Vue lecture

Many Italians Long Resisted Air-Conditioning. Then Europe Got Hotter.

Amid record-breaking temperatures on the continent, households and businesses in Italy are increasingly installing cooling units.

© Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times

An air conditioning unit on the facade of a building in the center of Agrigento, Sicily.
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Can Ancient Ruins Be Protected From Wildfires? Greece Is Trying.

As blazes surge across Europe, the country is making a trade-off to protect its heritage by fireproofing sites at the risk of spoiling the surrounding landscape.

© Byron Smith for The New York Times

A newly constructed emergency access road at the archaeological site of Mystras, southern Greece, in July.
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Ukrainian Drone Mastermind, Fired by Kyiv, Will Advise Italy’s Defense Chief

The appointment of Mykhailo Fedorov, a Ukrainian former defense minister, showed how other militaries are racing to adapt to battlefield changes accelerated by the war in Ukraine.

© Jędrzej Nowicki for The New York Times

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s former defense minister, speaking in Ukraine in July.
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Close and Loving, or Oppressive? A Novelist Takes Aim at Italian Families.

Many Italians see themselves in Andrea Bajani’s latest novel, a portrayal of the family as a “little totalitarian system” shaped by psychological and physical violence.

© Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio, via Getty Images

Andrea Bajani in Rome last year. An English translation of his best-selling novel, “The Anniversary,” will be published on Tuesday.
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