Far-right councillor Alessio Di Giulio films video of himself with Roma woman in Florence
A politician with Italy’s far-right League has sparked outrage after implying that the party would rid the streets of Roma people if it wins general elections later this month.
Alessio Di Giulio, a League councillor in Florence, filmed a video of himself walking up to a Roma woman and, speaking to the camera, said: “Vote for the League on 25 September and you’ll never see her again.”
Continue reading...If foreign secretary wins the Tory leadership contest she looks set to have to change course on ‘handouts’ despite campaign pledges
For months, everyone in government had known that Friday was energy cap day, and at 7am the bad news duly dropped. Phones pinged as the nation woke to Ofgem’s confirmation that typical gas and electricity bills were to rise by a frightening 80%.
Millions of people would be unable to cope, said charities. Even those on low or middle earnings who had some savings could see them entirely wiped out. It was a full-on national crisis, albeit long predicted.
Continue reading...Italian government ordered to compensate UK firm after exploration forbidden within 12 miles of coast
A corporate tribunal has ordered the Italian government to pay more than £210m to the UK oil company Rockhopper as compensation for an offshore oil drilling ban.
Rockhopper’s case was launched after the Italian government banned oil exploration and production within a 12 mile-limit off Italy’s coast in 2015, scotching the company’s planned Ombrina Mare oilfield.
Continue reading...The Brothers of Italy has further impeded access to abortion in the Marche region – a policy it could replicate nationally if it wins power
When Giulia, 20, discovered she was pregnant she immediately decided that she wasn’t ready to have a baby. Supported by her boyfriend and family, she sought medical advice in her home town in Italy’s central Marche region on how to obtain an abortion. She faced obstacles at every turn, from telephones not being answered and surgeries being closed, to one doctor who tried to persuade her to change her mind.
Abortion in Italy was legalised via a referendum in 1978, overturning an outright ban enforced by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini who deemed it a crime against the Italian race, but the high number of gynaecologists who refuse to terminate pregnancies for moral reasons – 64.6%, according to 2020 data – has meant women still encounter huge difficulties in accessing safe procedures.
Continue reading...Receding rivers and lakes have exposed ghost villages, a Nazi tank and a Roman fort
The warning could not be starker. Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine (“If you see me, then weep”), reads the grim inscription on a rock in the Elbe River near the northern Czech town of Děčín, close to the German border.
As Europe’s rivers run dry in a devastating drought that scientists say could prove the worst in 500 years, their receding waters are revealing long-hidden artefacts, from Roman camps to ghost villages and second world war shipwrecks.
Continue reading...Torrential rains hit parts of England, Italy, France and Belgium, while in China flooding leaves 18 dead
Prolonged heat across parts of northern and western Europe ended with torrential showers and thunderstorms this week.
On Wednesday, parts of southern England received 50-65mm of rainfall within a few hours, causing London’s Gatwick airport to delay and cancel dozens of flights.
Continue reading...Girl, 13, among dead as violent storms strike after three days of intense rain in region
Violent thunderstorms with winds of up to 139mph (224km/h) have struck the Mediterranean island of Corsica and parts of Italy, killing seven people and leaving at least a dozen more injured.
On Corsica, a 13-year-old girl died after a tree fell on a campsite where she was staying and a 72-year-old woman was killed when the roof of a beach hut was blown off and struck her car. A 46-year-old man also died on the island in a campsite in the town of Calvi.
Continue reading...Top TikTok user was born in Senegal but has been in Italy since age one and says he ‘always felt Italian’
Khaby Lame, the Senegalese-born comedian who is the most followed TikTok user in the world, has been granted Italian citizenship.
Lame, 22, has lived in Italy since he was one and has said he “always felt Italian”. He received his citizenship during a ceremony in Chivasso, his home town, close to Turin in the northern Piedmont region, on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Luigi Brugnaro offers dinner to anyone who can locate duo who ‘make a mockery of this city’
The mayor of Venice has said he is on the hunt for the “two overbearing idiots” who were filmed gliding along the Grand Canal on motorised foil surfboards.
The young men were spotted dodging gondolas and waterbuses as they navigated Venice’s main thoroughfare on Thursday morning. The scene was recorded by several astonished onlookers.
Continue reading...Official data shows 125 women murdered, with the vast majority killed within a family context
The number of femicides in Italy has risen by almost 16% over the past year, with the vast majority taking place in a family context.
Data published by the interior ministry on Monday showed 125 femicides between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022, compared with 108 during the same period in the previous year.
Continue reading...Hollywood actor plans to run for senator with Eurosceptic party ISP, saying she is ‘fed up with quarrelling politicians’
The Italian screen legend Gina Lollobrigida has said she is running in general elections next month because she is “fed up with quarrelling politicians”.
Lollobrigida, who turned 95 in July, is endeavouring to become a senator with the Sovereign and Popular Italy party (ISP), a new Eurosceptic, anti-Mario-Draghi political alliance that opposes sending arms to Ukraine and “warmongering Atlanticism”.
Continue reading...After seven years and an ambitious plan to open 880 outlets, US chain’s local franchise files for bankruptcy
Domino’s Pizza has pulled out of the Italian market after failing in its mission to conquer the home of pizza.
The US fast food chain’s departure from Italy after seven years followed a period in which the business was badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which in turn forced traditional Italian pizzerias to adopt their own delivery services.
Continue reading...Disgraced former PM will run as Forza Italia candidate for senate in alliance led by far-right Brothers of Italy
Italy’s disgraced former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is plotting a political comeback in next month’s national elections, saying the move “would make everyone happy”.
Berlusconi, the 85-year-old leader of Forza Italia, said he would run as a senator in the ballot on 25 September. “That way everyone would be happy,” he told Rai radio. “I’ve received pressure [to do so] from many, even outside Forza Italia.”
Continue reading...Government says Slovenian plans to ‘standardise’ use of name threaten traditional producers in Modena
The Italian government is launching infringement proceedings against Slovenia in an attempt to defend the authenticity of its famed, geographically protected balsamic vinegar.
Relations between the two countries turned sour last year when Slovenia notified the European Commission of its plans to “standardise” its vinegar production, essentially seeking to market any wine vinegar mixed with concentrated fruit juice or must as “balsamic vinegar”.
Continue reading...Leader of Azione withdraws support from coalition led by Democratic party less than week after joining forces
An Italian centre-left alliance has broken down less than a week after coming together, potentially handing victory to a coalition that includes two far-right parties as the country prepares for general elections in September.
Carlo Calenda, the leader of Azione, a small centrist force that was seen as crucial to giving clout to an alliance led by the centre-left Democratic party (PD), withdrew his support on Sunday after the leader of the PD, Enrico Letta, signed a separate electoral agreement with parties including the radical leftwing group Sinistra Italiana, and Europa Verde, a green party launched last year.
Continue reading...Archaeologists are enriching our knowledge about those who were ‘vulnerable class during political crises and food shortages’
A trunk with its lid left open, a wooden dishware closet and a three-legged accent table topped by decorative bowls. These are among the latest discoveries by archaeologists that are enriching knowledge about middle-class lives in Pompeii before Mount Vesuvius’s furious eruption buried the ancient Roman city in volcanic debris.
Pompeii’s archaeological park, one of Italy’s top tourist attractions, announced the recent finds on Saturday.
Continue reading...Judge in Lecce rules no grounds to pursue investigation against Canadian director, 69, who spent 16 days under house arrest
Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis has had a sexual assault charge dropped by an Italian court six weeks after he was accused by a 28-year-old British woman of forcing her to have “non-consensual” sex with him.
A judge in the southern Italian city of Lecce ruled on Friday that there were no grounds to further pursue an investigation.
Continue reading...Routes that are usually safe at this time of year now face hazards as a result of warmer temperatures
Little snow cover and glaciers melting at an alarming rate in Europe’s heatwaves have put some classic Alpine hiking routes off-limits.
Usually at the height of summer tourists flock to the Alps and seek out well-trodden paths up to some of its peaks. But with warmer temperatures – which scientists say are driven by climate change – speeding up glacier melt and thawing permafrost, routes that are usually safe at this time of year now face hazards such as falling rocks released from the ice.
Continue reading...Beating in broad daylight of Alika Ogorchukwu in Civitanova Marche sparks outrage and protests
An Italian man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a Nigerian street seller, whose beating in broad daylight was reportedly filmed by onlookers and which has sparked outrage and protests.
Alika Ogorchukwu, 39, was killed in the centre of Civitanova Marche on Friday afternoon.
Continue reading...Father Mattia Bernasconi apologises for any offence after failing to find shade while on camp in Italy with high school students
A priest who celebrated mass in the sea using an inflatable mattress as an altar has been placed under investigation by Italian authorities.
Father Mattia Bernasconi, 36, from the archdiocese of Milan, said he had planned to hold Sunday’s ceremony among the trees by the beach in Crotone, southern Italy, after he had been helping with a week-long summer camp for high school students organised by Libera, an anti-mafia organisation.
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