Searching for Samnites in the ‘Region of Little Cities’ Surprisingly few people have heard of Molise. Yet this is one of the most beautiful and the most historically engaging areas of Italy. Emerging from the road-tunnel that leads into the region, you get the impression you are entering a forgotten world – and in […]
Travel
Travel: Greek Temples of Sicily
Richard Hodges tours the island’s Greek temples. Sicily in February. Cheating winter with the smell of new grass and the first flowers and blossom, I promised two friends that in three days we would chase down the ancient Greeks and their Mediterranean setting. To get into the mood, I watched Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard. Now […]
Travel: Thasos
With guidebook in hand, Martin Davies explores the untrammelled heritage of an idyllic Greek island. I first came across Thasos as a schoolboy reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: it was one of those exotic, magical names that sprinkle the Bard’s works and stir the imagination. Lying just off the coast of Macedonia in the Aegean, the island of […]
Travel: The Yucatán
Richard Hodges visits sites in the shadow of Chichén Itzá. Hotels, at their best, resemble oases in a desert. Mayaland – nestling in the shadow of Chichén Itzá, one of the New World’s Seven Wonders – is just such a place. Its civility and graciousness are rooted in the Carnegie expeditions to this Maya metropolis, […]
Travel: Tunisia with Mr. Mosaic
Richard Hodges looks at the life and work of renowned conservator Roberto Nardi, en route to the Bardo Museum. Speaking in Oslo’s City Hall after his election as winner of the EU and Europa Nostra prize for cultural heritage for 2015, Roberto Nardi explained that he was amazed to be paid for doing what […]
Travel: Las Eretas
Jules Stewart travels to the little-known site of an early Iron Age community in the Navarre region of northern Spain. Las Eretas was never meant to be on the beaten path. On the contrary, its inhabitants were determined to distance themselves as far as possible from hostile neighbours. Visitors should therefore not be discouraged by […]
Travel: Pyramids of the Peloponnese, Greece
Eric Cauchi investigates mysterious ancient remains that have puzzled travellers and scholars for millennia. Greece, birthplace of the Olympics and mythical home of the gods, is known for its spectacular temples, its exquisite Classical statues, and its jewel-like islands with sandy beaches. But pyramids? That’s Egypt, surely. Think again. In the eastern Peloponnese of southern […]
Travel: Pompeii
Lorenza Bacino explores an ancient city being restored by modern technology, taking a tour through Pompeii in the company of Professor Massimo Osanna, director of the Pompeii Project, and meeting some former inhabitants with forensic archaeologist Estelle Lazer. Walking along the cobbled roads, it is easy to imagine Pompeii as a thriving, bustling town in […]
Travel: United Arab Emirates
Dubai is best known for its luxury shops and futuristic architecture. But this year the UAE is encouraging tourists to visit its ancient historical sites too. David Millar takes us on a tour. Dubai does such a good job of promoting its image as a destination of world-class shops and luxurious hotels that it […]
Travel: Rome
CWA’s editor-in-chief Andrew Selkirk takes us on a capital tour. I have been to Rome – again! In March 2016, the city was the location for the annual conference of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. The conference was held in one of Italy’s foremost universities, La Sapienza. This is Rome’s oldest – […]
Sicily: Touring Persephone’s island
In the early morning, when the light is right, one can see Sicily from Gozo. Though Malta, Gozo, and Sicily share strong cultural connections, each has its own unique character. Sharon Sharpe concludes our Mediterranean jaunt with a tour of Persephone’s island. We fly into Catania, in the shadow of Mount Etna, on the east coast of […]
Gozo
From Malta, we now travel to its sister-island Gozo, where Nadia Durrani encountered two new major restoration projects. In Maltese, Gozo is known as Għawdex (pronounced ‘audesh’), which translates as ‘joy’. And indeed, Gozo is a joyous place. One of the three main islands of the Maltese archipelago, it is a 25-minute ferry ride from Malta. […]