ROME - You have been duped by Champagne. Let’s face it: our society is driven by consumerism and the perceived value behind what we are consuming. A presumption of prestige or poverty is found behind every label. Champagne, in this sense, is luxury. Champagne is a romance. Champagne is myth. In fact, the myth of its creation floated through circles of the cognoscenti for decades until very recently.
Scott Cameron
14 Feb 2024
KATARINA HARRISON-GAZE
ROME -- The father of a murdered Italian ambassador spoke out against the WFP "blackmailing" Italy after a preliminary court upheld diplomatic immunity for two World Food Programme employees allegedly responsible for his son’s death, meaning they will not have to stand trial for their alleged responsibility for the death. Salvatore Attanasio criticised the Italian state and the government after a ruling said the two suspects involved in his son’s murder could not be prosecuted, because they were employees of the World Food Programme (WFP) and thus had UN
14 Feb 2024
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME — Italy’s only baby to be born with half a heart is now 36 years old — and the mother of newborn twins, La Repubblica reported.
The twins, a boy and a girl, were delivered by cesarean section at Policlinico Gemelli Hospital. They weighed 1.4 kilograms each, and made their mother the fourth half-hearted woman worldwide to give birth to twins.
Their mother, who has not been named in news reports, was born with no right ventricle, the muscle responsible for pumping oxygen to the lungs.
14 Feb 2024
KATARINA HARRISON-GAZE
ROME – Serie A clubs have voted to stay with the 20-team format after a general assembly meeting on Monday, Serie A said.
Sixteen clubs voted against the proposal to reduce Serie A to an 18-team league like the Bundesliga and Ligue 1. However, four of the “big” teams in the league - Inter, Juventus, Roma, and Milan - voted for this suggestion.
The decision to remain with the current format was welcomed by most teams, but the four heavyweights criticised the outcome of the vote.
13 Feb 2024
Josephine de La Bruyère
ROME — A 54-year-old bricklayer killed his wife and two sons, 16 and five, “to free them from demons,” Carabinieri said he told them on Sunday.
The man, Giovanni Barreca, said he murdered the victims in their home outside Palermo at the urging of a Sabrina Fina, 42, and Massimo Carandente, 50, whom he met through evangelical prayer services. In a text to a friend two weeks before his murder, Barreca's elder son referred to Fina and Carandente as "the Brothers of God," raising fears of a formalized, violent sect in the Palermo countryside.
13 Feb 2024
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – The two sons of mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro’s driver have been arrested, Palermo Carabinieri said.
The sons, Antonino Luppino and Vincenzo Luppino, were arrested for aiding and abetting and procured failure to comply with a sentence. They are accused of giving “invaluable aid” to the wanted mafia boss between 2018 and 2022. Messina Denaro was caught Jan. 16, 2023.
13 Feb 2024
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME – Two men in Monza have been arrested on charges of aggravated fraud after faking being disabled, Monza financial police have said.
The two Pakistani citizens were arrested after being caught on CCTV walking and driving a car. The man walking, 48, was officially disabled and declared he could only move around in a wheelchair. He was seen getting out of his wheelchair and crossing the road by himself to get into a car. The man driving, 28, was officially blind.
13 Feb 2024
INSIDER NEWSDESK
The Slow Wine Fair, to be held in Bologna (Italy) at the end of February, is first and foremost the most important gathering of the international Slow Wine Coalition, which brings together everyone involved in the international wine chain, from farmers and viticulturalists to distributors and sommeliers.
12 Feb 2024
INSIDER NEWSDESK
ROME - Debates have started after Italian singer Ghali said “stop the genocide” on stage at the Sanremo Music Festival during the live television broadcast on RAI1.
Ghali, after his performance on Saturday, called for an end to the fighting in Gaza on national television. Another performer, Dargen D’Amico, also called for a “ceasefire” twice. However, it was Ghali’s sentence “stop the genocide” which led to the Israeli ambassador, Alon Bar, criticising Ghali, Sanremo Music Festival and the broadcaster Rai.
12 Feb 2024