Category Archives: Italy

Giorgia Meloni among far-right figures to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration

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Italian PM’s office confirms she will join far-right politicians including France’s Éric Zemmour in Washington

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president, joining other European far-right figures including Éric Zemmour, a one-time French presidential candidate known for his xenophobia.

Meloni’s attendance at the event in Washington DC on Monday was confirmed by her office and will be seen as further cementing relations with the US president-elect.

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British man admits stabbing partner to death in Italy

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Michael Whitbread, 75, is on trial in Lanciano for murder of fellow Briton Michele Faiers, 66, in October 2023

A British man living in Italy has admitted stabbing his partner to death, claiming he did it after she accused him of cheating on her.

Michael Whitbread, 75, told a court he could not remember how many times he stabbed fellow Briton Michele Faiers, 66, in October 2023.

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Pompeii excavation unearths private spa for wooing wealthy guests

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Thermal bath complex is latest discovery among ruins of Italian city destroyed by Vesuvius eruption in AD79

A large and sophisticated thermal bath complex that was believed to have been used by its owner to woo well-heeled guests has been discovered among the ruins of ancient Pompeii.

The baths were found during excavations of a home on Via di Nola in Regio IX, a wealthy district of the city before it was destroyed by the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

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Plans for Bible reading and Latin in Italian schools criticised as ‘retrograde’

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Education minister reveals revamp of national curriculum guidelines and says children must ‘learn to write better’

Bible reading, Latin and learning poetry by heart could return to Italian primary and middle schools as part of a revamp of national curriculum guidelines criticised as “retrograde” and “nostalgic”.

The education minister, Giuseppe Valditara, unveiled the guidelines, which predominantly affect children aged three to 14 and are expected to take effect from the 2026/2027 school year, in an interview with the rightwing newspaper, Il Giornale, saying that children must discover “a taste for reading” and “learn to write better”.

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Italy seeks to protect restaurants and hotels from fake and paid-for reviews

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Under draft law, online reviewers would have to provide ID and proof that they visited the place in question

The Italian government is seeking to clamp down on fake and paid-for online reviews in an effort to protect the country’s hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions from misleading and damaging content.

Under a draft law announced this week, which still needs to be approved in parliament, anyone wanting to write an online review would be required to provide verifiable ID and proof that they visited the place in question.

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Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal

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Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’

Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.

US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.

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Oliviero Toscani, photographer behind provocative Benetton ads, dies aged 82

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Tributes paid to Italian known for images that drew attention to social themes including HIV/Aids and racism

Tributes have been paid to Oliviero Toscani, the Italian fashion photographer renowned for the provocative images used in Benetton’s advertising campaigns, who has died aged 82.

Toscani, who for two decades was the art director of the global clothing chain, died on Monday after being hospitalised close to his home in the Tuscan town of Cecina.

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Missing Briton’s belongings found in Dolomites as rescuers continue search

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Italy’s Alpine cliff and cave rescue corps find items belonging to Aziz Ziriat as search continues

Items belonging to a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day have been found as the search for him continues.

Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in for their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.

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Italy releases Iranian man wanted by US over drone attack in Jordan

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Mohammad Abedini detained on US warrant three days before Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested in Iran

Italy has released an Iranian citizen wanted by the US over a drone attack in Jordan that killed three Americans a year ago, after the Italian justice minister asked a court to revoke his arrest.

Mohammad Abedini has already returned to Iran, Iranian state TV said on Sunday afternoon.

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Friend of British hiker missing in Italy voices ‘acceptance’ as search continues

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Joe Stone says authorities ‘trying everything’ to find Aziz Ziriat after body of Sam Harris discovered on Wednesday

A close friend of a British hiker who has been missing in the Dolomites since New Year’s Day has said “there is an acceptance that it won’t be good news” as search efforts continued.

Sam Harris, 35, and Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London, last sent messages home on 1 January and the pair did not check in to their flight home on 6 January. Friends and relatives have travelled to Italy.

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Gay men can train as priests but must be celibate, say Italian bishops

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Move marks shift in views but sexually active gay men will not be admitted to Roman Catholic seminaries

Gay men will be allowed to train as priests in Roman Catholic seminaries, so long as they observe celibacy, according to new guidelines announced by the Italian Bishops Conference (CIE).

The decision marks a shift from the view previously held by Pope Francis that gay men should not be admitted to seminaries owing to the risk of them leading a double life.

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Italian mayor vows to stop sale of Neapolitan islet to wealthy speculator

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Bacoli mayor says his administration wants to buy Punta Pennata and turn it into an ‘open-air museum’

An Italian mayor has vowed to do everything in his power to stop Punta Pennata – a slice of island paradise close to the heart of Naples, from where a fleet departed to rescue survivors of the AD79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius – being sold to a wealthy speculator.

Located within the pristine waters of Bacoli, a fishing town located in the vast volcanic area of the Campi Flegrei, and described as a “historical and natural gem”, the strip of land was put up for sale to the highest bidder this week.

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Italian journalist Cecilia Sala returns home after release from prison in Iran

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Sala, who had been held since 19 December, greeted by family members and Italian PM at Rome airport

Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist who was held in solitary confinement for almost three weeks in Iran, has returned home after being freed from prison.

A plane carrying the 29-year-old landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport on Wednesday afternoon, where she was greeted by family members and politicians including the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

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Search begins for British hikers missing in northern Italy since New Year’s Day

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Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, were ‘planning on going off-grid’ during holiday in the Dolomites

A search is under way for a pair of British hikers in the Dolomites in northern Italy who have been missing since New Year’s Day.

Aziz Ziriat, 36, and Samuel Harris, 35, last sent messages home on 1 January from the Trentino region. They have not been heard from since. The pair, who are both from London, did not check in to their flight home on 6 January.

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Giorgia Meloni meets Donald Trump in flying visit to Mar-a-Lago

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US president-elect praises Italian prime minister at Florida resort for ‘really taking Europe by storm’

Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, made a flying visit to Donald Trump’s Florida golf club on Saturday, during which the US president-elect praised the far-right leader for “really taking Europe by storm”.

The pair were photographed in the grand ballroom of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

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More than 2,200 people died in Mediterranean in 2024, UN finds

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Figure includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five migrants trying to reach Europe fleeing war and poverty

More than 2,200 people either died or went missing in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe in search of refuge in 2024.

The figure, cited in a statement from Regina De Dominicis, the regional director for Europe and central Asia for the UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, was eclipsed on New Year’s Eve when 20 people fell into the sea and were reported missing after a boat started to take in water in rough seas about 20 miles off the coast of Libya.

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Families of Sicilian mafia victims fear return of freed mobsters

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Most of the bosses, released from prison on furlough or for good behaviour, have never disavowed Cosa Nostra

Families of victims killed by the Sicilian mafia have expressed fears that more than 20 senior mobsters released over the last three months may now return to the neighbourhoods they once controlled.

The majority of these bosses, some of whom held leadership roles in the main mafia families of Sicily’s capital, Palermo, have never disavowed Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, and have always refused to cooperate with the judicial authorities. They have been released on furlough or for good behaviour.

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Italian fashion designer and ‘colour genius’ Rosita Missoni dies aged 93

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Founder of renowned knitwear brand was at forefront of bringing Italian ready-to-wear industry to global market

Rosita Missoni, the esteemed Italian fashion designer who co-founded the eponymous knitwear brand, has died aged 93.

Internationally admired for her colourful fashion house, which she established with her husband, Ottavio, in 1953, Missoni came to be regarded as fashion royalty for being one of a group of designers who brought the Italian ready-to-wear industry to a global market in the 1950s and 60s.

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Italy presses Iran for immediate release of journalist held in Tehran

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Foreign ministry summons ambassador as Cecilia Sala reportedly tells family she sleeps on floor of prison cell

Italy’s foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador on Wednesday and urged the immediate release of an Italian journalist held in solitary confinement in Tehran.

Cecilia Sala, a 29-year-old freelance journalist for Il Foglio newspaper and a podcaster, reportedly spoke of the harsh conditions of her detainment in the notorious Evin prison, including having to sleep on the floor of her cell without a mattress.

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Twenty missing after falling from boat in rough seas off Libya’s coast

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Small vessel tilted after taking in water, according to seven survivors who reached Italian island of Lampedusa

Twenty people are missing after falling into the sea from a tilting boat after it started to take in water in rough seas about 20 miles off the coast of Libya, according to survivors.

Carrying 27 passengers, the six-metre boat had left Zuwara in Libya at 10pm on Monday. Despite the waves, seven people managed to continue the journey on the rickety vessel before being found by an Italian police patrol boat on Tuesday night close to the southern island of Lampedusa.

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