The Local

Snapping a picture of the tree in Milan's central square. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP From north to south and east to west, Italy's towns and cities have had a festive makeover ahead of the Christmas holidays. We've gathered together the best snaps of the most magical displays from across the country to help you get into the Christmas spirit -- and maybe offer inspiration for a pre-holiday trip. Rome This mode Christmas tree can be found by the iconic Spanish Steps in the centre of the capital, just a short walk away from one of the main shopping districts. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP The tree and lifesize nativity scene at St Peter's Square is one of Rome's holiday highlights. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP And this Christmas tree at Piazza Venezia has divided locals, with some dubbing it 'Spelacchiato' or 'hairball'. What do you think?  Madonna di Campiglio One of Italy's most popular skiing resorts tucked away in the Dolomites, Madonna di Campiglio feels like a true Christmas grotto at this time of year. READ ALSO: How to celebrate Christmas like the Italians Lecce Further south, authorities in L, ...ادامه مطلب

Alitalia cabin crew uniforms presented by designer Ettore Bilotta last summer. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP Italian carrier Alitalia, grappling with debt and fighting to compete with low-cost rivals, announced on Wednesday it has hired the Alberta Ferretti fashion house to redesign its staff uniforms, 18 months after new outfits were unveiled. The "special collection" will combine "elegance and convenience to ensure that all personnel, both ground and flight staff, are comfortable," the airline said in a statement.It added that wear and tear had prompted the need to replace the current uniforms with "a brand-new collection created by a world-renowned Italian designer".The compan, ...ادامه مطلب

Delays on the railway line between Fiumicino Airport and Rome Termini are affecting travel plans during the busiest tourist season of the year in the capital. A train has been held up for over an hour between the stations of Magliana and Ponte Galeria on the Rome Termini - Fiumicino airport railway., ...ادامه مطلب

Prime minister Paolo Gentiloni pictured speaking on Wednesday. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFPItaly's govement has delayed a parliamentary vote on a citizenship rights bill as tensions rise over the number of migrants arriving on the country's shores. The proposal to give children bo on Italian soil to , ...ادامه مطلب

Designer Maurizio Montalti poses with some of the everyday objects he has made from mushrooms. Photo: Sophie Mignon/AFPWhat is nicer after a long day than sinking your feet into comfortable slippers? But one Italian designer is hoping to show that shoes made from mushrooms can be just as cosy. A pai, ...ادامه مطلب

You may have noticed that a few things have changed around here. Introducing what? Our new design! We’ve changed the look of our site! Have you? Yes, we have. And it’s taken six months of extremely hard work so don’t pretend you didn’t notice. Oh. Thought something looked different. Actually, everything is different. We’ve completely rebuilt our sites to be ‘mobile first’, more secure and 100% responsive using Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology, not to mention adding a - Yeah, whatever - how is this better for me? Well, there are two specific improvements that you will hopefully appreciate. The first is that our new design allows us to present a lot more of our content to our readers, a lot more clearly. And secondly, every page downloads faster. MUCH faster. So if you’re reading The Local on your phone, you will notice a big difference. Words like ‘blistering’, lightning’, ‘breakneck’ and ‘pronto’ spring to mind. We also happen to think ,introducing the localgpo tool,introducing the local policy tool,introducing localdb an improved sql express ...ادامه مطلب

The snowshoe was just a few thousand years older than thought. Photo: Roman Clara/Bolzano regional govementA snowshoe discovered over a decade ago in Italy’s Dolomite mountains and previously thought to belong to a nineteenth century cattle farmer is actually nearly six thousand years old, it has been revealed. The shoe was found in 2003 in the melting snow of Gurgler Eisjoch glacier by Simone Bartolini, a cartographer for the Military Geographic Institute in Florence. Bartolini was mapping the Austrian-Italian border in South Tyrol, a German-speaking area of northe Italy.  Assuming the shoe to be about a hundred years old, Bartolini displayed the shoe in his office as a memento. He only realised that it was much older than previously thought after discussing it with an archaeologist colleague.  Radiocarbon dating by two separate labs now shows the shoe dates from 3800-3700 BC. This makes it up to 600 years older than the famous ice man Ötzi, who was found in 1991 just seven,shoe lays,shoe layaway,shoelaces styles,shoe layers,shoe layout,shoelaces online,shoelaces tricks,shoelaces models,shoe lays design,shoe lays tie ...ادامه مطلب

Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Pier Carlo Padoan (L) talks with Dutch Finance Minister and president of Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Photo: John Thys/AFPEurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Monday said there was still time to solve the crisis affecting banks in Italy that is raising fears of new dangers to the eurozone economy. "It is not an acute crisis so that also gives us some time to sort these things out," said Dijsselbloem, who leads the group of 19 finance ministers from EU countries that use the euro. Fears are rife on the financial markets that Italy could cause a retu of the eurozone debt crisis if it does not address the €360 billion ($398 billion) in bad debt sitting in its national banks.   Markets have tued sour on several Italian banks, most notably Italy's number-three lender and the world's oldest bank, Banca Monte Paschi.   The bad debt predicament poses political as well as economic difficulties for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who must obey new eurozone rules which limit the bailing out of banks through public money unless investors are required to bear part of the burden.   "The rules... are clear and they are strict," Dijsselbloem, who is also Dutch finance minister, told reporters.   "They make it very clear on when there needs to be a bail-in and who needs to be bailed in and in what order," he said, using the technical term for those who will incur losses if a bank in the eurozone should fail.   But, he added, these problems need to be addressed "gradually".    Italian Finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan insisted savers in Italy "will be protected by the Italian govement."   Rome "is in the process of putting in place precautionary measures that will only be used if necessary," Padoan said.   The Italian govement, desperate to avoid a public backlash which could also handicap a key referendum on constitutional reforms later this year on which Renzi's political fate hinges, is extremely wary of angering the country's army of small, ...ادامه مطلب

A public contest will look at ways of designing a roof for Verona's Arena. Photo: WikimediaA contest aimed at exploring ways of covering the ancient Roman amphitheatre of Verona is to be launched by the Italian underwear company, Calzedonia, later this month. The Verona-based company has stumped up €100,000 to fund the inteational competition, which invites ideas on how to equip the iconic venue with a roof that is both retractable and removable. Calzedonia's founder and CEO, Sadro Veronesi, said the aim was to protect the first century arena from the being wo away by rain and pollution. “Our primary objective is to find ways of protecting one of our greatest cultural treasures which is suffering irreparable damage from exposure to atmospheric elements,” Veronesi told Il Sole 24 Ore. But the potential addition of a roof to the structure could also offer considerable economic benefits to Verona. Currently the largest open-air opera venue in the world with a capacity of 15,000, the theatre can only stage a short season of shows during the summer months. Even then, both performers and the audience are at the mercy of the elements. “A roof would allow shows to be put on all year round, which would be a great advantage to the city and we hope that many people take part in the contest,” Veronesi added. Some €40,000 will be awarded to the winning design, while €20,000 be awarded for second place and €10,000 for third. Some €30,000 will also be paid to the jury. While the primary contest does not guarantee that the project will be realized, winning groups will most likely be heavily involved with any future roof construction projects. The privately-funded contest is just the latest example of Italian companies stepping in to finance heritage projects which the country's cash-strapped govement can ill afford. Last year, an extensive refurbishment of Rome's Trevi fountain was completed by the fashion house, Fendi, while the city's iconic Spanish Steps are being given a Bulgar, ...ادامه مطلب