Japan today is virtually a synonym for hyper-modernity: the Tokyo prefecture alone has a population of over 13 million, for example. Millions of readers worldwide enjoy fast-paced Japanese comics (manga), with their zany, misfit characters and supernatural plots. And the nation’s GDP – the world’s third largest – stands at...

You’ve waited in line to see Michelangelo’s David and you’ve sighed over Botticelli’s Birth of Venus – so what else shouldn’t you miss in Florence, the cradle of the Italian Renaissance? Tour leader Dr Kathleen Olive, who lived and studied in this beautiful city, has some suggestions. “As long as...

Rome is often compared to a palimpsest, a text made up of older, “invisible” texts scraped off durable parchment so that it could be reused. Thanks to modern research techniques, the older writings underneath can now be deciphered, brought back to the surface – and this is often what has...