Culture minister holds emergency meeting with archaeologists after heavy rains cause walls to crumble in ancient city Citing "utmost urgency," Italy has approved work to repair walls in ancient Pompeii that collapsed after heavy rains, and authorised spending €2m (£1.6m) on routine maintenance. The decisions were made on Tuesday in Rome after a hastily convened meeting of the culture minister with...
s former prime minister, whose passport was confiscated after tax fraud conviction A Milan court has rejected a request by Italy's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi , whose passport was confiscated after his conviction for tax fraud, to leave the country to attend a conference in Ireland, judicial sources said. The leader of the centre-right Forza Italia party wanted to attend the European People's...
s Five Star party found guilty of breaking police seal on building during protest over high-speed rail line The head of Italy's anti-establishment Five Star party (M5S), Beppe Grillo, has been sentenced to four months in prison for breaking a police seal on a building during a protest. Prosecutors had requested the former comedian be put behind bars for nine months for breaking into a sealed-off hut...
Pope Francis swears by mistake during his Sunday blessing at the Vatican in Rome ...
Switzerland, Iceland and the Netherlands also scored well in Social Progress Index, which takes focus off economic output New Zealand has come first in a global index that ranks countries by social and environmental performance rather than economic output in a drive to make social progress a priority for politicians and businesses. The Social Progress Index (SPI) , published on Thursday, rates 132...
Falklands war and testy Anglican-Catholic relations unlikely to be brought into the open in brief visit The Queen will meet Pope Francis for the first time on Thursday on a visit that coincides with the anniversary of the start of the Falklands war between Britain and Argentina. The Queen's meeting with the Argentine pope also takes place against the backdrop of difficult Anglican-Catholic relations....
re announced The Great Beauty has won the best foreign language film Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards, defeating a field that included The Hunt, from Denmark, Cambodia's The Missing Picture and Belgium's The Broken Circle Breakdown. In doing so, it becomes the first Italian film since Life Is Beautiful in 1998 to take the award. Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, whose previous films include The Consequences...
s court of cassation could take a year or more to decide whether to make the convictions final. Meanwhile Sollecito is free in Italy – although he can't leave the country – and Knox is with her family in Seattle. They were accused of carrying out the crime with another man, Rudy Guede, who is serving 16 years in jail for Kercher's murder after a fast-track trial. The case, which has polarised public...
s culture minister to summon officials Italy's culture minister demanded explanations on Sunday after more collapses this weekend in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii raised concerns about the state of one of the world's most treasured archaeological sites. Pompeii, preserved under ash from a volcanic eruption in 79AD and rediscovered in the 18th century, has been hit by a series of collapses in recent...
s new ministers are women Scotland: MPs to examine civil service impartiality ahead of referendum Westminster's public administration select committee has launched an inquiry into the role of the civil service in the lead up to the vote on Scottish independence in September. The inquiry comes after Scottish finance secretary John Swinney complained that advice given to George Osborne from top Treasury...
s third unelected prime minister since November 2011. Mario Monti lasted 13 months, and his successor, Enrico Letta, resigned two weeks ago after less than a year in office . The generational leadership change is an opportunity. But can Italy break from its past? Short-lived Italian governments are the norm. The unending political drama reflects the competition for power and resources amid entrenched...
Clips available online include Pius XII's eve of war address and Benedict XVI's unprecedented 2013 resignation speech The voices of popes from as early as 1884 will be able to be heard after the digitisation of 8,000 tapes from the pontifical archives of Vatican Radio. The Vatican initiative is part of preparations for the sainting of John Paul II and John XXIII (1958-63) on 17 April the first double...
s last-minute cash injection comes after earlier deal to plug €816m budget hole was scrapped Decadent and in decline, its beauty imperilled by physical and moral decay, the Rome portrayed in Paolo Sorrentino's film La Grande Bellezza could end up giving Italy a yearned-for win at the Oscars on Sunday night. But off-screen and far from the glitz of Hollywood, the financial troubles of the eternal city...
s visit was part of a court-ordered inspection in the ongoing trial against him for multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning ship before all the passengers had been evacuated. "They want to show that I am weak, just like two years ago. It's not true. I want to show I'm a gentleman, not a coward," Schettino, who was dubbed "Captain Coward" by the tabloids, was quoted by Italian media as saying....
t – which is why the Italian media has panned it Paolo Sorrentino's latest film, The Great Beauty , and Matteo Renzi's appointment as the prime minister of Italy , are probably the most significant recent events in Italian culture and politics. Even though Renzi belongs to the same political establishment that has been running the country for decades, most Italian newspapers praise him as the man capable...
Lawyers for Francesco Schettino ask court to authorise search to see if any factors beyond human error caused disaster An Italian judge has agreed to let the former captain of the Costa Concordia board the ship for the first time since it capsized two years ago as part of a court-ordered search. Consumer groups and lawyers for the former captain, Francesco Schettino, asked the court in Grosseto to...
s new cabinet had, according to voices in the Italian media, blotted their copybooks. Maria Carmela Lanzetta, minister for regional affairs, had worn "out of place" shoes. Federica Guidi had gone out in makeup that was more "Heidi in the summer" than minister for economic development. Marianna Madia and Stefania Giannini, in charge, respectively, of public administration and education, had both had...
s a full-bodied statistic that needs a really good swill. Vatican City consumes more wine per head than any other country. According to the California-based Wine Institute , the tiny state's populace averaged 74 litres of wine each in 2012. Assuming they drink the standard size, that's around 98 bottles. There is no passing this off as a celebratory blip to wet the head of the new pope. He didn't start...
s new PM promises to reform justice system, boost foreign investment in Italy and clear public debts to private suppliers Matteo Renzi, Italy's new prime minister, has gained the backing of the upper house of parliament for his fresh-faced government after he insisted the chance for change in the economically struggling country was "real, concrete and immediate". After a marathon session of the Italian...
The US president meets the pope at the Vatican, then makes his way to Rome's Quirinal Palace for a series of meetings with the Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, and prime minister, Matteo Renzi. Obama is in Rome as part of a European trip including visits to the Netherlands and Belgium ...