Category Archives: Italy

Pistoletto sculpture destroyed in suspected arson attack in Naples

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Venus of the Rags, one of the contemporary Italian artist’s most famous works, was burnt to cinders

One of the most famous works by Italian contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of the Rags, has been burnt to cinders in a suspected arson attack in Naples.

The installation, in which a statue of the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility stands next to a vast pile of coloured, discarded clothes, was destroyed where it stood on display near the town hall in the southern Italian city.

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Italy heatwave could push temperatures close to European record

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High pressure forecast to raise temperatures to 48C as hot weather sweeps Spain, France, Germany and Poland

Temperatures in Italy could get close to breaking a European record this week as a fierce heatwave grips much of the continent.

An anticyclone – an area of high pressure – named Cerberus will cause temperatures to exceed 40C (104F) across much of the country by Wednesday, with the islands of Sicily and Sardinia predicted to bear the brunt at 47-48C.

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Silvio Berlusconi leaves €100m to partner Marta Fascina in his will

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Three-time Italian prime minister leaves overall control of family holding company to two eldest children

The late Silvio Berlusconi left €100m (£85.4m) to his partner, Marta Fascina, in his will and control of the family holding company, Fininvest, to his two eldest children, a source has confirmed.

The three-time Italian prime minister, who died last month and whose empire is estimated to be worth more than €6bn, also left €100m to his brother, Paolo, and €30m to Marcello Dell’Utri, a former senator with his Forza Italia party who served jail time for association with the mafia.

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Italian men hid father’s body so they could claim his pension, police believe

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Body of Bruno Delnegro was found in a cave in Abruzzo last year, with three sons and girlfriend of one now under investigation

Italian police believe that the body of man found by walkers in a remote spot in the Abruzzo region a year ago had been left there by his sons who continued to pocket his pension.

The body of Bruno Delnegro, who died of natural causes, was found by two Canadian walkers last July in a cave about 215 miles (350km) from his home in Trani, in the southern Puglia region.

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Tourist from England suspected to have carved name on Colosseum wall

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Male suspect reportedly from Bristol could face a prison term of up to five years for the widely condemned act

Italian police have identified a man from England as the suspected culprit behind an inscription carved into a wall of the Colosseum, after a four-day search.

A young man wearing a blue flowery shirt was filmed by an onlooker using a key to scratch his and his girlfriend’s name into an internal wall of the 2,000-year-old monument last Friday. If convicted, the suspect could face a hefty fine and prison term under Italy’s strict cultural heritage protection laws.

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Outcry after tourist carves name on wall at the Colosseum in Rome

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Italy’s culture minister has called for the man who defaced the site with ‘Ivan+Hayley 23’ to be identified and prosecuted

Italian police are on the hunt for a young tourist who carved his and his girlfriend’s names into a wall of the Colosseum, sparking widespread condemnation.

The English-speaking tourist was filmed by an onlooker using keys to engrave “Ivan+Hayley 23” into the wall of the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre on Friday afternoon.

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Pompeii fresco find possibly depicts 2,000-year-old form of pizza

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Ancient painting includes fruit that looks like a pineapple – although it is almost certainly something else

A striking still life fresco resembling a pizza has been found among the ruins of ancient Pompeii, although the dish seems to lack two essential ingredients – tomato and mozzarella – and includes an item that looks suspiciously like a pineapple.

The fresco, which dates back 2,000 years, emerged during excavations in the Regio IX area of Pompeii’s archaeological park, which is close to Naples, the birthplace of pizza. The painting was on a wall in what is believed to have been the hallway of a home that had a bakery in its annexe.

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37 people missing after boat capsizes between Tunisia and Lampedusa

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Boat capsized in strong winds with most passengers feared dead, according to four survivors cited by migrants’ organisation

Thirty-seven people are missing after their boat capsized between Tunisia and the Italian island of Lampedusa, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, citing an account by four survivors of the shipwreck.

The UN agency said the survivors, all from sub-Saharan Africa, arrived on Lampedusa late on Thursday, having been rescued from the shipwreck by another vessel.

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Rare find of 24 ancient bronzes in Tuscany goes on display in Rome

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Statues were unearthed last year in what was a place of worship for both the Etruscans and Romans

A trove of bronze statues buried by mud and boiling water for thousands of years before being found in the ruins of a network of ancient thermal springs in a small town in Tuscany are going on display in Rome.

The 24 bronzes, mostly dedicated to the gods, are the largest discovery of their kind in Italy and were unearthed last year in the ancient springs of San Casciano dei Bagni, in what used to be a place of worship for both the Etruscans and Romans.

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Succession drives ‘quiet luxury’ look at Milan fashion week

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Menswear has moved away from logos to more refined silhouettes, with collections from Prada to Raf Simons ditching streetwear

Such is the piercing influence of Succession on the wardrobes of the rich and famous that its stars didn’t even need to make a front-row appearance at Milan fashion week to make their presence felt. Excess is out and elegance is in as designers pursue the “quiet luxury” look that owes much of its recent popularity to the Roy family stone.

At Prada, the bellwether of where the fashion mood heads next, the co-designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons used the humble white shirt as a springboard for “a reconsideration of simple things”, said Prada after the show on Sunday.

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Death of Berlusconi turns spotlight on to fortune he left behind

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Billionaire had an estimated wealth of $7.4bn and left no indication of who would take over after his death

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving prime minister since the second world war, was a billionaire who had investments in everything from property and banking to the media and football. His death, at the age of 86, raises questions over the fate of an empire that was closely entwined with a political career that spanned almost three decades.

Berlusconi had an estimated fortune of $7.4bn (£5.8bn) as of April 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But he left no indication, at least not publicly, of who would take over his empire after his death.

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Silvio Berlusconi, scandal-ridden former Italian prime minister, dies aged 86

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Health of flamboyant media tycoon who led three Italian governments had deteriorated in recent years

Allies and critics have paid tribute to the former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, the country’s longest-serving postwar leader and one of its most divisive, who has died aged 86.

The billionaire media tycoon and former AC Milan owner who entered politics at the head of his own Forza Italia in the 1990s as the traditional parties of the right collapsed led three governments between 1994 and 2011 and succeeded in making a comeback in 2017 despite a career tainted by sex scandals, allegations of corruption and a tax fraud conviction.

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Berlusconi’s death poses challenge for his party and for Meloni

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Italian PM needs a stable Forza Italia but without its longtime leader there are questions over its survival

For better or worse, Silvio Berlusconi held a formidable sway over Italian politics for almost three decades, navigating even his own troubled times with such a finely honed instinct for survival that he left even critics enthralled by his apparent invincibility.

But as his life’s legacy is contemplated, the death of Berlusconi, who was elected prime minister three times, raises questions over the survival of his Forza Italia party and the impact his absence will have on Giorgia Meloni’s ruling government coalition.

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EU may give Tunisia more than €1bn in aid to help finances and stem migration

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Ursula von der Leyen says €900m will be macrofinancial assistance while €105m will help combat people-smuggling

The European Union is considering providing more than €1bn (£850m) in aid for Tunisia to rescue state finances and deal with a migration crisis, the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Sunday.

Speaking in Tunisia, Von der Leyen said €900m would be macrofinancial assistance while an immediate €150m would support a reform agenda set by the International Monetary Fund.

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Pope advised not to give Sunday blessing from hospital balcony

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Prayer will instead be said in his suite after chief surgeon says Francis should avoid strain on abdomen

Pope Francis’s recovery from surgery is going well but doctors have advised him not to deliver his Sunday blessing from a hospital balcony to avoid strain on his abdomen, his surgeon said.

Briefing reporters at the Gemelli hospital on Saturday, chief surgeon Sergio Alfieri also said the 86-year-old had agreed with doctors to stay there for at least all of next week.

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Italian special forces storm Turkish cargo ship after attempted hijack

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Stowaways allegedly tried to take sailors hostage after being discovered on Galatea Seaways bound for France

Italian special forces have stormed a cargo ship sailing from Turkey to France after about 15 people armed with knives attempted to hijack the vessel.

The asylum seekers, 13 men and two women, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, had allegedly sneaked undetected on to the roll-on, roll-off cargo ship, named Galatea Seaways, in the hope of reaching Europe.

AFP and Ansa contributed to this report

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Parts of Italian volcano ‘stretched nearly to breaking point’, study finds

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Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) near Naples is now in ‘extremely dangerous’ state, say academic experts

Half a million people live on a sprawling volcano in Italy – and the risk of an eruption has never been greater, according to a study.

The Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) volcano may be less well-known than Vesuvius, but is “extremely dangerous”, study co-author Stefano Carlino told AFP.

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Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi back in hospital

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Eighty-six-year-old readmitted to Milan hospital weeks after long stay linked to chronic leukaemia

The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been readmitted to a hospital in Milan for scheduled medical checks, weeks after being discharged after a long stay.

The media tycoon, 86, had left San Raffaele last month after six weeks of treatment for a lung infection linked to a chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects the white blood cells.

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Three acquitted in ‘cattle mafia’ case over alleged intimidation of Sicilian sisters

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Three sisters who own farm in Mezzojuso say they will appeal after men cleared due to lack of evidence

Three men accused of threatening three Sicilian sisters who claimed to have been targeted by the local mafia have been acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The sisters claimed to be victims of the so-called “cattle mafia”, a group of mobsters accused of driving farmers from their lands with intimidation campaigns in order to obtain EU agricultural subsidies of up to €1,000 a hectare.

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