PISA- Set in 1928 in the region known as Tuscia, this mystery novel by American author Linda Lappin will intrigue you with the vista it opens on part of Italy that deserves to be better known. Lappin’s credentials are impeccable: she has long lived in Lazio and her insider knowledge of Italy is apparent throughout the novel.
LEAF ARBUTHNOT
ROME – Celebrated Italian screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami has died at the age of 72 following a long illness, his family has confirmed.
17 Jul 2013
LEAF ARBUTHNOT
ROME -- On 19 July 1943, 4,000 bombs were dropped by the Allies on the Italian capital, killing around 3,000 people. The planes targeted San Lorenzo which was at that time a poor working class district full of factories.
The bombs provoked immense shock in the city and all over Italy, not least because it was known that the pope had persuaded Roosevelt to spare Rome from ruin. While the casualties did not reach anywhere near the numbers recorded in Dresden, Coventry and London, the psychological impact of the bombs was still severe.
17 Jul 2013
LEAF ARBUTHNOT
ROME -- The Interior Minister's Private Secretary Giuseppe Procaccini has anounced his resignation over the controversial deportation of the wife and child of a prominent Kazakh dissident.
The decision has been met with shock by many. Pd Secretary Guglielmo Epifani commented, "This is not normal, I cannot remember anyone with such an important role resigning."
Angelino Alfano is expected to speak about his possible involvement in the rushed deportation of Ms Shalabayeva and her six-year-old daughter Alua this evening.
16 Jul 2013
SILVIA DEMBNER
ROME – As the contentious restoration works in the area surrounding the Colosseum proceed, the city is bracing itself for a new and hotly-debated traffic scheme.
The 25 million euro project financed by Diego Della Valle, owner of Tod’s shoe company, was sugggested as a way of restoring grandeur to the heart of Rome’s historic center.
It was first presented by the Roman Superintendency of Archeology in August 2012. Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino announced that the first phase of the project would start on 30 July.
16 Jul 2013
LEAF ARBUTHNOT
ROME – Italian police seized undisclosed substances from suites in which Jamaican sprinters Sherone Simpson and Asafa Powell were staying after testing positive for banned stimulants.
Police officer Antonio Pisapia told the Associated Press that muscle supplements and drugs had been confiscated following a raid at the hotel Fra I Pini in Lignano Sabbiadoro. The room in which Canadian trainer Christopher Xuereb was staying was also searched.
16 Jul 2013
LEAF ARBUTHNOT
ROME – Italy has come under yet more criticism over its controversial Gelmini law following the "extinguishing" of a judicial award made to three lecturers in reimbursement of lost wages.
On 7 December 2011, Robert Coates, Dermot Costello and Bettie Mims were granted some 300,000 euros in compensation for arrears in wages by a Brescia court, in application of a judgement previously made by the EU Court of Justice.
15 Jul 2013
LAUREN MOUAT
ROME-President Napolitano has expressed outrage after a Northern League MP compared minister Cecile Kyenge to an orangutan. Ms Kyenge, an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo who is Italy's first black minister, has endured a barrage of racist remarks since her appointment as integration minister in April.
15 Jul 2013
LAUREN MOUAT
ROME -- UN World Food Programme's Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin, left Saturday on a 10 day trip to review hunger challenges in four African countries. Her tour will take her to Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, where the WFP is helping battle under-nutrition and food insecurity through local initiatives.
12 Jul 2013