Latest news with #IlCorrieredellaSera
Local Italy
12-05-2025
- Local Italy
Convicted killer on work release dies after throwing himself off Milan's Duomo
Italian news reports said the Italian man, who was identified as 35-year-old Emanuele De Maria, fell "dozens of metres" after reportedly throwing himself from the Gothic cathedral into the square below. The area surrounding the Duomo, Milan's most famous landmark, is usually teeming with people but news reports did not mention any injuries among passersby. Italian TV images showed police blocking off the area surrounding one of the sides of the cathedral. Police authorities identified De Maria from an ID in his pocket and his tattoos, according to Il Corriere della Sera newspaper. De Maria was serving a 14-year prison sentence after being convicted of the 2016 murder of a 23-year-old woman near Caserta, southern Italy, according to reports. He was working part-time at a hotel near Milan's Centrale train station as part of a work release programme. De Maria had been on the run since Friday, when he allegedly stabbed a work colleague five times. The colleague, a 50-year-old Italian-Egyptian national identified as Hani Fouad Abdelghaffar Nasr, was reported as being in serious but non-life-threatening condition at Milan's Niguarda Hospital.
Perth Now
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Pop star Mika believes celebrity culture is 'toxic'
Mika believes celebrity culture is "toxic". The 'Grace Kelly' singer released his first album 'Life in Cartoon Motion' in 2007 and over the course of 18 years he has seen the problems that being famous can cause in your life. Mika, 41, accepts that he, like other artists, "play into it in unhealthy ways" but he always relies on his songwriting and music to keep him grounded. In an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, he said: "Fame culture is toxic, we see it all around us. We all play into it in unhealthy ways, because we know exactly what we're doing, on social media, with the press, in front of the paparazzi. "I know there's a commercial side to what I do, but it's the craft, the artistic side, that I care about most. That's what keeps me mentally grounded: the craft is a remedy for the more superficial aspects, it protects you from the gaze of others - especially those who don't really know you." Mika insists in his everyday life he does not consider himself to be a star, but when he is performing live he transforms into someone else. But the response he receives to his music when he performs live still doesn't prevent him from suffering from a lack of confidence when he writes new songs. He said: "I change. In everyday life it's one thing, I'm 'normal', but when I go on stage I transform completely, as if it were a spiritual rite. And in fact it is. "There's a big contrast between my life, my soul and my energy when I'm on stage in front of 50,000 people, and when I come off stage. Alone, at the piano or at my desk, I feel like crap: will I be able to create something new?' Mika will be co-hosting the David di Donatello Awards with actress Elena Sofia Ricci on May 7 at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, with the ceremony recognising the best Italian films of 2024. Mika admires 'Orgoglio' star Elena and can't wait to host the awards ceremony which is celebrating its 70th year. He said: "She has fabulous energy, she is intellectual, but emotionally very accessible. She is touching, she is a strong woman. so many qualities that make it impossible to pigeonhole her. And then she is fabulously diva. "The idea, in the 70th year, is to celebrate everyone's work, not only the big stars, but also the artisans who make this magic possible."
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Yahoo
Two British tourists among four killed after cable car crashes to ground in Naples
Two British tourists are believed to be among the four people killed when a cable car's traction cable snapped and the cabin plummeted to the ground in southern Italy. Four tourists and an engineer were on board the cable car when it plunged at 'maximum speed' into woodland in Naples after striking a pylon on Thursday afternoon, triggering a major rescue operation in the face of bad weather and fog. Four people were killed, while a fifth person who was flung from the cabin was evacuated by helicopter in a serious condition, mountain rescue services and firefighters said. The accident happened as the cable car was approaching the Monte Faito landing station, a peak around 45 km (28 miles) south-east of the city offering hikers views of Naples and Vesuvius. 'What happened is an unimaginable and unpredictable tragedy,' said Umberto De Gregorio, chairman of the EAV public transport company which runs the cable car service, on Facebook. Two of the four people killed after the supporting cable snapped were British nationals on holiday, according to Italian media. Another was a cable car operator from a nearby town, Il Corriere della Sera reported, and the fourth was an Israeli tourist. A second Israeli was injured and in a stable but serious condition, the Naples hospital treating him said on Friday. Vincenzo De Luca, the governor of Campania, told Rainews that the 'two tourist couples' were in the cabin when disaster struck shortly after 3pm along the cableway that connects the city of Castellammare di Stabia in Naples with the summit. The mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, Luigi Vicinanza, told reporters: "The traction cable broke, the emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station on the top of Faito.' Another cabin stopped in mid-air near the foot of the mountain, with 16 passengers evacuated one-by-one with harnesses, footage on RAI TV and other media showed. De Luca told RAI that fog and high winds hampered the rescue. The cable car services had just reopened for the spring and summer season ten days previously, Mr De Gregorio said. Local media reported an investigation into the incident has been opened by the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor's Office. Mr De Luca told Rainews during the rescue mission: 'The fog and bad weather are hindering operations but it could have been worse – many human lives were saved. The company told us that maintenance had been done. 'It is likely that the cabin descended at maximum speed and hit the central pylons, now we must do everything we can to help the injured. 'The cable car had been closed for many years, it was reactivated in 2017, and renovation work has been done.' Angelo Lustro, general secretary of the CGIL union said: "We are facing a tragedy that leaves us breathless and speechless.' Confirming the engineer as one of the victims, he added: 'Now is the time for mourning and silence for the victims of this immense and absurd tragedy. Then the time will come to ascertain the causes and who is responsible." Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli expressed his condolences to the victims, saying: 'Monte Faito is a symbolic place. As a guardian of natural beauty to see it today the scene of such a tragedy saddens us deeply. 'Our most sincere thoughts go to the community affected and to all those who are facing the consequences of this tragedy.' In 2021, 14 people died in Italy when a cable car linking the northern Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain plunged to the ground.
Local Italy
29-03-2025
- Automotive
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: How bad are Italy's taxi shortages and will things ever improve?
Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. If there's one thing about Italy that international residents and frequent visitors to the country often complain about, it's taxis. Long queues and interminable waiting times when trying to hail a ride are far from uncommon, especially in popular tourist destinations and major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples. The problem is anything but new. News reports of holidaymakers and residents having to wait well over an hour for a taxi ride have figured extensively in both national and international media in recent years. In June 2023, Italy's newspaper of record Il Corriere della Sera described the state of taxi services in the country as 'chaos', citing 'extremely long queues at stations and airports' and 'endless waiting times on the phone'. Nearly two years on, the situation seems to be largely the same. There were tensions in Milan in late February after Milan Fashion Week operators warned that taxis were 'nowhere to be found'. More recently, critical taxi shortages have also been reported in Monza, Lombardy, and Bologna, Emilia Romagna. Why are taxis so hard to find in Italy? The situation is mostly attributable to local authorities not issuing new taxi licences for years or, at times, decades. According to news site Wired, Naples, which currently has 2,364 taxis (around 25 for every 10,000 residents), hasn't issued new licences since 1997. But the long-standing 'taxi drought' in the Campanian city pales in comparison to that seen in Genoa, Liguria, and Livorno, Tuscany, whose authorities haven't granted new licenze since 1980 and 1977 respectively. As for Rome, the city hasn't issued new licences since 2004 (though 1,000 should be assigned at some point this year following a 'historic' public tender last year) At present, there are 7,838 taxis in the capital – that's around 35 for every 10,000 residents. For context, London has some 19,000 taxis (106 vehicles per 10,000 residents) while Paris has 18,500 (nearly 90 per 10,000 residents). If at this point you're wondering why most Italian cities haven't issued new licences in years, especially considering how frequent complaints about queues and long waits are, the answer largely lies in the power of Italy's taxi driver associations. The Italian taxi driver lobby – which is regarded as one of Europe's most powerful lobby groups – has long successfully opposed any change to the status quo, blocking local authorities' attempts to issue new licences and hindering central government efforts to open up the sector to competitors. Over the years, drivers have staged mass protests and have even resorted to violence to demand stringent restrictions on private-hire vehicles (NCCs) and maintain their monopoly. "When they mobilise, their ability to paralyse politics is evident," Matteo Hallisey, from the centrist +Europa party, told Euractiv. refer to it as a 'mafia'. So will things ever improve? There were signs that things could potentially be starting to change in 2023, when Italy's competition watchdog opened an investigation into the taxi sector following the emergence of "critical issues" in Rome, Milan and Naples. The watchdog said it had requested information on the number of active licences and pledged to "examine possible initiatives aimed at protecting consumers' amid reports of long waiting times. But the investigation didn't result in the shakeup many had hoped for, with the competition body only issuing a series of non-legally-binding recommendations to raise the number of available taxi licences. Both Rome and Milan have since decided to issue new licences. Milan started issuing the first of 450 new licences earlier this year, while Rome is set to grant 1,000 new licences by the end of the year. However, the scale of the planned additions is often believed to be too small to bring about any significant changes. According to Nicola Zaccheo, president of Italy's transport regulation authority ART, Rome's move to add 1,000 taxis will only scratch the surface, as the city would need 'over 2,000' additional cabs to solve its shortages. Similarly, the 450 additional licenses planned for Milan are 'not enough' and people will continue facing 'enormous problems when looking for a taxi' in the coming months, according to Andrea Giuricin, a professor of Transport Economics at the University of Milan-Bicocca. As a final point, Italy's current government is unlikely to back any major proposals to liberalise and deregulate the taxi sector. Both Brothers of Italy and the League sided with taxi drivers when then-PM Mario Draghi unsuccessfully tried to open up the market to competitors in 2022. Last year, League leader and Deputy PM Matteo Salvini signed off on a round of stringent new rules for NCC drivers, including the requirement to observe a 20-minute waiting period between rides. Lazio's TAR Tribunal later suspended the enforcement of the new requirement after deeming it unlawful.
Local Italy
24-03-2025
- Business
- Local Italy
Can you really get a €100,000 grant to move to the Italian Alps?
Many of Italy's small towns have had to get creative in recent years to revert, or at least slow down, local population decline. From selling homes at the symbolic price of one euro to offering generous grants to lure new residents, local authorities have trialled a range of schemes aimed at breathing life back into their communities. Now the autonomous province of Trento is debating getting in on the act by awarding up to €100,000 to individuals willing to resettle in the area, according to Il Corriere della Sera newspaper. As is always the case, however, it's not as simple as showing up at the provincial government's headquarters and holding out your palm. The proposal still needs to be rubber-stamped by provincial authorities, with the vote set to be held in a little over a month's time. If passed, the measure would release funds of up to €100,000 to individuals who spend at least €200,000 on buying and renovating a house in one of 33 depopulated mountain villages. These are set to include Vermiglio, featured in a 2024 film of the same name, as well as the ski resorts of Borgo Chiese, Tre Ville and Bondone. Here's the list of towns reportedly included in the proposal: Bresimo Dambel Cis Rumo Novella Livo Rabbi Peio Vermiglio Giudicarie Bondone Borgo Chiese Valdaone Pieve di Bono-Prezzo Castel Condino Bleggio Superiore Terragnolo Vallarsa Luserna Segonzano Sover Frassilongo Ospedaletto Castello Tesino Pieve Tesino Cinte Tesino Grigno Primiero San Martino di Castrozza Sagron Mis Mezzano Canal San Bovo Altavalle Valfloriana Applicants would be able to claim back 40 percent of the costs of renovating a home in the historic centre (or 35 percent of one outside of it) up to a limit of €80,000, with an additional €20,000 made available to offset the initial purchase costs. People hoping to use the money to renovate a holiday home will be disappointed: applicants must commit to either relocating there for at least 10 years or renting to someone else who plans to stay for the same length of time. People interested in the scheme will also have to do their homework, as candidates will need to specify the property they want to purchase in their application. According to Ileana Olivo, the official spearheading the plans, the province has already allocated €10 million to the project and foresees spending €5 million per year, with an average spend of €50,000 per house. "We envisage the construction of 100 new properties, with the relevant resident households," she told Il Corriere. "We are talking about very small 'fringe' towns, where the introduction of just five new families changes the life of a village." Whether the offer will be restricted to Italian residents and EU passport holders, as has been the case with similar schemes trialled in the past, or opened up to non-residents from other parts of the world, is still unclear.
