Italy to Deploy 500 Troops to Milan after Days of Protests and Looting

THE GUARDIAN: Protests over poor public services and living costs spiralled into violence over the weekend, with shops looted and property vandalised

Protesters clash with police in Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy. The unrest followed clashes on Saturday in other northern cities including Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo and Turin. Photograph: Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Italy’s government is sending 500 soldiers to Milan as it vowed a “firm response from the state” after protests against the high cost of living descended into clashes with police, vandalism and looting, and ahead of further demonstrations planned on Saturday.

The government, led by the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is also planning to swiftly approve tougher new security measures, including extending preventive detention for minors, cracking down on youth gangs and banning gatherings for people deemed a threat to public order, according to reports in the Italian press on Tuesday.

Police in Milan detained 271 young people after hooded youths set bins ablaze, ransacked shops and smashed windows, including in the area surrounding the city’s Duomo, during the unrest on Saturday and Sunday.

Police used teargas and water cannons to disperse the violent groups, who were on the fringes of an initially peaceful protest.

Of those detained, 32 have been arrested, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals, police said on Monday. A further 28 people were reported to judicial authorities. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Mussolini wasn’t So Bad, Was He?

Oct 17, 2026 | Was Benito Mussolini, as some still insist, really a "visionary modernizer?" Or is the claim one of the 20th century's most enduring myths?

In this video, we examine common perceptions of Mussolini and his fascist regime — from infrastructure and social welfare to empire, propaganda, and public support. We compare the popular narratives with historical evidence and illuminate how Mussolini came to serve as a blueprint for Adolf Hitler.

Whether you believe Mussolini's legacy was unfairly dismissed or see him as a symbol of tyranny and oppression, this explainer challenges assumptions, uncovers forgotten facts and asks a simple question: How much of what we think we know is actually true? 

Emma Bonino, Radical Italian Politician Who Stood Up to Vatican, Dies Aged 78

THE GUARDIAN: Militant feminist led campaigns to legalise abortion and divorce and went on to become foreign minister

Screenshot taken from this Guardian article. | Bonino also served as a European commissioner. After a cancer diagnosis in 2015, she appeared in public wearing colourful headscarves. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters
Emma Bonino, the radical Italian politician who led campaigns to legalise abortion and divorce against the objections of the Vatican, has died aged 78.

“Today we lose not only our leader but also one of the most clear-sighted, courageous and free figures in the political history of our country,” the small party she founded, More Europe, said on Facebook on Friday.

Bonino served as a European commissioner and as foreign minister in Italy but was best known as a militant feminist dedicated to political and humanitarian causes. “Her life was a long struggle against everything that denies freedom: against clandestine abortion, world hunger, the stranglehold of party politics, female genital mutilation, punitive justice, genocide, and every form of authoritarianism,” her party said. » | Guardian staff and agencies in Rome | Friday, September 11, 2026

Emma Bonino: Italy's pro-Europe, pro-immigrant conscience: The former foreign minister, activist and politician has radical ideas for today’s Italy »

À LIRE AUSSI :

L’Italienne Emma Bonino, militante radicale féministe de longue date, est morte à l’âge de 78 ans : Présente dans de nombreux combats, du droit au divorce et à l’avortement, Emma Bonino était une ancienne membre du Parti radical italien et une figure respectée par toute la classe politique de la péninsule. »

Thieves Steal Four Renaissance Paintings From Italian Museum in Brazen Heist

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The works, by Antonello da Messina, were taken as the Sicilian city of Messina held a religious celebration.

The five surviving panels of Antonello da Messina’s 1473 “San Gregorio Polyptych,” three of which were stolen from the Accascina Regional Museum in Messina, Italy. Credit: Museo Regionale Accascina Messina, via Reuters
Four paintings by the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in Messina, Sicily, on Saturday, Italian officials said.

Taking advantage of an annual religious celebration that brings tens of thousands to Messina’s streets, thieves made off with three of five panels that constitute the Polyptych of San Gregorio as well as a small double-sided devotional painting. They are the only works by Antonello da Messina, commonly called Antonello, that remained in his native city.

The celebration, the Procession of the Vara, is a religious ritual that takes places every Aug. 15. Some 100,000 people attended the celebration and the city’s law enforcement officials were focused on maintaining order there, city officials said. “Coinciding with la Vara, it was certainly a planned theft,” Mayor Federico Basile said in a telephone interview.

Commissioned in the 15th century for the church of San Gregorio, which was destroyed during a devastating earthquake in 1908, the San Gregorio altarpiece originally consisted of six panels. Only five remain and were housed at Messina’s Accascina Regional Museum. » | Elisabetta Povoledo | Reporting from Rome | Sunday, August 16, 2026

Thousands of Migrants Try to Enter Spanish Enclave of Ceuta from Morocco | BBC News

July 31, 2026 | About 49,000 migrants have crossed into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in the last 24 hours, officials estimate.

Videos and photos showed thousands of people swimming into the city on Thursday, while local media reported crossings continuing overnight.

This development comes after Spain's Supreme Court ruled this month that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish enclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco.

When Will Italy’s Mount Vesuvius Erupt Again? | 60 Minutes Australia

July 28, 2026 | While the volcanic disaster of Pompeii may seem like a thing of the past, Mount Vesuvius remains, now standing over around 3 million people, ready to blow at any minute. In 2013 Ally Langdon visited Naples and its top volcanologists to uncover the real risks of what could be the deadliest eruption in history.

Impact of MAGA on European Right-wing "Ideologically Close But Interests Not Respected”

July 22, 2026 | Giovanni Orsina, Director of the Political Science Department at Luiss University in Rome, takes a look at transatlantic ties under Trump and the impact of MAGA on European right-wing movements.

The Meloni Effect: Has Italy's Prime Minister Delivered on Her Promises? • FRANCE 24 English

July 3, 2026 | Three and a half years after becoming Italy's first female head of government, Giorgia Meloni remains one of Europe's most influential and controversial leaders.

From her working-class roots in Rome's Garbatella district to debates over immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and Italy's future, France 24's reporters investigate the impact of the "Meloni Effect" on everyday Italians.

A story by Natalia Mendoza, Tommaso Marro, Bernard Bedarida and Charlotte Davan Wetton.


Giorgia Meloni insists that she is a Christian. But where are her Christian values? Clearly, they are missing. It is impossible to be a good Christian without practising compassion and mercy for the downtrodden and the marginalised. Jesus sought out society’s outcasts and gave them centre-space in his teachings and ministry. Those were the poor, the sick, women, children, and sinners. So, trying to practise Christianity and making life difficult for the marginalised and downtrodden is not in accordance with the will of Jesus, ergo, not in accordance with the will of God.

If we are to be considered believers in Christianity, then we are all to believe that we are God’s children. If we are born a particular way with particular characteristics, with particular likes and dislikes, with particular inclinations and disinclinations, and in particular social circumstances, then it is because God created us to be that way.

No good God would want any one of his children to be treated badly. This is not rocket science; rather, it is common sense!

It is high time for those who espouse their adherence to Christianity to live by its teachings. They need to refrain from making up their own interpretations. There is but one version of Christianity, and that is Jesus Christ’s version! — © Mark Alexander

Italy Doesn’t ‘Beg,’ Giorgia Meloni Tells Trump

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump said the Italian leader had “begged” him to take a photo together at the Group of 7 summit in France. The remarks come as their once-friendly relationship has frayed.

It looks as if the Italian prime minister’s teetering relationship with President Trump may have just fallen off a cliff.

For weeks, tensions have been rising. Mr. Trump has grown publicly frustrated with Giorgia Meloni, the right-leaning Italian prime minister, who had been one of his closest political friends on the international stage, for failing to support the war in Iran and for criticizing his broadside against Pope Leo XIV. On Friday, she seemed to have had enough.

After the president told an Italian journalist on Thursday that Ms. Meloni had “begged” him to take a photo together at the Group of 7 summit meeting in France this week, according to an English-language transcript shared by the TV reporter, Ms. Meloni called Mr. Trump’s statements “totally invented.”

“Italy and I never beg,” she proclaimed in a video posted on social media.

Ms. Meloni, who took office in 2022, had cast herself as the European leader who had the best relationship with the American president. Even as relations have deteriorated, she has tried to smooth over ruffled feathers. » | Motoko Rich and Josephine de La Bruyère | Reporting from Rome | Friday, June 19, 2026

Gay Wedding

Octiber 21, 2016

Four Men Are Burned to Death in Italy, Highlighting Abuse of Foreign Workers

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The immigrants had been working as fruit pickers in southern Italy, the authorities said, apparently as part of a system of criminal labor trafficking.

The brutal killing of four immigrant workers who were burned alive in a vehicle this week has Italian officials struggling to confront rampant labor exploitation by criminal gangs that have infiltrated Italy’s agricultural industry.

The killings on Monday at a gas station in Calabria, in southern Italy, were caught on camera, and the video has shocked Italians and drawn the attention of national officials all the way up to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Surveillance footage showed two people dousing a vehicle with gasoline and blocking the doors as the vehicle and its passengers burned. One person managed to escape the vehicle and has been speaking to Italian news media about the harrowing event.

Mohammad Taj Alamyar, 35, who is originally from Afghanistan, told investigators that he and the four others, who were from Afghanistan and Pakistan, had been working on the region’s strawberry harvests. He said they had asked the men who had arranged their work and accommodations, and who were driving them back from a shift on a farm after work, about wages that had been withheld, prompting the violent response. » | Ephrat Livni and Josephine de La Bruyère | Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Pope Leo Gets a Close Look at First Fully Electric Ferrari

May 27, 2026 | Pope Leo XIV got the chance to sit in the driver's seat of the newly unveiled Ferrari Luce in Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy on 26 May. John Elkann, the chairman of the Italian brand, accompanied by other company executives and technical staff, presented the pontiff with a Ferrari steering wheel during the meeting. Ferrari test driver Raffaele de Simone knelt beside the pope while explaining the vehicle's controls and driving modes to the religious leader.

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Why is Ferrari facing such a backlash to its first electric car?: The Italian marque has broken with the past with its four-door, €550,000 Luce and traditionalists are furious »

The Princess of Wales Receives a Warm Welcome in Italy as Fans Gather for Her Two-day Royal Visit

May 13, 2026

Trump 'Shocked' by Italian PM as She Defends Pope Leo and Denounces Iran War | ABC NEWS

Apr 15, 2026 | Donald Trump has lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after she expressed solidarity with Pope Leo. Meloni was considered a close ally of Trump. She attended his inauguration and visited Mar-a-Lago. The US President gave several critical remarks to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in which he criticised the right-wing prime minister for not supporting the US-Israel war in Iran.

Italy Denies Use of Sicily Airbase to US Planes Carrying Weapons for Iran War

THE GUARDIAN: Defence ministry says US failed to request authorisation in time for parliament to give approval as required by international treaty

Italy has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure.

A source at the Italian defence ministry confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera that “some US bombers” had been due to land at Sigonella – one of seven US navy bases in Italy – before heading to the Middle East, but that use of the base had been denied because the US sought authorisation to land only while the aircraft were already en route to Sicily.

The source said this meant there was not enough time to seek approval in parliament, as is required for aircraft landing on naval bases with weapons.

According to treaties established in the late 1950s, the US navy bases can be used for logistical and training purposes but not as transit hubs for aircraft used to transport weapons for war unless in an emergency situation. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Tuesday, Marcj 31, 2026

Has Meloni Turned against Trump over Iran as Key Referendum Tests Her Leadership?

Mar 23, 2026 | Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran has exposed cracks in her relationship with US President Donald Trump.

She was supposed to be Europe’s ‘Trump whisperer’ but Meloni has even compared the Iran war to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Italian public opinion is firmly against being drawn into the conflict and this weekend Meloni faced a key test of her leadership with a crucial referendum on judicial reform.

So, has Meloni chosen domestic loyalty over transatlantic relations?

Joining Enda Brady for this discussion:

Riccardo Alcaro, Head of Research of the Programme at the Istituto Affari Internazionali
Marta Grande, Former President of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Chamber of Deputies of Italy
Amy Frederiksen, Republican Strategist

Secretive Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Brings His Antichrist Lectures to the Vatican's Doorstep | DW News

Mar 22, 2026 | The American entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel has travelled to Rome to host a closed-door lecture series on the Antichrist, mixing theology with technology and politics. The event, held near Vatican City, drew criticism from Catholic figures and institutions, many of whom rejected his ideas as extreme. The visit has underscored tensions between his techno-libertarian worldview and the Church’s more cautious stance on AI and global governance. So what's behind Thiel's fascination with the antichrist? With analysis from Fritz Espenlaub, host of the six-part Deutschlandfunk podcast series Die Peter Thiel Story, and Vatican expert Massimo Faggioli from Trinity College Dublin.

Palermo Palaces in Peril | ARTE.tv Culture

Jan 18, 2026 | The fair city of Palermo boasts around a hundred ancient palazzi, symbol of the city’s identity, a testament to its rich history, and a firm favourite with tourists. But the Sicilian capital's penniless aristocrats are finding it hard to maintain their grand homes.

The Italian state, which imposes costly obligations on these listed buildings, does not offer them any aid.

Palermo Palaces in Peril | ARTE.tv Culture
Available until 22/12/2030

Italy's Right-wing Government: Policies against Rainbow Families | DW Documentary

Mar 30, 2025 | Italy's right-wing government is legislating against rainbow families. Children with two mothers or two fathers don’t align with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative family ideal. Same-sex couples now see themselves threatened by discrimination at the hands of the state.

Daniela and Valentina are a lesbian couple from Padua. They’ve been in a registered civil partnership since 2019. Their daughter Caterina was born in August 2022. She was conceived through a sperm donation in Denmark. Their family’s happiness seemed perfect - until the new government under Giorgia Meloni came to power.

This is because rainbow families challenge the right-wing government's understanding of a ‘natural’ family. It says that in the case of same-sex couples, only the biological parent can be registered on the birth certificate. As a result, the public prosecutor's office in Padua has challenged the birth certificates of several children in court - including Caterina's. If the judges declare the birth certificate invalid, the non-biological mother will lose all her rights.

If Daniela's name is removed from the birth certificate, this will have far-reaching consequences. She’ll only be able to collect her child from school with a power of attorney. Travelling abroad alone with her child will be practically impossible. And she’ll no longer be able to make any decisions at a doctor’s appointment: "That's state power. They tell me with a few lines and cold words that I don't exist, that I have to step aside,” says Daniela.

Italy’s right-wing government is defending the traditional Catholic family at the expense of minorities. Anything that doesn’t conform to this norm is discriminated against and criminalized. In this country, it’s illegal for same-sex couples to adopt, traveling abroad for surrogacy is banned and same-sex marriage is still illegal.


One needs muffles to listen to Giorgia Meloni railing against gays and rainbow families! For Giorgia, it’s okay to have a baby outside of wedlock. Unmarried mothers aren’t a problem. But to have a baby inside a rainbow family is truly beyond the pale, and is totally unacceptable. I think It must be because Giorgia is such a devout Christian. — © Mark Alexander

Friends and Family of Valentino Bid Farewell to Fashion Giant

January 23, 2026 | Famous faces from the worlds of fashion and film descended on Rome on Friday to bid farewell to legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, who died on Monday at 93. — By Monika Cvorak
Watch the NYT video here.