VENICE – After a night of freak weather events, high waters returned to Venice on Friday having reached 116 cm, met only twice in the past 20 years, which flooded St Mark’s Square and created problems for pedestrians without the wooden walkways installed during the usual flooding season, as shown in video footage released by La Repubblica. The rare event was caused by a disturbance out in the Atlantic, causing low pressure to pass over Veneto and coincided with a full moon that rose the tide to 85 cm.

ROME – On the first day of ‘Phase 3’, which allows Italians to travel freely throughout the country once more, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte met with journalists and spoke about the next stage of the re-opening process in a televised address from the Plazzo Chigi. "We have to reckon with the economic and social emergency," said PM Conte on Wednesday, as he also apologised for delays in aid and stressed the importance of spending EU funds properly, "on which the credibility of Italy will depend.”