When courage, altruism and forward-thinking make all the difference — If a 21-years-old British boy had gone straight to bed after his shift ended, 109 years ago, today the world would be a different place. Young Harold Cottam was the wireless operator aboard RMS Carpathia in 1912, and there would likely be no Titanic survivors around if he had not…

Fast, sleek and opulent, the legendary liner inspired the name of a beer — “Hurray for the Rex! The greatest thing the regime ever built!” In Fellini’s Oscar-winning 1973 movie Amarcord, the SS Rex comes out of the darkness, glistening with lights like a giant Christmas tree. …

An act of spite turned two invaluable historical artifacts to ashes — An act of spite turned two invaluable historical artifacts to ashes “I guess that anything we manage to save from history is a miracle,” Donna Tartt wrote in her 2014 Pulitzer winning novel The Goldfinch. …

They’re all external and I’m still broke af — So, as you might have surmised from the title, one of my stories has a bunch of views and no money to show for it. Now, do I have the skills to present a sensible, compelling argument about the fact external views help the platform grow and Medium should still…

You might be eligible for a shaming fresco in Florence — Are you a traitor, a thief, or a common murderer? Have you been found guilty of forgery, bankruptcy, political assassination, smuggling, corruption, or fraud? Have you been born between the late 14th and the early 16th century, preferably in the Italian peninsula? You might qualify for your very own pittura…

You don’t mess with Saint Olga — When you think about a Christian saint you might imagine a compassionate, benevolent old lady living a pious, godly life — caring for the sick, defending the weak against the strong, and repudiating violence and oppression in every form. Olga of Kyiv, the first woman to rule Kiyvan Rus’ —…

A story of covered wagons and inventive conmen — Casale California is not a very scenic spot. It’s a one-horse town on a lightly travelled road on the border between the cities of Modena and Bologna, in the industrial Po Valley. There’s nothing much to see, even less to do. You can eat at a nice BBQ joint, though…

Or maybe they do — I have a terrible memory. And I mean a really terrible one: if you’re ever curious to see what the cosmic void looks like, no need to book a trip to outer space on Elon Musk’s rockets. Just start a question with ‘hey, do you remember-’, and stare directly into…

“They stole it from us, our precious. Curse them!” — In 2013 an ancient Roman gold ring, associated with an obscure curse, was put on exhibition by Britain’s National Trust at The Vyne, a 16th-century country house in Hampshire belonging to the Chute family. The ring itself was nothing new, having been unearthed in 1785 in Silchester, when a farmer…