The Local

A crushing drought on the Italian island of Sicily has withered crops, deprived livestock of pastureland and faed a spate of wildfires, causing damage already estimated at 2.7 billion euros this year. ...

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Saturday she hoped the European Union would understand the "message" sent by voters in last weekend's elections, after far-right parties such as hers made gains. ...

Pope Francis delivering the "Urbi et Orbi" message from the balcony of St Peter's basilica on December 25, 2018. Photo: VATICAN MEDIA / AFP. Pope Francis used his Christmas message Tuesday to appeal f...

Livoo port official Gregorio De Falco is an M5S parliamentary hopeful. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFPThe man hailed a hero in Italy after ordering the captain of a stricken cruise ship to retu aboard was on Thursday one of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement's parliamentary hopefuls. Livoo port official Gregorio De Falco shot to fame for his orders to Francesco Schettino after the captain abandoned the Costa Concordia, which sank off Italy in 2012 in a disaster that killed 32 people. Thousands of Italians have put themselves forward to run for the populist Five Stars (M5S) at the general election in March, according to Italian media reports, with De Falco the best known. The movement's ...

Mario Vigentini, inventor of 'MarioWay'. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFPAfter nearly 20 years working with wheelchair-bound youngsters, Mario Vigentini wanted to revolutionise their quality of life, inventing a device that raises up users so they are face-to-face with those standing. The Italian drew inspi...

A refugee dines at a makeshift camp in central Italy. Photo: Mario Laporta/AFPIn a children's play park in the tiny Italian village of Illica, survivors of this week's earthquake are enjoying a meal that gives new meaning to the term "comfort food". As they prepare for a second night under canvas the homeless villagers sitdown at long trestle tables to a freshly-cooked dier rustled up byvolunteers from the federation of Italian chefs. It is a rare moment of relaxation, distraction and pleasure for peoplewhose lives have been tued upside down. "The cooks are excellent," says Silvia Micozzi, 28, as she settles down toenjoy a hearty plate of pasta and beans alongside her cousin and fellowsurviv...

A man stands among damaged buildings in Amatrice. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFPAn increasingly forlo search for victims of the earthquake that brought caage to central Italy entered a third day Friday as the confirmed death toll climbed to 267. Releasing the new count, Immacolata Postiglione, head of the CivilProtection agency's emergency unit, indicated there had been no survivorsfound oveight in any of the remote mountain villages devastated byWednesday's powerful pre-dawn quake. At least 367 people have been hospitalised with injuries but no one hasbeen pulled alive from the piles of collapsed masonry since Wednesday evening. As hundreds of people woke from a second night sleeping in cars...

Volunteers join rescue services in Amatrice. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFPThe death toll from a powerful earthquake in central Italy rose to 247 on Thursday amid fears many more corpses would be found in the rubble of devastated mountain villages. Rescuers sifted through collapsed masonry in the search for survivors, buttheir grim mission was clouded by uncertainty about exactly how many peoplehad been staying in communities closest to the epicentre of Wednesday's quake. Hundreds of people spent the night sleeping in their cars, inhastily-assembled tents or as guests of families in nearby areas less affectedby the quake. Monica, a survivor from the tourist town of Amatrice, told of her numbe...

Italy's Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said the money would be used to pay down debt. Photo: Gabriel Buoys/AFP AFP · 20 Jul 2016, 08:22 Published: 20 Jul 2016 08:22 GMT+02:00 The Italian govement hopes to ea "around €2 billion ($2.2 billion) from the sale of more shares in Poste Italiane SpA, the country's postal service, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Tuesday. The money will be used to reduce public debt, he told the Senate transportcommission. The sale conces a 29.7 percent stake. A tranche of around 35 percent wassold last October. Story continues below… The state will retain a 35 percent share in Poste Italiane through theItalian Deposit Bank in order to maintain ...