Former Vatican's Bambino Gesu' hospital president Giuseppe Profiti (2ndR) in court on October 14th. Photo: HO/Osservatore Romano/AFP A Vatican court convicted on Saturday the former head of the pope's children's hospital for diverting funds to the costly renovation of a top cardinal's luxury apartme...

Italian extremist and writer Cesare Battisti at his home in Rio de Janeiro in 2007. Photo: Christophe Simon/AFP Convicted killer-tu ed author Cesare Battisti believes his extradition to Italy from Brazil would be illegal and would endanger his life, he told AFP in an interview. Battisti has been on ...

Graffiti artist Mauro Pallotta poses with a "superpope" t-shirt. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP A work of street art that tu ed Pope Francis into "superpope" will now support Vatican charitable projects through the sale of t-shirts bearing the flying pontiff, artist MauPal said on Friday. In 2014, graffiti...

The Vatican has confirmed the kidnapping of Italian priest Maurizio Pallu in Nigeria. Photo: AFP An Italian priest has been kidnapped by gunmen in southe Nigeria, church officials in both countries have said. Maurizio Pallu was snatched on Thursday in broad daylight by armed men just outside of Beni...

Demonstrators in Vienna hold posters reading "Nazis out of parliament" ahead of Austrian elections. Photo: Alex Halada/AFP Austria's hard-right Freedom Party has a shot at sharing power after elections on Sunday, having narrowly lost out in a presidential vote last year. A far-right party has also h...

Forget the property search in Tuscany, head to neighbouring Le Marche for a little bit of everything. Location Le Marche is one of Italy's lesser-known regions, often overlooked by visitors in favour of neighbouing Tuscany. But with plenty of rolling hills, over 170km of Adriatic coastline and Apenn...

A supporter of the Five Star Movement holds up a ripped Italian flag during a protest outside the lower house of parliament. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP Italy’s lower house of parliament has approved a new electoral law, paving the way for a general election before May next year. Amid fierce prote...

The CEO of Germany’s Lufthansa has said the company would be interested in buying Italy's troubled flagship carrier if an opportunity arose to “to create a new Alitalia”. His comments come just days before an October 16th deadline for the submission of bids. Ryanair pulled out of the running earlier...

In this week's The Local Europe Edition podcast James Savage and Emma Löfgren talk with Ben McPartland of The Local France about why the French are on strike – again. In this week's The Local Europe Edition podcast James Savage and Emma Löfgren talk with Ben McPartland of The Local France about why ...

Paris Saint-Germain boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Photo: Valery Hache/AFP Accused Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi put a Sardinian villa at the disposal of disgraced former top Fifa official Jerome Valcke, Italian police said on Friday. Khelaifi, the powerful Qatari sports executive who he...

Five Star movement founder Beppe Grillo with the party's candidate for prime minister, Luigi Di Maio. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Those in charge of auditing Rome have said that the budget should not be approved as it does not “truthfully and correctly” reflect the municipality’s financial situation....

Supporters of the anti-establishment populist Five Star Movement in Rome on Wednesday. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP Italy took a major step towards approving a new electoral system on Wednesday, sparking protests and a countdown to knife-edge elections to be held in the first part of 2018. A majori...

The changes will come into force with Gucci's spring-summer 2018 collection. Photo: Jason Merritt/AFP Gucci will go fur-free next year and auction off all of its remaining animal fur items, the Italian fashion house's president and CEO Marco Bizzarri announced in London on Wednesday. The changes wil...

An Italian woman has won her battle to be granted sick pay for days she took off to look after her poorly dog, in a first for the pet-loving country. The woman, a Rome academic, won her case with the help of lawyers from the Italian Anti-Vivisection League (LAV), one of the biggest animal rights gro...

Two prisoners who were invited to meet Pope Francis for lunch on his recent visit to Bologna took advantage of the occasion to escape, local media reports said on Wednesday. The two men, who were being held in a rehabilitation facility for drug addicts and prisoners, were reportedly among 20 prisone...

Paolo Macchiarini. Photo: AP Photo/Lorenzo Galassi Swedish prosecutors will not charge scandal-hit Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini with causing the deaths of three of his patients. Previously an inte ationally renowned surgery star who operated on numerous Swedish and inte ational celebrities, Mac...

The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, wants more clarity on the Italy-Libya migrant deal. Photo: Adem Altan/AFP The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, has asked Italy to shed more light on a pact made with war-to Libya to stem the flow of boat...

Inte ational broadcasting rights for Serie A football over the next four years have been sold for twice as much as the previous four-year period, the league announced. US sports and entertainment management group IMG and Italy's public TV broadcaster RAI bought the global rights for 2018 to 2021 for...

Pope Francis made his first tweet in March 2013. Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP The pope has racked up 40 million followers on Twitter, the Vatican said on Wednesday, underlining the Catholic leader's status as one of the world's biggest social media players. The total, spread across accounts in nine lang...

The European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) on Wednesday announced it is to leave London and set up headquarters in Italy following Britain's Brexit vote. "Following more than 40 years in London, the new arrangements signal a bold, imaginative and sustainable future for the EUYO," chief executive Mars...