ROME -- Piazza Venezia is not only the very heart of Rome, it is also the very centre of Italy. Literally, all roads in Italy do lead to Rome and are marked by their distance from the Campidoglio and the buzzing piazza beneath it.
The piazza isn’t as grand as Place de l’Étoile in Paris, but it may be more chaotic. Driving around it, over the slick, uneven cobblestones, is not for the faint of heart. No lanes, no rules, horns blaring.
GENOA -- The crude oil spill from oil company IPLOM’s pipeline in Liguria is putting fragile ecosystems in the firing line, causing the death of thousands of fish and putting many birds, which live in nearby streams and the sea, at risk. The alarm has been raised by the head of the Italian bird protection league LIPU in Genoa, Daniela Filippi, who just on Tuesday singlehandedly saved 27 mallards who had been completely covered in the oil and were unable to fly.
ROME – As FAO’s press office trumpeted José Graziano da Silva’s glorious receipt of an Italian ‘knightship,’ the UN agency director general in a major speech on Africa airbrushed out his links on the continent to his mentor former Brazilian President Ignacio Lula da Silva who is at the centre of a huge corruption scandal in their homeland.
ROME -- Italy has slipped several places in the world rankings for freedom of press in 2016, according to a new report that was released Wednesday by ‘Reporters Without Borders’ [Reporters sans frontières]. The ranking contains details for 180 countries, within which Italy has slid from 73rd place to the 77th.
ROME -- Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano strongly denied Tuesday a German press report that Isis is planning attacks on beaches in Italy and other southern European countries.
Alfano reiterated an earlier denial by Italian security services of the report in the sensationalist tabloid Bild newspaper. "I have nothing to add to the denial already made," Alfano said, "I don't want alarmism to damage our tourism while adding nothing to our security."
ROME -- As many as 400 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea whilst trying to reach the southern coasts of Europe in four inflatable boats that sunk, maritime sources say. Most of the dead were reported to be Somali. Somali ambassador to Egypt and the Executive Director for Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth said four boats that have sunk.
ROME -- Sunday’s oil drilling referendum failed to reach a quorum of 50 percent, with just 32.15 percent of eligible voters taking part, which falls to 31.18 if you take into the account those living abroad. Those who voted ‘Yes’ to stopping drilling off the coast of Italy had a large majority with 85.84 of those who voted, however the outcome will not even be taken into consideration.
VATICAN CITY -- When Pope Francis visited the island of Lesbos, in Greece, last week, he did not return alone, bringing 12 refugees back with him to the Vatican. The refugees form three families from Syria, all of whom are Muslim and had their immigration papers in order, according to the pontiff who said that they would be given lodging in Rome and help from the Sant’Egidio Community, especially in finding employment.
VATICAN CITY -- U.S. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders climaxed his visit to Rome Saturday with a five minute audience with Pope Francis before the pontiff left Italy for a pastoral visit to the Greek island of Lesbos. Sanders was quoted as telling Francis that he “appreciated very much the incredible role that he is carrying out on this planet in discussing themes on the need for an economy based on morality, not on greed”.
