A tribute to Orwell in Yascha Mounk’s essay, which offers valuable insights for today’s multicultural and multi-ethnic democracies

At the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Claus Guth’s production—which, twenty years on, has lost none of its appeal. The poetry of certain moments, such as the feathers falling from above during ‘Non più andrai’, or the final scene turned upside down, mirroring the characters’ lives, is something difficult to describe; it simply has to be seen.

Water is seeping into the Uffizi and soaking the "Bacchus". The painting has been saved thanks to one of those display cases which, in recent years, have also protected the masterpieces from food and paint thrown by environmentalists. A pane of glass separates art from a world that is becoming increasingly difficult to keep at bay

Translator Cristina Guarnieri reflects on "The Iliad": the tragic heroism of humankind and its endless internal contradictions, portrayed through poetic language that manages to distil form from chaos.