A particularly vile right-wing blog, here in Italy, has been all over the news after having published a long list of Jewish Professors working in Italian Universities. The blog has been taken down by its service provider, and Italian police are investigating the incident, with a view to prosecution for incitement to hatred. That the […]

Tip of the hat to an indignant letter writer – the Italian equivalent of ‘digusted, of Tunbridge Wells’- spurred into action to write to La Repubblica having viewed the ‘spectacle’ of Italian senators reacting to the vote of no-confidence in Romano Prodi’s government. For those of you who didn’t see the clips, attached below is […]

Spare a thought for my friend Carlo. Like many who lean left, last week he was hit by a a profound depression watching the deja-vu muppetry of Prodi’s government disintegrating. Carlo’s been here before. In 1998 when Fausto Bertinotti’s Rifondazione Comunista party withdrew its support from Prodi’s coalition, forcing a succession of caretaker governments which […]

Last week the Justice minister Clemente Mastella gave a teary-eyed speech of resignation to the parliament, upon learning that he, his wife, and most of their political party – the UDEUR – were being formally put under investigation for political interference in public appointments (in particular within the health service). Mastella’s resignation, followed on Monday […]

The only surprising things about the fall of Romano Prodi’s governemnt last night – following a vote of no confidence which was defeated in the lower house, but passed in the Senate where Prodi’s majority has always been in single figures- was a)how long it took and b) the surprise itself that greeted Clemente Mastella’s […]

Padre Pio has been in the news here lately – or rather he’s been more in the news lately. The decision to exhume his body has caused no small amount of controversy, while historian Sergio Luzzatto has recieved more than his fair share of villification from the faithful thanks to the release of his book […]

The reaction, from the political world and the ‘fourth estate’ to the decision of 67 Academics at La Sapienza University to protest the invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to address students at the start of the Academic year has been vicious. As already documented in this blog, most mainstream commentators ranging from the President Napolitano, and Prime minister Romano Prodi through to newspapers like the Corriere della Sera, have framed the scuffle at La Sapienza very much along the lines established by the Vatican Press office – i.e it was a shameful display of illiberal intollerance to ‘prevent’ the Pope from speaking last week at the University.

Barring a miracle, or infernal deal, Romano Prodi’s government will fall later today, when a vote of confidence in which one of his coalition allies, the UDEUR party, will vote against him. It’s been on the cards since last week, when Justice minister (and leader of the UDEUR party) resigned his post following a blitz […]

The Pope stole the front page of many newspapers today, both in Italy and abroad, as he performed a deft PR sidestep leaving Academics and students at Rome’s La Sapienza university to celebrate a pyrrhic victory as they open the Academic year tomorrow without him. The Pope had been invited by the university’s governing body […]