The Italian government has declared a year-long state of emergency at the archaeological site of Pompeii in a bid to save the crumbling ruins from poor management, looting and lack of maintenance. Culture minister Sandro Bondi said a special commissioner will... [more]

Italian labour unions have announced a 24-hour national transport strike for 7 July. Public transport will stop at midnight on 6 July and, except for minimum guaranteed service, will remain out of service until midnight on 7 July. In Rome, all public... [more]

Police in Rome have launched an experimental bicycle squad to patrol the city’s network of hike and bike trails. While bike riding policem are already in service in a number of cities in Italy such as Bolzano and Ferrara, this is... [more]

According to a report released on 2 July by the ministry of health 96.2 per cent of Italy's coastline is suitable for swimming and 93 per cent conforms to European standards of safe swimming water. The top-ranking regions are Tuscany, Basilicata,... [more]

Police in Rome have launched an experimental bicycle squad to patrol the city’s network of hike and bike trails. While bike riding policem are already in service in a number of cities in Italy such as Bolzano and Ferrara, this is... [more]

Levels of the airborne pollutant ozone in the capital exceeded Italian air quality standards four times in the last week of June, according the Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale del Lazio (ARPA). Italian law fixes the maximum acceptable level of... [more]

Confcommercio, the national confederation of retail traders, has announced that the summer sales of retail goods will begin in Rome on 5 July. The only cities that precede Rome in opening the sales are Naples (2 July) and Genoa (4 July).... [more]

After years of bitter arguing, an agreement on the controversial high-speed railway line between Turin and Lyons was announced this week following a breakthrough meeting between the rail line’s planners, known as the Osservatore tecnico,and the mayors of the Val... [more]

The Italian actress, Sophia Loren, has made an impassioned appeal for a trash cleanup in Naples and in her birthplace, the Naples suburb of Pozzuoli. "I beg you to free Campania, the province of Naples and my own Pozzuoli, the house... [more]

Right-wing Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno has ditched two luxury cars used to ferry the mayor about the city in another show of one-upmanship against predecessor Walter Veltroni. Alemanno inherited the two €110,000 spacious grey Lancia Thesis cars - equipped with tinted... [more]

Rome’s Notte Bianca, the annual all-night cultural festival featuring free entry to museums plus concerts, theatre, cinema and special exhibitions all over the city risks postponement or cancellation this year following remarks by mayor Gianni Alemanno suggesting that budget cuts owing... [more]

Rome’s Gay Village opened on 26 June in a new location in the Parco del Ninfeo in EUR instead of at Parco delle Cascate as in previous years. Films, theatrical performances, concerts are available to visitors as well as fresco dining.... [more]

New on tap detergent points will be inaugurated on 24 and 26 June in Lazio in the towns of Civitavecchia and Frosinone, following the success of the first “on tap” detergents distribution points opened in April and May. Customers can refill... [more]

A study published by the Ente Bilaterale Turismo della regione Lazio (EBTL) in June says that tourism in the city of Rome in the first five months of 2008 has fallen by 2.7 per cent with respect to the same period... [more]

The mayor of Naples, Rosa Russo Iervolino, has announced that a site has been chosen for the city's first termovalorizzatore or thermocycling garbage incinerator. It will be built in Agnano, a northern suburb where ex-pats of a NATO base were... [more]

Suicides and murders committed by family members shoot up by 10-20 per cent in hot weather, the head of La Sapienza University’s forensic science department said this week. According to Professor Francesco Bruno, there were 600 murders by family members in... [more]

As works starts on the new metro line C section to the southeast of Rome, around the existing Pantano - Roma Laziale train line, the city’s public bus service ATAC is providing a bus service from Pantano station to Anagnina metro... [more]

The Italian Antitrust Authority, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), has ruled that bakers in Rome and its province have been fixing the minimum price of the two of the most popular types of bread, rosette and pane... [more]

Sharks are disappearing from Italian waters, according to recent research published in scientific periodical Conservation Biology. Over the last 200 years, the number of sharks in the Mediterranean as a whole has dropped by 97 per cent, reaching “levels of virtual... [more]

Rome vicariate has refused permission for American director Ron Howard to film scenes for his adaptation of Dan Brown’s bestselling Angels and Demons in two churches in the capital. The book, in which Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to avert a... [more]