Milan is among Italy’s largest and most influential cities: Founded in 590 B.C., it eventually became the capital of the Lombardy region. Yet for centuries, it was somewhat overlooked as a cultural hub; while Rome, Florence and Venice were widely viewed as Italy’s seats of intellectual and artistic production, Milan …
Struggling to raise funds for the restoration of his cathedral’s antique organ, a priest from St.-Flour, a small town in France’s heartland, came up with a creative solution. He turned one of the bell towers into a curing workshop where farmers could hang their hams to dry. For nearly two …
Late last month, two days before Christmas, the Rev. Dr. Katrina D. Foster, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint, was showing off her church’s recent renovations. The neo-Gothic church was built in 1891, and the original blue, vaulted ceiling; wooden pews; stained-glass windows; and …
It’s a common complaint that Rome’s churches are overwhelming: There are too many, they look too much alike, their gilt and marble often speak more to the eye than the soul. During the Jubilee year of 2025, when some 30 million Catholic pilgrims are expected to flock to the Eternal …