Category Archives: Italy

‘A success for Kremlin propaganda’: how pro-Putin views permeate Italian media

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With pro-Russia commentators regularly appearing on TV, Italians are less likely to back Ukraine than people in most other EU states

Whenever Nello Scavo returns from Ukraine, he is overcome with frustration. As a war correspondent for the Italian national newspaper Avvenire, he knows the first question people will ask him is: “Is it really as bad as they say?”

“Sometimes I think that only if I come back badly injured will people start taking me seriously,” he told the Guardian. “It’s as if they don’t believe that Russia is massacring civilians. The problem is that Vladimir Putin has always enjoyed wide sympathy in Italian politics and public opinion, with the Kremlin always enjoying effective propaganda here.”

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Train hits and kills five track maintenance workers in northern Italy

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Mayor of northern town of Brandizzo speaks of ‘chilling scene’ after accident near Turin

Five railway workers in northern Italy were killed when they were hit by a train while carrying out overnight maintenance work.

Paolo Bodoni, the mayor of Brandizzo, told the AGI news agency that an emergency worker had described to him a “chilling scene, with human remains across 300 metres”.

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‘Avoid getting drunk’: row erupts over rape comments by Italy PM’s partner

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Giorgia Meloni called on to condemn partner who appeared to suggest women could avoid rape by not getting too drunk

A row has erupted in Italy after a journalist and the partner of Giorgia Meloni appeared to suggest that women could avoid rape by not getting too drunk, with opposition parties calling on the prime minister to distance herself from his comments.

“If you go dancing you are fully entitled to get drunk ... but if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness, perhaps you’d also avoid getting into trouble, because then you’ll find the wolf,” Andrea Giambruno said on his show on the right-leaning channel Rete 4 after recent high-profile gang rape cases near Naples and in Palermo.

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Toto Cutugno whose song L’Italiano was No 1 across Europe dies at 80

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Singer’s big hit, stuffed with cliches about Italian life, was irresistible to millions as far away as Russia and Georgia

Toto Cutugno, the singer whose cliche-ridden but irresistibly catchy L’Italiano defined ideas of Italian culture to millions of listeners across Europe and Russia, has died at Milan’s San Raffaelle hospital aged 80.

Born Salvatore Cutugno to Sicilian parents in Tuscany, the singer was for a decade a regular at the Sanremo music festival, the Italian institution that served as inspiration for the Eurovision song contest.

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Cheese and chips: parmesan producers fight fakes with microtransponders

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Counterfeits are the bane of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, which is now trialling tech in the rind

When is a cheese not what it seems? When it’s a fake parmesan.

Italy’s renowned parmigiano reggiano, favoured for finishing off bowls of pasta and rocket salads, is one of the most counterfeited cheeses in the world. Now its manufacturers have found a new way to hit back against the lookalikes: by adding microchips.

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Ötzi the iceman had receding hairline and dark skin tone, study reveals

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Genome analysis reveals new physical details of mummified corpse found in ice of Italian Alps

Dark eyes, receding black hair, few or no freckles and a darker skin tone. This is how Ötzi the iceman, the mummified corpse found trapped in the ice of the Italian Alps, would have looked while living.

Researchers who conducted a higher-coverage analysis of the genome to learn more about Ötzi’s genetic history and the mummified man’s physical appearance have found genes associated with male-pattern baldness and darker skin tone.

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Saudis ask to join UK, Italy and Japan’s joint air combat programme

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UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial

Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.

Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.

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Musk says proposed Zuckerberg cage fight to be held at ‘epic location’ in Italy

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X owner in talks with government over historic site for event – though Colosseum and Rome ruled out

Elon Musk is in talks with Italy’s government about hosting his proposed cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg at a historic site in the country, but the Colosseum has been ruled out as a venue.

The owner of X Corp and the chief executive of Facebook-owner Meta first raised the idea of a one-on-one scrap in a series of social media posts back in June. The challenge came as Zuckerberg prepared to launch Threads, a rival microblogging site to Musk’s now rebranded Twitter platform.

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Italian writer and campaigner Michela Murgia dies at 51

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Anti-fascist novelist was a campaigner for LGBTQ+ rights and had recently made her illness public

Michela Murgia, the Italian writer and civil rights campaigner, has died at the age of 51.

Murgia, who was born in Cabras, Sardinia, and was known for her campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights and euthanasia, publicly revealed (in Italian) a few months ago that she had been diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer. The award-winning writer and intellectual decided to speak openly about her illness, continuing to write articles and speak at public debates.

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More than 40 feared dead after boat sinks in Mediterranean near Lampedusa

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Four people rescued say vessel had set off from Sfax in Tunisia and had taken on water in stormy conditions

At least 41 people are feared to have died after a boat sank in rough seas off the Italian island of Lampedusa in the central Mediterranean, Italian authorities and the UN said on Wednesday.

Four survivors who were rescued on Wednesday morning by a Maltese bulk carrier and eventually moved to a patrol boat from the Italian coastguard, said they had been on a vessel that set off from the Tunisian port of Sfax six days ago and sank on its way to Italy’s shores.

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Italy approves 40% windfall tax on banks for 2023 as profits soar

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Proceeds from levy on interest rate income will be used to help mortgage holders and cut taxes

Italy has announced a one-off 40% windfall tax on local banks that have been accused of reaping billions in extra profit from rising interest rates.

The Italian government, which approved the surprise tax in a cabinet meeting on Monday night, said it planned to use the proceeds to support mortgage holders and cut taxes, at a time when rising rates have put extra pressure on households.

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Italian official rebuked for proclaiming innocence of Bologna terrorists

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Marcello De Angelis, a communications chief for the Lazio region, said he knew the trio were not involved in the 1980 explosion

A senior regional official in Italy who used to be a member of a neofascist group has sparked anger after attempting to clear the names of three people convicted of one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks.

Marcello De Angelis, the communications chief of the Lazio region, made the remarks days after Italy marked the 43rd anniversary of the bombing of Bologna train station, in which 85 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.

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Bodies of woman and toddler found after migrant boats sink off Lampedusa

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Italian coastguard says two bodies recovered, amid reports of at least 30 people missing from two vessels that sailed from Tunisia

The bodies of a woman and toddler were recovered by the Italian coastguard after two shipwrecks overnight off the southern island of Lampedusa.

Fifty-seven people were rescued and more than 30 were believed to be missing as of Sunday afternoon in what was described as “more tragic news” regarding those making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in search of refuge in Europe.

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Italian fugitive caught after passion for football betrays his location

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Vincenzo La Porta spotted in a photo of fans celebrating in Corfu after Napoli won Italy’s league championship

Love for his Naples football team betrayed the hideout of a longtime fugitive, who was captured while riding a moped on a Greek island, Italian police have said.

Naples-based Carabinieri paramilitary police said Vincenzo La Porta, who was on Italy’s list of 100 most dangerous fugitives, was spotted in a photo of fans in a restaurant in Corfu, who were celebrating after the Napoli football squad clinched Italy’s top league championship a few weeks ago.

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Bloomsbury USA president dies in speedboat collision in Italy

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Adrienne Vaughan was on family holiday and reportedly fell overboard when speedboat collided with a sailboat

Adrienne Vaughan, the 45-year-old president of the US branch of the Bloomsbury publishing house, has been killed after a collision between a speedboat and a 45-metre sailboat on Italy’s Amalfi coast.

Vaughan was on holiday in Italy with her husband and two children when the collision happened on Thursday.

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Italy’s ‘Attenzione pickpocket!’ social media star found to have far-right links

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Monica Poli, a social media star for challenging petty thieves, is a councillor for Lega, which backs anti-Roma policies

Her bellowing cry – “Attenzione pickpocket!” – has turned her into a social media superstar, with videos featuring her crusade against petty crime racking up millions of views, spawning a trove of flattering news profiles and even a handful of dance tracks that riff on her signature catchphrase.

This week, however, it emerged that Monica Poli, TikTok’s celebrated citizen vigilante who publicly shames pickpockets by alerting tourists to their presence, is a councillor for Italy’s far-right Lega (League) party. Led by Matteo Salvini, the party has long been linked to draconian policies and incendiary rhetoric targeting asylum seekers, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community.

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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni sues Placebo singer for calling her ‘fascist racist’

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Calls for overhaul of defamation laws in Italy after legal action brought against Brian Molko

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is suing Placebo frontman, Brian Molko, for defamation after publicly calling her “racist” and “fascist”, according to local media reports.

Molko made the comments during a performance by the band at the Sonic Park festival in Stupinigi outside Turin in July. “Giorgia Meloni, piece of shit, fascist, racist,” he appeared to shout in Italian in footage posted on social media by fans who attended the gig.

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Italian singer Baby K decries selfie ‘madness’ after being hurt by fan

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Artist forced to cancel summer tour after being ‘charged at’ by woman at the end of concert

The Italian singer Baby K has hit out against the “madness” of selfies and called for greater protection for artists after she was injured by a fan and forced to cancel the rest of her tour.

In a video posted on TikTok, she said she suffered “breast trauma” after being “charged at” by a woman at the end of a concert on Monday in Teramo, Italy, as a crowd of fans surged around her for selfies.

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Four Tunisians arrested for piracy over engine thefts from migrant boats

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Men held in Sicily accused of intercepting vessels and demanding cash, phones and vital engines

Police in Italy have arrested four Tunisians on charges of piracy, accusing them of intercepting migrant boats in the central Mediterranean and stealing their engines, leaving the vessels adrift.

Investigators said the four men would identify boats carrying asylum seekers to Europe and, with the help of other vessels, blockade them in international waters off the Tunisian coast, before boarding them to rob the passengers of money and phones and the boat of its valuable engine.

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Italy seeking to leave ‘atrocious’ China Belt and Road plan without harming ties – minister

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‘Improvised and atrocious’ decision in 2019 made Italy the only major western member, says Guido Crosetto, the defence minister

Joining China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was an “atrocious” decision, Italy’s defence minister has said, and the issue was how to leave it without damaging ties with Beijing.

Guido Crosetto said in an interview published on Sunday that the move made four years ago under a previous government had done little to boost exports, while Chinese exports to Italy had soared.

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