Venice's Grand Canal: a must-see, or an unromantic stretch of stinky water?Photo: Kosala Bandara/FlickrOK, we're biased, but it's hard to imagine how anyone could visit Italy and not fall in love with the country. From beautiful mountains to sandy Mediterranean beaches, with plenty of art, history, ...

The snowshoe was just a few thousand years older than thought. Photo: Roman Clara/Bolzano regional gove mentA snowshoe discovered over a decade ago in Italy’s Dolomite mountains and previously thought to belong to a nineteenth century cattle farmer is actually nearly six thousand years old, it has b...

Rome's new mayor, Virginia Raggi, at her installation in June. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFPRome will abandon its bid to host the 2024 Olympics if sceptical new mayor Virginia Raggi does not back it by early next month, the president of Italy's Olympic Committee said Tuesday. "If by October 7 the city c...

Mount Vesuvius. Photo: AFPPlenty of snap-happy tourists travel to Naples to get the perfect photo of Mount Vesuvius. But would you pay €8 million for it? A Neapolitan photographer, Giovanni Scotti is hoping someone will, and is selling his "unique" picture on eBay with a hefty price tag. The eBay li...

Amatrice. Photo: AFPAmatrice, the Italian town devastated by last month's deadly earthquake, is suing French weekly Charlie Hebdo for defamation over a series of cartoons about the disaster. The satirical magazine caused an outcry in Italy by publishing three pasta-themed cartoons on the subject of ...

Pope Francis announced plans for the prayer day on Monday. Photo: AFPPope Francis on Monday announced plans for a worldwide day of prayer for the victims of sexual abuse, in line with a proposal from his child protection panel. The panel, a commission of experts which advises Francis on efforts to c...

Filipino director Lav Diaz collects his Golden Lion. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFPPhilippine film "The Woman Who Left", a revenge tale shot in black and white by director Lav Diaz, won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. "I want to dedicate this film to the Filipino people a...

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling dance in La La Land. Photo: La La Land posterFrom a dazzling musical to a biting comedy, films from the US and Argentina are tipped as favourites to win this year's Golden Lion award at the Venice film festival, due to be announced later on Saturday. American musical "La ...

The Five Star movement's founder Beppe Grillo announced his opposition in an editorial. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFPThe populist Five Star movement, which has mayors in Rome and Turin, has clearly stated it is against the Italian capital hosting the 2024 Olympic Games. The party made the stunning gains...

Pietro the cat has been pulled from the rubble of the central Italy earthquake after surviving 16 days with no food, limited air and just rainwater to survive on. "He's hurt, but alive. He's called Pietro," said Italian animal protection agency ENPA, which has assisted in caring for the lucky feline...

The Court of Cassation in Rome. Photo: AFPA Sicilian who masturbated in front of female students has had his conviction overtu ed by Italy's highest court, on the basis that unless minors are present, 'public auto-eroticism' is not a criminal act. The defendant, named as 69-year-old Pietro L., was i...

It was supposed to be the start of something big. When the Five Star Movement won the keys to Rome's City Hall in June, all the talk was of the anti-establishment movement founded by comic Beppe Grillo starting to look like Italy's gove ment in waiting. Two months later the party is in crisis, its c...

Hard-working pizza chefs cooked up a record-breaking 5,836 pizzas in around 12 hours in the southe region of Puglia. That's an impressive average of 550 pizzas an hour, or more than nine every minute. The previous record of 5,070 - which had been set in Chiasso, Switzerland, in June 2015 by the Napl...

Javier Salinas Viñals was accused of having an affair with his secretary. Photo: Bishopric of MallorcaThe Bishop of Mallorca has been removed from his post by the Vatican after complaints that he had conducted an "improper relationship" with his married secretary. Javier Salinas Viñals, 68. who was ...

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFPA deputy imam from Treviso, northe Italy, was deported on Wednesday "for reasons of state security," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano confirmed. "We pay great attention to the activity of religious leaders who, if they go against our laws ...

Retired pope Benedict XVI fell in love during his student days in Germany and struggled with the idea of celibacy, said the author of a new book to be published on Friday. The author also reveals that Benedict, 89, remains a "news junkie", likes to potter around and enjoys watching the "Don Camillo ...

Siracusa, where the time cheats worked for the public authorities. Photo: Daniel Enchev/FlickrItaly's finance police have concluded an investigation into 29 Sicilian public sector employees, which revealed they skipped work an average of 40 percent of the time. One month, the rate of absenteeism sho...

Italy's Appennine mountain range. Photo: Roy Luck/FlickrData collected by Italy's volcanology institute shows the permanent changes caused to the earth's crust by the devastating earthquake in central Italy. The August 24th quake caused the Apennines to grow by around 3-4cm, according to satellites ...

The woman was found in her apartment's kitchen. File photo: Napoleon_70/FlickrIrma Borgoglio would have celebrated her 103rd birthday in September, but when police found her body in the apartment she shared with her son, she had been dead for months. The centenarian probably passed away in March, an...

The gang used 'skimming' devices to clone cards. Photo: frankieleon/FlickrItalian police said on Wednesday they had busted a major credit and bank card forgery ring, which also ran a prostitution racket. The group, made up mainly of Romanian nationals, had created a system to clone cards issued by "...