Category: Italy

Italy Creates New Museum for Trafficked Ancient Artifacts

ROME—Italy has been so successful in recovering ancient artworks and artifacts that were illegally exported from the country it has created a museum for them. The Museum of Rescued Art was inaugurated Wednesday in a cavernous structure that is part of Rome’s ancient Baths of Diocletian. The Octagonal Hall exhibition space was designed to showcase…


Supreme Court Rules in Favor of American Mother Who Doesn’t Want Son Returned to Italy

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of an American mother on June 15, finding that a U.S. appeals court was wrong to find that her Italian-born child should be returned to his abusive father in Italy despite the risk to which the child may be exposed by doing so. When a U.S. court determines that…


7 Bodies Found at Scene of Helicopter Crash in Italy

ROME—Rescuers have found the bodies of seven people killed in a helicopter crash in Italy, local authorities said on Saturday, two days after the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. The helicopter had taken off on Thursday from Lucca in Tuscany and was heading towards the northern city of Treviso when it was lost in bad…


Serie A Champion Milan to Be Sold to RedBird for $1.3 Billion

MILAN—Less than two weeks after celebrating AC Milan’s league title win with thousands of fans, Gerry Cardinale is on the verge of becoming the new owner of the storied Serie A club. Cardinale is the founder and managing partner of American investment firm RedBird Capital Partners, which has signed a preliminary agreement to buy Milan…


294 Migrants Rescued Off Libya Arrive in Sicily

A group of 294 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya disembarked in Sicily on Monday morning after spending ten days at sea. On Sunday a woman who was eight months pregnant was evacuated from the Ocean Viking rescue ship for medical reasons. According to SOS Mediterannee, which runs the rescue ship, there were 49…


Siena’s Palio: 90 Seconds of Sheer Medieval Madness

“For the Sienese life story: You’re born…there’s the Palio…and then you die.” That’s how my friend Roberto explains the importance of Italy’s world-famous horse race, the Palio di Siena, which takes place twice every summer on July 2 and August 16. The city’s residents hurl themselves into the traditional revelry of the event with abandon….


Hidden Italy: Puglia

They are weird, and strange, and feel somewhat otherworldly. Approaching them on foot felt a little like discovering an alien village in some outer-space sci-fi movie, not a UNESCO-protected settlement in the south of Italy. Climbing a small rise, the details of the tiny dwellings become clear—round, white-washed base with a conical roof, some splashed…


Hidden Italy: Ravenna

The name was somewhat familiar, but riding a shuttle in from the port, I realized that I knew basically nothing about the city of Ravenna. Certain destinations in Italy are immediately recognizable, with a whole set of colorful and unmistakable images associated. Rome? The curve of the Colosseum, of course, dating back to the first…


Book Review: ‘One Italian Summer’: Magical Realism Dealing With Loss and Life

I wanted to like this book from the beginning. I was hooked on the fact that it takes place in Italy during the summer. What’s not to love. I learned it was about a strong mother-daughter relationship. I also learned it was about loss. I had a mother; I have a daughter. The main protagonist,…


Netflix Pays $59 Million to Settle Tax Dispute in Italy

MILAN—Netflix has agreed to pay more than 55.8 million euros ($59 million) to settle a tax dispute, Milan prosecutors said Friday. The payment covers taxes, penalties and interest from October 2015 through 2019. The streaming service also established an Italian legal entity this year, which will determine its Italian tax burden based on subscriptions to…