Worldcrunch
Italy’s low fertility rate and lack of support for young people have become a hot topic. But economic and social conditions are not what’s stopping all Italian women from having children. Some simply want to do other things with their lives. Does that make them selfish, asks Italian writer Simonetta Sciandivasci.
Mobster shootouts may be a thing of the past, but organized crime is still Italy’s biggest business. And the Mafia has changed its business model, expanding into cybercrime, cryptocurrency and even renewable energy.
Italy’s head of state is being elected next week, amid a flood of attention of the candidacy of infamously misogynous former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Having a woman in the presidency, argues Italian writer and intellectual Dacia Maraini, may finally help steer the country in a better direction.
The images of the Italian cruise ship, which had run aground just a few hundred meters from the Tuscany coast, captured the world’s attention for a chilly winter week in 2012.
The pandemic has exposed longstanding inequalities and brought more people into a cycle of hunger and precariousness,
Italian writer Lia Celi has her would-be mother’s “sixth sense” put to the test.
This small Italian town is remembered well for being on the front line in the fight against COVID-19. Now it faces vaccine hesitancy.
The disappointment with last month’s COP26 outcome was focused on the failure to deliver on the promise of eradicating fossil fuels, opting instead for a watered-down compromise that merely “reduces” reliance on the polluting energy sources that cause climate change. But the world leaders in Glasgow also missed another crucial opportunity: to squarely address the […]
Since winning this year’s Eurovision contest, Italy’s rock band Måneskin has been taking its message of breaking down stereotypes around the world, while its native country’s politicians are stuck in last century’s prejudices.
Slow Food calls for an action plan to significantly reduce and improve the production and consumption of meat, dairy, and eggs by 2050.
In Italy, Epicurus’s “Letter on Happiness” is being sold at pharmacies to help people face down the stress and anxiety of COVID times.
Coalition negotiations in Berlin will make for a period of political uncertainty that French President Emmanuel Macron is keen to exploit. He already has a new Italian partner, with whom he wants to steer the EU in a new direction.
Countries are rolling out increasingly aggressive campaigns in an international effort to vaccinate the world out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two weeks ago, Italy became the first European country to make COVID-19 health passes mandatory for all workers, while others, including the U.S, France and Hungary, have mandated vaccination for federal workers or healthcare staff. […]
As the Taliban closed in on Afghanistan, the European Union co-signed a joint statement with dozens of nations agreeing that “the Afghan people deserve to live in safety, security and dignity” and that the international community was “ready to assist them”. As someone who has been researching the refugee crisis on Europe’s borders for years, I found the statement surprising. Before it was making bold statements about events in Kabul, the EU had spent years failing to help thousands of Afghans seeking help at its borders. Since 2015, more than 570,000 Afghan citizens have sought protection in the EU. Thousands […]
Alice, 28 years old, from Genoa, terminated her pregnancy one year ago. “It is neither a transgression nor disgrace, I only exercised my right to do so.”
Italy’s new “Super Green Pass” is great, but where’s “Super Mario”? Such a sweeping measure, which requires workers to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, risks encroaching on the fundamental right to work. It’s necessary right now, but also needs Prime Minister Mario Draghi to explain why.
Let’s not underestimate the impact on the planet of industrial, intensive agriculture, focused on exploiting machines, pesticides and fertilizers across wide tracts of land.
CERVERE — It hasn’t rained in two months. The corn has not grown. Six out of ten hectares of this plain field are completely parched. “It’s late now,” says Giovanni Bedino, running his dark fingers through the dry leaves of the corn. The farmer, now 59, has been working the land since he was 15. […]
Salento, the very southeastern tip of Italy, is a flat and shrubby land of farmers, stunning beaches and simple rural villages built around Baroque churches. Thousands of Italians and foreigners flock to this part of the Puglia region on the heel of the Italian boot every summer, lured by its promise of a rustic, idyllic […]
MILAN — There were a few moments of silence when I told my girlfriend what I’d done. I’d kept the information from her for a few days, fearing her reaction and forced to explain: I had chucked a few hundred dollars at shares of the so-called “meme stock” extraordinaire GameStop on the New York Stock […]
ROME — The 70-something barista who served me an iced tea last July was proud of his historic cafe next to one of the city’s best-known theaters. It was soon after the end of Italy’s first lockdown, and the theater was still closed due to the pandemic. At the end of our short conversation, the […]
A young detainee’s suicide is drawing attention to the otherwise invisible plight of people locked up in decrepit, pre-deportation facilities known as CPRs.
Giorgia Meloni, rising star of Italy’s far-right, was a member of neofascist organizations in her youth. She insists that she’s changed her way, and that fascism is not an Italian peculiarity. Not all agree.
Italian photographer Simone Donati captured his hometown of Florence soon after it went into lockdown last spring. As Italy opens up, it was time for him to return.
As tempting as it may be to just turn away, we lose a piece of our humanity every time we do.
Bars and restaurants are finally able to receive customers, at least for outdoor service. It’s a welcome shift for a weary population that is still, nevertheless, wary about the lingering pandemic.
A unique project in the Italian capital brings together experienced carpenters to share their skills and knowledge with asylum seekers and the unemployed.
We’ve gotten used to too many people dying, and too many dying alone.
Grandpa, pass the unmarked 20s….
Proposed Italian legislation to punish public acts of homophobia continues to be blocked by both the Catholic Church and right-wing politicians. But the country’s most popular rapper has entered the debate.
Bansky would be proud …
Italy is once again murmuring about how Pope Francis was in therapy while serving as a priest in Argentina. It’s just another sign of Italians’ tendency to live in denial about hard questions around mental health.
Police say the published novelist killed his father with a hammer and slit his mother’s wrists to make it look like the wife killed her husband and then herself. The mother is clinging to life.
Using pure economic power to reorder the world of soccer was clearly a bad idea, though not necessarily a new idea. Some reflections from a conflicted fan of one particular Italian super squad.
For the Romans, there’s no other choice but the mortal (though virtual) thumbs down for their mayor. Yes, online commentators (and no doubt offline elders around the Italian capital) are sending Mayor Virginia Raggi to the proverbial lions for mixing up the Colosseum — the one (and only) built in Rome nearly 2,000 years ago […]
Across the globe, mafia syndicates, white-collar criminals, hackers and scammers are finding novel ways to profit from the ongoing health crisis.
ROME — A deep dive into Italian anti-vaxxer social media groups leaves me stunned. For them, AstraZeneca, Pfizer/Biontech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and the others are very dangerous, lethal poisons. They keep track of all the alleged casualties of the vaccine roll-out — even if they are just a repetition of the same articles, drawn […]
Thousands of tons of trash are sent from Italy to Bulgaria illegally each year. Between poor controls and political complicity, wealth-hungry entrepreneurs — and the mafia — and local oligarchs earn millions as Eastern Europe turns into a rubbish dump.
Underpaid and overexposed to what in some cases can be truly disturbing content, moderators are the invisible, human grease that keep the social media machine running. It’s grueling but essential work that happens behind the scenes.
It was nearly nine years ago that Mario Draghi first burst onto the world stage. The Italian-born Draghi, who had recently taken over as the President of the European Central Bank, declared that he would do “whatever it takes’ to save the Euro from speculative attacks. “And believe me,” he added, “It will be enough.” […]