Rome — The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Fiat Spa have signed a 250m Euros finance contract in Turin to support the car firm’s research and development (R&D) plans, officials say. The EIB was represented by Dario Scannapieco, EIB Vice-President responsible for operations in Italy, Malta and the Western Balkans, and Fiat by its CEO, Sergio Marchionne.
Desmond O'Grady
ROME — Relics are an easy target -- David Farley hones in on probably the most bizarre — Christ’s alleged foreskin which for hundreds of years was preserved in Calcata, a township some 45 km (30 miles) north of Rome.
Farley, an American journalist, his wife and dog lived for almost a year in Calcata amid a quirky group of bohemians, artists and dropouts, some of them non-Italians. Several of the locals were just as colourful.
22 Mar 2011
Shelly Kittleson
CITTAREALE – The twin ‘evils’ of would-be asylum seekers amassing on Italy’s southern shores and Italy’s birth and employment rates in fast decline regularly appear on national dailies, with policy makers urging ever faster, stricter emergency measures.
22 Mar 2011
Philippa Malicka
ROME - Thousands of Italians took to the streets and tuned into their televisions last night to celebrate the opening ceremony of 150 years of Italian Unification.
The celebrations began amid assertions of controversy and division. MPs belonging to the Northern League, a key ally to Berluconi’s People of Freedom party, were expected to desert a unification ceremony in the Lower House today, despite the fact that the regionalist party’s government ministers were likely to attend.
17 Mar 2011
Amanda Hildebrand
ROME — As the rest of the world iresponds to Japan’s nuclear crisis by taking serious precautions while dealing with their nuclear energy, Italy still plans on continuing its goal of restoring nuclear energy by 2013.
While reactors and power plants are currently banned under Italian law, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and others in the government are hoping to create nuclear energy, which comprises about 10 percent of the country’s power, instead of needing to import it.
16 Mar 2011
Amanda Hildebrand
ROME - Amid the excitement and anticipation for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the Interior Ministry is scrambling to protect the borders from illegal immigrants- most recently a ship holding mainly Moroccans fleeing from the unrest in Libya.
15 Mar 2011
JAMES WALSTON
ROME–Whatever happens in Libya over the next few days and weeks will have more impact on Italy than any other country apart from Libya itself. And yet there is a deafening silence in Italy about what should be done there. In the US there is a furious debate over whether America should intervene or not and if so, how. It cuts across party lines and covers politics, ethics and commercial interests. President Sarkozy weighed in with France’s recognition of the provisional government. This has once again put the Elysée among the world’s foreign policy leaders.
15 Mar 2011
Jack Castle
FLORENCE — Ezra Pound lived a peripatetic existence, his homes are as numerous as the artistic careers he cultivated and nurtured. Born in Idaho, this expatriate patron of Modernist artists, as well as poet, critic, translator and editor lived the majority of his life in Europe, and about half in Italy. Ezra Pound, however, was never in Pisa. Ezra Pound was in an American prison camp 10 miles north of Pisa, locked in a 6 ft by 6 ft steel cage at age 60, awaiting trial for treason and, if convicted, death. This was 1945:
14 Mar 2011
John Phillips
ROME — Prince Idriss al Senoussi, a great nephew of the last King of Libya and pretender to the quixotic Libyan throne, has taken time off from monitoring the turmoil in his north African homeland to attend a convivial carnival party thrown by Neapolitan hostess Guia Sospisiò, Il Messaggero reports.
7 Mar 2011