Italian News

One Italian male in 10 gets a university degree, half the European average. Nine percent are on in-work training courses, compared to the European average of 23%.

Women comprise 1.9% of the board members of Italian companies. The European average is 8.5%.

Italy has no Starbucks, Pizza Hut or Kentucky Fried Chicken. The founder of Starbucks admitted they cannot compete with the Italian bar.

The Northern town of Livigno makes 8 tonnes of bresaola a week

Naples remains clogged with refuse this week, with 7,000 tonnes still piled up on the streets. Fears of dioxins in the air and contamination of the water system have resulted in a 40 per cent drop in sales of Mozzarella di bufala. However fears are groundless: the local mafia is known to have dumped hazardous factory waste in areas of wilderness decades ago.

Graziano Cecchini, who last year poured red dye into the Trevi Fountain, has released half a million coloured balls on the Spanish Steps, confusing the carabinieri.

A bad week for Clemente Mastella: his wife, Sandra Lonardo, who leads the council in Italy's Campania region, has been placed under house arrest and he has resigned as Justice Minister, following news that he is under investigation for a corrupt appointment at a state hospital in Caserta near Naples.

Salvatore Cuffaro, president of Sicily, after a three year trial has been found guilty of assisting the Mafia and sentenced to five years in prison. Mr Cuffaro has been freed pending an appeal, which may take years. Although he has also been banned from public office, he is refusing to step down as the sentence is not confirmed.

Italians have the cleanest homes in Europe. A report by Datamonitor found that Italians cleaned their homes an average of four times a week

Carla Bruni who may or may not be France’s First Lady will appear in an advert for Lancia cars singing ‘Bang bang, my baby shot me down’

In Brazil Dante's Divina Comedia is the most widely read book by students preparing for the country's general examination for university admission.

DNA studies carried out in Sardinia, whose inhabitants tend to be short, have helped identify only the second human 'height gene' known to science. The gene, GDF5, appears to have two versions: one, connected to arthritis, which adds height; and another, connected to Silvio Berlusconi, which takes it away.

A planned visit by Pope Benedict to the ceremony for the new academic year at La Sapienza University has been cancelled following protests from scientists there who are offended by his position on Galileo’s trial in 1633

The ceremony was not without interest however. A work to rule by nude models involved them adopting the poses of various famous art works, including Botticelli’s Venus, Degas’ ballerinas and Rodin’s The Thinker, with their clothes on.