Rome

ROME - Italian police Tuesday placed under house arrest 27 businessmen and managers of State-controlled train company Trenitalia for allegedly rigging contracts in favour of a Bari-based company.

ROME - The Minister of Culture reiterates this week that he made the right decision, yet the appointment of Giovanna Melandri as MAXXI's new president remains controversial.

ROME-A British man and a Bolivian woman attempted to smuggle 15 kilos of cocaine in shoes and pots into Italy this month in yet another “ingenious” smuggling ploy.

ROME- Runners hit the streets of Rome in a bid to raise money and eradicate hunger. “Let’s stop hunger in its tracks” was the event’s motto.

ROME -  Laila Sumpton, current poet in residence at the Keats-Shelley House and British Council will be giving three special public workshops on creative writing at the Keats-Shelley House, Rome on

ROME - The Mayor encouraged Romans to avoid “unnecessary journeys” today as heavy rains are forecast over the city and the central regions of Italy.

ROME - Majid Barzegar’s film Parviz, centering on power and its destructiveness in the hands of those unprepared for it, has won Asiatica film festival’s 2012 NETPAC award.

ROME - Two cables broke on the Metro B on Thursday evening, causing two explosions and panic among passengers.

ROME - The superstar gallery of Rome, the Gagosian on via Francesco Crispi, is exhibiting a renowned American artist Richard Artschwager.

ROME- The Foreign Press Association celebrated its centennial anniversary with a major exhibition that encapsulated a century of Italian history.

ROME- Each year, AAR's Rome Prize is awarded to thirty emerging artists and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and

ROME- A brand new reggae festival, 'Reggae got Soul' kicks off early September in the Auditorium Parco della Musica.

ROME -- Journalist Alberto Mucci went to Porvoo to join Finland's notable Restaurant Day, serving leek and mushroom risotto and shots of espresso from sailboat Shanty’s taut kitchen.

HELSINKI- The Finnish Ministry of the Finance is reservedly sending two high officers to Rome to discuss how Italy could obtain facilitated loans.

ROME -- Squats are cultural gems that continue to be forums for the critical exchange of alternative ideas.

ROME- Football is deeply embedded in Italian culture- it is one of those things that demands loyalty that is handed down generations. It is a stream that if disrupted can tear apart families.

ROME- Romans are a lot like New Yorkers: they are thick-skinned to outsiders and seemingly unaffected by the qualms of visitors.

ROME- A reading by Simon West climaxed his six-month Roman ‘writer-in-residence’ term, giving insight into Australian identity and transforming borderline-philistines into avid poetry junkies.

ROME- The Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti, will visit Finland on early August on the invitation of Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, who met him in Rome last April.

ROME-The last stage of the Chamber of Commerce project that shows Rome and the Lazio region to the Americas was held recently in Toronto.