A Sicilian nun's success in the Italian Voice may reflect modern society's incomprehension of a life devoted to others What is it about singing nuns? Julie Andrews is usually held to blame for the phenomenon, climbing every mountain and following every dream (including marrying Captain von Trapp) as the fictional Maria with her guitar in The Sound of Music. Then there was the real nun, Jeanine Deckers...
Italy's Luxottica to design, develop and distribute eyewear as part of strategic partnership ...
Announcements made during US-led summit in The Hague aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism Japan announced on Monday that it would hand over hundreds of kilogrammes of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to the United States for dilution and disposal, at the start of a global summit aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism. Belgium and Italy also announced agreements with the...
As Scotland debates splitting from the UK, some of its islands are now demanding the right to their own independence vote. Where will it all end? Alex Salmond should always have expected it. Once you stir the nationalist pot, you can never know where it will lead. Residents of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are petitioning the Scottish parliament at Holyrood for the right to hold their own...
'This is not madness. This is common sense,' say Canton Marittimo activists protesting at waste and bureaucracy In Italy, restive regionalism and sporadic separatist pushes are nothing new. Just last week, activists in the north-eastern Veneto region held an unofficial referendum in which more than two million people – according to the organisers – voted for independence. As familiar as it is, however,...
Package sent to the Vatican from a South American country contained 14 condoms filled with £33,000 worth of liquid cocaine German customs officials have intercepted a package addressed to the Vatican containing 14 condoms filled with cocaine. A government spokesman said a box packed with 340 grammes of the drug, valued at 40,000 euros (£33,470), was seized in January at the international airport in...
Last October a boat went down off the Italian island of Lampedusa, killing 366 migrants on board. What happened next? This is the story of Fanus, a survivor and one of thousands of people who flee Eritrea every year in search of asylum At 2am on 3 October last year , an overcrowded fishing boat drifted less than half a mile off the Italian island of Lampedusa. For the 518 people packed...
Francis's stance on organised crime in contrast with church's perceived former reluctance to criticise mafia bosses Pope Francis has made his strongest attack to date on the mafia, telling organised crime bosses they will end up in hell if they do not "convert" and give up their lives of "bloodstained money [and] blood-stained power". In an echo of John Paul II's appeal to mafia dons to renounce their...
A trailer for Zed Nelson 's Channel 4 Dispatches film about Eritrean asylum seekers who survived a boat sinking off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, which killed 366 of the 518 people on board ...
White House extends president's overseas schedule as adviser Rice says 'US is leading … in supporting government of Ukraine' Dan Roberts ...
Sister Cristina Scuccia performs a version of Alicia Keys' song No One on Italy's The Voice ...
Nun's performance on Italian version of The Voice has been viewed more than 3m times on YouTube The singing nun is not an unknown phenomenon. The Belgian Jeanine Deckers, aka Soeur Sourire, shot to fame in 1963 with the tune Dominique, while Julie Andrews and Whoopi Goldberg have both done their bit for fictional sisters with heavenly voices. But in Italy this week there is only one nun worth tuning...
As Venice overturns a ban on giant cruise liners, it is clear that the places people flock to are incapable of preserving themselves An Italian court on Monday overturned a ban on 100,000-ton cruise liners sailing up Venice's Giudecca canal to get a close-up view of St Mark's Square. The decision defies belief. Not in modern times can money have so crushingly defeated art; never can commerce have...
Luxury jeweller Bulgari to fund renovation of the crumbling landmark following an appeal from Italian prime minister Luxury jeweller Bulgari has answered the government's plea for help to fund renovation of Rome's famous Spanish Steps (above). Bulgari, bought in 2011 by French luxury giant LVMH, will put €1.5m towards the two-year refurbishment, which will begin in 2015, Rome's mayor Ignazio Marino...
The situation for Venice is becoming critical because of the danger posed by cruise ships There are few sights more likely to quicken an art historian's outrage than that of a cruise liner moored in Venice's Giudecca Canal , silhouetted against the fragile fabric of the buildings surrounding St Mark's Square. Around 650 of these floating giants, some displacing a localised tide of over 100,000 tonnes...
Pavarotti and Alagna both suffered from the jeers of La Scala's aficionados. Now manager Alexander Pereira has had enough As the incoming general manager of La Scala, Alexander Pereira has a lot on his plate: balancing the budget and attracting the talent, for starters. But the most peculiar challenge he faces – and, reportedly, the one that scares him the most – is the audience, or a noisy sub-section...
Violence in Libya and Syria means more migrants are trying to leave their countries sooner, says UN refugee agency Italian authorities say they have rescued more than 4,000 would-be migrants at sea over the past four days as the war in Syria and instability in Libya spawn new waves of refugees. The numbers of migrants reaching Italian shores generally rises this time of year as warm weather and calm...
Called before the Inquisition to justify his jokey take on Christ's final meal, the great Italian painter was defiant. And thanks to a transcript, we have his pugnacious defence word for word Veronese was one of the greatest painters ever, as the National Gallery's exhibition of this 16th-century artist makes joyously apparent – see my five-star review here . But he was also a hero of artistic freedom....
Historian says the birds can live for 60 years and could have lasted the lengthy journey to Europe along the Silk Road Oliver Milman ...
Vandals chip off 20cm section of fresco depicting goddess Artemis, adding to degradation of Unesco world heritage site Thieves detached and stole a section of fresco in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii last week, adding to the degradation of one of the world's outstanding archaeological sites after heavy rain caused sections of wall to collapse. Officials from Pompeii's archaeology service said the...