Italy

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Rescuers in Italy Scramble to Free Trapped Cave Explorer

Expert spelunker Ottavia Piana has been trapped since Saturday night after fall in Bueno Fonteno cave

(Newser) - A major rescue operation was underway Monday northeast of the Italian city of Bergamo to free a woman considered an expert spelunker who was blocked in while exploring a cave with eight others. Ottavia Piana is trapped deep inside the Bueno Fonteno cave, reports the AP , where the temperatures were...

Catholic Nun Accused of Working With Mafia

She allegedly passed messages to jailed mafia members in Italian prisons

(Newser) - A Catholic nun in Italy was giving inmates messages from the Mob instead of spiritual guidance, prosecutors say. Sister Anna Donelli was among 25 people arrested in raids Thursday targeting members and associates of the 'Ndrangheta mafia gang, CNN reports. The 57-year-old, who volunteered at Milan's San Vittore...

Sicilian Businessman Sent a Severed Horse's Head
Someone Just Pulled a Bloody
Godfather Stunt in Sicily
in case you missed it
Nov 24, 2024 3:50 PM CST

Someone Just Pulled a Bloody Godfather Stunt in Sicily

Severed horse's head found on businessman's property near Palermo, an apparent Mafia warning

(Newser) - It's one of the most famous scenes in moviemaking history, and it just played out in real life on the Italian island of Sicily. The Guardian reports that a severed horse's head was found on the property of a local contractor, located in Altofonte near Palermo, placed on...

She's Not an Art Historian. She's a 'Fruit Detective'

Smithsonian details the unusual niche of Isabella Dalla Ragione of Italy

(Newser) - Isabella Dalla Ragione spends a lot of time poring over Renaissance paintings and centuries-old frescoes. But as the Smithsonian explains, the 67-year-old isn't an art historian, exactly. Instead, she might be the world's most renowned "fruit detective." Dalla Ragione is an Italian agronomist who discovered that...

Italian Village Is Offering Homes for a Buck

Ollolai, on the island of Sardinia, is looking at you, disgruntled Americans

(Newser) - For the 48.3% of Americans who might be feeling sore about the 2024 election results, the offers from abroad continue to roll in : As CNN reports, the tiny Italian village of Ollolai says that if you've got about a buck, you can buy a house. Located on the...

After Theft, Roaring Lion Is Back Home

Portrait of Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh that was stolen a few years ago is now back in Ottawa

(Newser) - A stolen portrait of Winston Churchill that was swapped with a forgery during the pandemic has returned to its rightful place, after two Ottawa police detectives traveled to Rome to retrieve it. Police said The Roaring Lion was stolen from the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa, sometime between Christmas...

Hiker's Find Leads to Trove of Fossils Predating Dinosaurs

Hundreds of imprints of plants, animals, even raindrops discovered in northern Italian Alps

(Newser) - Claudia Steffensen was hiking in the Italian Alps last summer when she stepped on a rock that caught her eye. "It seemed more like a slab of cement" with "these strange circular designs with wavy lines," Steffensen tells the Guardian. "I took a closer look and...

Italy's President Snaps at Musk's Unsolicited Advice

Billionaire had posted that judges who ruled against Giorgia Meloni's immigration deal 'need to go'

(Newser) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella sharply rebuked Elon Musk on Wednesday for weighing in on Italian court rulings that have stymied the government's plans to process some asylum-seekers in Albania. Musk, who has been named to a top role in President-elect Trump's new administration, wrote Tuesday on X that...

Junior Champion Skier, 19, Dies in Training Accident

Fellow athletes are mourning Matilde Lorenzi

(Newser) - A teenager who was Italy's overall junior champion skier last year has died in a tragic training accident. "We are deeply saddened by the passing of Matilde Lorenzi," the International Ski and Snowboard Federation said in a statement Tuesday. "Matilde was tragically lost following a fall...

Italy Blocks LGBTQ+ Couples From Becoming Parents

New law against surrogacy abroad is punishable by $1M fine, up to 2 years in prison

(Newser) - After banning couples from having a baby through a surrogate, Italy is taking the further step of banning couples from traveling abroad to do the same thing. Though experts say 90% of couples who use surrogacy in Italy are heterosexual, the law proposed by Italy's far-right governing party, which...

Swine Fever Is Threatening Your Prosciutto

Outbreak in Italy has cost the industry billions, required the slaughter of 120K pigs

(Newser) - One of Giovanni Airoli's sows tested positive for African swine fever in late August. Within a week, all 6,200 sows, piglets, and fattening pigs on his farm south of Milan were slaughtered under strict protocols to halt the disease threatening Italy's $20 billion prosciutto, cured sausage, and...

Switzerland, Italy Redo Their Border Due to Ice Melt

The nations are redrawing shared boundary, thanks to climate change, melting glaciers

(Newser) - There are the expected repercussions of climate change, and then there are the more surprising ones—like two nations having to redraw their shared border due to ice melt. That's what's currently happening in Europe, where Switzerland and Italy are remapping in the Alps, because "large sections"...

'Dry Drowning' Blamed in Superyacht Deaths

Autopsies on 4 individuals suggest they found an air bubble, eventually asphyxiated

(Newser) - Initial autopsies performed on four of the seven people who lost their lives in the sinking of a superyacht off the coast of Sicily indicate they didn't drown , at least not in the usual way. Chris and Neda Morvillo and Jonathan and Anne Bloomer had no water in their...

Violent Storm Damages Ancient Roman Arch

Lightning strikes the Constantine Arch, which has stood near the Colosseum since AD315

(Newser) - Lightning struck Rome's Constantine Arch near the Colosseum during a violent thunderstorm, loosening fragments from the ancient structure. The fragments from Tuesday's lightning strike were immediately gathered by workers at the Colosseum Archaeological Park, officials said. The extent of the damage was being evaluated, reports the AP . "...

Near Summit of 10K-Foot Peak, Audi Exec Takes Fatal Fall

Fabrizio Longo, 62, was 'touring his beloved mountains,' company says

(Newser) - The managing director of Audi Italia has met a tragic end while doing something he loved. Fabrizio Longo, who was also an experienced mountaineer, fell on a solo climb up Cima Payer, a 10,000-foot mountain in Italy's Adamello-Presanella Alps, a few miles from the Swiss border, on Sunday,...

Final Body Recovered From Sunken Superyacht

Billionaire Mike Lynch's teen daughter was only person still unaccounted for

(Newser) - Italian rescuers have brought ashore the body of the final missing person who was on a superyacht that sunk off the coast of Sicily. The woman's body was detected on Friday, the Coast Guard said. She has not been officially identified, but Hannah Lynch, the 18-year-old daughter of British...

Superyacht Maker's CEO Says 'Incredible Mistake' Was Made

Bayesian's crew should have prepared for storm, he says

(Newser) - The CEO of Italian ship manufacturer Perini, maker of the doomed Bayesian superyacht , spoke out on the yacht's sinking Thursday after authorities confirmed the body of British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch was one of four recovered from the vessel Wednesday, leaving Lynch's daughter, Hannah, the only passenger still...

5 Bodies Located Inside Billionaire's Sunken Yacht

Few details have been provided

(Newser) - Divers have located five bodies within the yacht that sank off Sicily on Monday with British tech magnate Mike Lynch aboard . Reuters' sources said one of the bodies was that of a "heavily built man," and the BBC cites La Repubblica as reporting two of the bodies were...

Divers Can't Get to Sunken Superyacht's Cabins

Debris is blocking their path amid search for 6 people missing some 165 feet below the waves

(Newser) - Divers are continuing to search the superyacht that sank Monday off the coast of Porticello, Sicily, but have yet to find any of the six people still missing from the luxury vessel. After five dives on Monday, dive teams were back in the water early Tuesday, per the BBC . Officials...

Locals Here Are Snitching on Each Other Over AC Units

Restrictions on air conditioning have neighbors turning on neighbors in scenic Portofino, Italy

(Newser) - You'd think a wealthy Italian coastal town that attracts the likes of Madonna and other celebrities would offer creature comforts like AC. But in Portofino, which is sweating it out right now amid a heat wave, neighbors are turning on neighbors as a crackdown on air conditioners continues. Per...

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