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Day-trippers will have to pay €5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourismAuthorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a “theme park” as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The €5 (£4.30) charge, which comes...

Pope Francis to attend installation that includes short film featuring Zoë Saldaña and Giudecca inmatesOriginally a convent dating to the 13th century, and once a reformatory for prostitutes, the Giudecca women’s prison, set on an island in the Venetian lagoon, will this summer perform a quite different role: as the official pavilion for the Vatican at this year’s Venice Biennale.Pope Francis is due to...

Health, jobs, defence, security and climate crisis all seen as more important than immigration with June elections approachingIrregular migration is not the top priority for European voters despite the prominence of the issue in the media and political campaigning by rightwing parties over the last year, a new survey commissioned by the European parliament shows.The Eurobarometer poll which tracks public opinions every quarter puts...

‘Black room’ with frescoes inspired by Trojan war described as one of most striking discoveries ever made at site in southern ItalyA banquet room replete with well preserved frescoes depicting characters inspired by the Trojan war has been unearthed among the ruins of Pompeii in what has been described as one of the most striking discoveries ever made at the southern Italy archaeological site.The...

Mayor makes offer after number of goats on Alicudi reaches six times human populationThe mayor of a remote Italian island overrun by wild goats has offered to give the animals away to anyone willing to take one in.Riccardo Gullo came up with the novel idea after a recent census estimated the number of goats on the five-square kilometre Alicudi, the smallest of Sicily’s Aeolian...

Gangs steal ‘liquid gold’ amid shortages and surging prices after extreme weather damages harvestsOlive oil has become the most stolen product in supermarkets across Spain, with organised criminal gangs targeting the “liquid gold” to resell on the hidden market, according to new figures.Olive oil is now the most shoplifted product in regions that account for 70% of the country’s population, the Financial Times reports....

Highest court threw out previous convictions of Finnegan Lee Elder, 24, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 23A new trial has opened for two American men accused of killing an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation after Italy’s highest court threw out their convictions.Italy’s highest court of cassation ordered a new trial last year, saying it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that...

Instrument was adapted, translated and corrected by Muslim and Jewish users in Spain, north Africa and ItalyAlmost exactly a year ago, Federica Gigante was preparing a lecture and searching the internet for a portrait of the 17th-century Italian nobleman and collector Ludovico Moscardo when an altogether different image caught her eye.The historian’s gaze soon snagged on a photo of a metal disc with a...

Phrixus and Helle are depicted in vibrant colours with exquisite artistry in remarkable discoveryIn a remarkable discovery at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, archaeologists have unearthed a fresco depicting the Greek mythological siblings Phrixus and Helle.Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, described the find as a poignant reflection of history unfolding once more. Continue reading...

Defendants are being tried in absentia over kidnapping and murder of Italian student in 2016Italy will again attempt to secure justice for an Italian student kidnapped and murdered in Cairo with the opening on Tuesday of a second trial of four Egyptian security officers accused over the killing.Giulio Regeni, 28, had been conducting research when he was abducted in January 2016. His body was...

Gun Ufuk, 29, sentenced to 20 years in prison over deadly sinking that occurred metres from shoreAn Italian court has sentenced a people smuggler to 20 years in prison for involvement in a shipwreck last year that killed at least 94 migrants.The court in the southern city of Crotone found Gun Ufuk, a 29-year-old Turkish national, guilty of crimes including causing a shipwreck and...

Marco Raduano broke out of high-security wing of a prison in Sardinia in February 2023A notorious mafia boss who escaped from a high-security prison in Italy last year using bedsheets has been recaptured in France, according to authorities in both countries.Marco Raduano, recognized as dangerous on Europol’s list of most wanted criminals, was captured in Bastia on the French island of Corsica, authorities said...

First cameras were torn down by someone calling themselves Fleximan – now traffic calming measures are being targetedRenzo Bergamini, the mayor of Gualtieri, was on his way to buy the newspapers on Tuesday morning when he noticed something was amiss with one of the two speed humps positioned on the town’s ring road.“I saw that the sections of the hump were slightly misaligned,” he...

Red two-seater named after Emperor Haile Selassie’s daughter abandoned in 1936 after Italy invaded countryAlmost nine decades after it was stolen by Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime, the Italian government has officially returned Ethiopia’s first plane.The official handover of the aircraft, named Tsehay in honour of the princess daughter of Emperor Haile Selassie, was celebrated on Tuesday by the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed. Continue...

Hungarian ambassador summoned amid national uproar at treatment of Ilaria Salis, accused of attacking neo-NazisItaly’s government has said that authorities in Hungary went “too far” in putting in chains an Italian woman who is awaiting trial for allegedly attacking neo-Nazis.Italian ministers summoned Budapest’s ambassador in protest on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Cecilie Hollberg sparks outrage in remarks about capital city of Tuscan region being ‘crushed by tourism’Mass tourism has turned Florence into a “prostitute”, one of the city museum’s directors has said, sparking outrage from politicians including Italy’s culture minister.“Once a city becomes a prostitute, it is difficult for it to become a virgin again,” Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses Michelangelo’s...

Italian prime minister hoping to position country at forefront of European cooperation in exchange for curbing illegal migrationSenior EU figures, including the European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola, are in Rome today for the Italy-Africa summit.Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has welcomed leaders in Rome for today’s discussions at the Italy-Africa summit. Continue reading...

Scheme to help African economies aimed at curbing illegal migration from continentThe Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is poised to announce her grand plan for Italy in Africa as she strives to position her country at the forefront of European cooperation on the African continent in return for curbing illegal migration.The so-called Mattei plan, named after Enrico Mattei, the founder of the oil company...

Judge to determine whether agreement criticised by human rights groups violates constitutionA court in Albania is due to rule on whether a deal with Italy’s far-right government would violate the constitution by allowing Albanian territory to be used for reception centres for people seeking to enter the EU by sea.The agreement, announced in November by the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, would result initially...

University of Sassari research suggests change in habits might expose animals to more predatorsGlobal heating is pushing mountain goats into a more nocturnal lifestyle that could expose them to more predators, scientists have found.A team of researchers at the University of Sassari, in Sardinia, used GPS collars equipped with motion sensors to track the activity of the Alpine ibex, a species of mountain goat,...

With a fraud investigation into Chiara Ferragni under way, she and fellow social media stars are under sharp scrutinyChiara Ferragni amassed a fortune through incessant selfie-taking as part of a marketing strategy that included imparting pearls of wisdom to her millions of online followers on how to be “effortlessly cool”.But now the influencer – one of Italy’s most powerful – is struggling to maintain...

Rev Franco Reverberi is accused of crimes against humanity during country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980sItaly’s justice minister has refused Argentina’s request to extradite a priest accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.The Rev Franco Reverberi, 86, who served as military chaplain during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military regime, faces charges related to the alleged murder...

Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto fled Argentina in 2011 and will be tried in Rome for premeditated killing of eight people in last military dictatorshipA judge in Rome has ordered Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto, a former Argentine army officer accused of murder and forced disappearances during Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, to stand trial in Italy for the premeditated killing of eight people.The former...

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