ROME – Some 70,000 tourists were in the Italian capital on the first day without travel restrictions after the opening up of ‘Phase 3’, as visitors flocked to the eternal city from abroad on flights as well by train from northern cities such as Turin and Milan, reports Il Messaggero. The Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, posted on Facebook on Wednesday that “today's date is a very significant date, Italians will be able to move freely throughout the country, among all regions.”

VERONA – The ‘Arena-Nicoscia’ gang, one of the many 'Ndrangheta affiliations, was dealt a blow of 23 arrests, with suspects held on multiple charges of mafia association, drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, and other corruption offenses such as the issuing false invoices for non-existent operations, according to judicial sources.

VALLETTA – Four private vessels are stranded outside Maltese territorial waters with 400 rescued people on board, in what have effectively become offshore detention centers, as chaos in the Mediterranean reaches “unprecedented levels,” according to an SOS Mediterranee press release. The survivors, some of which have fled extreme violence and abuse in Libya, have been held on board these four boats for more than a month in legal limbo as international law remains unobserved.

PALERMO – An investigation into the disappearance of the New Isis’ fishing vessel on the night of May 11, thought to have vanished somewhere between San Vito Lo Capo and Ustica, has been piecing together a credible version of what happened in an attempt to locate the Captaion Vito Lo Iacono, 27, who has not yet been found. Of the other two men manning the vessel, the father of Vito, Matteo Lo Iacono, 53, was found dead on May 16, his Vito’s cousin, Giuseppe Lo Iacono, 34, was found dead on May 14, report La Stampa.