At this rate the tunnel will be finished in another 6060 workdays. Photo: WikimediaA road tunnel under the Alps that connects Cuneo, in Piedmont, and Tende and Nice, in southe France, has been advancing at a rate of just 50 centimetres a day since digging began last year. When opened in 1882, the Co...

Italy's foreign minister said there was 5,000 Isis fighters in Libya. Photo: Aris Messinis/AFPThe Islamic State (IS) group has around 5,000 fighters in Libya with the capacity to carry out deadly raids into neighbouring countries, Italy's foreign minister told parliament on Wednesday. The figure is ...

Gino Pollicardo (C) and Filippo Calcagno (R), two Italians kidnapped last July in Libya, are welcomed by Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni (L). Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFPItaly's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has denied paying ransoms for the release of two Italians kidnapped in Libya last Jul...

The tomb of a possible Etruscan princess has been found in Italy. Photo: Archeological site of VuciA treasure-filled tomb, believed to belong to an an Etruscan princess from the eighth century BC, has been unearthed by archaeologists in Italy. The ancient tomb was found in a burial chamber three met...

Migrant workers in Italy pay the pensions of more than half a million residents. Photo: Gabriel Bouys / AFPImmigrants from outside the European Union pay enough social contributions to fund the pensions of 600,000 retired Italians, research has revealed amid controversy over the cost of managing a w...

Schools in Bologna will again be allowed to hold Easter blessings. Photo: Paval HadskinskiItaly’s highest administrative court has scrapped a ban on Easter blessings being held at schools in the northe city of Bologna. The decision came a few weeks after Emilia Romagna’s regional administrative cour...

Refugees in Turin will help clean up the city for free on Saturdays. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFPAsylum seekers will soon be sweeping up leaves, emptying bins and picking up litter on the streets and in the parks of the northe Italian city of Turin. They will be put to work thanks to a scheme launched...

Police fired water cannon on Tuesday at protesters on boats in front of Venice's Saint Mark's Square, as they demonstrated against a Franco-Italian accord on a controversial high-speed rail link. Waterbo e officers sprayed high-powered jets onto around 20 small protestxa0boats, some of which tried t...

Arsoli in Lazio. Screenshot: Google MapsFrom Rome and Bologna to Florence and Verona, there are plenty of beautiful places to live in Italy. So who in their right mind would choose to live in one of these? Arsoli Arsoli, Lazio Photo: Altotemexa0 It might sound, at least to the ears of English speake...

The body of the German student was found near the Leaning Tower of Pisa on Tuesday mo ing. Photo: Phillip PessarAn investigation has been opened after the body of German student was found near the Leaning Tower of Pisa on Tuesday mo ing. The body of 20-year-old Gregor Smith was found at around 7am b...

The European Comission has criticized Italy's unhealthy finances. Photo: BobThe European Commission on Tuesday said Italy, France and Portugal were in violation of EU rules on public spending and would be more closely monitored by Brussels. In a statement the commission, the EU's executive arm, poin...

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 ...

The Vasari Corridor was built in 1564. Photo: MathrongThe general public may soon be able to get a peek at the paintings lining the mysterious Vasari Corridor, which connects Florence’s famed Uffizi gallery to the Pitti Palace via Ponte Vecchio. Access to the corridor, built in 1564 by Giorgio Vasar...

Swiss authorities have arrested 15 people suspected of belonging to the powerful Italian 'Ndrangheta crime organisation, and are holding them pending extradition, the gove ment said on Tuesday. "Accused by Italian authorities of belonging to a criminal organisation, 15xa0presumed members of the mafi...

The school children from Biella launched the campaign to raise the €3m needed to buy Budelli in February. Photo: FacebookA fund-raising campaign by a group of school children in Piedmont to buy a paradise island on behalf of the Italian gove ment has caught the attention of the World Wide Fund for N...

Houses were rented in the grounds of an Italian Unesco site for as little as €5 a month. Photo: WikimediaThe Italian Court of Audit is investigating how 12 families came to be living in the grounds of a Bourbon palace in southe Italy for a pepperco rent. Since the 1990s, the families have been renti...

Luca Varani was invited to an apartment in the outskirts of Rome for a drink and drugs-fuelled party. Photo: Raffaele EspositoA man arrested over the murder of a 23-year-old during a drug and alcohol-fuelled party reportedly told investigators he and his friend, also a suspect, did it “to feel what ...

Hooligans assaulted the team bus of Foggia Calcio following a defeat to local rivals. Photo: Tasayu TasaphunAn angry mob of between 150 and 200 hooligans managed to board Foggia Calcio's team bus on Saturday, punching footballers. The hooligans were whipped up into a rage after their team's 3-0 derb...

Britain will hold its referendum on the EU on June 23rd. Photo: Emanuel Dunand/AFPBritish expats in Italy, and elsewhere in the EU, need not worry about the UK leaving the bloc, argues Tim Hedges. It is now 25 years since we launched the Eurosceptic movement, under the name The Antifederalist League...

The pilot was stopped at Rome's Fiumicino airport after threatening to down the jet. Photo: Gabriel Buoys/AFPAn Italian pilot sent a spine-chilling text message to his wife threatening to crash the plane he was about to fly if she left him. The pilot, from Padua, was fortunately stopped by police as...