Antonio Ligabue is a self-taught artist who primarily paints wild and exotic creatures. The artist used his artwork to express emotions that he couldn't articulate verbally. Childhood memories, landscapes, everyday occurrences, films, postcards, and books all become part of his iconographic legacy. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2022/06/07/the-wild-art-of-antonio-ligabue ..read more

The Borges Labyrinth is a replica of the labyrinth constructed in honor of the famed Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges by English diplomat and "labyrinthologist" Randoll Coate on the picturesque island of San Giorgio in Venice. This episode is also available as a blog post: The Enigmatic Borges Maze in Venice ..read more

The wolf population in Italy is made up of 3,300 individuals who live in the Alps and Apennines mountain ranges. Since the Italian government began safeguarding endangered animals in the country more than four decades ago, there are more wolves in the wild than ever before. This episode is also available as a blog post: Wild population of wolves in Italy grows in size ..read more

The anatomical machines, which are on display in Naples' Cappella Sansevero, are two anatomical models that reproduce the human circulatory system. In the second half of the 18th century, they were constructed from a male and female human skeleton. MORE: The Bizarre Anatomical Machines of the Prince of Sansevero ..read more

The Luigi Broglio space facility in Malindi, Kenya, is an Italian space center maintained by the Italian Space Agency outside of the national territory. It's a good location for launch activities and ground-based satellite monitoring because of its equatorial location on the Indian Ocean coast. MORE: The Italian Space Center in Kenya ..read more

Lucian of Samosata's A True Story is the first known work of science fiction. The novel is a satire and the first known work of fiction to incorporate interplanetary warfare, space travel, and extraterrestrial lifeforms. However, the work defies genre conventions by including sarcastic, mythological, and fantastic aspects. Read more: A True Story by Lucian of Samosata, the earliest example of Science Fiction in Literature ..read more

The DNA of the Romans has changed over time following the evolution of the historical phases that have marked the life and growth of the city. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2022/01/13/the-genetic-profile-of-the-ancient-romans ..read more

A trial for heresy of two peasants reveals a pagan-shamanic  peasant cult based on the fertility of the land widespread in Friuli,  northern Italy, around the 16th-17th centuries. The Benandanti was an agrarian cult with shamanic characteristics that  gradually transformed under the pressure of the inquisitors to assume  the features of traditional witchcraft. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2022/01/10/the-benandanti-witchcraft-and-agrarian-cults-between-16th-and-17th-centuries-in-italy ..read more

On September 28, 1583, Menocchio, an Italian miller, was denounced to the Holy Office on the charge of having uttered and attempted to spread “heretical and impious” words about Christ. The trial brings to light the complex cosmogony and worldview of a miller who stunned the inquisitors. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://weirditaly.com/2021/12/29/the-cosmogony-of-a-sixteenth-century-italian-miller ..read more

He became an executioner at the age of 17, in 1796. Bugatti noted 516 names of the executed, but two convicts are subtracted from the account, one because he was shot and the other because he was hanged and quartered by his aide. This episode is also available as a blog post: Giovanni Bugatti, the official Papal executioner who executed 514 people (weirditaly.com ..read more