Venice

Teams from Istanbul Municipality have discovered a statue from the Roman period, estimated to be 1,900 years old, in the area of the Saint Polyeuktos Church in Saraçhane that was destroyed during the Latin occupation.

The teams from Istanbul Municipality's Cultural Heritage Department initiated an excavation work in the area where the church was destroyed on June 8 last year.

From Paris to Berlin, Los Angeles to Istanbul, Russian filmmakers who fled after the invasion of Ukraine are slowly rebuilding their industry in exile.

Many are happy just to be out.

Leonardo da Vinci, the painter of the "Mona Lisa" and a symbol of the Renaissance, was only half-Italian, his mother a slave from the Caucasus, new research revealed on March 14.

Da Vinci's mother had long been thought a Tuscan peasant, but University of Naples professor Carlo Vecce, a specialist in the Old Master, believes the truth is more complicated.

British architect and urban planner David Chipperfield won the 2023 Pritzker Prize, organizers of the profession's most prestigious award announced on March 7.

The 69-year-old was honored for "timeless modern design that confronts climate urgencies, transforms social relationships and reinvigorates cities," they said in a statement.

When most people think of "carpaccio," they think of the thinly sliced raw beef appetizer made famous by Venice's iconic Harry's Bar. Few people know that the dish is named for a lesser-known Venetian, the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio, because of the intense red hues he favored.

A new museum honoring legendary soprano Maria Callas will open in Athens next year to honor the centenary of her birth, the city said on Oct. 26.

The museum, to open in the summer of 2023, will feature "valuable historical archives, rare live recordings, a unique collection of records and personal items" of Callas, said a statement.

A documentary tracing an artist's campaign against the family behind the U.S. opioid drug epidemic scooped the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, on Sept. 10.

Cate Blanchett won her second Venice acting award for her performance as a predatory classical music conductor in "Tar," having won in 2008 for her unexpected turn as Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There."

For director Evgeny Afineevsky, there was no time to waste in showing the world how ordinary Ukrainians are braving the grinding war with grit and determination in his new documentary at Venice.

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei warns against hubris in what he calls "such a troublesome time" with his first glass sculpture, made on the Venetian island of Murano, with the foreboding subtitle: "Memento Mori," Latin for "Remember You Must Die."

The Venice Film Festival kicked off on Aug. 31 with Adam Driver starring in opening film "White Noise," one of several Netflix entries competing for the top prize Golden Lion as the streaming giant seeks to burnish its arthouse credentials.