Silvia Marchetti
02 April 2025
The barbarians of Italy’s far south
A vampire-style taste for pig’s blood is found across the country, where it is a key ingredient in traditional cakes and sausages
Read the full article19 March 2025
Italy’s lingering fear of nuclear energy
The country buys nuclear energy from France and other European countries. Italians just don’t want the power plants in their backyard
Read the full article12 March 2025
The world capital of ugliness
Ugliness in Piobbico is a virtue, and the ‘uglies’ are heroes
Read the full article26 February 2025
Italy’s forgotten food
Restaurateurs in Grisciano are on a ‘promotion mission’ to tell Pasta alla Gricia's origin tale to tourists
Read the full article12 February 2025
A delicious and kinky cake: The risque origins of tiramisú
Claimed to have aphrodisiac effects, Italy’s most iconic dessert was born inside the brothels of Treviso to ‘refuel’ clients
Read the full article29 January 2025
How to steal a nation’s stories
The famous Grimm Brothers’ tales were originally penned by Giovan Battista Basile, an unknown Italian noble poet from Naples
Read the full article08 January 2025
Italy’s heroes are fighting the government
Each government pledges to boost resources to the police, fire fighters and other emergency services, but it’s never enough
Read the full article18 December 2024
For Italy, it’s culinary crunch time
In recent years Panettone, Italy’s iconic fluffy traditional Christmas cake, has seen many twists on its traditional flavour
Read the full article11 December 2024
Italy’s laughs in translation
Sometimes when you leave the mistakes in, conversation can become even more picturesque
Read the full article13 November 2024
Inganno and the rebirth of the free Italian woman
In the Italian version of Gold Digger, Monica Guerritore rewrites the rules for women
Read the full article30 October 2024
Bologna, the city that is slowly drowning
The food capital of Italy is becoming a victim of the apocalyptic rising levels of the Ravone River
Read the full article23 October 2024
The UK’s luckiest pensioners
Times have changed, UK pensioners are now escaping Brexit Britain in search of Italy's low and convenient rents
Read the full article09 October 2024
Meeting Italy’s oldest bartender
Ninety-nine-year-old Anna Possi and her bar have put Nebbiuno on the map
Read the full article02 October 2024
Lord Nelson’s Sicilian wine business
Today, Brits are drawn to the island’s Nelsonian history and the marvels of its sweet Malvasia wine
Read the full article25 September 2024
Why Italians are embracing cash
After centuries of banking tradition, the country that gave birth to banks could be seeing their demise
Read the full article18 September 2024
Europe’s last cave lion
Today, tourists in Puglia soak up the sun where Europe's last prehistoric cave lion lived
Read the full article31 July 2024
Italian justice is slow, but not that slow
A recent defamation case has shocked the public, not for its contents, but its speed
Read the full article17 July 2024
The politician, his cat, his car and cocaine
Italian politicians are theatrical with their scandals, and one story in the local press is no exception
Read the full article10 July 2024
The Brits – they’re a funny lot
To the ordinary Italian, the UK election result went by practically unnoticed
Read the full article26 June 2024
Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint
The Pope has initiated the process of sanctification of a 15-year-old boy who died from a severe form of leukaemia
Read the full article08 June 2024
How a fake venue was chosen for the G7
Georgia Meloni’s favourite swanky hotel is not all it seems
Read the full article05 June 2024
The European elections are a barometer of Italy’s national vote
For most Italians, Europe is a distant, scary and uninteresting concept
Read the full article29 May 2024
Where Italy says yay to horse meat
Cantiano’s idyllic setting seems at odds with the cruelty that goes on there
Read the full article15 May 2024
Italy’s €1 homes’ hidden surprises
Foreigners snapping up the properties don't always know what they are taking on
Read the full article23 April 2024
Where are Italy’s doctors?
The brain drain of talent from the poorer south to the richer north has created a crisis in the country’s health sector
Read the full article03 April 2024
Finding DH Lawrence in the Italian ‘far west’
Locals have opted to negate the fact that Lawrence’s vision of Italy wasn’t entirely idyllic
Read the full article06 March 2024
The Sicilian town that named the Brontës
Exploring the surprising link between a small town in the shadow of Mount Etna and the most celebrated siblings in English literature
Read the full article14 February 2024
Meloni writes sport into Italy’s constitution
Is the prime minister’s amendment a push for sports culture or a faint echo of the country’s fascist past?
Read the full article07 February 2024
In Italy, ‘cuckolds’ are gods
Residents of one south Italian village are reversing the negative meaning of being a "cuckhold"
Read the full article17 January 2024
Italy’s patriotic and pungent cheese wars
The country’s cheesy heritage is up for dispute
Read the full article10 January 2024
The Vatican grants trans people the right to baptism
The shock decision is a first for Italy
Read the full article20 December 2023
Our fascist Christmas witch
How part of Mussolini’s “fascistisation” of society outlasted Il Duce to become something much less sinister
Read the full article