Of Alps and an Apple
From La Scala, Riccardo Muti’s landmark revival of Rossini’s monumental farewell to opera
Hollywood Confidential
In order to evade racist Hollywood codes and immigration bans, Merle Oberon—the first Asian actress to receive an Oscar nomination—passed as white for almost 50 years
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a new history of the Irish famine, a survey of contemporary architecture, and a portrait of the Edwardian painter John Singer Sargent and his Jewish patrons
Sid Mashburn’s Guide to Atlanta
The menswear designer shares his favorite spots in his home city
Knocking on Wood
An exhibition in London celebrates the timeless art of Japanese carpentry
King Charles’s Trump Card
“Sorry, chap, you’ve got to take one for the team”: the monarch announced that he is downgrading Trump’s state visit to a Pizza Express lunch with Prince Andrew
Journey to Italy
Five years ago, a Roman photographer set out on his version of Goethe’s Italian Journey. The results of the tour, which took him from Naples to Ponza to Positano, are collected in a new coffee-table book
Deadly Pleasures to Read and Watch
Books on a female assassin team and a villain in a league of his own, plus the latest season of a hit British spy thriller
“Spermageddon” and the Male-Fertility Crisis
On this week’s podcast, Linda Wells reveals what men need to do to increase their odds of becoming a father
Princes, Palaces, and Pasta
The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi’s sensual novel about the 19th-century Italian aristocracy—made into a movie by Luchino Visconti—gets a second reincarnation as a Netflix drama
A Broken Bond
Choosing the new James Bond is no longer in the hands of seasoned 007 casting director Debbie McWilliams but, rather, Amazon’s tech bros. What could go wrong?
Joan Didion, Movie Critic
Among the opinions unearthed in her Vogue film columns? She didn’t care for Billy Wilder, had little time for classics such as Casablanca, and was bored by Sidney Lumet
The Blind Side
After a devastating childhood acid attack, Joshua Miele turned his pain to purpose by inventing technology for the visually impaired
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss a look inside Winston Churchill’s country sanctuary, a poetry collection all about water, and the story of the Soviet botanists trapped in the siege of Leningrad
Alexia Hentsch’s Guide to Rio de Janeiro
The Brazilian fashion designer shares her favorite spots in her adopted city
The Hackman Connection
Inside the wild, epic filming of William Friedkin’s The French Connection, which made a star of the late Gene Hackman
A Tale of Two Beans
Two years after its unveiling, at the base of a Manhattan luxury tower, Anish Kapoor’s smaller “bean” is way more controversial than its Chicago predecessor
The Short and the Long of It
Despite its controversial portrayal of dwarfism, the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sitcom Life’s Too Short still has star Warwick Davis begging for its return a decade later
Once upon a Time in Hollywood
De Niro! Prince! Madonna! From Oscar parties to parking lots, Dafydd Jones’s L.A. photos capture a bygone era
