The “Bazooka Vespa”: the scooter that could destroy a tank.
Its technical name was “Piaggio Vespa 150 TAP”, but it remained known among the experts and military history enthusiasts as “Bazooka Vespa”, for the imposing M20 cannon that crossed it […]
The Belgrade Phantom: the thief who for 10 nights mocked the Yugoslav police.
In August 1979, a stranger then nicknamed the Phantom of Belgrade drove the city police forces mad, which probably thanked heaven for the absence of President Josef Broz Tito, who […]
Konstanz: the German city that avoided WWII bombing by pretending to be Switzerland
Europe, the old continent so rich in artistic, historical and architectural treasures, suffered incurable wounds especially during the World War II, in which centuries of history were swept away by […]
Roter Franz, the Mummy with Hair, Beard and Red Eyebrows
Roter Franz is the mummy of a young man found in the Bourtanger swamp, on the border between Holland and Germany, in 1900. Also known as “Neu Versen Man”, the […]
The Mystery of the “Fool’s Cap Map of the World”.
The symbol of the fool or joker, or the court jester, inspired the figure of the Joker in the card decks, but also many other images. One in particular, called […]
Colossi of Memnon: the huge statues that sang at dawn
Standing on the west bank of the Nile, opposite today’s Luxor, two huge stone statues with a few disquieting appearance have been observing for millennia the slow flow of the […]
Execution with the Cannon: terrible capital punishment until the nineteenth century
Execution by cannon was a method of execution in which the victim was tied to the mouth of a cannon which was then fired. The cannon has been one of […]
Guillotine: a “human form” of execution.
As strange as it may seem, the instrument of capital execution that became the emblem of the French revolutionary excesses of the eighteenth century, the guillotine, was born with humanitarian […]
What We Call Today “living room”, Was Actually Called “Death Room” in the victorian era…
We all know that the living room is one of the central parts of every modern home, often used for television, relax or other family activities. If today it happens […]
22# Silent Night and the Christmas truce.
This story is probably another chapter in the book of the countless Christmas legend, and another checkbox in our advent calendar! It was 1914 ,and soldiers on both sides of […]
100 Skeletons show the extreme London poverty at the beginning of the Victorian Times.
Some archaeologists have recently examined a burial site of the first half of the nineteenth century discovered in the parking lot of New Covent Garden, in the south-west area of […]
Peace between Athens and Sparta: an agreement signed only in 1996
The Peloponnesian War of 431-404 BC between the Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta was a pivotal period in world history. Athens, the semi-democratic state that lent so many of […]
3.500 years ago the Ancient Egyptians used an effective Pregnancy Test!
At the University of Copenhagen in Denmark there is a unique collection of Ancient Egyptian papyrus manuscripts. A large part of the collection has not yet been translated and still […]
Mummies of Cats and Scarabs: New Surprising Discoveries from Ancient Egypt!
Minister of Antiquities Dr. Khaled El-Enany announced some days ago a new discovery made by an Egyptian archaeological mission during excavation work carried out since April until now at the […]
The William Wallace Monument, in memory of the Glorious Battle of Stirling Bridge.
The proud and combative Scottish, since ancient times, proved to be a people who, despite not having a single political, cultural and linguistic identity, gave a hard time to anyone […]
Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl: the Tragic Legend of the Aztec Lovers who turned into Volcanoes.
Myths and legends of every people of the earth are closely linked to the territory in which they are born. So it was also for the Mayans and the Aztecs […]
Götz von Berlichingen: the legendary German Knight of the Iron Hand
Götz von Berlichingen was born in Germany around 1480, around the time that even those belonging to families of the small nobility with few means, like him, very often became […]
