Italian court gives pair slightly reduced sentence but upholds decision relating to royalties of about 1bn Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were each given a reduced sentence of 18 months in jail on Wednesday for a conviction on charges of hiding hundreds of millions of euros from Italian tax authorities. Italy's appeals court upheld a verdict issued last June against the pair on...
Full text of statement following Florence appeals court's ruling that Amanda Knox delivered fatal blow to Meredith Kercher I have stated from the beginning of this long ordeal that I am innocent of the accusations against me. I was found innocent by the only court in Italy that retained independent forensic experts to review my case. I want to state again today what I have said throughout this process:...
Ex-Italian PM will work at centre for disabled and elderly after tax fraud conviction, but will not take part in 'fun or relaxing activities' Silvio Berlusconi will begin his community service on 9 May working with Alzheimer's patients, the director of the centre where he will serve his tax fraud punishment has confirmed. Paolo Pigni, head of the Catholic-run Fondazione Sacra Famiglia, near Milan,...
The 223-page collection of the opera giant's correspondence has a starting price of 150,000 More than 80 letters from Giuseppe Verdi to a friend are to go under the hammer in Italy next month in what organisers say is the largest collection of the composer's correspondence ever to be put up for auction. Sometimes earnest and political, other times whimsical and light-hearted, the missives date from...
Florence appeals court rules UK student killed by group, driven by desire to bully and humiliate her, not solely by Rudy Guede An Italian court has said that Amanda Knox delivered the fatal blow to the British exchange student Meredith Kercher in a group attack on her, driven by a desire to bully and humiliate the 21-year-old. In reasoning made public three months after it sentenced Knox, the Seattle-based...
Special report Parties demanding everything from reform to withdrawal are riding high on wave on discontent The Foire aux Fromages et aux Vins in Coulommiers, an attractive town on the undulating Brie plateau an hour east of Paris, is a fabulously French affair: a monumental marquee, hordes of happy visitors and more than 350 stalls laden with Gallic bounty. Among the cheeses are tomme from Savoie,...
Facility created by Benito Mussolini was the filming location for several large American film productions including Ben-Hur The most inventive Google Doodles - in pictures From 2007: Cinecittà studios fire - in pictures Google's latest doodle marks the 77th anniversary of the establishment of Rome's Cinecittà studios, the 40-hectare (100-acre) facility created by Benito Mussolini, and which...
Pope Francis proclaimed his predecessors John XXIII and John Paul II saints in front of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and dignitaries at the Vatican Continue reading... ...
Pilgrims from across the Catholic church's political spectrum crowd into St Peter's Square for the 'day of the four popes' In the grey light of the early morning, as hordes of pilgrims made their slow progress towards St Peter's Square, Giuseppe Cannella stood to take a photograph of his daughter. His family had been waiting since 4am to take their places at the canonisation of popes John XXIII and...
Hundreds of thousands gather at Rome to witness canonisation of two great figures of 20th-century Roman Catholicism Pope Francis has declared two of his predecessors, John Paul II and John XXIII, saints of the Roman Catholic church in an unprecedented double-canonisation mass in St Peter's Square. Continue reading... ...
Hundreds of thousands expected to flood Rome for canonisation of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII on Sunday Rome is preparing to welcome up to a million international pilgrims over the weekend foR the unprecedented double canonisation of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII , two of the Catholic church's most significant 20th century figures. There will be a mass in St Peter's Square on Sunday at which...
Thousands expected to descend on Sotto Il Monte, home town of sharecroppers' son who went on to become popular pontiff Gimmy Schiavi is trying to explain the function of the Casa del Pellegrino (Pilgrim House) in Sotto Il Monte, but his phone is ringing off the hook. "As soon as possible," he advises one woman inquiring when she should book for a group of elderly locals to come for a visit....
Poveglia, a deserted 7-hectare rock believed to be the burial place of plague victims, to be leased to help pay Italy's debts Andrea Barina, the owner of a no-frills restaurant on the Giudecca canal, serves up mouth-watering plates of seafood antipasti and exquisitely fresh fish to a loyal clientele. But, one night earlier this month, the genial 50-year-old was confronted with an idea that was profoundly...
Supply became contaminated as it passed through giant network of lead pipes that distributed water around city, scientists believe Tap water in ancient Rome, provided by its famous aqueducts, was contaminated with up to 100 times more lead than local spring water, researchers say. Huge volumes of fresh water flowed along aqueducts to the heart of the Roman empire but the supply was contaminated as...
From his Tonbridge study, psychiatrist Giovanni Dalla-Valle hopes to rally international support for Europe's latest separatist group The pound shops and fast-food outlets of Tonbridge, Kent, seem an unlikely setting for the international hub of the Venetian independence movement. But overlooking the opaque brown waters of the river Medway, some 700 miles from the sweeping palazzo-flanked Grand Canal,...
Tax claims against clothing brand closed following dispute over payments from group's subsidiaries abroad Fashion house Giorgio Armani has paid 270m (£222m) to Italian tax authorities to settle a dispute over payments from the group's subsidiaries abroad. Continue reading... ...
Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro has evaded arrest for 20 years. But for how much longer? This morning, somewhere in western Sicily, Italy's most wanted mafia killer woke up in his gilded hideaway and probably logged on to Facebook, browsing fan pages that honour his courage, his cunning and the Robin Hood status many Sicilians have conferred on him. "Cosa Nostra works for the poor and the...
Father says son in Perugia to meet defence lawyer three months after murder conviction against him and Amanda Knox was upheld Raffaele Sollecito, who was convicted along with Amanda Knox of murdering British exchange student Meredith Kercher, has revisited the area of Perugia where the 2007 killing took place. The 30-year-old Italian national was seen on Thursday walking in the Umbrian hilltop town...
Under previous pontiffs the ceremony was restricted to men, but Francis has become the first pope to include females Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 disabled people several of them women and one a Muslim man as he brought his inclusive touch to a Maundy Thursday rite restricted to men under previous pontiffs. At the Don Gnocchi centre in Rome, the Argentinian kept to his ground-breaking...
The 77-year-old's past as a crooner on a cruise ship may come in handy during his year of community service as a carer If the small, unremarkable town of Cesano Boscone had ever intruded on Silvio Berlusconi's serene consciousness before yesterday, it was probably as the home of Massimo Tartaglia, the man who attacked him in 2009 with a souvenir model of Milan's cathedral. For the next year, however,...