Launched in 1960 during a wave of postwar, pre-Olympics optimism in Rome, the ETR 252 train was the height of ambitious rail travel. Designed by leading architects, L’Arlecchino boasted jet-age levels of onboard luxury with…
Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo has embarked on a mergers and acquisition programme with cultural clout, turning prestigious buildings in Milan, Turin and Vicenza into the Gallerie d’Italia – public art museums displaying the…
Clad in white coats and working with a surgeon’s precision, these Rome-based fine-art restorers are on a mission to preserve the city’s cultural heritage.
For decades the Belice Valley was a byword for bureaucratic bungling in the face of disaster. Now, 50 years after a devastating earthquake struck the region, the bold aesthetic legacy that bloomed in its wake is finally…
Oscar Niemeyer’s modernist citadel near Milan was designed for publishing giant Mondadori, a powerful Italian brand whose identity and culture has been shaped by the building for decades
Italy is a land of print. One such publication is the punchy periodical ‘Internazionale’ that, since the 1990s, has been selecting what it considers to be the best of international journalism and translating it into Italian…
With its central-European soul and Italian accent, this Adriatic port could easily have an identity crisis. Trieste, however, is used to occupying the space between one culture and another, as its unique film festival…
Olympic branding is a hot topic and graphic designer Lance Wyman’s seminal work for the 1968 Mexico Games changed the way we see them. Monocle catches up with him to talk wayfinding and the future of fonts in our cities.
From London to Mexico City, Monocle has selected five of the best practices with the architectural flair and interior ingenuity right for your next project.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a 1,000-year-old institution that played a role in the Crusades and issues its own passports. Now it
is fighting a very different battle: defending its honour as a paragon of Chr…
David Plaisant reporting from Trieste: The ever-present Bora wind isn’t the only thing that provides an air of frisson in this intriguing city: it’s also down to its complex history and fascinating geography.
With whole towns in Italy dedicated to producing a single item, be it eyewear, silk or shoes, it’s clear why the big names in fashion continue to rely on the expertise of the country’s specialised craftsmen.
Whether it is exceptional cuisine or governmental incompetence, Naples is said to exemplify both the best and worst of Italy. Monocle discovers the spirited heart of craft and industry beyond this and speaks to the ‘arti…
