Italy

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These Wine Grapes Listened to Mozart, to Their Benefit

Inside an interesting experiment in Italy

(Newser) - A taste of black cherry, leather, and just a hint of G minor? In the hills of Montalcino in Tuscany, winemaker Giancarlo Cignozzi has, for more than a decade, been playing Mozart 24 hours a day to a section of Sangiovese grapes growing in his vineyard, reports CBS News . At...

Amid Thousands of Migrants Rescued, a Grim Discovery

On jam-packed boat alone, 22 people were crushed and suffocated

(Newser) - The boats were crammed with thousands of migrants hoping to make it to Italy and a better life. But when rescuers reached the vessels off the Libyan coast this week, what they found shocked even veterans of the migrant crisis, the New York Times reports. Aboard one fishing boat alone,...

Fugitive Mob Boss Found Hiding at Home

Italian crime boss had been on the run 5 years

(Newser) - One of Italy's most-wanted fugitive mob bosses was arrested after five years on the lam Wednesday when police found him hiding in a home bunker built between the bathroom and his son's bedroom. Antonio Pelle, 54, crawled out of his hiding place on his stomach to the top...

Sorry! Italian Town Apologizes for Exiling Dante

Town council of Gubbio asks for pardon for persecuting the poet Dante 700 years ago

(Newser) - It's never too late to say you're sorry. An Italian town has apologized for sending the nation's most famous poet into exile seven centuries ago, the Telegraph reports. A death warrant hanging over his head, Dante Alighieri fled the city of Florence in 1302, never to return...

No Photo Exists of World's Most Wanted Migrant Smuggler

Guess that means he's pretty good at his job

(Newser) - German outlet Der Spiegel has published an in-depth investigative piece on the sprawling network that's bringing illegal African migrants across the Mediterranean and into Europe. Focusing on the operation of one man targeted by Italian and Libyan authorities, the paper traces the long, dangerous path migrants must cross before...

Modern Literary Mystery May Be Solved

Italian journalist thinks he knows who the real Elena Ferrante is

(Newser) - It's what the New York Times calls "one of the most intriguing literary mysteries in recent history." But now Elena Ferrante, author of several best-selling novels who has lived under that pseudonym since the early 1990s, appears to have been unmasked by Italian journalist Claudio Gatti. In...

Cops Didn't Expect to Find 'Priceless' Works in Mob Raid

But Italian police turned up two Van Gogh pieces stolen in 2002

(Newser) - It was a day that Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum may have never thought would come. "The paintings have been found!" Axel Rueger, the museum's director, said at a Naples, Italy, press conference Friday, per a release . Those paintings, according to NBC News , are two of the...

Italy's Procreation Campaign: A 'Sexist Mess'

Fertility Day promotion has not gone over well

(Newser) - "Racism is in the eye of the beholder," according to Italy's Health Ministry—and an awful lot of people are beholding just that in ads the ministry sent out to promote a national push for procreation. NBC News reports on the country's much-ballyhooed Fertility Day, an...

Billionaire: I Paid to Restore Spanish Steps, Now Stay Off

Benefactor Paolo Bulgari says people ruin the landmark with their slovenly habits

(Newser) - Audrey Hepburn ate gelato on the Spanish Steps in Roman Holiday, which makes her one of the "barbarians"—the residents and tourists who've ruined the famous landmark over the years, per the billionaire benefactor who's paying for its makeover, NBC News reports. The steps, built nearly...

Woman Kills Herself After Sex Video Goes Viral

4 men being questioned in Italy

(Newser) - An awful story out of Italy, where a 31-year-old woman committed suicide after being tormented for a year over a sex video. Four men, including her ex-boyfriend, are being questioned for their role in posting it online, reports the BBC . The woman, Tiziana Cantone, made the private tape with her...

'Air Surgery' Saves 110 Trapped in Cable Cars Overnight

Tangled cables stopped the cars initially

(Newser) - Dozens of tourists, including a 10-year-old child, were safely rescued Friday after being trapped in cable cars dangling above the slopes of Mont Blanc in the Alps overnight. The mountain rescue service in the French city of Chamonix says cables entangled Thursday were repaired, and the cable cars were able...

Beneath a Roman Obelisk, Mussolini Left a Letter to the Future

1,200-word eulogy describes Mussolini as rescuing Italy with his 'superhuman insight'

(Newser) - Like most leaders with any sort of an ego, Benito Mussolini wanted to be remembered. But the Italian fascist wasn't leaving his legacy up to chance, according to researchers who say they've found a Latin text hidden under the Mussolini Obelisk in Rome that eulogizes his feats during...

As Italy Begins Cleanup, Questions of Blame Arise

Amid high number of collapses, investigation opened into whether safety standards were enforced

(Newser) - Italian authorities have opened investigations into the massive destruction wrought by the latest earthquake, reports the AP , seeking to determine if anyone bears criminal guilt for failing to ensure building safety standards in the seismically risky area. The investigation will focus on a number of structures, including an elementary school...

Italy Buries Quake Dead in Mass Funeral

Italy observed national day of mourning Saturday

(Newser) - A young man wept over a little girl's white coffin, while a woman nearby gently stroked another small casket, as Italians bid farewell Saturday to victims of the devastating earthquake that struck a mountainous region of central Italy this week. As Italians observed a day of national mourning, President...

Italy to Give All 18-Year-Olds Money to Spend on Art, Books

'Beauty is more tenacious than barbarism'

(Newser) - Italy thinks "cultural consumption" is important, and it's putting its money where its mouth is, to the tune of $330 million. The country is moving forward with its pledge to give every kid turning 18 this year in Italy €500 (roughly $560) to spend on "cultural...

After Quake, Nun Texted 'Adieu' to Family

Strong aftershock hits stricken Italian town

(Newser) - The AP has tracked down the nun seen in an iconic photo of this week's devastating earthquake in central Italy. Marjana Lleshi, 35, says she thought she would die when the Amatrice convent she was sleeping in collapsed early Wednesday, killing three other nuns and four of the elderly...

Italy Death Toll Nears That of 2009 L'Aquila Earthquake

247 confirmed dead

(Newser) - After what the AP terms a night of "uninterrupted search efforts," the death toll in central Italy has risen to 247, the number steadily inching toward that of the devastating 2009 L'Aquila quake, which killed 308 . The tiny towns of Amatrice and Accumoli were the hardest hit...

Why a 6.2-Magnitude Quake Reduced Towns to Rubble

Depth, geography, and age

(Newser) - At a magnitude 6.2, the earthquake that struck central Italy this morning, killing at least 120 , wasn't especially powerful. So why was it so devastating? Three factors: depth, geography, and age. Depth is pretty straightforward: The quake was a shallow one, at six miles down, which exacerbates the...

'Apocalyptic Scenes' After Heart of Italy Rocked by Quake

Amatrice, Pescara del Tronto, Accumoli devastated

(Newser) - Asked if there were any dead, the mayor of the central Italian town of Amatrice, hit hard by an overnight quake, said, "Look there are houses that aren't here anymore. ... the town isn't here anymore." The quake—being reported variously as between magnitude 6.0 and...

Italy Might Jail Parents of Vegan Kids

Diet is 'reckless and dangerous,' says lawmaker

(Newser) - To make pasta, you need eggs, which are obviously not vegan. That might be enough to explain a proposed law in Italy that would jail parents for up to six years for imposing "reckless and dangerous eating behavior," including veganism, on kids under 17. Jokes aside, the woman...

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