Inside the Birkin-for-influencerfication of the storied Milanese house

To close out the season, let's delight in yet another US-made depiction of Italy that misses the mark. The song is not bad, though--almost in a Y2K bubblegum Europop way.

As the French-Canadian superstar returns for her first concerts since she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, we count down the best of an unabashedly romantic catalogue. Wind machines at the re...

How Ariana Grande’s citizenship discourse degenerated into musings on race science, phenotypes, and the eternal question of what Italians look like.

Unpacking Italy's twisted body-shaming culture (for women only, of course)

A deep dive into the evil twinks, femme villainesses, and witty androgynes who treated galactic domination like a grueling 9-to-5.

Lord Alfred Douglas’s journey from Hellenism to Catholic mysticism shows how queer Victorians sought meaning and redemption through religion.

In Italy’s culture of appearances, dignity, elegance, and respectability often come at the cost of repression, surveillance, and the constant fear of what other people might think.

Unpacking the social-media rhetoric around Italy

Over four decades, and with a plot that might, at first, ring simplistic and repetitive, Mario has endured. We dig into how Nintendo’s dedication to design and experience has kept the franchise fresh ...

The creative works on which Hector Berlioz drew when writing his macabre and revolutionary symphony were fantastic indeed.

The creative works on which Hector Berlioz drew when writing his macabre and revolutionary symphony were fantastic indeed.

A 600-year-old manuscript—written in a script no one has ever decoded, filled with cryptic illustrations, its origins remaining to this day a mystery…. It’s not as satisfying a plot, say, of a Nationa...

From protein bar packing to jawline gum, alpha male aesthetics ruled 2024.

Valerie Dore’s 1986 album The Legend, which tackles the Matter of Britain, aka Camelot aka Arthurian legends with typical Italo arrangements and instrumentations.

Video games have a long history of using musical excerpts from opera and classical music, but some creators take the in-game operatic sequence even further.

Before she met Lynch, Del Rio’s only hit was in the Netherlands. But her sorrowful singing in Mulholland Drive changed everything. She talks about the death of her son, being homeless and overcoming l...

To “live in the whole world of music” was all the influential, experimental composer wanted—and did, even while imprisoned at San Quentin.

How did Pikachu conquer the dance floor?

How did Pikachu conquer the dance floor?

From protein bar packing to jawline gum, alpha male aesthetics ruled 2024.

Bye Bye Bing and Brenda! Bonjour Janek and Piramis! Here’s our guide to the foreign festive anthems that get the whole continent schmoozing under the mistletoe. Warning: this article contains accordio...

The early Italian localizations of anime themes were all about disco and cosmic sounds

Italian Disco Stories spotlights the makers, the artists, and the performers who made Italian Disco a worldwide, genre-defining phenomenon. Click to read Italian Disco Stories, a Substack publication ...

American influences, early synths, and Italy's own tradition created a unique sound. Folk pop divas and showgirls alike experimented with the genre to get a career boost.