Italian News Election Special

Ballot boxes at 61,225 voting stations across the country will be open from 8am on Sunday to 3pm on Monday April 14. Of Italy's 58.2 million population, 47.3 million are entitled to vote for the House and 43.3 million for the Senate (for which you have to be over 25). They cannot vote for a candidate, but for a grouping or a party within a grouping.

A total of 32 candidates are standing for premier, among whom

Silvio Berlusconi who has said he will introduce sanity tests for judges.

Self-professed Fascist Daniela Santanche' who believes the 71-year-old Berlusconi has an ''obsession'' with her. She has told her supporters, however, that she will never give herself to him. So no luck, there, Silvio.

Giuliano Ferrara, 58, a former communist, standing on an atheist, anti-abortion ticket. In Bologna, Ferrara was pelted with eggs and fruit and had to be rescued by police.

Renzo Rabellino, whose party is The List of the Talking Cricket-No Euro. This refers to the insect, otherwise it would receive this blog’s undiluted endorsement. He also campaigns to reopen brothels and bring back military service.


The Leader of the Green Party and former Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio is under investigation for corruption after allegedly accepting free trips and hotel rooms.

Milly d’Abbraccio (literally Milly of the embrace, her real name is Emilia Cucciniello) a 44 year old surgically enhanced porn star who is standing for the Socialists in Rome has adopted for her posters the catchphrase ‘Enough of these Bum-Heads’ accompanied by a picture of her bottom.


In Other News,

The dish of Linguine ai datteri (sea dates), banned ten years ago because the molluscs bury into the sea-floor which is then destroyed by explosives in order to harvest them, is back on the menu. Fishermen have encouraged them to burrow into newly laid cement which can therefore be destroyed with impunity.

Caterina Annarumma, from Naples, conducted a 30-year affair with a married man and secretly bore him 12 children, selling them for £250 each to wealthy couples. She has now confessed to police.

Gambero Rosso, the restaurant review, conducted a competition for the best carbonara (pasta, eggs, pecorino cheese and cured pig cheek). The winner was Nabil Hadj Hassen, a Tunisian, of Antico Forno Roscioli; second was an Indian.

Italy consumes 48,000 tonnes of garlic a year, which equates to a small clove a day for every man, woman and child.

Investigators have discovered 70 million litres of illegal wine for sale at 70 euro cents (56p) per litre. It contained only 20-40% wine with the rest made up of water, sugar, fertilizers, manure and acids. No reports as to how it tasted.

Italian confectionery giant Ferrero has won a long-running case against a Chinese producer that copied its Ferrero Rocher chocolates, incredibly.

South Korea has lifted its ban on the import and sale of buffalo milk Mozzarella from Italy

Luca Luciani, general manager of Telecom Italia, told sales staff to take Napoleon as their role model, in particular l’Empereur’s performance at the Battle of Waterloo. ‘Everybody thought Napoleon had had it, beaten by the supremacy of his adversaries.’ runs the You Tube capture, ‘He had five great nations against him... but with strategy, clear ideas, determination and strength, Napoleon made Waterloo his masterpiece’. He finished with ‘Go ahead and score like Napoleon at Waterloo’. TI sales are reported to be flat, except in Elba.

A thief in Bologna smashed a car window, reached in and snatched the watch from the wrist of a 73-year-old man, but realising it wasn't a Rolex he threw it back and rode off.

Professor Aldo Di Carlo of Rome's Tor Vergata University is leading a drive to produce medical and security scanning waves that could be a better and safer alternative to X-rays. Teraherz-waves could scan an entire airport lobby without causing tissue damage to the people.

Devil worshippers have stolen at least 30 black cats to use in Black Masses in Pisa.

Mussolini's grandson is trying to have Il Duce’s execution declared illegal, while Alessandra, a granddaughter, is standing for parliament again, as a Fascist.

57% of Italians would sacrifice some pay if this meant they had more time to read, according to a poll.

Harry’s Bar in Venice is offering a 20% discount to Americans, making a dry martini as cheap as a car.

There was a minor earthquake in Rome this morning, making a contrast to the dull election campaign.