Italian News 7th June

2nd June was Republic Day in Italy. A survey shows that 29% of Italians celebrate it without knowing what the celebration is for.

Several Italian MPs, including Alessandra Mussolini (picture), unhappy at the House seating plan, have demanded that their chairs be made more comfortable

Twelve businessmen have been arrested in Foggia after the discovery of an illegal rubbish tip measuring half a million cubic metres, thought to be the biggest in Europe. They are also charged with diverting a river in order to conceal it. The tip is the equivalent of a football pitch with rubbish piled 100 metres high.

Seven out of ten Italian girls are unhappy with their bodies, the Association of Food Science Specialists (ANSISA) has said (without mentioning how many men were satisfied with them). Over a million young Italian women suffered from ''serious'' illnesses related to food such as anorexia and bulimia.

Despite the continued popularity of ice cream parlours, Italians now consume more ice cream at home, averaging four kilogrammes a year of the pre-packaged product. This has increased from 250 grammes a head in the 1950s, when commercially packaged ice cream was first launched in the country.

Over 200 prisoners have been transferred from Rome's central Regina Coeli (‘Queen of the Heavens’) prison to make room for any protestors arrested during the visit here by United States President George W.Bush.

Christmas Crib making is a popular and competitive pastime in Italy and several artists will produce commemorative cribs for the European Football Championships. Gennaro ('Genny') Di Virgilio of Naples will depict soccer stars Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano as Siamese twins, joined at the waist.

A poll found that 85% of Italians were in favour of the repeal of the 1958 ‘Merlin’ law which closed brothels in Italy. 47% were in favour as a means to clean up the streets, while 38% were in favour because it was a way to protect prostitutes from exploitation and violence. Only 4% viewed the reopening of brothels as ''an immoral act''.

One out of two Italians, including many who voted for the centre-left opposition, have a favourable opinion of what the government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi has done since taking office last month, according to a new poll.

Leaders of 183 countries, including Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, have gathered in Rome for a conference at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which is based in the city. At the scheduled end no agreements had been reached..

The Italian National Nuclear Physics Institute has found a way to increase the performance of particle accelerators. The Institute is headed by the delightfully named Pantaleo Raimondi and his particle accelerator is called Daphne.

Police in Catania have arrested a 16-year-old boy after he was caught robbing the same pharmacy for the fifth time in three weeks.

An Italian school teacher who became qualified to teach in 1974 waited eight years until 1982 to get on to the permanent teaching list but has had to spend 25 years as a substitute teacher, plugging gaps. She has finally been offered a permanent post, two months before her retirement.

Motorcycling ace Valentino Rossi has had his bike and clothing coloured blue and white to show his support for the Italian soccer team.

The ID Card for Shoes has been launched in Lucca. Through the Ecodatabase site, a portal dedicated to shoes, it will be possible to have information on the manufacturing process of your footwear. The measure is to counteract fakes.

Over 3,000 companies in Tuscany are involved in the shoe making trade.

Italians are the world's biggest consumers of bottled water, drinking an average of 246 litres a person, more than the United Arab Emirates or Mexico.

In Venice, 18 million visitors will be handed a kit consisting of an empty plastic bottle and a map showing the location of 122 fountains across the city, with a chemical analysis of the water. It is a measure supported by the Church: In February the Venice patriarchate called on the faithful to give up mineral water for Lent.

Almost two out of three Italians believe that the teachings of the Catholic Church are still valid today, as against 54% last year. It is a sign of the increasing popularity of Benedict XVI

Cesena cathedral will have to be purified after worshippers at a 7am service discovered a couple of goth rock fans having sex in a confession box.

Vanna Marchi her daughter Stefania Nobile amassed a 30million euro fortune between 1996 and 2001 by selling ''magic numbers'' on TV to over 250,000 Italians. She also sold 'magical rites' to remove ''negative vibes and the evil eye''. The pair were rearrested pending an appeal hearing on the grounds they were prone to flight, presumably well within their capabilities