A pair of slippers left in a museum collection for more than 140 years have been identified as those of Napoleon Bonaparte's sister. The tiny silk and leather shoes were left to the University of Aberdeen as part of a collection by Robert Wilson, a doctor who graduated from the university before travelling the world.

La Scala’s decision to open its Verdi-Wagner season with Lohengrin unleashed a well-publicised storm in an espresso cup. The next two productions of its season, however, shift the balance back onto Verdi. Both are joint efforts with, among others, the Royal Opera House: Robert Carsen’s Falstaff was unveiled in London in May 2012 before arriving in Milan last month.

He was persona non grata in Italy during the reign of Silvio Berlusconi, who was so irked by the Economist's unrelenting criticism that he gave its then editor the rather unlikely title of The E-Communist. But the British author and journalist Bill Emmott proved on Friday that, even after Berlusconi's departure from Palazzo Chigi, he still appeared to have the ability to cause a stir.

Beppe Grillo is a cultural, physical and political phenomenon. The burly 64-year-old former accountant has been Italy’s most popular comedian, blogger and anti-corruption activist. Now, as Italians prepare to vote on Feb. 24 and 25, the bearded showman is shaking up the national election campaign as the public face of the Five Star Movement (M5S).

Rumours that Santo Versace's 30 per cent share in the global fashion brand is for sale are, according to the man himself, unfounded. "I haven't spoken to anyone about selling my shares and I am not interested in doing so. My stake is not for sale," Versace told an Italian newspaper on Tuesday.

The director of the Vatican’s museums has warned Italy’s cultural heritage is ”vanishing” after prosecutors in Naples said two more people had been arrested on suspicion of taking part in a ”premeditated, organised and brutal” sacking of the city’s 16th century Girolamini Library.

It's an interesting time for e-commerce as luxury brands figure out how to stay exclusive, personal and ultimately desirable while the whole world watches on. The latest such label is Etro, the Italian family owned and run business founded by Gimmo Etro in 1968 comprising women's and menswear, accessories, home and fragrance divisions.  

Equivalent of one university fewer in ten years. Enrolments down from 338,482 in 2003-2004 to 280,144 in 2011-2012. Shrinking teaching staff Undergraduates, graduates, post-grads, teaching staff and funds are all on the decline as Italy’s universities struggle. The warning comes from the national university council (CUN) in a paper addressed to the current government, Parliament and political parties involved in the upcoming election “but above all to the nation”.

When Liane de Pougy, one of the most celebrated Parisian courtesans, visited Florence, a famous admirer sent a carriage filled with roses to collect her. As she descended the steps, his servants threw more roses at her...This was none other than Gabriele D'Annunzio, the poet and lothario who seduced Italy to wartime slaughter with his rhetoric, scandalised Europe with his writing and set up his own city state in a forerunner of fascism.

One of Britain’s most sought-after conductors has found himself at the centre of a bitter row between Milan’s La Scala opera house and the theatre’s fiercest critic after being accused of making ­Wagner sound “homosexual”. The furore began when Daniel Harding, who has enjoyed a high-flying career since being appointed Sir Simon Rattle’s assistant as a teenager, was subjected to withering criticism by Paolo Isotta, a feared opera reviewer.

Thousands gathered in Saint Mark's Square in Venice on Sunday to watch the Flight of the Angel, one of the highlights of the Italian city's annual Carnival. In the traditional celebration - which in various forms dates back centuries - a woman dressed in a Carnival costume descends from the bell tower of Saint Mark's Basilica attached to a wire.

The Italian newspaper ‘Il Messaggero’ reports that several experts have identified a Caravaggio painting of St John the Baptist believed to have been lost. St John the Baptist was a frequent subject in the Italian painter’s work and the rediscovered painting showing a youth with a shepherd and a sheep is believed to depict the saint as a young man.