By Emilio Parodi MILAN (Reuters) – Italian police have placed four people under house arrest as part of a probe into alleged illegal access to state databases, and are investigating dozens, including Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, son of the late billionaire founder of Luxottica, a source said on Saturday. A lawyer for Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio said he was “eagerly awaiting the completion of preliminary investigations to be able to prove he has nothing to […]
Tag: Italy
Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region hit by new floods as storm moves west
ROME (Reuters) -A storm system that has wreaked havoc across central Europe brought devastating floods to the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna on Thursday for the second year in a row, forcing people to leave their homes and schools to close. A low-pressure system named “Boris” caused the worst flooding in more than two decades from Romania to Poland over the past week, killing at least 24 people before moving west. “I have to say […]
Italy swelters in first summer heatwave
ROME (AFP) – Tourists and locals sweltered under Italy’s first summer heatwave on Friday, with the installation in Rome of potted trees for shade providing little relief. Temperatures were forecast to hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the country, according to the official air force weather service, while the health ministry issued red alerts for Rome and Palermo among other cities. Weather website Il Meteo blamed an African anticyclone it dubbed […]
Powerful seismic swarm rattles Campi Flegrei, sparking panic in Naples
ROME, May 21, 2024 (AFP) A flurry of tremors of a strength not seen in decades was registered at a volcanic caldera near the southern Italian city of Naples on Monday night, sparking panic among residents but resulting in no major damage, authorities said. One 4.4-magnitude quake was registered shortly after 8 pm (1800 GMT) at a depth of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). It was […]
22 arrests, Italian villas seized in vast EU fraud swoop
BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 4, 2024 (AFP) – A coordinated police swoop across Europe on Thursday netted 22 arrests and saw villas and luxury cars seized in Italy, in a probe into an alleged 600-million-euro ($650 million) fraud of EU Covid funds, officials said. Dozens of raids took place in Italy, Austria, Romania and Slovakia as authorities moved in against a suspected criminal network that carried out the alleged fraud between 2021 and 2023, the European […]
Top Italian influencer fined 1 mn euros over cake deal
ROME, Dec 15, 2023 (AFP) – Italy’s competition watchdog on Friday fined two companies owned by the fashion entrepreneur and Instagram star Chiara Ferragni one million euros ($1.1 million) for “unfair commercial practices” over her endorsement of a cake marketed as raising money for charity. The pandoro cake “designed” by Ferragni for the food group Balocco went on sale in November 2022, purportedly to raise funds for the treatment of children with bone cancer in […]
Five things to know about Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta mafia
LAMEZIA TERME, Italy, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP) – The massive historic trial concluding Monday targets the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which has surpassed Sicily’s better-known Cosa Nostra to become Italy’s wealthiest and most powerful criminal organisation. Based in the southern region of Calabria, the ‘Ndrangheta has developed a near-monopoly on the European cocaine trade and has tentacles across the globe. Here are five things to know about the group: – Origins – The ‘Ndrangheta is rooted in […]
Hundreds found guilty in historic Italian mafia trial
LAMEZIA TERME, Italy, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP) – An Italian court on Monday convicted and sentenced around 200 mobsters and their white-collar helpers, the culmination of a historic, nearly three-year trial against Calabria’s notorious ‘Ndrangheta mafia. For over an hour and a half, the president of the court in southern Vibo Valentia, Brigida Cavasino, read out the names of the guilty and their sentences, which ranged from 30 years to a few months, as defendants […]
Circus lion escapes in Italian seaside town
ROME, Nov 11, 2023 (AFP) – A lion prowled the streets of an Italian seaside town for several hours Saturday after escaping from a local circus, before being sedated and captured. Alessandro Grando, mayor of Ladispoli, near Rome, had warned residents to stay at home while police and circus staff sought to catch the animal. Videos later published by Italian media, apparently taken by locals but not confirmed by AFP, showed the adult lion walking […]
Reporter Saviano fined 1,000 euros for defaming Italy PM
By Ljubomir MILASIN, Alice RITCHIE ROME, Oct 12, 2023 (AFP) – An Italian court on Thursday fined journalist Roberto Saviano 1,000 euros for defaming Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni by criticising her stance on migrants. Saviano, best known for his international mafia bestseller “Gomorrah”, had called the far-right leader a “bastard” on national television in December 2020, when Meloni was still in opposition. His lawyer immediately said he would appeal the verdict, after a trial that […]
Increasing tremors in Italy’s Campi Flegrei volcano raise fears of eruption
By Ella IDE POZZUOLI, Italy, Oct 4, 2023 (AFP) – As a child, Alfredo Colato cooked eggs on this southern Italian volcano. Today, he is poised to flee Campi Flegrei, as experts warn earthquakes rocking his hometown could herald an eruption. Growing tremors, including a 4.2 magnitude quake last week — the biggest in 40 years — have spooked the half-a-million inhabitants living in the danger zone. Colato sleeps with an emergency bag packed by […]
21 killed after bus falls from Venice bridge and catches fire
VENICE, Oct 3, 2023 (AFP) – At least 21 people, including two children and foreign tourists, were killed Tuesday and several others wounded when a bus running on methane plunged off a bridge in Venice and caught fire. “A tragedy has struck our community this evening”, mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote on Facebook, describing the site of the crash as “an apocalyptic scene”. “The provisional toll is at least 21 fatalities and over 20 people hospitalised,” […]





