Northern Italy's rivers hit critical drought as rice belt withers in early heat

Po and tributaries in severe stress; Pavia's paddies parched as Europe's heatwave reaches agricultural heartland

Multiple waterways across northern Italy have entered critical drought conditions, with the Po River Authority warning of severe stress as an unprecedented early-summer heatwave ravages the region's rice-growing heartland.

Giulia Benati · NATIONAL

European court orders Italy to compensate woman in rape case; island justice system faces scrutiny

ECHR ruling on dismissive prosecutor reflects broader pattern of gender-violence failures across Italian regions

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Italy to pay compensation to a woman whose rape allegations were dismissed by a prosecutor as "normal," a ruling that exposes systemic gaps in how Italian courts handle gender violence.

Gavino Sanna · NATIONAL

Mount Etna eruption disrupts southern Italy as ash reaches airports

Volcano activity halts flights from Catania; transport chaos compounds travel woes across the South

Mount Etna's eruption has suspended flights at Catania airport and sent ash across southeastern Sicily, adding to transport disruptions already straining southern Italy's connectivity as the region grapples with seasonal travel demand.

Antonio Petrella · REGIONAL

Stellantis pivots to China-made Jeep for Europe by 2030

Turin-based carmaker charts new course amid competitive pressure as BYD reshapes global automotive landscape

Stellantis plans to build Jeep vehicles in China for European sale by 2030, signalling a strategic shift as Chinese manufacturers reshape global competition.

Lorenzo Ferraris · ECONOMY

Tuscany's leather crisis deepens as supply chain workers strike

830 companies shuttered since 2019; Milan's suppliers face ripple effects as Florence production grinds to halt

Production workers in Tuscany are striking on July 9 as the region's leather goods sector contracts sharply, threatening the supply chains that feed Milan's fashion houses.

Beatrice Comolli

Florence rail works disrupt Alpine-to-south corridor for weeks

Scheduled maintenance at central station threatens connections across Italy; Trentino-Alto Adige faces delays on key transit routes

Major maintenance works beginning at Florence's central station will cause cancellations and delays of up to three hours across Italian rail networks this month, with the Brenner corridor and Alpine connections particularly vulnerable.

Klara Hofer

Florence rail works split Italy as summer travel chaos begins

Major maintenance at central station will sever north-south connections for weeks, stranding passengers across the country

Scheduled maintenance at Florence's central station is dividing Italy's rail network, with passengers facing cancellations and delays of up to three hours as works interrupt connections between north and south.

Tommaso Veronese

European court orders Italy to compensate woman in rape dismissal case

ECHR finds prosecutor's remarks perpetuated sexist stereotypes and downplayed domestic violence

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italy must pay damages to a woman whose rape allegations by her partner were dismissed by prosecutors as normal behaviour.

Sergio Madrussan

Florence rail works split Italy's transport corridor as summer disruptions begin

Maintenance at central station threatens connections between north and south during peak travel season

Scheduled maintenance at Florence's central station will cause cancellations and delays of up to three hours across Italy's main north-south railway corridor in July.

Sergio Madrussan

Ukraine strikes on Russian ports ripple through Mediterranean logistics

Genoa faces potential cargo shifts as St Petersburg infrastructure targeted in escalating drone campaign

Ukrainian drones have struck Russian oil terminals and port facilities in St Petersburg, forcing Mediterranean hubs like Genoa to absorb potential cargo rerouting as Baltic shipping lanes face renewed disruption.

Marina Doria

Florence rail works fracture Italy's north-south connection, disrupting Adriatic trade routes

Scheduled maintenance at central station to cause cancellations and three-hour delays through July, fragmenting cross-country freight and passenger flows

Planned maintenance at Florence's central station will fragment Italy's main rail artery through July, causing delays of up to three hours and threatening the Adriatic region's access to southern markets and ports.

Elena Marcheggiani

Riviera tourism market tests off-season pricing as summer crowds peak

Local operators promote September travel to ease coastal congestion and extend revenue into autumn

Boat tour operators on the Amalfi Coast are marketing September as an alternative to July and August, signalling a shift in how Mediterranean resorts manage overtourism and seasonal revenue volatility.

Marina Doria

Ferrari bets on petrol and tradition as hybrid era divides Motor Valley

Limited V12 manual edition appeals to purists while Lamborghini embraces plug-in hybrid performance SUV

Ferrari has launched a limited-edition 12-cylinder model with a manual gearbox, signalling a defence of traditional combustion engines even as its Motor Valley rival Lamborghini pushes deeper into hybrid performance.

Giulia Benati

Florence leather workers strike as fashion supply chain collapses

830 companies closed since 2019; production workers walk out July 9 over restructuring

Supply chain workers in Tuscany are striking on July 9 as the region's leather goods sector faces a structural crisis, with nearly 830 companies shuttered in Florence province alone since 2019.

Costanza Bardi

Florence displays Etruscan frescoes as Culture Ministry accelerates heritage acquisitions

$17m tomb paintings join state collections in latest major purchase

Italy has put on public display Etruscan fresco panels acquired for $17 million, marking another high-value purchase in the government's aggressive campaign to repatriate major artworks to state collections.

Costanza Bardi

European court orders Italy to compensate woman after rape allegations dismissed

ECHR ruling rebukes prosecutor's remarks as perpetuating 'sexist stereotypes' in landmark gender-violence judgment

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Italian state to pay compensation to a woman whose allegations of repeated rape by her partner were dismissed by a prosecutor as normal male behaviour.

Niccolò Mariani

Abruzzo's quake scars inform Italy's readiness gap

As global disasters mount, L'Aquila's 2009 recovery offers hard lessons in disaster preparedness that Italy has yet to fully absorb

Israel's emergency chief warns his nation faces medium-low earthquake preparedness; international observers cite Venezuela's recent devastation as a cautionary model—a comparison that echoes through Abruzzo's lingering reconstruction.

Marco Di Sante

European court orders Italy to compensate woman in rape case dismissal

ECHR finds prosecutor perpetuated sexist stereotypes by treating partner violence as normal male behavior

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that an Italian prosecutor violated a woman's rights by dismissing her allegations of repeated rape as ordinary male conduct.

Davide Ruspoli

European court orders Italy to compensate woman over dismissed rape case

ECHR ruling on gender violence highlights gaps in southern Italy's justice response to domestic abuse

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Italy to pay damages after a prosecutor dismissed a woman's repeated rape allegations as 'normal,' a ruling that exposes how entrenched attitudes toward domestic violence persist in the judiciary.

Antonio Petrella

Mount Etna eruption closes Catania airport, strands travellers

Volcanic ash forces flight cancellations across Sicily as second day of disruption tests regional tourism

Mount Etna's eruption has forced Catania Airport to close until Tuesday, cancelling dozens of flights and trapping travellers across Sicily as ash clouds darken the sky above Italy's most active volcano.

Rosaria Esposito

Pope marks July Fourth at migrant cemetery, rebuking Western indifference

Pontiff's Lampedusa vigil challenges Trump and EU as Mediterranean becomes moral test

Pope Leo XIV spent July 4th at Lampedusa's migrant cemetery, praising American ideals of welcome while implicitly condemning the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Francesca Lazzari

Adriatic dolphins learn to scavenge from trawlers as fish stocks collapse

Baby dolphins copying parents' search for food signals ecological crisis in overfished Mediterranean

Bottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic are increasingly following fishing trawlers to scavenge for scraps, with young dolphins learning the behaviour from parents—a sign of ecosystem collapse under industrial fishing pressure.

Francesca Lazzari

European court orders Italy to compensate woman after rape case dismissed

ECHR finds prosecutor's remarks perpetuated sexist stereotypes in domestic violence case

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italy must pay compensation to a woman whose rape allegations were dismissed by a prosecutor as normal behavior.

Pietro Lasorsa

Pope Leo marks July 4 on migration island, challenges West on compassion

First American pontiff visits Lampedusa cemetery, appeals to US and Europe to welcome migrants with dignity

Pope Leo XIV spent Independence Day on the Mediterranean frontier, praying at the graves of migrants who died at sea and calling on Americans and European leaders to embrace newcomers as a moral imperative.

Saverio Gallo

Mount Etna ash forces flight suspensions at Catania airport

Sicily's main air hub halts operations as volcanic activity clouds Mediterranean gateway

Catania airport suspended flights on Monday as Mount Etna's ash plume disrupted air traffic to and from Sicily's busiest aviation hub.

Saverio Gallo

Etna's ash cloud disrupts southern travel as island tourism weighs the risk

Sicily's volcano forces airport closures; Sardinia's competing summer season watches the fallout

Mount Etna's eruption has shut Catania airport and scattered volcanic ash across southern Italy, raising questions about climate volatility and the fragility of Mediterranean tourism infrastructure.

Gavino Sanna

Trump reignites feud with Meloni ahead of NATO summit

Italian government seeks to contain fallout as US president attacks PM on social media days before alliance meeting

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government moved to defuse escalating tensions with Donald Trump after the US president shared an attack on the Italian leader ahead of this week's NATO summit in Turkey.

Adriana Sole

Venice Biennale stages AI art as artists navigate machine creativity

Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst's installation tests the boundary between human and algorithmic creation at the world's premier contemporary art festival.

Artists preparing work for the Venice Biennale are grappling with artificial intelligence as a creative tool, raising questions about authorship and aesthetic value in the digital age.

Eleonora Vanzetti

Venice Film Festival honours Clooney with lifetime achievement award

The 83rd edition of the world's oldest cinema festival will open in September with George Clooney receiving the Golden Lion for career achievement.

George Clooney will receive the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, marking recognition from the world's oldest film festival for an actor nominated across six Oscar categories.

Eleonora Vanzetti

Florence works sever Abruzzo's rail link to the south

Scheduled maintenance at Florence's central station will disrupt connections for mountain communities already struggling with transport isolation

Major railway maintenance in Florence starting this week will divide Italy's rail network, with delays up to three hours disrupting cross-country travel and isolating Abruzzo's already tenuous connections to southern markets and services.

Marco Di Sante

Clarks targets Adriatic footwear districts as European expansion accelerates

UK brand opens Italian outlet, plans 15-20 new stores across Europe this year as wholesale operations widen

Clarks has opened a new store at an Italian outlet and is accelerating European expansion, targeting 15 to 20 new stores this year as it broadens wholesale partnerships across the continent.

Elena Marcheggiani

Po Valley waterways reach critical state as drought tightens grip

Northern Italy's agricultural and industrial heartland faces water scarcity as summer heat compounds regional vulnerability

The Po River Authority has declared several northern Italian waterways in critical condition due to drought, threatening the region's farming, hydropower and industrial water supply.

Lorenzo Ferraris

Scientists harvest yeast from Iceman's remains, bake Alpine bread

Five-thousand-year-old microbe found in mummy's gut revives ancient fermentation on the mountain where Oetzi died

Researchers have isolated living yeast from the digestive tract of Oetzi the Iceman and used it to bake sourdough, linking modern Alpine science to a figure who died in the high mountains 5,300 years ago.

Camille Bréan

The pope at the frontier of conscience

Pope Leo's visit to Lampedusa on July 4 stakes a claim that moral authority still matters in a world of competing sovereignties.

Editorial Board

When the law itself becomes the injury

The European court's ruling on Italy's dismissal of rape allegations exposes how institutional indifference compounds the original harm.

Editorial Board