Archaeological sites
Las Médulas, the red landscape Rome left behind
In El Bierzo, among the rust-coloured pinnacles of Las Médulas, an ancient Roman gold mine has become a forest of surprising silence.
Jun 21, 2026Elena Marchetti
Borghi, arte e storia minore
Si occupa di borghi, centri storici, chiese e siti archeologici: paesi sotto i mille abitanti e architetture fuori dalle guide turistiche ufficiali.
Guides by Elena Marchetti.
City corners
Nafpaktos, the Venetian Harbour Greece Doesn't Tell You About
On the Gulf of Corinth, Nafpaktos is a fortified Venetian harbour with walls that run down to the sea: quiet Greece with no queues.
Jun 21, 2026
Churches and cathedrals
The rock-hewn Sistine Chapel: the Crypt of Original Sin
A few kilometres from the crowded Sassi of Matera, a cave painted by an anonymous Lombard master guards extraordinary frescoes that almost no one sees.
Jun 21, 2026
Churches and cathedrals
In Tuscania, the frescoed Judgement of Santa Maria Maggiore
In Tuscania, off the beaten track, a medieval church preserves a cycle of fourteenth-century frescoes that almost no one comes to see.
Jun 21, 2026
Churches and cathedrals
Albenga, the baptistery that spans fifteen centuries
In the heart of Albenga, the Early Christian Baptistery guards ancient mosaics in a silence that, a few steps from the Ligurian beaches, seems impossible.
Jun 21, 2026
Churches and cathedrals
Saccargia, the striped cathedral in the middle of the Sardinian nowhere
Among the hills of the Logudoro, the church of the Santissima Trinità at Saccargia rises alone with its black-and-white stripes: Sardinian Romanesque with no crowds.
Jun 21, 2026
Churches and cathedrals
Cividale, the Lombard stuccoes of the early-medieval Tempietto
In Cividale del Friuli, the Lombard Tempietto preserves stuccoes and frescoes: a masterpiece of early-medieval art still little visited.
Jun 21, 2026
Churches and cathedrals
In Otranto, the Tree of Life spread across the cathedral floor
Inside Otranto's cathedral, a vast medieval mosaic weaves together the Tree of Life, dragons and ancient wisdom, just steps from the seafront.
Jun 21, 2026
Abbeys, hermitages and sanctuaries
San Liberatore a Maiella: the Benedictine abbey among the woods of Serramonacesca
Among the woods of Serramonacesca, in Abruzzo, an ancient Benedictine abbey holds out far from the tourist trails, guarded by the silence of the Maiella.
Jun 21, 2026