed early Monday morning after their fishing vessel struck a jetty in the Siuslaw River Bar and sank near Florence, Oregon.

TheHill.com Chipotle launches probe after Colts star Darius Leonard says he was racially profiled, kicked out of restaurant BY MORGAN GSTALTER - 06/26/20 08:32 AM EDT 506 1,691 Just In... Ernst sinks vote on Trump EPA nominee ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT — 1M AGO Top Virginia senator announces $275K haul in first week as gubernatorial candidate CAMPAIGN — 2M 49S AGO Postal Service boosted by increased use during pandemic: report SENATE — 9M 24S AGO Nearly one-third of Black Americans say they know someone who died from coronavirus: poll HEALTHCARE — 30M 22S AGO VIEW ALL Brian Niccol, chairman and CEO...

In these times of financial woe, some journalists have been timidly exploring the past for precedents, pushing the horizon as far as the 1929 Great Depression. Very few have looked beyond that traumatic event, assuming that capitalism in its current form has no earlier historical roots. But this is hardly true--earlier history might indeed teach us valuable lessons. Raymond De Roover, a Harvard historian, published in 1963 his classic The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank (1397-1494), which opens with the statement that "modern capitalism based on private ownership" was invented by Italian merchants and bankers, by far the...

Courtesy of Emotions in the Heart of the City (14th-16th century), we travel to Florence during its between-Medicis republican interim* for a very emotional execution: On the morning of 29 May 1503, outside the city’s great Gate of Justice,** a young flag-maker (banderaio) was put to death for having murdered another banderaio. In a scene that struck the throng of spectators as an outrage, the executioner had failed to cut off his head even after three blows of his sword. The sight must have been grisly, for the attending mounted captain was next forced to move in and club the...

Raphael died in Rome 500 years ago today. Rome was to have been the focal point in the global celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the death of the High Renaissance artist and architect Raphael, hosting an "unprecedented" exhibition, the greatest Raphael show the world had ever seen. The Raphael exhibition saw a boom in the purchase of pre-sale tickets, with thousands of people around the world planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy to see the groundbreaking show, featuring no less than 100 paintings by the Renaissance master, with 40 masterpieces on loan from the Uffizi in Florence. Raphael's much-anticipated...

El Chapo rode a black SUV to the helicopter that transferred him to a plane for a journey to supermax prison in Florence Colorado.

In 990AD, the Archbishop of Canterbury named Sigeric the Serious had a more practical reason to walk to Rome. Having risen into his prestigious office, he needed to visit the Vatican to be ordained and collect his official garments. At the time he made the journey, there were many different paths to Rome. But Sigeric, who’d left from Canterbury, wrote down his route home through Italy, Switzerland, France and into the UK, cataloguing the towns he stayed in on his journey. The route he took now makes up the official Via Francigena. The only part that cannot be completed on...

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) -  A quarter of a century later, local, state, and federal leaders still work to build Interstate 73. It would be the Grand Strand area's first interstate.I-73 would run from Michigan to Myrtle Beach. Now after Hurricane Florence, there's even more urgency, among some, to complete the project. As Hurricane Florence approached the South Carolina coast in September, so did the call for evacuations. "If any of your listeners or viewers were stuck on Highway 501 or Highway  9 or Highway 17 trying to dodge this storm and get their family to safety they understand how important it is...