3 h. ago Woman 'really creeped out' after making horror discovery in her wall while renovating her house

Emmie Brookman and Norton Johnston were renovating their home when the found some bones in the walls - and also found out that a local murderer lived next to the farmhouse

Events

13 h. ago Woman makes gruesome discovery while renovating her 16th century farmhouse

Emmie Brookman, 28, invested in the three-bedroom property alongside 34-year-old Norton Johnston and had to renovate it after finding pink mould.

Politics

16 h. ago Eight stayaction cottages given top 'five tick' status by visitors

They stretch from a former Victorian pumping station in Nottinghamshire to a 16th Century home in Yorkshire

Politics

58 h. ago Who are the Swiss Guards watching over Pope Francis’s lying in state?

They date back to the 16th century when mercenaries first served Pope Julius II and form the world’s smallest armyWith their feathered helmets, ruffled collars and coloured, puffed-sleeve uniforms, the Vatican Swiss Guards are often likened by curious visitors to medieval court jesters.But appearances can be deceiving. The world’s smallest army, whose primary role is to protect the pope, has been rigorously trained and with no living pontiff to protect right now will join the huge security operation involving specialist Italian police units and the military given the task of keeping watch over Vatican City and Rome during the funeral of Pope Francis and the subsequent conclave. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Pope Francis: thousands more pay respects on second day of lying in state

More than 60,000 people have viewed body of late pontiff since Wednesday morning, says VaticanThousands of mourners lined up for hours on a second day to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis’s body, after St Peter’s Basilica stayed open all night to cope with the huge crowds who had come to pay their final respects.The 16th-century basilica, where Francis’s simple wooden coffin is placed on the main altar, was scheduled to close at midnight on Wednesday but remained open until 5.30am to allow in those who still wished to enter. After just 90 minutes of cleaning, it was reopened at 7am. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Pope Francis: basilica stays open overnight so thousands can pay final respects

More than 50,000 people, queuing for hours, viewed body of late pontiff over 24-hour period, says VaticanSt Peter’s Basilica has reopened for thousands of people to pay their final respects to Pope Francis for a second day, following a brief pause after keeping its doors open all night.The 16th-century basilica, where Francis’s simple wooden coffin is placed on the main altar, was scheduled to close at midnight but remained open until 5.30am to allow in those who still wished to enter. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Thousands from around world wait hours to visit coffin of Pope Francis

Pope’s simple open casket lies on main altar of St Peter’s Basilica as mourners say: ‘It’s a privilege to be here’ Thousands of people queued for hours under the hot spring sun in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose simple wooden coffin has been placed on the main altar of the 16th-century basilica, where he will lie in state until Friday evening.The pope, the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, died at his home in Casa Santa Marta on Monday aged 88 after a stroke and subsequent heart failure. He had been recovering from double pneumonia, which had kept him in hospital for five weeks. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago 'Greatest ever war movie' with 95% on Rotten Tomatoes now streaming on two platforms and it's not Netflix

The film is inspired Shakespear's King Lear as well as the life of the 16th-century feudal ruler Mori Motonari

Events

6 d. ago Nostradamus' eerie Pope Francis prophecy as new seer got his death all wrong

The 16th-century French prophet made all kinds of chilling predictions, but one was an eerie warning about the future of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis and his successor

Events

6 d. ago Nostradamus's eerie 16th century prediction about the Pope makes stark warning as 88

Writing in the esteemed Les Prophéties, French astrologer Nostradamus, issued several f grim predictions for the year ahead, including 'cruel wars' and natural disasters

Events

1 week ago Rachel Roddy’s recipe for almond and potato cake with lemon curd and mascarpone | A kitchen in Rome

A sweet dessert with potato in it? You’d better believe it, plus it’s inspired by an Italian culinary legendWriting in 1891, in his cooking manual La Scienza in Cucina e L’arte di Mangiar Bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well), Pellegrino Artusi introduces the potato as a tuber from the solanaceae (nightshade) family that was native to South America and introduced to Europe in the 16th century. He goes on to note that large-scale cultivation didn’t begin in Italy until the beginning of the 18th century, due to the “obstinacy of the masses who were averse to eating it”, adding that, little by little, the potato became more than accepted (by the poor as well as the rich), because of its good taste, ability to satisfy hunger and the way it lent itself to being cooked in so many ways.If my counting is correct, of 790 recipes in that seminal book, 30 of them include potatoes or a significant proportion of potato flour. What is especially interesting is that even though ...

Politics

3 w. ago Stirling residents to be given say on plans to transform medieval 16th century city centre routes

Stirling residents can provide feedback on ambitious plans to transform three of Strirling city centre's 16th century medieval walking routes.

Events

3 w. ago Bologna’s Orsolini strikes again to keep knocking on door to Spalletti’s Italy | Nicky Bandini

Winger has 32 Serie A goals over the past three years as side keep up push for another Champions League campaignVenice has no shortage of eye-catching door-knockers, heavy bronze casts of 16th-century lions and sea monsters adorning entrances of palaces throughout the lagoon city. Still, there is always room for another. Riccardo Orsolini could not hang around quite so long, but his goal for Bologna away to Venezia on Saturday will linger in the memories of supporters.The second half had barely started when Nicolò Cambiaghi cut back from the left flank and crossed right-footed to the far post. Orsolini met his delivery with an exquisite side-footed volley across the goalkeeper and into the corner of the net. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago The Tallis Scholars review – inspired pairing of Palestrina and Pärt brings shining warmth and clarity

St George’s BristolThe consummate vocal ensemble beautifully highlighted symbolic connections between the 16th-century Italian composer and soon-to-be 90 Arvo PärtThis year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Palestrina, the Italian composer who took the name of his native town, just east of Rome, now part of the metropolitan city. In director Peter Phillips’s inspired pairing of Palestrina with the music of Arvo Pärt in the year of his 90th birthday, there was a particular frisson in knowing that in January, the Tallis Scholars had sung this very programme in the cathedral of Sant’Agapito Martire in Palestrina, where the young Giovanni Pierluigi may have been a chorister and was certainly organist from the age of 19.Phillips has described Palestrina as the “most consummate of renaissance composers”: it may surely be said that the Tallis Scholars are the consummate vocal ensemble. Opening with his motet Surge Illuminare, the 10 Scholars immediately brought a shining warmth t...

Events