ROME -- Italy does parties very well -- as we all know, the festive kind have been around at least since the pre-Roman Etruscan triumphs.

ROME -- Prime Minister Mario Monti has set himself three major tasks so far -- The first was the austerity budget, which he called “Save Italy,” passed in November and now is beginning to bite.

ROME -- The cemetery for non-Catholics in Rome rivals Highgate in London and the Père Lachaise in Paris as an assembly of extraordinary figures, with John Keats the most renowned.

ROME -- The grand finale of the ‘Days of Azerbaijani Culture’ programme was a concert promoting the culture of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.

Pope Benedict XVI this month celebrated his 85^th birthday, making him the sixth oldest pontiff since 1295, and his seventh anniversary as pontiff.

ROME -- Valter Lavitola, linked to a sex scandal involving former Italian Prime Minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, has returned to Italy to face a host of criminal charges.

ROME -- Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen met the head of Italy's technocrat government, Prime Minister Mario Monti, in Rome.

Brendan J Murphy, a distinguished author and journalist, set an apparent record for a reporter going without sleep during a hijacking when he covered a lengthy drama singlehandedly in Algiers.

ROME – The Eternal City might be known for its famous historic gladiators battling it out with swords in the arena, but this weekend saw a clash, not of steel, but of pillows.

ROME – International movement ‘We Are Church’ which urges reform of the Catholic Church, has responded to Pope Benedict XVI’s recent calls for obedience.

ROME -- Italo, billed as the most modern train in Europe and Italy's first ever privatised Rail service, will begin running this month.

ROME -- As part of a strategy to expand its product offering and significantly increase volumes, over the next two years Maserati will introduce three new models in three different market segments.

ROME -- Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen will have a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Mario Monti, in Rome on Tuesday.

ROME--Paolo Bosusco ha

ROME -- Italian writers Umberto Eco and Diego Marani have been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012.

ROME -- How much does politics cost? Italians and Americans have very different figures but they both have the same answer… too much.

ROME -- Umberto Bossi began his political career attacking the thieving capital, Roma ladrona, as a vampire which sucked the hard-earned taxes of honest northerners.

ROME – Three years on, the effects of a deadly earthquake which hit Abruzzo are still keenly felt -- Some are still living in temporary accommodation, dangerous areas remain sealed off.

ROME – Umberto Bossi has resigned as head of the separatist Northern League, climaxing a scandal involving the alleged misuse of millions of euros of party funds.

ROME -- The eight young Somalians charged with piracy in the first trial of its kind in Italy looked bewildered when they first appeared in the heavily protected court in Rebibbia prison.

ROME– Officials have released 14 paintings after more than two years in an Italian lock up.

MILAN -- A recent survey has revealed that while levels of trust in governments and other institutions have plummeted in the Eurozone, Italy remains a 'trust neutral' country.

VALLETTA, MALTA -- The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in the cathedral in Malta is the only painting that Caravaggio ever signed. He signed it in the Baptist’s blood on the pavement.

By INSIDER REPORTERS

MILAN – Anarchist insurgents have been accused of setting light to a railway line in Milan in protest against the controversial Tav high-speed rail network.