DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Drawings found at Pompeii suggest children watched gladiators fight, plus executions
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Children’s sketches of violent scenes of gladiators and hunters battling animals have been uncovered at the archaeological park of Pompeii, the park’s superintendent has said. The drawings, thought to be made by children between the ages of five and seven sometime before Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, were found on the walls of a back room in the “Island of chaste lovers” residential sector of the archaeological park. The drawings depict a fight scene with two gladiators, spears in hand, facing what is likely to have been intended to be wild boars. So far, they have determined that the drawings likely came from “direct vision” of an event rather than from pictorial models.

Persons: ” Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Department of Child Neuropsychiatry, Naples ’ Federico, ” Zuchtriegel Organizations: CNN, Department of Child, Naples ’, University Locations: Mt, “, Pompeii, Naples

☆ US returns $80 million-worth of stolen artifacts to Italy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Bogdanos said the $80 million of items does not include a further 100 items his team has just seized in the US. That means that, in addition to the items themselves, their historical context was stolen, robbing archaeologists of valuable information. Most of the recent items returned to Italy were dug out of clandestine excavations or stolen from churches, museums and private individuals, Gargaro said. Italy’s Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection unit uses artificial intelligence to search for stolen cultural assets. Italy’s Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection unit uses artificial intelligence to search for stolen cultural assets under a new program called “Stolen Works Of Art Detection System” (SWOADS), which searches for taken items by scanning the web and social media for images.

Persons: Rome, Matthew Bogdanos ’, Emanuele Antonio Minerva, Bogdanos, Francesco Gargaro, ”, Gargaro, Gianmarco Mazzi Organizations: Rome CNN, Central Institute, New, The, CNN, Cultural Heritage Locations: Rome, Manhattan, Italy, Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily, New York, United States, York, “

☆ Rome is building an eight-story underground museum – but treasures keep getting in the way
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Barbie Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Pope Francis opens the "Holy Doors" at St. Peter's Basilica to mark the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Now the hope is to have the line’s showcase Piazza Venezia stop, featuring an eight-story underground museum, ready in 10 years, according to engineer Andrea Sciotti, who is in charge of the metro museum complex. Each will be placed exactly where it was found inside the metro museum, which is being dug some 85 meters (280 feet) deep, encompassing eight stories below the modern city of Rome. The Venezia station museum stop is not the only treasure on the new line. In 2025, the new Colosseo-Fori station, complete with a four-level underground museum to showcase artifacts including 25 archaic wells unearthed when it was built, will also open after activation tests, meant to begin in October, are completed.

Persons: Rome, it’s, wasn’t, Pope Francis, Mercy, VINCENZO PINTO, Emperor Hadrian’s, Andrea Sciotti, Jesus Christ, “, ” Sciotti, Emperor Hadrian's, Stefano Montesi, Sciotti, It’s, ” Organizations: Rome CNN —, San, Vatican, AFP, Piazza Venezia, CNN, Corbis, Roman, Palazzo Venezia, Colosseum Locations: Rome CNN — Rome, San Giovanni Cathedral, Peter’s, St, AFP, Rome, San Giovanni, Italy, London ., Venezia

CNN —A far-right coalition of parties in the European Parliament has expelled Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party following their leading candidate’s comments about Nazi SS soldiers during World War II. “The ID Group no longer wants to be associated with the incidents involving Maximilian KRAH, head of the AfD list for the European elections,” it said. Krah, the AfD’s leading candidate in next month’s European elections, has already been banned from making public appearances by his party, following controversial comments about Nazi SS soldiers in Italian newspaper La Repubblica over the weekend. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen from her National Rassemblement (RN) Party has also said they would no longer sit in the same parliamentary group as the AfD after next month’s elections. CNN’s James Frater reported from London, Nadine Schmidt and Seb Shukla from Berlin, and Barbie Nadeau from Rome.

Persons: ”, –, Maximilian KRAH, Krah, Adolf Hilter, Marine Le, CNN’s James Frater, Nadine Schmidt, Seb Shukla, Barbie Nadeau Organizations: CNN, Nazi SS, Democracy Group, La Repubblica, SS, Schutzstaffel, Rassemblement, Party Locations: Germany, London, Berlin, Rome

☆ Gerard Depardieu accused of attacking ‘the king’ of paparazzi at Harry’s Bar in Rome
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Barbie Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Rome CNN —In a scene reminiscent of La Dolce Vita era, French actor Gerard Depardieu has been accused of attacking celebrity photographer Rino Barillari outside Harry’s Bar on the famed Via Veneto in Rome. Piero Lepore, the owner of Harry’s Bar in Rome, confirmed to CNN that the incident happened, but did not cast blame. This sort of thing never happens here,” Lepore told CNN by telephone. “We are used to celebrities and we are used to paparazzi – they can’t survive without each other. Magda Vavrusova’s lawyer, Delphine Meillet, said in a statement to CNN that it was Barillari who had pushed Vavrusova.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, La Dolce, Gerard Depardieu, Rino, Depardieu, Barillari, ”, Magda Vavrusova, Piero Lepore, Federico Fellini, ” –, Paparazzo, ” Lepore, “, Lepore, Magda Vavrusova’s, Delphine Meillet, Meillet, Vavrusova, ” Meillet, University Policlinico Umberto, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, Liz Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Depardieu’s, –, Charlotte Arnould Organizations: Rome CNN, Via Veneto, Police, CNN, Rome, University, ” CNN, Paris Locations: Harry’s, Rome, Piazza Navona

☆ Seismic storm hits Italy’s Campi Flegrei super volcano with strongest earthquake in 40 years
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A 4.4 magnitude earthquake struck Italy’s Campi Flegrei super volcano Monday evening, causing mild damage in the town of Pozzuoli, the epicenter, and as far away as the city of Naples, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, according to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). The 4.4 earthquake at a depth of 3 kilometers is the strongest earthquake to hit the highly seismic area in the past 40 years, according to INGV data. The quake is part of an ongoing “seismic storm” that has seen more than a dozen events over 2.0 magnitude in the past 48 hours. The INGV recorded 1,252 earthquakes in the Campi Flegrei area in the month of April 2024, most with a magnitude less than 1.0. More than 500,000 people live in the red zone directly adjacent to the Campi Flegrei, according to the Italian Civil Protection agency, which has been working this year to update evacuation plans in the event of a major disaster.

Organizations: CNN, National, of Geophysics, Fire Brigade, Italian Civil Locations: Pozzuoli, Naples, Italian, Mt

☆ European court says Italy is the rightful owner of Getty Museum bronze statue
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Barbie Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Rome CNN —Italy has the right to confiscate a life-size bronze statue dating back to the second or third centuries B.C. The ruling came after the Getty Museum asked the European Court of Human Rights to intervene following a 2018 Italian court decree that the bronze statue should be confiscated and returned to Italy. The contested statue is being held at the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, Los Angeles. Rolf_52/Alamy Stock PhotoThe Getty Museum does not agree with the latest ruling. Italy will now work with US authorities to return the statue, a spokesperson for the cultural ministry told CNN.

Persons: Rome, Paul, Lysippos, “, Getty, Gennaro Sangiuliano, ”, It’s, ” Maurizio Fiorilli Organizations: Rome CNN —, Paul Getty Villa Museum, European, of Human, Getty Museum, of Human Rights, The Getty Museum, Cultural Heritage Ministry, Getty Villa Museum, Getty, American, of Culture, Louvre Museum, Minneapolis Museum, CNN Locations: Rome CNN — Italy, Los Angeles , California, Italian, Italy, ”, Malibu , Los Angeles, Greece, Strasbourg, Italian State, Marche, Stabia

☆ Ancient text reveals details of Plato’s burial place and final evening, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

It was previously only known that he was buried in the academy, but not specifically where, Ranocchia told CNN Tuesday. A statue of ancient Greek philosopher Plato in Athens, Greece. Brigida Soriano/AlamyThe text also provides more detail about Plato’s final night – and he wasn’t a fan of the music that was played. The project, called the Greek Schools project, is a five-year study using various technologies and methods to help decipher the fragile papyri. “The new readings often draw on new and concrete facts about Plato’s Academy, Hellenistic literature, Philodemus of Gadara and ancient history in general.”

Persons: Plato, Graziano Ranocchia, Ranocchia, Roman general Sulla, Brigida Soriano, ”, ” Ranocchia, Socrates, Julius Caesar, Lorenzo Di Cola, ” Kilian Fleischer Organizations: CNN, Platonic Academy of Athens, of Philology, University of Pisa, Platonic, Spartans, University of Naples, European Union, ERC – European Research Council, Greek Schools, Plato’s Academy Locations: Vesuvius, Athens, Greece, Thrace, Naples, Mesopotamia, Aegina, Sicily, Herculaneum, Italy

☆ Italy’s prime minister says surrogacy ‘inhuman’ as party backs steeper penalties
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | Christopher Lamb | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni says surrogacy is “inhuman” and is backing steeper penalties against the practice, including fines of up to $1 million and multiple-year prison sentences. “I continue to believe that surrogacy is an inhuman practice,” Meloni said at a conference ‘For a Young Europe: Demographic Transition, Environment, Future’ in Rome on Friday. Meloni’s comments against surrogacy fall in line with the views held by the Catholic Church. “The demographic challenge, and the economic sustainability to which it is connected, is one of the main challenges for us,” she said. The move to criminalize surrogacy is largely seen as a move against the LGBTQ+ community.

Persons: Giorgia Meloni, Meloni’s, “, ” Meloni, ’, Pope Francis, ” Organizations: CNN, Catholic Locations: Italy, Europe, Rome, ”

☆ Florence’s famed Ponte Vecchio to be restored to former glory with two-year makeover
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —In the seven centuries since the Ponte Vecchio was first built in Florence, Italy, the bridge has watched the city changing around it, surviving floods, fires and the Nazi invasion in World War II. Now, the famed bridge itself is getting a two-year makeover, at the cost of about €2 million, to restore it to its former glory, the city of Florence and the Marchesi Antinorini winemakers announced on Wednesday. “This is a historic project because Ponte Vecchio has never had a restoration intervention of this technical complexity,” Florence’s mayor Dario Nardella told reporters on Thursday. Such is the Ponte Vecchio’s significance that it was the only bridge across the Arno River spared by the retreating German army towards the end of World War II. Previous replacement joints will be upgraded, the stone itself will be strengthened and the footpath’s stone will be restored too.

Persons: Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, ”, Dario Nardella, “, Marchesi Antinori, Piero Antinori, Tod’s Organizations: CNN, Diesel Locations: Florence, Italy, Nazi, Venice

☆ Commercial featuring nuns taking potato chips for communion sparks outrage in Italy
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Rome CNN —A potato chip commercial that features nuns receiving the crispy snacks for communion is “blasphemy” and should be taken off the air, according to an Italian Catholic organization. The spot by Amica Chips features doe-eyed young nuns inside a convent delighting that their communion wafer, known as the host, is actually a potato chip. A mother superior figure looks on as the nuns giggle, and it is revealed that it was her that substituted the hosts for potato chips in the box where communion wafers are kept, called a tabernacle. Catholics believe the communion wafer represents the body and blood of Christ. A nun about to receive a potato chip from a priest in the commercial.

Persons: Rome, ”, giggle, Instagram Giovanni Baggio, Baggio, Avvenire, Jesus Organizations: Rome CNN, Italian Catholic, Amica, Catholic Locations: Italian, “

☆ Aosta Valley, Italy: 22 year-old French woman found dead in church was searching for ghosts, police say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Rome, Italy CNN —A 22-year-old French woman whose blood-drained body was found in an abandoned church in northern Italy’s Aosta Valley over the weekend had been looking for a haunted house believed to contain ghosts, according to police. There are also two other missing persons cases in the area which police say could be related. Some of the blood had been scraped off the floor and removed from the crime scene, police told CNN. The woman had no documents or cellphone on her when a local resident discovered her decomposing body, police say. The area prosecutor Manlio D’Ambrosi told local media that they are also investigating the presence of a burgundy colored van that was spotted on surveillance footage near the abandoned church last week.

Persons: Italy CNN —, ”, Roberto Testi, Manlio D’Ambrosi Organizations: Italy CNN, La Salle, CNN, Police Locations: Rome, Italy, Aosta, Lyon, La, France

☆ Italian island overrun by goats is offering them free to anyone who can catch them
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Amarachi Orie | Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The tiny, remote Italian island of Alicudi is home to only around 100 residents and, ideally, about 100 wild goats. According to the Sicilian regional government, the goats were introduced to the island around 20 years ago by a farmer who then set them free. For years, the animals—which are not owned by anyone—grazed autonomously on the sides of Alicudi’s cliffs and are featured in almost any postcard from the volcanic island. “We have heard from dozens of people since we first announced this,” Gullo said, including a farmer from the nearby island of Vulcano, who produces goat cheese. Once the goats have been apportioned, the goat-taker has 15 days to catch and remove them from the island.

Persons: Riccardo Gullo, Gullo, you’ve, they’re, —, ” Gullo, ” Organizations: CNN Locations: Alicudi, Vulcano, Sicily, McKinney , Texas, Llandudno, Wales

☆ Home renovation frozen in time reveals Roman building technique
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Rome CNN —Archaeologists excavating the site of Pompeii have uncovered an ancient building site, revealing Roman construction techniques used by builders at the time, according to the Italian Ministry of Culture. The ancient Roman city of Pompeii was home to up to 20,000 people before it was destroyed in the 79 AD eruption, which was visible from more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) away. Archaeologists have found what would have been an active construction site - perhaps more accurately described as a home renovation, according to Massimo Osanna, the general director of the site, in a press statement released Monday. Archaeologists say the site reveals the secrets as to how Roman structures have proven to be so durable. Courtesy Italy Ministry of CultureThe latest findings paint a fuller picture of how ancient Romans lived.

Persons: Rome, Massimo Osanna, ” Osanna, Achilles, Skyros, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Caracalla, ”, Zuchtriegel, Gennaro Sangiuliano Organizations: Rome CNN —, Italian Ministry of Culture, Archaeologists, Italy Ministry of, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Locations: Pompeii, Italy, cocciopesto

☆ Roberto D’Aversa: Italian soccer club Lecce fires manager for alleged headbutt on opponent
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Barbie Nadeau | Sammy Mncwabe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Italian soccer club US Lecce has fired manager Roberto D’Aversa for allegedly headbutting a Verona player after their Serie A match on Sunday. Following Lecce’s 1-0 home defeat, videos circulating online show D’Aversa walking towards opposing player Thomas Henry and then appearing to strike him with his head. “After the events that occurred at the end of the Lecce – Verona match, U.S. Lecce announces that it has relieved coach D’Aversa of his duties,” the club said. D'Aversa and Verona's Thomas Henry (in white, No. CNN has contacted Serie A to ask if D’Aversa will be sanctioned by the league.

Persons: Roberto D’Aversa, headbutting, Thomas Henry, Henry, D’Aversa, “, Verona's Thomas Henry, Donato Fasano Organizations: CNN, US Lecce, Serie, Lecce, Monday, Lecce – Verona, Sky Italia Locations: Italian, Verona, U.S

☆ Italy grapples with its patriarchal history as femicide cases shock the nation
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Antonia Mortensen | Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But all the women killed by femicide in Italy have one thing in common: they knew their killers. Italy might have a female prime minister, but she makes a point of not identifying herself as a feminist. The prevalence of domestic violence in Italy is fed by societal failures, says Lorella Zanardo, an activist, educator and documentary filmmaker. While Italy does not have Europe’s highest rate of domestic violence, it is among the lowest ranked in Europe when it comes to gender equality. In Italy, the feminist movement was largely driven by the left, which meant that those who supported right-leaning parties, including current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have distanced themselves from feminism entirely.

Persons: femicide, Antonio Gozzini, Cristina Maioli, Lorella Zanardo, Zanardo’s, Donne, it’s, ” Zanardo, “, Muro, Frank Bienewald, Giorgia Meloni, ’, il, Cristina Carelli, Carelli, hasn’t, hadn’t, ”, ” Carelli, Giulia Cecchettin's, Claudia Greco, Giulia Cecchettin’s, Filippo Turetta, Turetta, Cecchettin’s, Remo Casilli, Maria Grazia, ” Maria Grazia, Antigone, Eugenia Roccella, Christina Organizations: CNN, Italy’s Union of Women, Milan, “ Locations: Italy, Europe, Milan, Germany, Rome

☆ Europe snow: At a mountain resort with no snowfall, skiing faces a total wipe-out
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | Photography Fiona Sibbett | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In the midst of an exceptionally warm winter, resorts like Campo Felice have a major problem: there’s no snow. And a long-running drought means there isn’t enough water to make the amount of artificial snow needed to paint its slopes white. And with a lack of rain and record-breaking heatwaves, the lakes that normally provide water for artificial snow have run dry. Across all of Italy’s ski resorts, nearly 90% use artificial snow to some degree, according to Carlo Carmagnola, a snow expert with Météo France who studies the impact of climate change on ski resorts. These changes have been hard not just on the Lallini brothers, but their employees, which usually number 250 in the ski season.

Persons: Campo, Italy CNN —, Campo Felice, Niño, Andrea Lallini, It’s, hasn’t, “, ”, Fiona Sibbett, Carlo Carmagnola, Météo, it’s, Carmagnola, There’s, Lallini, Luca Lallini, we’d, ” Lallini, bianca, Gennarino Di Stefano, Isidoro Francesi, ” CNN’s Camille Knight, Antonia Mortensen Organizations: Campo Felice, Italy CNN, CNN, Northern, Campo, ” CNN, Rocca, Cambio Locations: Italy, Rome, Météo France, Austria, Paris

☆ Italian senate passes controversial measure to ship boat migrants to Albanian camps
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Rome CNN —A controversial plan agreed upon between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart in November to send boat migrants to Italian-run centers on Albanian soil has passed the Italian Senate. The plan passed on a vote of 93 to 61. It is unlawful under EU law to immediately deport a migrant or refugee until their application for asylum is processed. The centers will be built with Italian funds and staffed with Italian civil servants to process up to 3,000 asylum applicants a month. In 2023, more than 157,000 people reached Italy by boat, according to Italian interior ministry data.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, Giorgia Meloni, Atdhe Mulla, NGO’s, Meloni’s, Matteo De Bellis, “, ” Organizations: Rome CNN, Italian, Italian Senate, European Union, Bloomberg, Getty, Coast Guard, Navy, Amnesty Locations: Italian, Guantanamo, Albania, Afghan, Shengjin, Italy, United Kingdom, Rwanda

☆ An alleged gang rape shocks Italy, and provides fodder for an ascendant far right
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Seven men between the ages of 15 and 18 are currently on trial for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old girl in Palermo in August. Last month’s alleged gang rape in Catania has become not only a symbol of violence against women in the country, but a cause célèbre for Italy’s far-right government. CNN approached the suspect’s lawyers for comment. Meanwhile, during a visit to Catania, Meloni expressed her solidarity with the alleged rape victim and her family. This is not the first case of non-EU minors being welcomed into Italian facilities and then engaging in criminal activities.”

Persons: Rome, Weeks, Last month’s, Giorgia Meloni, Villa Bellini, Orietta Scardino, Matteo Salvini, Meloni, ”, Alessandro Fidone, Giulia Cecchettin, ” Elena Biaggioni, Massimo Di Vita, Carlo Umberto Cannella, ” Cannella, Silvio Berlusconi Organizations: Rome CNN —, Catania, CNN, Catania police, European Data Journalism Locations: Rome CNN — Italy, Sicilian, Catania, Palermo, Naples, Sicily, Italy, Italy’s

☆ Mike Maignan: Subjected to racist abuse, AC Milan star now finds himself being kicked around like a political football
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —A leading soccer goalkeeper, who is Black and was subjected to racist abuse during a match in Italy’s top league last month, now finds himself being kicked around like a political football. Maignan received widespread support from the football world and FIFA President Gianni Infantino called for automatic forfeits for teams whose fans have racially abused players. Maignan speaks with referee Fabio Maresca during the match between AC Milan and Udinese. AC Milan players react after Maignan was racially abused by Udinese fans. ‘Simply shameful’The Maignan incident comes 11 years after another AC Milan star – midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng – made history by walking off the pitch during a friendly match after suffering abuse for 25 minutes.

Persons: Mike Maignan, Stefano Pioli, Maignan, Gianni Infantino, Fabio Maresca, Alessandro Sabattini, Alberto Felice De Toni, “, ” De Toni, ”, De Toni, Pietro Fontanini, Matteo Salvini, Maignan didn’t, ” Fontanini, Jennifer Lorenzini, Fontani, Tobias Jones, Jones, “ They’re, ” Jones, Kevin, Prince Boateng –, Carlo Tavecchio, Valerio Pennicino, Tavecchio, ” Boateng, “ There’s, It’s, it’s, ” Kevin, Prince Boateng, Pro Patria Busto Arsizio, Daniele Mascolo, Anne Frank’s, Samuel Umtiti –, Lameck Banda, Lameck, Manuel Lazzari of, Maurizio Lagana, Infantino, Frenchman Organizations: CNN, AC Milan, French national, Udinese, Frenchman, Serie, Milan’s Serie, Bologna, San, Milan, FIFA, AC Monza, Udinese’s, Lega, Reuters, Football, Black, Lazio, Lega Seria, Serie A, Gazzetta dello, Pro Patria Busto, Shutterstock, AS Roma, French, Ligue, Lille –, Lecce, “ Lazio Locations: Italy’s, Udine, Italy, San Siro, Curva, —, Maignan, England, Russia, Italian, Shutterstock Lazio, Rome, Manuel Lazzari of Lazio, Lazio

☆ Marco Raduano: Italian mafioso who escaped prison by tying bedsheets arrested during romantic dinner in France
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Rome CNN —An Italian mafia boss who escaped from a maximum security prison last year by using bed sheets to scale the walls has been captured in France, authorities say. Marco Raduano, the 40-year-old boss of the Gargano Mafia in the southern Italian region of Puglia, was caught Thursday outside a luxury restaurant in Bastia, Corsica, where he was dining with a female companion. Also apprehended was his right-hand man, Gianluigi Troiano, who fled house arrest in 2021 after detaching his electronic bracelet. Raduano’s escape by tying bed sheets from his prison window just under a year ago was caught on the penitentiary’s surveillance cameras. The escape lasted 16 seconds and he fled on foot with no guards noticing or giving chase, which led to an internal investigation of the maximum security prison.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, Marco Raduano, Matteo Messina Denaro, Rauduona, Gianluigi Troiano, Raduano, Omar Trott Organizations: Rome CNN, Gargano Mafia, Anti, Mafia, The Spanish Guardia Civil, French Gendarmerie Nationale Locations: Italian, France, Puglia, Bastia, Corsica, Granada, Spain, Bari, Foggia, The Spanish, Vieste, Italy

☆ Mass tourism has turned Florence into a ‘prostitute,’ museum boss says, sparking outrage
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Rome CNN —Mass tourism has turned the Italian city of Florence into a “prostitute,” the director of Galleria dell’Accademia has said, sparking anger and calls for her to step down. Florence mayor Dario Nardella told Florence City Council on Monday that the city deserved respect and that tourism employs thousands of people. With the Academy, for example, we have tried to enhance every extraordinary part of it,” she said in the museum statement sent to CNN Tuesday. Italy’s culture minister Sangiuliano said his ministry would look further into the matter, but called Hollberg’s words “serious and offensive” in nature. “According to the director of the museum, therefore, Florentines are the children of a prostitute and the tourists are the clients of a prostitute?

Persons: Rome, Cecilie Hollberg, ”, —, Dario Franceschini, Giorgia Meloni, Dario Nardella, ” Nardella, Petr Svarc, Matteo Renzi, “, Gennaro Sangiuliano, Hollberg, Florence, “ I’m, ‘, Sangiuliano, Alessia Bettini, ” Bettini Organizations: Rome CNN, Florence, Florence City Council, UNESCO, Accademia, Academy, CNN, “ Locations: Italian, Florence, dell’Accademia, “, Venice, Italy

☆ Fascist salute legal at rallies unless it threatens public order, says Italy’s high court
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Italy’s high court has ruled that fascist salutes are legal at rallies unless they threaten public order or risk reviving the country’s outlawed fascist party. Several members of Italy’s opposition parties and Jewish community leaders have criticized the ruling and plan to rally against it, according to local media reports. The ruling comes nearly two weeks after a video showed more than 150 men performing the fascist salute – sometimes called the “Roman salute” – in central Rome to commemorate the January 7, 1978 killing of two members of a far-right youth group. The high court ruling, handed down Thursday, is not related to the recent January 7 rally, which took place in front of the former headquarters of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) party, where Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni began her political career. The new ruling will have to be applied in the lower court’s decision, which will then focus on whether there was a threat to public order or if the salute was aimed at bringing back Italy’s fascist party.

Persons: –, ”, Giorgia Meloni, Domenico Di Tullio Organizations: CNN, Italian Social Movement, Italian Locations: Rome, Milan

☆ Video of crowd’s fascist salute in heart of Rome rattles Italy – but not its prime minister
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The MSI party grew from the ashes of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party after it was dismantled at the end of World War II when the dictator was deposed and killed. Gotor and Rocca laid a wreath at a monument to the fallen activists, but left before the fascist salute was carried out, their offices told CNN. Nor are fascist memorabilia or gestures like the fascist salute illegal, something that critics say must change. A witness who lives on the street where the commemoration took place told CNN that it happens every year, including with the fascist salute. Berizzi said that “in this moment neo-fascist groups feel protected by Meloni’s silence, her ambiguity.

Persons: Rome, Giorgia Meloni, Franco Bigonzetti, Francesco Ciavatta, Stefano Recchioni, “, ”, Benito Mussolini’s, Meloni, Francesco Rocca, Miguel Gotor, Gotor, Rocca, Elly Schlein, ” Schlein, Noemi Di Segna, Antonio Tajani –, Silvio Berlusconi –, Meloni wasn’t, ” Maria Calderone, ” Paolo Berizzi, Berizzi, Ewan MacPhee, ” MacPhee Organizations: Rome CNN, Italian, Acca, Italian Social Movement, MSI, Fascist Party, Democratic Party, CNN, ”, Union of Italian, Forza Italia, Facebook, La Repubblica, Italy’s, Operations, Social Democrats Locations: Rome, Italy, Lazio, “, Italian, Germany, Europe, Ukraine, Strasbourg

☆ ‘Lost’ Botticelli masterpiece worth $109 million found in home in southern Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Jack Guy | Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Rome CNN —A painting by the 15th-century master Sandro Botticelli, recorded as missing since the 1980s, has been found at a home in southern Italy. The depiction of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ was discovered in a home in the town of Gragnano, near Naples, according to the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Naples. The painting by the artist most famous for “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” is estimated by Italian authorities to be worth at least €100 million ($109 million). “The family continues to hold the title of the work, which, however, will be preserved in a museum,” Croce added. The Somma family declined to comment when contacted by CNN.

Persons: Rome, Rome CNN —, Sandro Botticelli, Virgin Mary, Christ, Venus ”, Santa Maria la Carità, Massimiliano Croce, Croce, ” Croce, “, Botticelli Organizations: Rome CNN, Protection Unit of Naples, Primavera, Roman Catholic Church, CNN, Cultural Locations: Italy, Gragnano, Naples, Neapolitan, Santa, State

Search resuls for: "Nadeau"

25 mentions found