Revellers set off firecrackers by the Colosseum ahead of New Year celebrations. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFPThe injury toll from exploding fireworks over New Year increased this year, with 36 people hospitalised. The number of casualties rose to 212 from 184 in 2016, although for the fifth consecut...

One in two Italians are expected to take advantage of the winter sales, but plan to spend less money than last year, according to Italian consumer groups. Sales get underway in the southe region of Basilicata on Tuesday, followed by Val D’Aosta on Wednesday and all other regions from January 5th wit...

Pope Francis on Monday used his New Year homily to urge peace and understanding for migrants and refugees. "Let us not extinguish hope in their hearts or smother their expectations of peace," the leader of the world's estimated 1.2 billion Catholics said, marking the Church's World Day of Peace befo...

File photo of migrants waiting to be rescued from a sinking dinghy: Abdullah Elgamoudi/AFPThe year 2017 marked what Italian authorities hope was a tu ing point in the nation's struggle to manage a chaotic and deadly rush of migrants to its shores. Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni this week cal...

A file photo of anti-mafia police carrying out a raid. Photo: Jacques Munch/AFPPolice in Germany have captured a fugitive member of the notorious ‘Ndrangheta mafia organization. Antonio Strangio, a mechanic nicknamed ‘TT’ due to his love of Audi cars, had been under house arrest in the town of San L...

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella dissolved parliament on Thursday as the country prepares for knife-edge general elections in March. Next year's elections, to be held on March 4th, may mark a new era of uncertainty for the country. With the vote expected to be split between the right, centre-left...

Italian chef Massimo Bottura (centre). Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFPTop Italian chef Massimo Bottura, whose Osteria Francescana was named the world's best restaurant last year, is in talks to open a community kitchen in Paris that would serve the homeless and other people in need. "Discussions are unde...

The number of single-person households is on the rise in Italy, fewer babies are being bo and people are living longer, according to figures from Istat, the national statistics agency. Italy’s low birth rate and aging population has long been recognised, but the more surprising aspect of Istat’s ann...

Defenders of buffalo mozzarella in the Campania region of southe Italy have vowed to fight a decision made this week by the farming ministry which allows a cow mozzarella from neighbouring Puglia to be given special status. Even before Brussels has given its opinion over the DOP (protected designati...

Anti-mafia police in Sicily. Photo: DIA/AFPPolice in Sicily are continuing their search for mafia fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro after launching a massive manhunt in mid-December. Some 200 officers searched farmhouses and warehouses belonging to around 30 suspected gangsters in and around Castelvetr...

Napoli's record goal-scorer Marek Hamsik scored again to keep his side top of Serie A with a 1-0 win at Crotone on Friday as they sealed the symbolic title of Winter Champions. It was the 117th goal in a Napoli shirt for the Slovakian inte ational who last week overtook Diego Maradona as the club's ...

A file photo of anti-mafia police carrying out a raid. Photo: Jacques Munch/AFP Police in Germany have captured a fugitive member of the notorious ‘Ndrangheta mafia organization. Antonio Strangio, a mechanic nicknamed ‘TT’ due to his love of Audi cars, had been under house arrest in the town of San ...

A Rome demonstration earlier this year in favour of citizenship reform. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AF Proponents of a controversial law that would grant Italian citizenship to the children of foreigners bo in Italy have made a last-ditch appeal for it to be approved before parliament is dissolved. Pa...

File photo of Patrick Cutrone. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP Teenager Patrick Cutrone scored an extra-time winner and goalkeeper Antonio Donnarumma emerged from the shadow of his star brother Gianluigi as Milan dumped city rivals Inter out of the Italian Cup on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Cutrone broke th...

Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP Italy will be sending 470 soldiers to Niger to help the west African nation stem the flow of Europe-bound migrants, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday. Agadez, the main city in central Niger, has become a revolving door forxa0economi...

The Italian parliament will be dissolved on December 28th as the country prepares for general elections, according to news reports. The budget for 2018 was approved last weekend, leaving the coast clear for elections to take place. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will host a press conference on Thurs...

After a sunny Christmas across most of Italy, the next couple of days will be marked by snow, strong winds and heavy rain. The civil protection office has issued an ‘orange’ alert in the north-west coastal region of Liguria, where rain and thunderstorms are forecast from Tuesday evening. The southe ...

Some 255 migrants were rescued ove ight in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, just before a front of bad weather hit the area, the Italian coastguard said on Tuesday. The non-gove mental organisation Proactiva Open Arms picked up a rubber dinghy carrying 134 people, including seven children, ...

Gualtiero Marchesi (L) died in Milan on Tuesday. Photo: Marco/Flickr AFP [email protected] @thelocalitaly 27 December 2017 08:35 CET+01:00 Italian chef Gualtiero Marchesi, widely considered the father of the country's nouvelle cuisine, died on Tuesday in his native city of Milan at the age of 87, loc...

AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso (C) has likened the upcoming clash to "a World Cup final". Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP Struggling AC Milan face city rivals Inter in the Italian Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday with coach Gennaro Gattuso likening the high-voltage clash to "a World Cup final". Milan go ...