To the British, they promise romance amid the recession. But the Italian love affair with this vehicle has often led to tragedy.
Monthly Archives: January 2012
Eurozone crisis live: George Osborne says UK could increase IMF payments – 11 January 2012
9.20am: Our man in Rome, John Hooper, has picked up this newspaper interview with Mario Monti in German daily Die Welt.
Rome’s Colosseum restoration sparks inquiries into contract
Shoe firm Tod’s had struck a €25m deal to fund restoration, but this is being investigated.
Eurozone crisis: Markets shrug off threat of Italy downgrade- as it happened
You would have thought the European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi, had enough to worry about. But our Italian correspondent John Hooper understands that tomorrow the Italian gossip mag, Oggi, will be adding to his woes.
Italy decrees attack on monopolies and vested interests
Technocratic government appears to be headed for showdown with unions as it unveils law targeting restrictive practices.
Pope Benedict XVI appeals for end to discrimination against Christians
Pontiff uses Vatican reception for diplomats to highlight attacks on Christians, citing recent killings in Nigeria and Pakistan.
Austerity in Italy: Terrorising the taxman
Some Italians take violent exception to paying taxes.
Eurozone crisis live: Eurozone unemployment hits 16m
4.05pm: John Hooper, our correspondent in Rome, has been deconstructing Monti’s visit to Paris which is part of a round of meetings across the continent that will take him to Berlin next Wednesday and then to London, we’re told, on January 18 for talks with David Cameron. He has this insight into Monti’s grand tour.
Italian rail company lambasted for ‘racist’ web commercial
Trenitalia replaces video which promoted its new four-tier system by showing a black family in lowest-class carriage.
Lipari murder suspect taken into custody
Labourer Roberto Cannistra arrested on suspicion of killing Eufemia Biviano in first murder on Italian island since 1950s.