#Embassy of Italy

[theodoreangelos]

Vilnius at night – Gediminas Castle Tower, Neris River, Mindaugas Bridge, Embassy of Italy by the architect Boleslovas Balzukevičius (1906) Naktinis Vilnius – Gedimino pilies bokštas, Neris, Mindaugo tiltas, architekto Boleslovo Balzukevičiaus Italijos ambasada (1906 m.) Вильнюс ночью – башня замка Гедиминаса, река Нярис, мост Миндаугаса, посольство Италии работы архитектора Болесловаса Бальзукявичюса (1906 г.) Vilnius bei Nacht – Gediminas-Burgturm, Fluss Neris, Mindaugas-Brücke, Italienische Botschaft des Architekten Boleslovas Balzukevičius (1906) Vilnius dans la nuit – Tour du château de Gediminas, fleuve Neris, pont Mindaugas, ambassade d'Italie par l'architecte Boleslovas Balzukevičius (1906)

[germanpostwarmodern]

British Embassy (1960-71) in Rome, Italy, by Basil Spence, Anthony Blee, Roland Paoletti and Christopher Libby. Photo by Henk Snoek.

[bandcampsnoop]

5/16/23.

I first heard about Almost Halloween Time Records (based in Italy) last year when they released a couple of Bingo Trappers LPs. Luigi Falagario loves music and re-releases a lot of his favorites on vinyl with handmade sleeves.

His label is amazing because it kind of serves as a blog - if Luigi is releasing it, he LOVES it (Linda Smith, Peter Jefferies and the aforementioned Bingo Trappers have been released Almost Halloween Time Records). I mean the label is up to ATH 129 - Tom Violence "Definite Limits".

Tom Violence were a duo from Sheffield, UK that recorded back in the late 1980s. Their efforts remained unreleased until they were unearthed, remastered and issued on CD. Tom Violence is said to have been influenced by The The. They also cover a Robert Forster (The Go-Betweens) song. I also hear Sweden's The Embassy or New Order. What's also unusual is that there are three songs included that represent other bands COVERING Tom Violence: Wio, Hercules Fence and Ed Nolbed.

[wedoseows]

Italy Embassy Attestation Services in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon

We Do attestation is here for Italy embassy attestation services in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, India. We also provide MEA, HRD, certificate attestation.

[niveditaabaidya]

Ukrainian Embassies In Romania And Denmark Receive Bloody Packages. #eur...

[cheriladycl01]

So, you lied to me? - Lando Norris x Tourist! Reader

Plot: Going on a travel year you end up in Monaco, the plan wasn't too fall for the man who helped you to the British Embassy and gave you a place to stay when someone stole everything from you ...

You took a gap year before university and decided to travel you'd started off the New Year on a flight from London, to Qatar to New Zealand. You travelled around New Zealand and Australia for the majority of January, before moving on to Papa New Guinea, Fiji and Samoa.

You then travelled round the South Asian countries, like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines and Taiwan all throughout February. You then moved onto China, doing both Disney Parks while you were there and sight seeing. You did South Korea and Japan.

Coming into April, you moved onto Sri Lanka and India, and The Middle East, doing Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrian, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Afterwards, now having done 2 continents, you moved onto Africa, you spent the end of April and the majority of May travelling here, before leaving for Europe.

A nice 2 weeks island hopping around Greece, before a week travelling up the boot of Italy.

It was when you drove to Monaco in a rental car that things got difficult.

You were walking along the harbor where all the expensive yachts were docked wishing that one could be yours. You didn't have all your bags on you, the larger ones left behind in the hotel room you'd booked for the night. But you had your important stuff on you, like you passport, your drivers license and all your travel documents.

You were taking a picture on your nice Canon camera of the yachts and the street that had weird red corners rounding it that you put down to being measures to just help drivers slow down round the corners, but they were definitely an eyesore.

Every time nice cars drove by there was whistles and claps that made you look at what car it was, you could never tell what model it was but they looked nice and you guess you could say sporty.

As you were distracted taking your pictures a guy comes up to you with a small, parcel cutting knife in his hand. He slit the straps of what you thought was a really sturdy bag and the weight notifies you to the loss of the bag. You let your camera drop as you turn to see the guy now holding your bag and starting to run away with it.

"Hey! Stop" you shout before running after him.

"Aide, Aide" you shout as you continue to follow him, your minimal French not helping as people scold you for being a bustly tourist.

You aren't really looking where you going and you loose him at a busy intersection of people, you spin round looking at every possible direction he could have gone in.

"Shit!" you whisper to yourself quietly tears coming in your eyes. You spin round a little to quickly, bumping into someone who drops the bag that they were holding.

"Désolé, mon erreur" you try looking at the young gentleman you'd bumped into in a hoodie and jeans. He looks at you with a confused look, a smirk coming onto his face.

"Oh sorry, tu ne parles pas français? Maybe Italian, erm fuck scusa, parli italiano?" you ask with again the bare minimum of Italian you know.

"I speak perfectly good English" he smiles, laughing a little as your expression turns to shock.

"Oh! Oh I'm so stupid. Hello!" you smile looking at the very attractive man in front of you, you blushed a little looking up at him.

"You look panicked what's wrong?" he asks.

"I was tacking pictures of the harbor and some guy took my bag. It has everything in of mine and I don't know what to do" You say to him looking a little more panicked.

"Everything as in money ... because I can help with that" he says placing a hand on your arm.

"I don't care about the money, but he has all of my documents. My passport, my drivers license everything" you cry a little.

"Oh! Erm, I have a friend who was born here, and let me get him and he can help us file a police report. Then mmm the British Embassy is all the way in Paris and you cant get a flight so we'll have to drive there..." he starts to rant and your face turned shocked.

"We?" you ask, confused as to how this guy has just inserted himself into your life drama's.

"Oh yeah, I've gotta help you out now. You got that whole damsel in distress thing going on right now! Any way damsel, what's your name?" he jokes and you look over at him offended.

"I am not a damsel in distress! And Y/N" you retort.

"You so are, the tear stains, the wide, helpless eyes, the guppy fish face your pulling right now, the butchered French and Italian to a strange man who actually is British... Y/N" he laughs making you pout and push him a little.

"I don't even have a place to stay after 3pm today and I cant check in anywhere without ID" you say rubbing your head, looking around as if the man would randomly pop back up and hand you your bag back before saying how sorry he was.

"You can stay at my place, I have two spare bedrooms" he smiles and you look at him in shock.

"You live here, in Monaco ..." you ask.

"Yeah, I moved here a few years ago, for ...work" he offers, he phones his friend walking off for a few seconds alone before he pulls you along one of the side streets and too a quiet cafe he went to, to keep under wraps.

"Okay, Y/N this is my friend ... er Percy" he says pointing to Charles, so far you hadn't shown any signs of knowing who he is and he didn't want you to catch wind of that.

"Hello Percy, its nice to meet you" you smile and he looks at you with a vacant yet confused expression.

"Oh and whose this you are beautiful" you compliment looking at the girl behind him.

"Y/N this is my girlfriend Alex" Charles indicates to Alex behind him who smiles and pulls you in for a kind hug that you definitely needed. You could hear both of their strong accents as they introduced himself.

"Oh, I never got you name, what's your name?" you ask turning to look at Lando, who freezes for a second.

"Erm, my names Robert, but you can call me Bob" he smiles and you raise and eyebrow at him.

"Hmmm, you don't look like a Robert... or a Bob. Interesting choice" you voice your opinion making everyone awkwardly laugh.

Charles, Lando and Alex took you to the nearest police station in Monaco, Charles translated what they were saying and you answered to which he and Alex would help translate back.

Charles explained that they were escalating it because you are a tourist in need, but you picked up some words that made the sentence not sound like that at all.

You were asked if you had a place to say and Lando explained you'd be staying with him until everything was sorted out.

The Monegasque police got in contact with the Paris British Embassy for you, they explained that the police had sent over you information and if you wanted to hold off on a new passport for a few days to see if it would turn up you were more than welcome, but right now your passport was on lockdown.

And that was how you ended up spending the end of July and all of August with Lando, it was strange really. For a man who had and extremely nice collection of clothes and a very large apartment he didn't go to work often. There was one room you weren't allowed in which is where he often went, you assumed it was a man cave or gaming room where he played with his friends because you heard lots of shouting and aggressive banging.

He'd been so sweet, he took you on dates from going out to dinner, to picnics, to going swimming and lots more. It felt like more than a summer fling. Especially once he asked you to be his girlfriend, which you immediately said yes too.

But he got a lot more twitchy after he had.

Eventually, Lando or Bob as you knew him took you to Paris so you could get your passport. He explained that he travelled a lot for work and he would need to leave soon and you explained that before you bumped into him you'd been on a gap year travelling the world.

"Baby, why don't you come with me?" he asked randomly as you were both lying on the sofa, cuddling while watching a film.

"You wont even tell me what you do for work Baby! And besides I had a schedule that I'm already behind on. A week ago you said you didn't mind going our separate ways for a little bit until Christmas and then you'd come to England with me" you say playing with his curls.

"Okay, I'm going to be honest with you now... my name isn't Bob" he says shyly and you sit up at the speed of light turning to look at him.

"I knew it! So you lied to me?" you exclaim laughing.

"So, what's my boyfriends actual name?" you ask looking him dead in the eyes, he leans up on his elbows before sitting the full way up.

"Lando, I am Lando Norris" he smiles.

"Hmmmm, Lando... Lando. I could get used to that" you smile.

"You aren't mad?" he asks looking over you, brushing you hair back and tucking it behind your ear before kissing your cheek.

"I knew you weren't being completely honest when we first met... but I also knew you had your own reasons" you offer.

"I think its going to be easier if I just hand you my Instagram" he admits with a gulp as he hands you his phone. The first thing you notice is how many followers he had, there was around 10million and he had nearly 2,500 posts.

You look at the friends list, and one peeks your interest. Charles Leclerc, who looked exactly like Percy who Lando had introduced you too.

You then go back and look at his bio, that told you his actual job.

"So, I'm dating a super famous athlete?" you ask looking up at him away from the phone to see his head down in his hands. He turns to the side to sneak a look at your expression, his eyes a little glossy.

"To be specific, a Formula 1 driver" you ask again and he nods.

"You are such a muppet, my god" you laugh before pulling him into a hug.

"How aren't you upset with me?" he ask unsure.

"Well, I agreed to date you, because you are you. I doubt you change into Mr Hyde when you become a what was is Porsche race-car driver? I fell in love with you, not Bob, not Lando, you. So whether that is Bob, who kindly helped a crying lady on the street who just had her passport stolen from her, or Lando a cool and amazing race-car driver. Whoever you are is the person I love" you grin and he pulls you into a hug.

"So you want to join me for the last few races? Or you want to finish this world trip of yours?" he asks.

"Well, looking at your calendar, I can actually meet you at the rest of the races, While travelling. I'll continue to do Europe until you have the Netherlands, and ill go back to Italy, just for you. I'll miss Azerbaijan and Singapore because I did that, but I'll knock out some of South America, I'll meet you for Austin, then we can do Mexico and Brazil together, then we can do Vegas together! And by that point I can call it done with my trip!" you exclaim and he looks like he considers it for a second.

He's shocked, he cant remember the last time a girlfriend tried so hard to link up their schedules like this, and proved that they'd be able to work despite some potential scheduling issues.

"I love you. I fucking love you" he grins pulling you back down onto the sofa kissing all over your face making you giggle.

A/N: I've been doing a lot of Lando recently, I don't know if you can tell but I love writing about him, he's my fav to write about right now.

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @viennakarma

[criminalmindsgonewrong]

how I percieve Hotchniss:

as requested by @em-prentiss

emily:

tropes: action girl, blue blood, lady in a powersuit, back from the dead, brainy brunette, dark and troubled past, honour before reason, sarcasm personified, reckless and sexy

she/her

libra sun, scorpio moon, leo rising

bisexual 

born 12th october 1970

chaotic neutral

ENFJ personality type

cat person

only child - and very much gives only child energy

red is her favourite colour

body count: "private, thank you very much!"

her favourite movie of all time is 'Carrie' - but she can't resist a good old mystery novel

has some secret skills she doesn't really talk about or use until she needs them; plays the piano, did ballet until she was 15, can horseback ride.

her favourite book of all time is 'Jane Eyre'

dog ears her books to save her pages - either that or uses literally anything as a bookmark. argues that it makes her books look 'loved'

her favourite meal is a good cheeseburger (although she'll tell you its some kind of fancy pasta)

chews her nails when she's stressed

grew up in multiple embassies across the world including: UK, Iraq, Russia, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, and Egypt.

mommy issues galore although she'd never admit it

daddy issues, too, while we're at it.

absentee father who was 'working' all the time - only 'working' meant having affairs and avoiding their home as much as possible

her parents only put on the show of a functional, happy marriage for elizabeth's career, a charade emily was also expected to play a part in. she did so until she went away to college

her dad died when she was 23

nomadic lifestyle all her life due to her mom's job - finds it hard to settle down as a result

has a little box of mementos from each of the places she's lived, trinkets that would be of no value to anyone else but mean a lot to her

has a few small, discreet tattoos

multi-lingual but not a show off about it - sometimes dreams in italian

is also multilingual in sarcasm and often uses it to diffuse tense situations.

had an abortion when she was 15 - doesn't regret it but has always wondered. marks the day each year, even if it's just with a prayer. it's the only time she prays

✨️ religious trauma ✨️ 

rebelled against her mother as a teenager and their relationship has never really recovered

spoilt, privileged lifestyle 

likes her luxuries as a result and doesn't shy away from them 

never had too many close friends growing up - due to the moving around a lot

bit of a wild girl at college, there's not really a sexual position or an illegal substance she hasn't tried at least once (except the ones you inject, she's not insane)

still sneaks the occasional cigarette

cannot abide by any rule she considers arbitrary

loves a good horror movie, the gorier the better but the supernatural ones freak her out

has a secret passion for classical music when she’s stressed - particularly beethoven and bach

emily has a love for fine wine and is something of an amateur connoisseur, able to tell the difference between a good vintage and a cheap bottle. she and rossi bond over this.

her passion for coffee, however, is much more lax and she can drink even the roughest of instant crap. 

can also whip up a mean martini

she’s a cat person but never had a pet growing up due to all the moving around.

emily’s guilty pleasure is reality TV—she finds it oddly comforting and a way to unwind from the seriousness of her day-to-day life.

often doodles when she's on the phone—her notebooks are full of random sketches.

loves an indoor plant but finds it incredibly difficult to keep them alive

fucking loves technology and is slightly addicted to TikTok. has to limit her own screen time.

speaking of TikTok, she's totally on BookTok and loved the ACOTAR series.

loves spicy foods - often challenges herself to try the hottest dish on the menu.

bit of an adrenaline junkie, whether in her home or professional life. overly impulsive sometimes as a result

what she wears:

aaron:

tropes: badass in a nice suit, stoic leader, chronic hero syndrome, highest kill count, death glare, grumpy to her sunshine, deadpan snarker

he/him

scorpio sun, taurus moon, virgo rising

heterosexual

born 2nd november 1965

lawful good

ISTJ personality type

dog person

bodycount: 2

favourite colour is navy blue

eldest son, his brother, sean, is 11 years younger than him

his favourite book is 'one hundred years of solitude'

prioritizes his fitness and likes to take on fitness challenges to keep himself healthy

lonely childhood even though he had a little brother

abusive, drunk for a father

emotionally absent mother who was trying to deal with her own trauma

his mom died when he was 25

his dad is still alive out there somewhere but they're not in contact, and aaron has no intention of being

had to be the strong one for his little brother

comes from a pretty poor background, has built himself up to be and have everything he is and has 

always felt like more of a father than a brother to Sean because of their age gap, and the fact that he practically raised him

loves to go camping and be in the wilderness

a morning person - likes to get up and out of the house as early as possible

a very neat person - you'd be forgiven for thinking he was in the military (he never was) by the way he makes his bed and stacks his clothes

collected coins as a kid, something he never grew out of. has a very well organised collection he values greatly

keeps his books neat and tidy - always uses a bookmark

loves an old western, likes an action movie, horrors make him uncomfy and he's a secret sucker for a rom-com

reluctant green thumb and often ends up taking care of the plants that emily brings home and gives up on or gets distracted from

has a soft spot for old-school jazz and sometimes listens to it when he needs to decompress.

he's a surprisingly good cook, which is a skill he honed while having to take care of his brother, although the recipes were a lot more basic back then

still has his parents wedding rings, a fact about himself that he wrestles with since he doubts they were ever in love

prefers handwritten notes to digital reminders, is a very tactile person. never really fell in love with his phone.

hums softly when he's concentrating, a habit he's more often than not completely unaware of, and emily finds it adorable

keeps a stash of chocolate in his drawer in the office - stocks it with emily's favourites

wears his grandfather's class ring. it's the only family heirloom he has, and sometimes he feels guilty for not giving it to sean

has a collection of old vinyls from the 70s

visits the same diner every saturday for breakfast. after getting together with emily, the visits become less frequent but they still go now and then. aaron says they have the best eggs. emily thinks they're just ok, but she likes to see him happy

aaron isn't a big drinker; he'll have a few beers on a night out, or a whiskey after work occasionally, but he very rarely engages in any binge drinking. emily's only seen him really drunk a handful of times throughout their relationship.

he is, however, partial to the occasional cigar and although emily sneaks her own cigarette now and then, she can't stand the smell of them.

what he wears:

Hotchniss:

the only time hotch is not a morning person is when emily is in his bed, then he never wants to leave the comfort of the covers and the warmth of her body

hotch will watch a horror movie with emily with a straight face, but hate it the whole way through. emily will pretend to be into his action movies, and doesn't let him know she's actually bored out of her mind. their middle ground is a good western or a rom-com.

their first big fight is over a clash between their idea of 'tidy' - emily is laid back, doesn't mind a bit of clutter. aaron is...borderline ocd. they fall out over her having left a towel on the floor...again.

they are very well matched at chess, and often their games can go on for weeks in between cases and life. currently emily is winning by two games.

aaron would rather to repairs around the house himself, where as emily is used to throwing money at a problem and making it go away. they try to compromise but they're away so often for work that more often than not, emily wins because aaron just doesn't have the time, but when he does take on a project he loves the manual labour, and emily loves to sit back and watch x

it was his dream to restore a classical care so emily bought him one for his 50th birthday and its his pride and joy. he painted it red just for her

emily reads before bed and aaron does the crossword, with his glasses perched on the end of his nose and emily thinks it's the cutest thing.

emily's love of spicy foods means that more often than not aaron has to resign himself to buying her two meals when the spiciest dish on the menu is just 'a little too spicy' - he doesn't mind, really

they're both incredibly competitive. emily gets sweary and loud when she's in competition, aaron gets smug and smirky and that drives emily up the wall. their second biggest fight, ever, was over a game of monopoly. it's been banned in their household ever since.

emily takes aaron to a ranch for one of his birthdays - to celebrate his love for an old western, and because she thinks he'll love it! turns out aaron hotchner is terrified of horses. emily spent the first day riding and trying to convince him to do the same, and after that they just enjoyed the views and each other's company, and the horses, but from afar.

emily often teases hotch about his love for organization and can’t resist occasionally hiding a few items just to see his reaction. he pretends to be frustrated but secretly finds her antics adorable.

surprisingly, when they go on vacation, it's emily who wants their days planned down to the moment so that they don't miss anything, and aaron who just - finally- wants to relax and 'go with the flow'. emily finds this version of her husband disconcerting.

emily loves to surprise hotch with impromptu weekend getaways. he pretends to grumble about the lack of planning and the expense of it all but secretly enjoys the surprises and the thought she puts into them.

financially, aaron and emily grew up in two very different places. aaron watched his mother scrimp and save every penny to try and provide for him and sean, when she was lucid. when she wasn't, he had to figure it out himself. he's worked since the age of 14. emily had everything in life given to her on a silver platter and, even now, occasionally spends out of her trust fund. aaron gets frustrated by spending that he sees as frivolous and emily has to remind him that they're well off - she still has her trust fund, even if neither of them were working. it's infrequently a source of contention between them, though.

they dated before emily's 'death', before paris. he visited her in paris, where their flame sparked again but when she came back to the team nothing happened. then beth happened. then emily left again.

they stayed in contact while she was in london and eventually realised they were miserable without each other. emily moves back to the states, returns to the BAU and they get back together.

they marry that same year. it's a really small ceremony, attended only by the team, jack and sean. neither of their surviving parents are invited.

they started a two-person book club where they choose a book to read each month and discuss it over dinner. they always donate one copy - whether to charity or a friend. sometimes both if they agree that the book sucked.

they create the 'hotchner cup' which is a trophy that they play for every family game night. it's an old, tarnished badge of hotch's with 'Hotchner' written across it super-glued to an old ballet trophy of emily's. it's currently in emily's possession...due to the chess situation.

emily's a cat person and hotch loves dogs. as a compromise, they have one of each.

when emily has their kids, they share the position of Unit Chief at the BAU and alternate shifts, so someone's always at home with the kids. it's their one rule; the kids never get left alone.

they have three kids together, ava, livvy and alex. jack is aaron's son from his previous marriage to haley, and emily loves him like her own.

they share a home office and walking into it is hysterical; there are two desks and it's immediately obvious whose is whose because aaron's is meticulously organised and emily's is a mess.

aaron always dreads his weeks 'on' at work, because he knows he's going into his desk being an absolute mess. emily is the same because she says whenever he cleans up, he puts her stuff away and she can't find anything. she prefers her 'organised chaos'.

even though emily is a luxury resort kind of girl, aaron forces the family to take an annual camping trip. every year, emily complains about it; alex and ava follow her suit. jack and livvy love the camping trip like their father. even though emily and the kids complain, they also secretly love it.

they take an annual family photo during every camping trip

every year they all celebrate haley's birthday together with a special meal; homemade lasagne followed by apple pie and ice cream, both favourites of haley.

when it comes to parenting, there's no doubt who's the strict parent. emily definitely takes a more relaxed approach than her husband.

however, when it comes to bullying or the kids being in danger, emily has to be kept in check. more than once she's threatened to pull her badge on a kid - or parent - at school. more than once, she's had to be talked down by her husband, and sometimes the kids.

when aaron eventually retires early, he takes up teaching at the academy. they still have lunch together most days.

after aaron retires, emily takes on the role of unit chief by herself and eventually progresses to section chief, which is more of a bureaucratic role than she ever imagined for herself, but it means she gets home to her family every night.

Hotchniss tropes:

grumpy x sunshine rich girl x poor boy he's her boss mutual pining will they/won't they jealousy trope friends to lovers 'touch her and you die'

Photos Aaron takes of Emily:

Photos Emily takes of Aaron:

Joint camera roll:

How Hotchniss text:

Hotchniss playlist:

[blueiscoool]

Roman Emperor Caligula's 2,000-Year-Old Garden Unearthed Near the Vatican

The gardens overlooking the Tiber river in Italy once belonged to an infamous Roman emperor.

Construction workers in Italy have discovered a 2,000-year-old garden that once belonged to a Roman emperor.

The travertine walls of the garden overlook the banks of the Tiber, a river that cuts through Rome and sits east of Vatican City. The ruins were unearthed as workers constructed a new overpass at Piazza Pia, according to a translated statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture.

As archaeologists removed debris, they found a lead water pipe with the following inscription: "C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici." Researchers determined that the engraving referred to Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula (aka "little boot," a childhood nickname given to him by his father's soldiers).

Based on the inscription, researchers think the garden likely belonged to the infamous Roman emperor. Not only was Caligula known for being a tyrannical and ruthless leader, he was also a sadist who humiliated his senate. Caligula assumed the throne in A.D. 37, and in A.D. 41 the Praetorian Guard — the officials who were supposed to protect him — assassinated the emperor.

This conclusion is supported by a passage in the ancient text "On the Embassy to Gaius," penned by Egyptian philosopher Philo of Alexandria. It describes how Caligula had met with a representative of Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, at a large garden along the Tiber, according to the statement.

At that time, Jewish Alexandrians and the Greek-Alexandrian population were in a "crisis that had manifested itself with violence, brawls and episodes of religious intolerance." However, Caligula rejected the Jews' requests for religious autonomy, instead siding with the Greeks.

Alessio De Cristofaro, an archaeologist at the Special Superintendency for Archaeology, Fine Art and Landscape, a government agency in Rome, said the find is significant because Piazza Pia is in the same area as the "Horti Agrippinae," the garden of Agrippina the Elder, who was Caligula's mother.

The pipe is also similar to another one, found in the early 1900s, that's inscribed with the name Iulia (Julia) Augusta, the second wife of Augustus and the grandmother of Germanicus. Researchers speculate that the property was inherited by Germanicus and later passed down to his wife, Agrippina the Elder, before going to Caligula.

In addition to the pipe, archaeologists found slabs of Roman-era pottery and terra-cotta figures of mythological scenes that would have decorated rooftops.

By Jennifer Nalewicki.

[modern-day-bard]

Masterlist

Other Duties As Assigned: A Joel Miller Fanfiction

Summary:

Guinevere Russell is the sole heir to the multimedia conglomerate, Russell Corp. After obtaining her MBA and moving home to New York City, she’s been forced to return to a tumultuous relationship with her father and the rest of the board. Gwen would prefer to run off with her friends and see just how far she can take a distraction, and she’s perfectly happy doing so. That is, until her father hires a bodyguard to keep a watchful eye on her. She just can’t figure out if he was hired for her safety, or to uncover the secrets no one else knows she possesses…

Joel Miller is a personal security officer on leave from his last assignment, where he worked abroad for a U.S. embassy. He has avoided private security detail for years after a life-changing accident, but when he gets this call, the money is too good to pass up. But Joel has never met a client with such an aversion to being protected. Regardless of the paycheck, Joel will soon realize this is his biggest challenge yet, but not for the reason he thinks…

When their secrets, both past and present, collide in a mixture of tension and new-found feelings, the results can be catastrophic. Now, Gwen’s safety is put at risk more than ever before, and the two of them have to get to the bottom of the mystery, and what they mean to each other, before it’s too late.

Content Warning: 18+ This story includes mature themes such as drinking, stalking, violence, and explicit smut. Minors, do not interact.

a/n: This is a WIP! I’m writing more chapters while editing before I post. I hope to post on a consistent basis. I’m also posting this story on ao3 and Wattpad. Tumblr tends to take me the longest to post from, but I’m determined to make it happen!

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Worth The Feeling: A Javi Gutierrez Fanfiction

Summary: Ava Cohen is a 26-year-old production assistant working tirelessly to achieve her dream of one day becoming a film director. As hiatus from her last project comes to a close, she returns to set with Norwick Productions, whom she has worked with for the past four years. After a major fo paux on the first day of work, Ava is worried she has offended the star of this next production: Javi Gutierrez. She will soon come to realize, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When the cast and crew travel to Italy to film on location, the seriousness of what Ava is feeling becomes all too real, just as a new career opportunity lands in her lap. As tensions run high, watchful eyes set in, and her career is put at stake, can all of this be worth it in the end?

Content Warning: 18+

This story includes explicit smut, intimidation, and an age gap relationship (MC is 26, Javi is in his 40s). Minors, do not interact.

a/n: The full story is available on AO3 and on Wattpad as well for anyone who is interested. Thank you to anyone who reads my story! 🤍

Total word count: 93,547

Pairing: javi gutierrez x f!reader. No physical descriptors of the MC, except for her being shorter than Javi.

Pairing Disclaimer: the original pairing was Pedro x reader but after everything was released I felt very uncomfortable with that. If I was a celebrity, I wouldn’t want people to write that about me. I was creating a character as I wrote this story that was separate to Pedro, and after posting, I regretted my choice. I have edited all chapters to reflect this, as Javi’s love of movies and cheerful disposition makes sense for the character I created. Reblogged posts may still have the original pairing, as I’m unable to update them. Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Epilogue

[miraculousfanworks]

Writing Prompt: Men In Black

AU - Shortly after Lila shows up, a frustrated Marinette sends a message to the Italian Embassy.

"Hello, as someone with Italian citizenship (through my father and grandmother), I was wondering why the child of a member of diplomatic staff is attending an unsecured public school without protection, while publicly advertising her status as the child of a foreign diplomat?"

Mostly she was hoping that Lila's mom might get reprimanded, and as a result rein in her daughter.

She was surprised when, instead, several Interpol agents were at her house when she woke up.

Marinette: I- I swear! I wasn't threatening her! I didn't do anything! Interpol Agent: You don't understand Miss. We're not here because you're in trouble. At least, not with us. We're here because we need your help. Marinette: My... Help? Interpol Agent: Yes. You see, when Miss Rossi left Italy, she didn't have any children. Somehow in the last month, without notifying the Italian government, she's acquired a 14 year old daughter. That is... Concerning. Marinette: Wait, what? Interpol Agent: Best Case scenario, our diplomat has been involved in an illegal adoption. More likely, this "Lila" is using some form of mind control. Either way, we have some hard questions for her.

Prompt by: Tiwaz

[attheexactlyrighttimeandplace]

It has been more than 24 hours since the last massacre of Palestinian civilians organized by the Americans and jewish zionists in Gaza, and Algeria has still not officially reacted to the crimes committed.

No declarations from the usual communication channels which are our Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Algerian Press Agency which exclusively represents the voice of our President since last April (he "appropriated" it by decree because the war approaches our borders).

I wonder if this silence is a turning point. The final nail in the coffin on what has been a very turbulent journey to try to change our relationship with the United States.

The journey began with the war in Ukraine in 2022: like all Arab countries, we really angered the United States by refusing to side with the EU against Russia. And we reached the point of open conflict with the United States (they sent their deputy secretary of state in March 2022) when we terminated our energy contract with Spain (we are their main supplier of gas) after the Spanish Prime Minister began supporting Morocco's claims on Western Sahara's land.

But Algeria surprisingly backed down on many points and began to rapidly improve its relations with the United States - Blinken, the US Secretary of State came to Algeria several times, our Foreign Ministry was invited to Washington - to the point that our country, which has been a faithful ally of Russia for 60 years seemed on the verge of joining NATO last April (I think Algeria might become a Major Non Nato Ally but is hidding its true intention for various reasons linked to the international context in North Africa, more precisely in the Sahel where 3 countries have expelled, under the influence of Russia, the American and French military bases from their lands and are openly eyeing the Algerian borders to destabilize us, in addition to the conflict with Morocco).

A few decades ago, the genocide of the Palestinians would have stopped these efforts very quickly, probably leading to a further breakdown in diplomatic relations with the United States.

Not this time: Algeria was still signing massive contracts in fossil fuels and unconventional energy (shale gas) with major American companies like Exxon Mobile and Chevron (although at a slower pace than expected) in May 2024, and our president was invited to the G7 summit which will take place next week in Italy, an invitation designed as a reward for Algeria's support for Europe's energy security and for its fight against illegal immigration which largely benefits Europeans.

This is why the decision of the Algerian mission to the UN to oppose the very important vote scheduled for Friday, June 7 to transform Biden's plan for Gaza into a resolution at the UN Security Council, was the most stupid move ever taken.

Blinken, the US Secretary of State, made a very special call to our Department of Foreign Affairs to obtain our consent to the plan proposed by Biden. This call was heavily promoted as a turning point by the entire US diplomatic network on all social media platforms, including on X: from the US Embassy in Algiers to the US State Department account, and their X account in Arabic for the MENA region.

Algeria obviously adhered to this plan, there is no other way to explain our pure and simple abandonment of the resolution we wrote to implement the latest decision of the ICJ which ordered the end of all operations in Rafah.

It is therefore easy to measure the extent to which Algeria has been incoherent, senseless and dangerous for itself and for Palestine in this context where the United States show no mercy, approve of genocide and have repeatedly rejected our demands during the previous negotiations in the UN Security Council to save more lives - when through the voice of our ambassador to the UN, Algeria gave the feeling of thinking that it could once again stop the vote, and try to negotiate new demands regarding Palestinian prisoners.

This is not surprising when you consider who our ambassador to the UN is: an overly old diplomat who has been unable to include the American point of view in his analysis. His conviction of being right against the rest of the world, his romantic views on resistance and his desire to play the savior of Palestine lead him to demonstrate a lack of humility and a lack of relevance in his analysis (like in his speech on terrorism at the UN where he asked for compassion for terrorists as if we hadn't lost 100,000 people in a civil war because of terrorism (!).

However, I do not believe that it was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or by our President. We have experienced a lot of management problems in the last 15 days at the highest level of the state, due to keeping the wrong people in important positions for the wrong reasons, to the point that it has had disastrous consequences, with deadly human consequences. Last week, some civil servants were fired and others were forcibly transferred, but explaining that doesn't cover the extent of the problem.

But back to the UN, after a revised version of Biden's plan was presented, we were given a 48-hour period of silence to object. In the end, the vote was to take place on Friday June 7, 2024, but due to Algeria's intervention in the Security Council, it was postponed until next Monday. There is no doubt that Algeria is responsible for the breakdown of consensus on the plan, because China seems to have forgotten the issue and only reacted and opposed it after us, and Russia only followed China!

The next day, the massacre took place in the Nuseirat camp: the latest reports say that there were 274 deads, 814 injured.

I really wonder, given the timing, how it would be possible that Algeria's decision, which comes after a long period of tense disagreements with the United States in the UN Security Council, not only on Palestine but also Africa and the Arab world, might not have triggered the so-called rescue? The United States had known for weeks where the hostages were because English planes had been flying over the area to gather information for weeks as well, so the plan was set and ready to be executed in case it was needed.

Which to me is the decisive proof that this was an American operation from conception to execution, Netanyahu would not have waited a second to take the opportunity to increase his popularity, and could never have carried it out without American support (his genocidal zionist soldiers only know to drop bombs on civilians). On the same day of the Nuseirat massacre, Gantz, a member of Netanyahu's war cabinet and government, was expected to resign. A few weeks ago, at the request of the United States, he issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu to find a solution for Rafah, or to accept his (Gantz) resignation which would have led to new elections that Netanyahu was certain to lose. Yesterday, not knowing what to do after the rescue, Gantz asked the United States what they wanted and the United States' response was that they do not interfere with Israel's internal politics! Algeria probably also ruined this plan indirectly.

My impression is that the United States did not betray Algeria: it did not intend to carry out its rescue mission because it was more concerned about the potential support Algeria could provide in the war against Russia (the Algerian army has been training with live ammunition for weeks, and my theory is that a large Algerian contingent is going to be sent to Ukraine), than they cared about the zionist settlers and zionist soldiers being held hostage by Hamas.

But Algeria's inability to keep its word after Biden's plan was officially accepted by our officials made us truly unreliable, even to be sent to Russia, and even though Algeria is the best card the West has, given the Ukraine's lack of soldiers (Algeria has been Russia's main customer for all types of military contracts for decades and is very familiar with Russian aircraft and equipment, and has conducted joint military exercises with Russia even deep within Russian territory).

If our president decides to save Algeria's commitments to the West: he should really fire our ambassador to the UN, and completely review and change our internal process of opposition to resolutions at the UN (we have a status of non-permanent membership until the end of 2025, which the United States helped us gain).

If he doesn't save it, and doesn't go to the G7 summit, I don't know how we will survive future wars to come: Morocco has expansionist views, and its military capacity is currently being improved by the genocidal Israeli. who are building a drone factory on our borders and launching two satellites for Morocco; Russia, which threw us under the bus because we refused to help Putin in his plan to destroy the EU's energy security, entered Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Libya militarily, made them its vassals and now claims a percentage of our oil and gas resources!

I don't know what the future holds for us….

[laura1633]

Okay but I’m going to need a Bridgerton au where all of the drivers are the debutantes and the team principles/owners are the men with titles.

Max’s house is drowning in flowers and there’s not enough sofas for his callers to sit, George is Lady Whistledown and is keeping a close eye on Toto & Max now Lewis has jilted Toto and turned his attention to Fred Vasseur, there’s a side plot where James Vowles has secretly been courting Carlos while calling on Logan or Alex, Charles is Carlos’s younger brother and the entirety of the Italian embassy (every ferrari stakeholder) seem to be after him. Adrian Newey has been widowed and is chaperoning Max for the season- multiple suitors seem to be after him and Max as a package deal.

Confession time but I have never seen Bridgerton, is it worth watching?!

But I still totally understand what you mean and the drivers as debutants and team principles/owners as the men with titles is actually hilarious and perfect and someone should definitely write it.

The team principles have most definitely taken the whole 'getting a driver to sign a contract is a courting ritual' to a new level lately (I am looking at you James and Toto!!)

Max would definitely be drowning in offers (he is like an older man magnet!!) and Charles would definitely be attracting the whole of Italy 😂 I have no idea what James and Carlos have going on but I feel like it would fit into this world perfectly!

There is so much potential in this whole idea 😂 😂

[vicsy]

Vicsy family lore actually has to do something with f1 this time around and boy was I shocked.

yesterday after I returned home I was telling my dad about attending Baku gp, about racing in general etc. naturally I start telling him all about Fernando and how great he is and I happen to mention crash gate.

“Do you by any chance know an Italian guy named Flavio Briatore?” I asked jokingly, since my dad has been doing business in Italy for thirty years, so perhaps he heard something one day or knew someone who was well-acquainted with Flavio.”

“Of course,” my dad said proudly and then dropped this fucking bombshell: “I crossed paths with him many years ago at an event in Sardinia.”

so. I take a pause. like, haha, right? pull up Flavio’s photo and show it my dad, who doesn’t have the best memory for faces. and I just go “this guy? you’re not mistaking him with anyone else?”

wish I was making this up tbh but my dad deadass said that he went to Billionaire club in Porto Cervo (which is owned by Flavio helppppppp) and Flavio was hanging out in there, my dad’s Italian friends casually introduced them and that was it. they just met. I had to double check. My dad just said “he used to look better back then”.

but guys. it’s not just that. to my stunned silence my dad added:

“It was hard not to know who Briatore was because everyone in Italy knew him in some way and you know that I have friends everywhere. Oh, but one time he did come to our restaurant for a business meeting.”

our family business is restaurants here in Moscow, right in the city center, and my dad spoke of the one in particular. Italian cuisine and, at the time of it opening in 2005, head chef from Sardinia kept one of our restaurants in the spotlight of the Italian embassy, so many notable Italians came there to dine. apparently Flavio fucking Briatore did, too.

you could say “Vicsy, darling, touch grass and go back to writing fanfiction” but I kid you fucking not I WISH I COULD BEAT THE ALLEGATIONS. but no. i really thought my dad was messing with me but his track record of spending almost 30 years of his life on work trips to Italy (which I remember distinctly from my childhood) serve as proof. plus I’ve seen some of his Italian friends irl. let’s say the M word could be applicable to them.

I asked my dad again today if he remembers when it was (like pre crash gate or after) and he genuinely doesn’t remember the exact year. my conclusion is that it was before Flavio got expelled out of f1 cause apparently Flavio’s visit to Moscow was him scouting the location for a possible Grand Prix (which later happened to take place in Sochi for several years).

so. my dad met Flavio Briatore at some point in life and, years before I even grasped the concept of F1, Briatore also sat on the second floor of our restaurant at the big round table under the huge chandelier I used to love when I was a kid. and he shook hands with my dad and all that.

does that… does that mean I’m one handshake away from Fernando?….

[athingofvikings]

A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 156: Journey To The West

Chapter 156: Journey to the West

Contrary to popular belief, Imperial Zhōngguó did have significant institutional and historical awareness of European states and societies prior to the diplomatic missions of Fa Mulan in AD 1043 and the opening of formal mutual diplomatic, economic, and academic ties to the west. In particular, they were aware of Imperial Rome, which they referred to as Daqin, although their detailed knowledge was mostly restricted to Rome’s eastern provinces in Syria and the Levant, with the oldest records dating back to more than a thousand years before Fa Mulan’s expedition.

Still, formal direct contact was rare, and information was normally passed through the intermediaries on the Silk Road. Typically, embassies went from west to east, such as the first formal contact in AD 166, featuring envoys dispatched in AD 161 by either Emperor Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and meeting Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty. Later contacts with Fulin, the new name used to refer to the Byzantine Empire in contrast with the older Imperial Roman Empire, were mostly with merchants and craftsmen and the occasional groups of monks (some of whom stole silkworms that were smuggled back to the Byzantines), although there were some formal diplomatic contacts recorded. There is dispute, however, whether these were envoys from the Byzantine Emperor and his central government, or from the famously fractious peripheral governors.

—Constantinople: The Child Of Rome’s Empire, Venice, Italy, 1795

AO3 Chapter Link

~~~

My Original Fiction | Original Fiction Patreon

[thepaleys]

The Grand Duke Serge and his wife Elisabeth (Ella) Fyodorovna, a sister of Empress Alexandra, went to Italy to talk to Paul, inform him of the tsar's decisions, and discuss the future of Maria and Dimitry. Their meeting in Rome was bitter, brief, and of course, useless. The question that still remained open was whether the marriage could be recognized as legal or not. On ecclesiastical grounds, there was no doubt of the marriage's legality since Olga's divorce had been approved by the Orthodox Church and Paul was a widower. But before Russian law, things could be quite different since the statutes of the imperial family clearly stated that morganatic marriages were forbidden and that no marriage contracted without the permission of the tsar would be considered real.

Legally married or not, Paul and Olga were forbidden to return to Russia, and they settled in Paris, where their son Vladimir spent what were probably the happiest years of his short life. (...) Vladimir Paley loved that house very much and in his last years remembered it with deep nostalgia and affection in several poems, such as Hyacinths and Lilac Flowers. During Paul and Olga's exile, their residence became an "annex" of the Russian imperial embassy in Paris. They offered dinners and receptions in grand style; but they didn't live merely to entertain aristocrats, diplomats and holidaying Russians. The former Madame von Pistolkors (nobody was sure what she should be called now) was an avid reader and had a remarkable inclination towards arts and literature. Paul, even if he was far from being the intellectual type, shared some of his wife's interests, and soon their salon became a meeting point for many writers, painters, musicians and artists. (...)

During the summer of 1903, Paul, Olga and Vladimir went to Schlangenbad, Bavaria, to spend a vacation with the three von Pistolkors children and their grandmother Madame Karnovich. For the grand duke's wife, the occasion must have been deeply remarkable since she hadn't been able to see Alexander, Olga and Marianna for almost a year. That same summer, Paul also had the chance to enjoy a short and moving meeting with Maria and Dimitry in Tegernsee, Bavaria, in the villa of his sister Maria Alexandrovna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He also saw his brother Serge, who came from Russia with the children, but their conversation ended in a harsh argument.

"A Poet Among the Romanovs" - Jorge F. Sáenz

[wonder-worker]

The career of Bertha, daughter of Lothar II [and Waldrada], reveals that women were not simply passive bystanders in the politics of the period. As the transmitter of legitimacy through blood, she was in fact a key player. [...] She was considered a major force in Italian politics, and her political aspirations may have extended much further than the Tuscan region or even the kingdom of Italy.

-Patricia Skinner, "Women in Medieval Italian Society, 500-1200" / Daniel G. König, "Bertha of Tuscany's Correspondence with al-Muktafī bi-llāh in the Version of Ibn al-Zubayr."

[Bertha of Lotharingia was] an ambitious and politically successful female member of the Carolingian elite. The daughter of Lothair II of Lotharingia, she was born around 860 or 865. Married before 880 to count Theobald of Lorraine, she shared her husband’s exile in Arles, where he had sought refuge with Boso, the King of Provence (r. 879–887) after the latter’s brother Hugo had attempted to conquer Lorraine. She bore him four children who were to attain influential positions in a region spanning southern France and northern Italy.

When Theobald died around 887, Bertha married the margrave Adalbert II of Tuscany (r. 885–915). Adalbert’s family had much property in Provence, carried the epithet dives and led a lavish court life in Lucca. […] Theo Kölzer described Adalbert’s policy as

“characterised by a skilful manoeuvring between the individual candidates for the royal and imperial crowns, which he played off against each other for the sake of his own advantage, always taking care that the autonomy of his margraviate and his quasi-royal position did not suffer any damage in the turmoil of the time.”

Adalbert’s policy involved reacting to the ambitions of margrave Guido II of Spoleto, his son Lambert, margrave Berengar of Ivrea, duke Arnulf of Bavaria, and King Louis of Provence, all of whom aspired to the crown of Italy between the end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth century. Adalbert II and Bertha first sided with Guido II and his son Lambert against Berengar, thus ensuring that Guido was crowned King of Italy in 889 and emperor in 891, his son Lambert becoming royal and imperial co-regent in 891 and 892 respectively. The couple’s support for Guido and Lambert expressed itself in the fact that their two sons were christened Guido and Lambert between 891 and 894. Adalbert tried to impede Arnulf of Bavaria from interfering in Italian affairs in 894, but then turned against Lambert by cooperating with Berengar of Ivrea between 896 and 898. If we believe Liutprand of Cremona, it was around 898 that Adalbert tried to become king of Italy himself.

Around 900, Adalbert and Bertha supported the aspirations of King Louis of Provence to become emperor, possibly in the hope that Bertha’s son Hugo would thus be able to become King of Provence instead. When Hugo’s promotion failed to materialise, the couple turned against Louis, first by not impeding, then by actively supporting Berengar in his conflict with Louis. In this period, the couple already exerted enormous influence in Italy: the anti-pope Sergius III (sed. 898 and 904–911) had sought refuge with Adalbert and, according to Liutprand of Cremona, was “made pope by Adalbert” (papa per Adalbertum constituitur) in 904. In this year, the couple felt strong and independent enough to begin dating their documents according to their own regnal years. When Louis was eventually captured and blinded by Berengar in 905, he entrusted Bertha’s son Hugo—count of Vienne and Arles, duke and margrave of Provence—with the government of Provence.

[During this time, Bertha has been identified the royal woman who most likely sent a letter with an embassy in c.906 to the Caliph of Baghdad, al-Muktafi, where she described herself rather grandiosely as "queen of all the Franks". First brought to light by Muhammad Ḥamīdullāh , it has been rigorously studied and re-examined by historians. According to Daniel G. König: '...it becomes impossible to presume with Ḥamīdullāh that Bertha was a woman without political ambition who offered her hand in marriage to the caliph to escape her allegedly weak and unsuccessful husband [...] Rather, it becomes conceivable that Bertha could have developed a foreign policy strategy that looked beyond Italy and Byzantium and as far as Aġlabid North Africa. When she eventually understood that the Aġlabids were nominally subjected to the ʿAbbāsid caliphate, she looked eastwards to ʿAbbāsid Iraq. If there was a marriage proposal at all, she may have wanted to offer one of her daughters to the caliph, as François Bougard suggested [...] Bertha’s son Hugo (r. 903–947) certainly pursued a Mediterranean strategy as soon as he became king of Italy in 926. His intensive relations with Byzantium are recorded by the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, his complex relations with the “raider colony” of Fraxinetum by Liutprand of Cremona. According to Ibn Ḥayyān (d. 468/1076), he approached the caliph ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III of Córdoba in 328/939–940 with the demand of a “security guarantee for merchants of his territory that travel back and forth between there and al- Andalus.” It does not seem far-fetched to assume that Hugo’s mother had already begun to think in the same lines of securing the Tyrrhenian Sea for Tuscany and of expanding the region’s security and economic purview.']

In 906, the year in which Bertha is said to have sent her letter to the ʿAbbāsid caliph, Louis of Provence had retired from the competition for the imperial throne, whereas Adalbert and his wife were confronted with the imperial ambitions of Berengar of Ivrea, which they opposed by blocking the Apennine pass leading him to Rome. Bertha seems to have been strongly involved in containing Berengar. That she wielded power at the side of her husband is evident from her correspondence with the archbishop of Ravenna. Germana. Gandino proposed that, in the contest with Berengar, Bertha was able and willing to present herself as a descendant of Charlemagne, as heiress of the Carolingian dynasty in Italy, and thus as a legitimate alternative candidate to the imperial throne. While this may seem unconceivable at first sight, we should consider that her husband Adalbert II did not have an equally prestigious pedigree and, by 906, had receded into the background politcally. Bertha’s quest for power also seems to have prompted contemporaries such as Liutprand of Cremona to harshly polemicize against her in particular and against women striving for power in general. Gandino believes that Berta may have even called herself “basilissa” (Βασίλισσα) in her letter to al-Muktafī bi-llāh, thus seeking imperial recognition from a foreign leader in a time, in which she—not her husband—formulated a claim to the imperial throne.

Bertha’s activities in the period after writing the letter demonstrate that she occupied an important political position in a region spanning the Provence in the west, Ivrea in the north, and Tuscany in the south. Still confronted with the imperial ambitions of Berengar when her husband died in 915, she installed her son Guido as margrave of Tuscany with herself acting as regent and married her daughter to the margrave Adalbert of Ivrea after his wife’s death. When Berengar chased Adalbert from Ivrea and arrested Bertha and Guido in Mantua between 919 and 920, she still managed to prepare the ground for her son Hugo. He was to become King of Italy in 926, shortly after Berengar’s assassination in 924 and Bertha’s death in 925."