ROME --True to his promises, Enrico Letta produced his government in three days prompting Beppe Grillo to say that it wasn’t Christ who had risen but Barabbas. It is a low profile cabinet, very intentionally. Letta and Napolitano knew that any big name from one side would have produced a veto from the other so, apart from Angelino Alfano, Silvio Berlusconi’s designated successor and secretary of his party, the People of Freedom (PdL), none of the new ministers is very marked politically.
Teddy Wolstenholme
ROME-- 'Tram Tracks', a relatively new venture, promises its participants an evening extravaganza taking them back in time 40 years, as a live rock concert is combined with a journey on one of Rome's few remaining historic trams.
30 Apr 2013
Chiara Martinoli
MILAN-- Gira e rigira la Calabria ti stupisce sempre. This is the claim that Calabria is making in order to help promote tourism in the region. Calabria attempts to entice tourists by promising to always surprise them.
Calabria’s tourism drive was presented to the national and foreign press on April the 23rd at Circolo della Stampa in Milan, and the speakers were Giuseppe Scopelliti (President of Regione Calabria), Raffaele Rio (General Manager of the Tourist Department of Region Calabria) and the sociologist Renato Mannheimer.
25 Apr 2013
SYDNEY SMITH
ROME- Cinema America in the tourist-packed and commercial Trastevere has been occupied by students, locals, social activists, and civic associations, after being abandoned for 15 years. As it undergoes a number of electrifying developments its becoming a beacon of alternative culture in Rome.
24 Apr 2013
Desmond O'Grady
ROME -- John Thavis’ theme is that the Vatican is not an efficient monolith but ‘endearingly’ if exasperatingly, disorganised.He believes that the ‘ backstage reality is infinitely more interesting than the caricature of power and authority which dominates mainstream media.”
He gets at issues through the people involved, usingdeft narrative, sly humour and the observations made during over 25 years until 2012 as the Vatican correspondent for the US Catholic News Service.
24 Apr 2013
ERIC VANDEVILLE
PALERMO -- The historical centre of Sicily's capital houses the last “Opera dei Pupi.” An ancient marionette theatre, the tradition links its roots back to the ‘chanson de geste’ era (Old French literary epics), and Mimmo Cuticchio is its sole heir.
24 Apr 2013
Teddy Wolstenholme
ROME-- Pope Francis has unveiled his new spending review, making the decision to cut the bonuses of the five cardinal commissioners who sit on the board of supervision for the IOR or Vatican Bank.
23 Apr 2013
Teddy Wolstenholme
ROME-- Pope Francis has appointed Jose Rodriguez Carballo as the new Secretary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, the second highest position at the Vatican’s office for the overseeing of religious orders.
20 Apr 2013
Chiara Martinoli
MILAN-- The city is crowded with runners- A traffic ban has been issued by the town council just for them: for the entire duration of one day, no cars are allowed in the city of Milan. People are everywhere; more than 13,000 runners of all ages.
19 Apr 2013