By Bobbie Leigh   Gouged out of soft stone, the cave dwellings in the  steep, craggy cliffs of  Matera  are  without a doubt the most unusual in all of Italy. There's  probably nothing like their chaotic, troglodyte "spontaneous architecture"...

All you need to know about Matera in Basilicata Italy in 60 seconds....

Check out tonight’s “behavioral sink� stories from the UK. Every night there are at least a few, but tonight seems to have more than its share. Also, in case you haven’t been following the story, Obama will close Gitmo shortly after he takes office. The interesting thing will be what he deci...

There has been a spot of trouble in Egypt recently with the Coptic (Christian) minority — it seems these uppity infidels tried to build a church. The nerve! I’ll blog on the story if I get a chance. In the meantime, there are several articles in the North Africa section about the Copts. Thanks t...

Of interest tonight: the Spanish government is moving strongly to make sure that Russia doesn’t by a large chunk of the Repsol oil company. Prince Alwaleed intends to buy a 5% share of Citigroup. Kuwait lost $1.4 billion dollars in its investments in derivatives. And a professor at UC Irvine risks...

The most interesting news story of the day concerns the actual mechanism used by the Chinese authorities to censor the internet. It’s not what you’d expect — rather than a direct filter on content, it’s a 21st-century variant of the “Panopticon�. Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, El Ing...

FINAL PROGRAMME: Institute for the Study of Slavery conference Slaves, Cults and Religions, 8-10 September 2008 Rutland Hall, University of Nottingham Last-minute registration still possible. Registration form at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/isos/conference.htm Monday 8th September 12-2.00pm Registra...

Papa: Tensioni internazionali, rifiutare violenza e pessimismo Benedetto XVI chiede che siano vinte le “contrapposizioni nazionalistiche” e si crei dialogo su “integrità territoriale e autodeterminazione dei popoli”. Il riferimento alla guerra fra Georgia e Russia, e a...

A ABBACINARE Coprire di baci ABBAINO:  verso del chi wa wa ABBARBAGLIARE Abbigliare con l’uso della sola barba ABBARBAGLIARE:  fare abbaiare la barba ABBASTANZA:  Stanza per nani ABBATTIMENTO Pugno poderoso sulla mascella ABBAZIA:  Madre di abbacugino ABBAZIALE:  Non poter fare a meno di ...

Aglianico is a grape of a very ancient heritage. Originally brought to Italy by the Phoenicians from Greece, many centuries before Christ was born. Aglianico was famous in the ancient world for it's part in Falernian, a wine revered by kings and poets.  Some say this “Ancient Vineâ€� produced...