Hair tagged as polymath’s in US collection to be tested against remains in French grave
Two Italian experts are set to perform a DNA test on a lock of hair that they say might have belonged to Leonardo da Vinci.
The hair strand was found in a private collection in the US and will go on display for the first time at the Ideale Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci (the Tuscan town where the artist was born), from 2 May, the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death.
Continue reading...Artem Tkachuk, 18, of Piranhas film is believed to have been attacked by a ‘baby gang’ in city
An actor who appeared in an award-winning film about child criminals in Naples has been stabbed by an alleged member of one of the Italian city’s “baby gangs”.
Artem Tkachuk, 18, originally from Ukraine, played a young mobster in The Piranhas, which told the story of the phenomenon of baby gangs, criminal groups led by youngsters, in Naples.
Continue reading...The Paolo Di Paolo: Lost World exhibition presents more than 250 largely unseen images from the photographer’s archive. Di Paolo chronicled life in his country as an economic boom followed the destruction of the second world war. Although those were the years of la dolce vita he was an anti-paparazzo – he shunned the salacious and respected his subjects. The exhibition is at MAXXI in Rome until 30 June
Continue reading...Organisers invited only Europeans to draw attention to exploitation of African athletes
The organisers of a half-marathon in the northern Italian city of Trieste have backtracked on their decision to exclude African athletes from the race following accusations of racism.
“After launching a provocation that hit a nerve, drawing great attention to a fundamental issue, contrary to what was communicated yesterday, we will also invite African athletes,” Fabio Carini, the manager of the Trieste running festival, said in a statement.
Continue reading...Organisers say move is intended to highlight the exploitation of African athletes in Europe
The organisers of a half-marathon in the northern Italian city of Trieste have been accused of racism over their decision to exclude African athletes from the race.
Fabio Carini, the president of Apd Miramar, the company organising the 5 May event, said the decision to only open the race to European participants was to call out the exploitation of African runners.
Continue reading...Rubbish, potholes and metro closures contribute to anger among visitors and citizens alike
As the day draws to a close in Rome, tourists are enjoying a nightcap at a bar on Piazza della Rotonda. In front of them stands the majestic Pantheon, the imposing domed temple built by Emperor Hadrian.
To their right, however, is a scene less befitting the piazza, famed for its elegance and history. A photomural of the temple covers boarding that surrounds a building under renovation and as the night gets later it is used to prop up a pile of rubbish bags and boxes discarded by nearby restaurants.
Continue reading...Virginia Raggi allegedly put pressure on CEO to push company into the red
Rome’s beleaguered mayor is facing calls to resign after allegedly putting pressure on the former chief of the city’s waste disposal firm to fudge the company’s accounts.
Virginia Raggi is accused of putting “undue pressure” on Lorenzo Bagnacani to manipulate the 2017 balance sheet of rubbish disposal firm AMA, with the objective of pushing the company into the red. Raggi sacked Bagnacani in February.
Continue reading...Antonella Bundu is the lead candidate in a coalition of anti-fascist radical-left parties
On a peaceful Monday morning in March 2018, a Senegalese street vendor named Idy Diene was murdered on the Vespucci bridge in Florence. The man who fired the six fatal shots was an Italian pensioner who told the police he had shot randomly at the first person he encountered. He had previously attempted to take his own life.
Antonella Bundu, 49, was one of the first people to arrive at the scene. She burst into tears when she was told that under the blood-stained sheet lay Diene. She had come to know him well, watching him set up and take down his makeshift table of cigarette lighters, tissues and umbrellas.
Continue reading...Rai’s proposals to show different content to men and women condemned as sexist
Italian state broadcaster Rai has sparked fury over a proposal to create separate male and female TV channels.
A reorganisation of some of the company’s channels as part of its strategic plan could result in one airing shows and films geared more towards men, and one aimed at women.
Continue reading...16 April 1864 A large number of policemen drove back the crowd as best they could; but again the cry arose, “Garibaldi for ever!”
On Thursday evening, the General dined with the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, and a select family party, including the Earl of Carlisle (who had just come over from Dublin), and at eight o’clock, accompanied by the Duke of Sutherland, proceeded to the Royal Italian Opera House, to witness the performance of the operas of Norma and Massaniello.
Related: In praise of… Garibaldi's London visit | Editorial
Continue reading...Fayez al-Sarraj says Khalifa Haftar’s attack on Tripoli ‘will spread its cancer through Mediterranean’
Hundreds of thousands of refugees could flee the fighting caused by Khalifa Haftar’s attempt to seize the Libyan capital, Tripoli, the prime minister of the country’s UN-recognised government has warned.
The warnings by Fayez al-Sarraj – who also claimed Haftar had betrayed the people of Libya – echo those given privately to the Italian government by its intelligence services, and are clearly designed to alert EU states to the possible consequences for European migration of a prolonged civil war in the country.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon advised Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini to attack the pope over the issue of migration, according to sources close to the Italian far right.
During a meeting in Washington in April 2016, Bannon – who would within a few months take up his role as head of Trump’s presidential campaign – suggested the leader of Italy’s anti-immigration League party should start openly targeting Pope Francis, who has made the plight of refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.
Continue reading...Mayor for Calolziocorte claims welcome centres can be havens for drug dealing
An Italian town has been called “shameful” and “unconstitutional” after banning reception centres for asylum seekers from being placed near schools.
The urban plan approved by the council of Calolziocorte, Lombardy, this week asserts that “welcome centres for migrants must not be located within 150 metres of schools”. The small town of 15,000 is currently home to about 20 asylum seekers.
Continue reading...Family has asked for tomb in grounds to be opened in search for Emanuela Orlandi
The Vatican has launched an internal investigation into the disappearance of a teenage girl in 1983, in what could be a breakthrough for police investigating one of the country’s darkest mysteries.
Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican police officer, was 15 when she was last seen leaving a music class on 22 June 1983.
Continue reading...Vessel barred from entering Italy or Malta since picking up dozens of refugees on 3 April
Concerns are rising for the wellbeing of 64 people stranded on a migrant rescue vessel in the Mediterranean for a week because neither Italy nor Malta will allow the boat to dock.
The migrants and refugees were rescued from a dinghy off Libya on 3 April by a rescue boat operated by the German NGO Sea-Eye and named Alan Kurdi after the Syrian boy who drowned in 2015.
Continue reading...Trial of five Romanians accused of labour exploitation and forced prostitution follows Guardian investigation
Five men will appear in court in Sicily on Friday to face charges of trafficking women into the country from Romania after a Guardian investigation exposed the conditions in which the women were living.
The men, all of whom are Romanian, are accused of trafficking at least seven women into Sicily and forcing them to work in greenhouses in Ragusa for paltry wages, as well as forcing them into prostitution.
Continue reading...Francesco Tedesco says Stefano Cucchi was kicked and punched in the face by officers
An Italian police officer has told a court he witnessed the beating of a 31-year-old man who died after being held in police custody in 2009, in a major development in a case that has gripped the country.
Francesco Tedesco, one of three military police officers charged with the murder of Stefano Cucchi, told a courtroom in Rome his colleagues had kicked and punched Cucchi in the face, causing his death. Tedesco also alleged he had been threatened by officials who told him to keep quiet and conceal his report about the incident.
Continue reading...Video shows boy known as Simone saying Roma people should not ‘be abandoned’
A 15-year-old boy who stood up to far-right activists during violent protests in Rome has won plaudits across Italy.
The boy, Simone, was filmed speaking out in defence of minorities on Tuesday, when hundreds of far-right activists and residents took to the streets of Torre Maura, a Rome suburb. They were demonstrating against the temporary rehousing of 70 Roma people at a reception centre in the area.
Continue reading...A 15-year-old boy is being hailed as a 'hero of the left’ after he stood up to far-right activists during violent protests in Rome. Simone was filmed speaking out in defence of minorities on Tuesday, when hundreds of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the temporary rehousing of 70 Roma people in Torre Maura, a Rome suburb
Continue reading...City council appears to capitulate after protesters set cars on fire and destroy food
Hundreds of neo-fascists, far-right activists and local residents took to the streets of a Rome suburb on Tuesday in a violent protest against 70 Roma people, including 33 children and 22 women, who were to be temporarily transferred to a reception centre in the area.
Demonstrators set fire to cars and bins, destroyed food that was meant for Roma and prevented their entry into a shelter for vulnerable people.
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