Argentina have won the Copa América, Italy the European Championship; all that remains is for the Argentine Bishop of Rome to emerge victorious from his bout with illness (yesterday, incidentally, he was already addressing the faithful from the balcony of

And yes, before the match it was worth bearing in mind that Roberto Mancini had symbolically admitted Pope Francis to the Italian squad the year before last

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Argentina have won the Copa América, Italy the European Championship; all that remains is for the Argentine Bishop of Rome to emerge victorious from his bout with illness (yesterday, incidentally, he was already addressing the faithful from the balcony of

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s