Italy

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UN: Spate of Shipwrecks Kill Hundreds Off Italy

Up to 700 migrants feared drowned in deadly week

(Newser) - Over 700 migrants are feared dead in three Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks south of Italy in the last few days as they tried desperately to reach Europe in unseaworthy smuggling boats, the UN refugee agency said Sunday. UNHCR rep Carlotta Sami told the AP that an estimated 100 people are missing...

Open Wide: World's Longest Pizza Stretches for 1.15 Miles

Made in Naples, naturally

(Newser) - Guinness World Records has confirmed there's a new superlong pizza for the books—and it was meticulously crafted in the Italian city that claims itself as the "heart and soul" of the tasty dish, per NPR . One hundred chefs gathered in Naples Wednesday, merging 4,400 pounds...

Stolen Columbus Letter Sat in Library of Congress

It's now been returned to Italy

(Newser) - In February 1493, Christopher Columbus described his historic journey of the previous year in a letter to the king and queen of Spain. Though the letter was reprinted and circulated throughout Europe, only about 80 copies remain—and now the US is sending one of them, a stolen one, back...

James Gandolfini's Rolex Taken as He Lay Dying: Prosecutors

Paramedic Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, is accused

(Newser) - A paramedic in Italy is accused of pilfering James Gandolfini's Rolex Submariner watch as the actor lay dying, NBC News reports. Prosecutors say Claudio Bevilacqua, 43, stole the $3,000 watch after the actor suffered a massive heart attack in June 2013—but it's not clear whether the...

Italy: Stealing Food Not a Crime if You're Starving, Homeless

Court's ruling would be 'blasphemy in America'

(Newser) - This week, Italy's highest court ruled it's not illegal for a starving homeless person to steal food needed to survive, the Guardian reports. The ruling stems from a 2011 incident in which a homeless man named Roman Ostriakov paid for a bag of breadsticks at a supermarket while...

Pope Slams Pedophilia in Case of Girl Thrown Off Balcony

Fortuna Loffredo, 6, died near Naples in 2014

(Newser) - Six-year-old Fortuna Loffredo fell to her death from an eighth-story balcony in Italy two years ago. Now authorities are saying a man next door sexually abused and murdered her, and Pope Francis is speaking up about the horror of sex crimes, Reuters reports. Pedophiles deserve "severe punishment," he...

Finally, Garlic That Doesn't Destroy Your Breath

2 Italian entrepreneurs hope to bring back once-popular Tuscan staple

(Newser) - A construction engineer and a lawyer who've been friends since they were teens were seeking a diversion from their 9-to-5 toil, so they teamed up to revive a Tuscany staple that hasn't been prevalent in four decades: a huge variety of garlic that doesn't stink, tastes sweeter,...

How an Email Sent to the Wrong Person Saved a Life

'Life is brilliant'

(Newser) - A New Jersey police chief didn't let a little thing like being thousands of miles away in a different country stop him from saving a life last week, BuzzFeed reports. On the evening of April 14, chief Mitchell Stern of the Verona Police Department saw an email from a...

Up to 500 Feared Dead in Mediterranean Shipwreck

Smugglers were transferring the migrants to a larger boat in choppy waters

(Newser) - Up to 500 people are feared dead after a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea last week, UN refugee agency UNHCR said Wednesday. The AP reports the disaster happened in waters between Italy and Libya, based on accounts from 41 survivors who were rescued on April 16 by a merchant ship....

Fake Pizza Deliverymen Arrest Mafia Boss

Cops got creative to capture Camorra kingpin

(Newser) - A pizza- and soccer-loving Mafia boss in Naples is on his way to prison, not the Museum of Italian Stereotypes. Cops say 35-year-old Roberto Manganiello was arrested at his home Saturday night by police officers disguised as pizza deliverymen, AFP reports. He had been on the run since 2013 and...

Family Investigates Attic Leak, Makes $136M Find

The graphic painting depicts Biblical heroine Judith beheading an Assyrian general

(Newser) - Art experts may never agree on whether it is an authentic Caravaggio, but a painting one family found when checking a leak in the rafters of an old house in southern France may turn out to be worth upward of $136 million. The large canvas, which measures 56 inches by...

Raffaele Sollecito's New Gig Makes a Whole Lot of Sense

Amanda Knox's ex is now a TV crime expert

(Newser) - Raffaele Sollecito spent seven years—four of them in jail—on trial for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, the roommate of his now-ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox , the Independent reports. Well, all that time getting ground up by the Italian legal system is finally paying off. According to NBC News...

What Day Job? Supreme Court's RBG Tries Acting

Ginsburg will have a cameo in 'The Merchant of Venice'

(Newser) - Art often imitates life, and that will ring true for none other than Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this summer as she throws off her court garb and dons stage attire for her role in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Vox reports. The 83-year-old justice's cameo appearance...

Starbucks Heading to the 'Country of Coffee'

First Italian Starbucks to open in Milan in 2017

(Newser) - Howard Schultz first got the idea to open an American coffee shop after seeing coffee bars in Milan in the 1980s. Now his coffee chain is heading—in a way—home with what it says is "humility and respect." Starbucks will open its first Italian coffee shop in...

Italy: Student Suffered 'Inhuman, Animal-Like' Violence

Second autopsy shows Giulio Regeni brutally murdered in Egypt

(Newser) - An Italian minister says a second autopsy on the body of an Italian found slain in Egypt reveals that the doctoral student suffered "inhuman, animal-like" violence. Official results, still partial, are being relayed to Rome prosecutors who are investigating Giulio Regeni's death as a murder, reports the AP...

Actor Declared Dead After Noose Scene

Family members don't believe it was suicide

(Newser) - An Italian actor has been declared dead after a hanging scene apparently went horribly wrong. Raphael Schumacher, 27, was taking part in a live theater performance of "Mirages" at the Teatro Lux in Pisa, Italy, last Saturday when a spectator found him unconscious. The Washington Post reports the play...

Town Welcomes Its First Baby Since 1987

Ostana in northern Italy can now claim 85 residents

(Newser) - Since the birth of baby Pablo last Friday, the hillside village of Ostana in northern Italy has rejoiced over the arrival of its 85th resident—and a remarkable arrival he is. After seeing its population drop dramatically from more than 1,000 a century ago, not a single child has...

Italy Covers Its Marble Genitals for Iranian President

It also won't be serving wine

(Newser) - Does anyone know what size pants Michelangelo's David wears? Italy covered up nude statues in advance of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani's visit this week, the BBC reports. According to the Independent , "plain white boards" were placed in front of certain sculptures at the Capitoline Museum in Rome...

Suspect Says Dead Expat Treated Him 'Like a Dog'

'He did not want to kill her or hurt her,' says lawyer

(Newser) - The man accused of killing American expatriate Ashley Ann Olsen says he last saw her alive. His lawyer, Antonio Voce, says Cheik Tidiane Diaw met Olsen at a nightclub, then visited her apartment in the early hours of Jan. 8 where the pair had consensual sex while drunk and high...

Italy Makes Arrest in American Expat's Murder

Alleged killer is man Olsen met in nightclub

(Newser) - Police in Italy say they have made an arrest in the murder of American expatriate Ashley Ann Olsen—and there doesn't appear to be any link to her unsettling Instagram posts . Authorities in Florence announced early Thursday that Tidiane Cheik Diaw, a 25-year-old man from Senegal, was arrested on...

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