Genoa

Venice wasn't romantic — it was a logistics problem with a paint job. How a lagoon empire survived 1,100 years.

Venice ran a centralised spy service with an archive, a spy network, and a counterintelligence body — in the 1400s.

A papyrus contract from 18 BC, a five-euro coin, and the German Walz — how one medieval ladder survived only in the licensed trades.

Tunisian olive oil with French labels, Iranian rugs in Jerusalem shops — how goods actually move around sanctions and enemy-state bans.