Things that are true and not in the brochures
Each collection groups facts that belong together and names the source for every one. Verified primary records open directly; a missing primary document is stated rather than hidden.
Borders that make no sense
Six places where the map of Italy stopped agreeing with itself
The villages the state tried to move
What happens when a government orders a town to stop existing
What Vesuvius kept
The eruption of 79 is still producing new information, almost every month
Found by accident
A plough, a fishing net, a road widening, a wall that needed underpinning
The ground is moving
Volcanoes, glaciers and a caldera with half a million people living inside it
The rules Italians live with
Dress codes, entry fees, tourist taxes and a bridge waiting on an accounting court
Things that never stopped
A quarry working since 1387, a forest owned collectively since 1111, a mountain road cut by hand in nine months
Read Italy, Lived: reporting on people making a life here
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