When I graduated from Angelo State University many decades ago, I had a chance to go Italy with many of my fellow art majors. Having excelled in the study of the Italian Renaissance, such a trip greatly appealed to me. Alas, I was poor. At night I worked at a bakery while going to school full time. I had rent and bills to pay and I didn’t have any savings for such a vacation. The head of the fine... 

A massive trove of gold kept under lock and key five stories below Manhattan at the New York Federal Reserve has been undergoing its first audit in history. It could put conspiracy theories – for example, that the gold is a sham – to sleep for good. According to the official record, the US government keeps billions of dollars in gold stored beneath the New York Fed’s Italian Renaissance... 

The famous self-portrait of Da Vinci. Researchers say a self-portrait by the legendary Italian painter and architect, Leonardo da Vinci, kept in a vault in the city of Turin, is in poor condition and probably beyond repair. The invaluable drawing which depicts the Italian Renaissance artist in his 60s was exposed to sunlight after being framed for an exhibition in 1929. The exposure has caused the...