Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has bet his leadership on the upcoming referendum. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFPItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has pledged general elections in 2018 regardless of the outcome of the upcoming referendum on constitutional reform. The 41-year-old has staked his lead...

Vegan activists promoting the diet in the US. Photo: AFPPopular Italian TV chef Gianfranco Vissani described vegans as "a sect" and said he would "kill them all", before being swiftly rebuked by a co-presenter on a cooking programme. The episode of 'In Onda' (On Air) featured a discussion about mole...

Venice residents have had enough of tourists. Photo: Moyan BrennVenice locals have vented their frustration against tourists in Italy’s famous canal city, as mayor Luigi Brugnaro pledges to come down hard on unruly visitors. Flyers have appeared across the city, which attracts some 20 million people...

The Imam of Florence, Izzedin Elzir, waded into the controversial burqini debate on Thursday by posting a photo on Facebook of habit-wearing nuns splashing around on the edge of the shore – only for the social network to block his account. Wednesday's post - a response to some French beach resorts b...

Como station. Photo: Muszka/GoogleMapsA Swiss aid organization has criticized the situation at the Swiss-Italian border, saying many refugees are left in “confusion and uncertainty”. Miriam Behrens, director of the Swiss Refugee Council (SFH), travelled to the border at Chiasso and to the Italian ci...

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has a tumultuous few months ahead. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFPBy the end of the year, Italy will face a day of reckoning - and it could be voters who seal the country's fate. Italians have always been pessimistic about their economy, and tend to have little faith i...

Base jumper Uli Emanuele died while filming a stunt in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Photo: Noel ReynoldsBase jumper Uli Emanuele died while shooting a video for one of his stunts in the Swiss Alps. The 29-year-old became an online sensation through his dangerous stunt videos, including one in which h...

he FCO have launched a passport aware campaign. Photo: FCOEvery year, holidaymakers lose their passports, wallets or other valuables while visiting Italy, causing them needless distress, hassle and extra expense. The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has described pickpocketing as "endemic"...

Pokemon arrived in Italy in July. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFPAn Italian bishop has threatened legal action against Pokemon Go, saying the "diabolical" game has tu ed its army of smartphone-wielding players into "walking dead", reports said on Thursday. Antonio Stagliano, the bishop of the southe town of...

Venice's Rialto Bridge: famous world-over, but not so much in Italy. Photo: Chris ChabotItaly is full of cultural gems, drawing millions of tourists to the country each year, but many Italians are not aware of them. The shocking results of a survey sponsored by the drinks company, Bibite Sanpelligri...

he FCO have launched a passport aware campaign. Photo: FCOEvery year, holidaymakers lose their passports, wallets or other valuables while visiting Italy, causing them needless distress, hassle and extra expense. The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has described pickpocketing as "endemic"...

Pokemon arrived in Italy in July. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFPAn Italian bishop has threatened legal action against Pokemon Go, saying the "diabolical" game has tu ed its army of smartphone-wielding players into "walking dead", reports said on Thursday. Antonio Stagliano, the bishop of the southe town of...

Venice's Rialto Bridge: famous world-over, but not so much in Italy. Photo: Chris ChabotItaly is full of cultural gems, drawing millions of tourists to the country each year, but many Italians are not aware of them. The shocking results of a survey sponsored by the drinks company, Bibite Sanpelligri...

Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel and Matteo Renzi will meet in Italy on Monday for Brexit talks. Photo: John McDougall/AFPItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on an Italian island on Monday to discuss the EU's way f...

Rachele Bruni dedicated her medal to her family, her coach and her girlfriend Diletta Faina. Photo: Leon Neal/AFPOpen water swimming star Rachele Bruni was hailed on Wednesday as the first Italian athlete to publicly declare her homosexuality. Bruni, who won silver in the 10km swim in Rio on Monday,...

Three young people were injured, two seriously, on Tuesday night after a water taxi in Venice cut through the boat they were on. The boat was sliced in two by the oncoming water taxi between the islands of San Servolo and Certosa, La Repubblica reported. The boat passengers, all from Venice, were th...

The man was caught with a group of eight illegal migrants in his van. Photo: Italian policeA man has been arrested by Italian police for allegedly smuggling migrants into France. The 37-year-old, a resident of Nice, was arrested in Breil-sur-Roya, a French mountain hamlet close to the border, after ...

The Cinque Terre village of Ve azza. Photo: Lucadea/FlickrHiking the coastal path that links the medieval fishing villages of Italy's Cinque Terre on its northwest coast is a stop-start affair these days. Nestled between azure expanses of sea and dry-stone terraced mountains thatxa0cascade into the ...

Italians politicians have put forward proposals to crackdown on cold-calling. Photo: PexelsTwo proposals from Italian MPs aim to crack down on the phenomenon of cold calls in Italy. The deputies from the Left Ecology Freedom party, which is led by Nichi Vendola, the former gove or of Puglia, have pr...

Burkinis have been banned at some beaches in France. Photo: AFPItaly will not follow France by allowing burkini bans on public beaches but is planning tighter regulation of imams and mosques, the country's interior minister said in comments published on Wednesday. Angelino Alfano told the Corriere d...