No opinion polls in the run up to the April 13th election but Berlusconi’s party People of Freedom is widely reported to be ahead, albeit by varying margins. There is a rumour however that the Church is withdrawing its support in favour of Pier Ferdinando Casini’s UDC party.
It is thought that perhaps one fifth of Italian voters will vote on religious lines
The Democrazia Cristiana party (DC) which was banned from the election for having a similar symbol to that of the UDC (a white shield with a red cross) has won its right to compete and claimed the election should be postponed to give it its statutory 30 days campaigning. They have now agreed to run a shortened campaign.
The DC is led by a Sig. Giuseppe Pizza.
British Airways is offloading thousands of suitcases to a warehouse in Italy in an attempt to cope with the backlog of 19,000 bags at Terminal Five, perhaps aware that stuffing the suitcases into a warehouse instead of handing them to their owners is an Italian speciality.
To the horror of her relatives, graphic pictures of the dead body of Meredith Kercher, murdered in Perugia last year have been shown on Italian TV
Italian fashion house Prada saw its best year ever in 2007 and is now waiting for the right moment to enter the stock market, CEO Patrizio Bertelli said
The 42nd Vinitaly, Italy's trade fair for wine and grappa, is being held in Verona until 7th April. Over 150,000 visitors from more than 100 countries are expected to attend.
A man shot an illegal dentist in Rome after an operation worsened his toothache. The impersonator, who practised in his ex-wife’s flat, pretended to have been robbed so he could continue his trade. Police have not traced the assailant.
Franco D'Eusanio, a winemaker from the Abruzzo, makes specialist wines for the male, the female and the ''ambiguous''. He says that everyone is not just male or female and that these aspects of their personality can be identified through their sense of taste.
In Turin the local government is expecting to save 30,000 euros in gardeners’ fees by grazing sheep in the city’s parks. Two herds will graze in the parks for two months.
The Supreme Council of Magistrates has given a reprieve to Judge Edi Pinatto, after the Justice Minister requested his immediate suspension. Pinatto allowed Mafia bosses free because he failed to write up their sentence for eight years
Maurizio Prato, chairman of Alitalia, resigned after the collapse of the talks with Air France saying "This airline is cursed. Only an exorcist can save it."
A woman from La Spezia fell for an exorcist during sessions to drive out a demon and made his life hell after he rejected her. When the priest refused to see her again she sent him ''indecent and dangerous'' love letters and threw fits outside his door, sparking protests from his neighbours. He finally reported her to the police when she set fire to his doorbell.
A priest in Florence, together with 13 of his associates, are under investigation for fraud by performing fake exorcisms. Prosecutors said that Father Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi would stage shows at the ‘House of the Sainted Archangels’.
During the events, which regularly attracted crowds of over 400 people, a number of associates would pretend to be possessed by demons and Fr Bazzoffi would ‘exorcise’ them, often chanting in Aramaic.
He would then offer to "heal" members of the audience who were sick, and solicit donations to his organisation. Fr Bazzoffi was found to have 5 million euros in his bank account, more than enough to save Alitalia.
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