Category Archives: Italy

‘Meloni’s response left me stunned’: the Italian priest taking on the mafia

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Maurizio Patriciello has had police protection since a bombing near his church in Caivano, Naples, but he vows to keep fighting crime

Father Maurizio Patriciello is running late. “I’m waiting for my bodyguards,” he says by text message.

He is neither a celebrity nor a politician but a parish priest in Caivano, a desolate, crime-ridden town on the outskirts of Naples. He has been living under police protection ever since a bomb, accompanied by the message “get out of our way”, exploded by the gate of his church.

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Italian priest struck off for calling Francis an ‘anti-pope usurper’

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Priest in Tuscany compares Francis unfavourably with Pope Benedict in New Year’s Eve address shared online

An Italian priest has been struck off after calling Pope Francis an “anti-pope usurper” in his New Year’s Eve homily.

Father Ramon Guidetti’s speech to the congregation at St Ranieri church in Guasticce, a hamlet in the Tuscan province of Livorno, was a tribute marking the first anniversary of the death of Francis’s predecessor Benedict XVI.

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Meloni faces questions after Italian MP’s gun fired at New Year’s Eve party

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Man taken to hospital with bullet wound after incident involving pistol owned by Emanuele Pozzolo

Italian opposition leaders are demanding “clarity” from the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, after a gun owned by an MP from her far-right Brothers of Italy party was accidentally fired at a New Year’s Eve gathering.

Emanuele Pozzolo confirmed that the pistol belonged to him but denied firing the bullet, which grazed the leg of a 31-year-old man who was among the security entourage of the Italian justice ministry undersecretary Andrea Delmastro.

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Italy’s oldest man, Tripoli Giannini, dies at age of 111

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Giannini, nicknamed Tripolino, had said his secrets were light meals, no stress or smoking and taking each day as a gift

Italy’s oldest man, who credited “light meals and no stress” for his longevity, has died at the age of 111.

Tripoli Giannini, nicknamed Tripolino, died at his home in Cecina, near Livorno in Tuscany, on New Year’s Eve. He was the second-oldest man in Europe, after André Ludwig, a Frenchman who is 75 days older.

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Venice to limit tourist group size to 25 to protect historic city

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Move aims to reduce pressure of thousands of daily visitors to Italian city and protect residents

Venice is to limit the size of tourist groups in an attempt to reduce the pressure of thousands of visitors crowding its squares, bridges and narrow walkways each day.

From June, groups visiting the Italian canal city will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, the city announced this weekend. The use of loudspeakers, popular among tour groups but “which can generate confusion and disturbances”, will be banned in the city and on nearby islands, officials said in a statement.

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‘He had a sensitive soul’: inside Silvio Berlusconi’s bizarre art collection

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During the final years of his life, the former Italian premier amassed thousands of ‘mostly worthless’ works from late-night shopping channels. Lucas Vianini became their curator

Lucas Vianini was presenting what he described as “a very suggestive” painting of a grieving Virgin Mary on a late-night shopping channel when the art expert received a call from a keen buyer.

It was not uncommon to receive prank calls when presenting paintings during the live TV auctions. So when the channel’s telephone operator told him that the buyer was called Silvio Berlusconi, he thought it was a joke.

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Italian woman facing removal from UK despite ‘permanent residency’ card

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Silvana one of potentially thousands who were unaware of need to apply for post-Brexit EU settlement scheme

An Italian environmental technology investor who has lived in the UK for 14 years has discovered she could be removed despite getting a “permanent residency” card after Brexit.

She is one of potentially tens of thousands of EU citizens who were unaware the Home Office changed the rules in 2019 requiring them to apply for a different scheme, called EU settlement.

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Vatican court convicts cardinal Angelo Becciu of embezzlement

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Highest-ranking church official ever to stand trial before Vatican criminal court sentenced to five years and six months in jail

A Vatican court on Saturday sentenced a once powerful Italian cardinal to five years and six months in jail for financial crimes at the end of a historic trial.

Angelo Becciu, 75, a former adviser to Pope Francis who was once considered a papal contender himself, is the most senior clergyman in the Catholic church to face a Vatican criminal court.

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Bardonecchia in Italy trumps Bulgarian resorts as best value ski spot

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Piedmont town near French border is now best budget ski resort in Europe for adults, figures show

The ski resorts of Bulgaria have long been seen as the best option for British skiers hoping to hit the slopes on a budget. Borovets and Bansko might not have the glitz of Verbier, the after-ski buzz of St Anton, or the picturesque villages of the Trois Vallées, but as the solid, wallet-friendly option, Bulgaria has been unbeatable for more than a decade.

All that has changed, however, with the Bulgarian resorts this year being eclipsed by an unlikely budget rival: Bardonecchia in Italy. The Piedmont town, 96km from Turin and a few minutes’ drive from the border with France, is now the best value ski resort in Europe for adults, according to research.

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Patti Smith ‘in good health’ after being hospitalised in Italy

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Singer suffers sudden illness while on tour and cancels remainder of dates

Patti Smith has been briefly hospitalised following an illness while on tour in Italy.

The 76-year-old singer had been due to perform in Bologna but she cancelled the concert after suffering what the city’s Teatro Duse venue described as a “sudden illness”.

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Pope Francis reveals he will not be buried in Vatican

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Pontiff tells Mexican broadcaster he will break with tradition and simplify papal funeral

Pope Francis has said he has “already prepared” his tomb in a Rome basilica in a further sign of the pontiff’s quest to break from longstanding Vatican tradition.

Francis, who turns 87 on 17 December, told the Mexican broadcaster N+ that he would be laid to rest in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood in Rome, where he goes to pray before and after trips overseas.

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Fixing leaning tower of Bologna will take at least 10 years and €20m, says mayor

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Matteo Lepore compares project to save 12th century Garisenda tower from collapse to 10-year effort to preserve the tower of Pisa

Work to prevent the collapse of a leaning medieval tower in the heart of the northern Italian city of Bologna will cost €20m ($21.5m) and take 10 years at least, its mayor has said.

Last weekend, the city unveiled a €4.3m (£3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower – one of the city’s two towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts.

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Virginia museum to return 44 stolen or looted works to Egypt, Italy and Turkey

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Virginia Museum of Fine Arts says it received ‘irrefutable evidence’ 44 ancient art objects had been stolen or looted

Virginia’s state-run fine arts museum has begun the process of returning 44 pieces of ancient art to their countries of origin after law enforcement officials presented the institution with what it called “irrefutable evidence” that the works had been stolen or looted.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts announced in a news release on Tuesday that it had “safely delivered” the pieces to the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York, which it said had conducted an inquiry into the artworks as part of a broader investigation, along with the Department of Homeland Security. The DA’s office will facilitate the return of the objects to Italy, Egypt and Turkey, according to the Richmond museum.

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Italy to withdraw from China’s belt and road initiative, say sources

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Decision of only G7 nation to join project reportedly communicated to Beijing three days ago

Italy has formally notified China of its withdrawal from Beijing’s ambitious belt and road infrastructure initiative (BRI), a significant trade and infrastructure project, according to two government sources.

The decision, which had been expected for some time, was reportedly communicated to Beijing three days ago, although no official communication has been released by either side.

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Leaning tower in Bologna to be saved as city announces €4m repair project

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Work to be carried out on Garisenda tower in new year after area around it was cordoned off due to collapse fears

Officials have announced plans to repair one of two 12th-century towers in the Italian city of Bologna after the area around it had to secured last month over fears its leaning could lead to collapse.

The city said the €4.3m (£3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower – one of the Two Towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts – would proceed in January and February.

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€100m Botticelli painting forgotten for 50 years recovered from Naples home

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Restoration planned for renaissance master’s work that was last checked on half a century ago

A painting by Sandro Botticelli said to have been forgotten for more than 50 years after disappearing from the Italian state’s art records has been recovered from a family home near Naples.

The artwork, which dates to the 15th century and is believed to be worth about €100m, was initially housed in a church in the town of Santa Maria la Carità, before being entrusted to a local family who kept it at a private residence for generations.

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Former drug trafficker offers up island in hope of reduced sentence

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Mafia informant Raffaele Imperiale hands over globe-shaped artificial isle to show willingness to cooperate

A former drug trafficker turned mafia informant has handed over an artificial island he owns off the coast of Dubai to the Italian authorities in the hope of receiving a reduced sentence.

The announcement was made during the trial in Naples on Monday, which involved about 20 defendants, including Raffaele Imperiale, nicknamed “the Van Gogh boss”, a notorious international drug trafficker for the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia.

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Gucci design staff strike in protest at plan to relocate to Milan

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About 50 workers take part in action, claiming move from Rome would be tantamount to collective dismissal

About 50 Gucci employees in Italy have gone on strike in protest against plans to relocate a significant part of its design studio team from Rome to Milan in what they claim is a “mass redundancy in disguise”.

Gucci, which is owned by the French-based luxury goods group Kering, announced in October it would move 153 of its 219 design employees from the Italian capital to Milan, 380 miles away in Lombardy.

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Hospital tests on Pope Francis rule out respiratory problems

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Pope cancelled Saturday activities due to ‘light flu’ a week before key climate address

Pope Francis has undergone hospital tests after he came down with the flu but the results ruled out any respiratory problems, the Vatican said.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, underwent a Cat scan, the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said.

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Geert Wilders’ victory confirms upward trajectory of far right in Europe

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Dutch general election results show how populist and far-right parties are advancing into political mainstream

Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Dutch general election confirms the upward trajectory of Europe’s populist and far-right parties, which – with the occasional setback – are continuing their steady march into the mainstream.

There is no guarantee that Wilders, whose anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) won 37 seats in Wednesday’s ballot – more than twice its 2021 total – will be able to form a government with a majority in the Netherlands’ 150-seat parliament.

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