Pope Francis is pictured through the branches of a Christmas Tree, addresses crowds at St Peter's Square. Photo: AFP AFP [email protected] @thelocalitaly 10 December 2017 14:26 CET+01:00 Pope Francis on Sunday renewed a call for "wisdom and prudence" over US President Donald Trump's controversial dec...

A woman who allegedly led a mafia clan was among 25 people arrested in Palermo early on Tuesday as part of an anti-mafia sweep. Maria Angela Di Trapani, the wife of jailed mafia boss Salvino Madonia, is suspected of being the mastermind behind a reshuffle of the Sicilian mafia following the death la...

An Italian bishop has criticized a nativity scene set up on a square in Castenaso, a town near Bologna, for having a migrant dinghy in the middle of it. The Virgin Mary is holding baby Jesus on the rubber boat in the crib scene at Piazza Zapelloni, a move by the town’s mayor, Stefano Sermenghi, to s...

Salvatore "Totò" Riina at his trial in 1993. Photo: Alessandro Fucarini/AFP The daughter and son-in-law of the late mafia boss Totò Riina have launched an online shop selling wares under the brand name ‘Uncle Totò’. By way of celebrating the mobster, who died last month aged 87, while making some mo...

The captain of a fishing vessel was arrested in Italy on Tuesday after allegedly throwing one of his crew overboard in a bid to stop police finding the undocumented worker, who could not swim. In a sting dubbed "operation chains", police slapped Andrea Caroti, 46, in cuffs and accused him of illegal...

L to R Cypriot Energy Minister Georgios Lakkotrypis, Greek Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and ambassador of Italy in Cyprus, Andrea Cavallari. Photo: Iakovo Mediterranean countries Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Italy on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understan...

AS Roma players celebrate after making the Champions League final 16. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP Serie A side Roma were given the green light on Tuesday by Italian authorities to build their own stadium which they hope to occupy by the 2020/21 season. The news came on the same night thatxa0Roma q...

The banks of the River Po in Linarolo, northe Italy, August 2017. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP This year has been the driest in Italy in more than two centuries, according to climate monitors. Between December 2016 and November 2017 Italy saw its lowest total rainfall since 1800, the Institute of Atm...

Palestinian girls walk past a mural of Pope Francis in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP Pope Francis on Wednesday defended the "status quo" of Jerusalem, hours ahead of an announcement by US President Donald Trump in which officials said he will recogni...

A homeless person shelters from the snow in Milan. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP In 2016, 30 percent of people in Italy – more than 18 million – risked poverty or social exclusion, national statistics agency Istat said on Wednesday. That represents a slight increase from the year before and keeps Italy we...

A freedom of press demonstration in Ostia, where a jou alist was attacked in November. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP AFP [email protected] @thelocalitaly 6 December 2017 17:54 CET+01:00 Nearly 200 jou alists receive some kind of police protection in Italy, the gove ment said on Wednesday, citing an "...

The remains of Amatrice, taken on August 23rd 2017. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP A 4.2 magnitude tremor struck close to Amatrice, the central Italian town devastated by a 6.0 earthquake in August 2016, ove ight. The quake, which was felt in Rome, was registered at 00.34am, with a depth of 8km, in a...

Italian fashion giant Gucci on Monday said police raided its offices over suspected tax evasion, confirming a report in the Italian press. The Milan public prosecutor suspects the fashion house of declaring several years worth of Italian sales in Switzerland, thereby saving around €1.3 billion ($1.5...

Football coach Carlo Ancelotti has tu ed down an offer to manage Italy's national side. Photo: Franck Fife/AFP Italian Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that he tu ed down the role of Italy coach, preferring to stay in club management. Ancelotti, 58, was the favourite to take over after Giampiero Ventura...

Pandora thinks all women should find a beautiful bracelet under the Christmas tree. Photo: AFP The Danish jewellery brand Pandora has been accused of sexism over a Christmas ad that sprung up on the billboards of Milan’s metro network over the weekend. Targeted at shoppers grappling over what to buy...

Italy's competition watchdog on Monday initiated non-compliance proceedings against Ryanair that could see the airline fined up to €5 million ($6 million) over its recent waves of cancellations. The procedure was launched after Ryanair ignored an order to update its website and standard emails to en...

Pietro Grasso has launched Free and Equal. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Pietro Grasso, the president of Italy’s Senate, has launched a new political party aimed at attracting voters disillusioned with the fractured centre-left Democrat Party. As Italy heads towards elections, which must take place bef...

Naples' art of pizza twirling is a candidate to join Unesco's list of "intangible heritage" next week along with a wealth of other cultural treasures such as Saudi Arabian wall painting and Bangladeshi cane weaving. Meeting on the South Korean island of Jeju, the UN cultural body's World Heritage Co...

Pope Francis arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar on Thursday for the second stage of a visit that has been overshadowed by the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. PHOTO: MUNIR UZ ZAMA Pope Francis on Saturday said he wept hearing the plight first-hand of Rohingya refugees in Banglad...

Silvio Berlusconi and Karima El-Mahroug, the woman he was charged with paying for sex when she was 17. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/Giuseppe Aresu/AFP AFP [email protected] @thelocalitaly 1 December 2017 08:38 CET+01:00 Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was ordered on Thursday to stand tri...