The Local

Hundreds of Sicilians on Friday protested against water shortages and poor water management amid a crushing drought that's been gripping the Italian island for months. ...

Hundreds of Sicilians protested on Friday against water shortages and poor water management on the Italian island, hit by a severe drought this year. ...

Italy's govement was set to rename a Milan airport after Italy's scandal-plagued former premier Silvio Berlusconi, despite growing calls this week for the plan to be scrapped. ...

Venice was the scene of protests on Thursday as many locals objected to the launch of a €5 fee for day-trippers to enter the city. ...

Trade union leaders urged Italy's hard-right govement Monday to identify those responsible for police violence against protesters last week that sparked widespread outrage. ...

Hooded attackers stabbed a Newcastle United supporter in Milan ahead of the Champions League match between AC Milan and the English club, Italian police said on Tuesday. ...

No violent incidents were reported at the gathering.     Unions had helped protesters from elsewhere make their way to the capital using 12 special trains, 1,300 coaches, ferries and lo...

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Baon attends a congress of the far right party "Fratelli d'Italia", in Roma, on September 22, 2018. Photo: Tiziana FABI / AFP. Several hundred people demons...

People take part in an anti-racism demonstration in the central Italian town of Macerata on February 10th, 2018 Photo: AFP Thousands of anti-fascist demonstrators rallied in the central Italian town of Macerata on Saturday a week after a far-right gunmen shot and wounded six Africans in a racially-motivated attack. Gathered in the town centre on a freezing but suy afteoon, the protesters tued out following a call by NGOs, anti-fascist organisations, unions and several leftwing political groups. "If there's unemployment, blame the govement, not the migrants," they chanted. With tensions high in this normally sleepy town of 43,000 people, shops were shuttered early and schools c...

Far-right demonstrators clash with anti-riot police in Macerata. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP Police clashed with extreme-right protesters on Thursday evening in the central Italian town of Macerata, where tension is currently high following a shooting attack by a far-right sympathizer who targeted dark-skied foreigners. The suspect has said he chose to carry out the attack after hearing that a local 18-year-old woman’s dismembered body had been found by police, and that a Nigerian man had been arrested in coection with her death. Around 40 people reportedly participated in the unauthorized protest on Thursday evening, which was organized by the extreme-right Forza Nuova party. Counte...

Italy's Ferrero is closing in on a $2.8-billion deal for Nestle's US confectionary business, Bloomberg said on Wednesday, amid signs a deal could be completed by Sunday. Nestle USA registered sales of some 900 million Swiss francs (€828 million, $900 million) in 2016, in a market worth an overall $8 billion, according to Ibis World – equivalent to around a fifth of the global market. The firms declined to comment on the deal. Earlier reports had said Ferrero, above all known for its Tic Tac, Nutella and Ferrero Rocher brands but which has traditionally preferred organic growth to acquisitions, had been vying with Hershey and private investor groups including France's Rhone Capital for the de...

Savona is home to over 6,000 dogs. File photo: Pexels The mayor of a coastal town in Italy has been accused of "baing dogs" from the historic centre after introducing fines for owners who don't clear up after their four-legged pals. Ilaria Caprioglio, mayor of Savona in the northweste Liguria region, passed a measure decreeing that the central streets and arcades were “not to be used for the physiological needs of dogs”. The decree was introduced at the request of traders working in the historic centre of Savona, home to around 6,000 canines, after “too many acts of incivility by the owners of dogs who leave excrement on the ground”, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Anyone...

The Waldensian Evangelical Church on Friday became the first Protestant church in Italy to formally offer to "bless" same-sex couples in civil partnerships, a common practice in Protestant churches across Europe. While same-sex couples in the country are not allowed to legally marry in a church, gay and lesbian couples will now be able to mark and celebrate their civil partnerships in a church ser...

A study by a research ship from the Italian environmental organisation Legambiente has found that more than 40 per cent of coastal seawater samples it tested from all over Italy's coastline contained pollutants above legal limits. Legambiente's Goletta Verde (Green Boat) research boat just retued ...

A man was placed under house arrest on Monday for allegedly punching a doctor because he believes a vaccination caused his child's illness. The doctor is in charge of a vaccination centre in the seaside town of Diamante, in the Calabrian province of Cosenza, Ansa reported. The alleged incident came ...

Venice residents on the march. Photo: Venezia AutenticaThousands of Venetians on Sunday took to the streets to protest against mass tourism in the lagoon city. They used the slogan 'Mi no vado via', translating as 'I'm not leaving' in the local dialect, to show their discontent at the impact of high...

Pope Francis speaking in Tuscany on Tuesday. Photo: AFPFour conservative cardinals who have publicly challenged Pope Francis over his reforms of Catholic Church teaching have published a letter escalating the row. The red-hatted "Princes of the Church" had sent a first letter to the Argentine pontif...

Pescara's Sulley Muntari (left) during a previous Serie A match. File photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP Pescara midfielder Sulley Muntari's one-match ban for leaving the pitch in protest at racial abuse has been overtued, the Italian football feder...

Cardinals gather in St Peter's Square to celebrate Palm Sunday: Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFPThe new McVatican comes with a side order of outrage. Plans to open a McDonald's next to Saint Peter's Square in Rome have angered cardinals, including a group of the red-hatted "Princes of the Church" who live above the proposed site. "It's a controversial, perverse decision to say the least," Cardinal Elio Sgreccia said in an interview with La Repubblica daily on Saturday. Opening a branch of the US fast-food chain in a piazza to the right of the Vatican's basilica is "by no means respectful of the architectural traditions of one of the most characteristic squares which look onto the coloade of Saint ...

The 15th century castle near Turin is on the market for €600,000. Photo: Immobiliare.itA medieval castle, "complete with ghost and hidden treasure", is up for sale in Italy and will set you back half the price of a four-bedroom home London. The 15th century castle is located in the town of Arignano, near Turin, and is on the market for €600,000 in its current state or €1.2 million if purchased fulled restored. That's less than half the cost of a four-bedroom terrace in Brixton, London. “Although structurally sound, the building is in need of restoration,” states the property listing. Whoever buys the castle will get 700m2 of living space, spread over three floors, each with seven-metre-high ...