Front page
Italian police widen luxury labour investigation with raids on fashion houses
Chanel, Moncler, Cucinelli among nine brands ordered to provide documents on worker exploitation allegations
Italian prosecutors have widened an investigation into alleged worker exploitation in the luxury fashion supply chain, with police recently searching offices of Chanel and eight other major brands including Moncler and Brunello Cucinelli.
Beatrice Comolli · NATIONAL
Trieste port seizes €286m cocaine haul hidden in banana shipment
Record drug bust underscores Italy's role as Mediterranean gateway for trafficking networks
Italian police seized 1,700 pounds of pure cocaine worth an estimated €286 million concealed in banana containers at a northwestern port, marking the latest major drug interception at Italy's maritime frontier.
Sergio Madrussan · NATIONAL
Europe pulls Biennale funding as Russia returns to Venice art show
European Commission withdraws support after organizers admit Russian pavilion, marking geopolitical rupture in the lagoon's flagship exhibition
The European Commission has withdrawn funding from the Venice Biennale after the exhibition's organizers agreed to readmit Russia, ending months of diplomatic pressure over the country's participation in the world's premier contemporary art event.
Tommaso Veronese · CULTURE
Sinner wins Wimbledon men's title as world No. 1 claims second grass-court crown
Italian champion leads field in aces; ESPN ratings show tennis viewership split between men's and women's finals
Jannik Sinner won the Wimbledon men's final for the second time, leading all players in aces served during the tournament.
Tobia Marenghi · SPORT
Regional dispatches
Venice Biennale loses European funding over Russia's return
Brussels withdraws support as art world fractures over geopolitical lines
The European Commission has cancelled funding for the Venice Biennale after organisers admitted Russia to the 2026 exhibition, marking a stark collision between cultural autonomy and political pressure.
Marina Doria
Florence's pasta windows: authenticity or theatre for tourists?
The Guardian examines a growing trend of restaurants displaying cooks making fresh pasta—and warns travellers to look closer.
A woman visibly making pasta in a Florence or Rome restaurant window might signal authenticity, but the Guardian cautions that the trend is often a sign of a tourist trap.
Costanza Bardi
Venice museums face strike threat as summer heat exceeds 30 degrees for weeks
A trade union has signalled labour dispute over working conditions as temperatures endanger staff and visitors.
The Unione Sindacale di Base has formally notified a labour dispute at Venice museums, citing temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius sustained for weeks and warning of possible strike action.
Costanza Bardi
Pasta windows lure tourists to Italy's hill towns—but authenticity hides a trap
The Guardian warns travellers that visible pasta-making in restaurant windows signals mass-market tourism, not genuine local cooking.
The Guardian has flagged 'pasta windows'—women ostentatiously making fresh pasta visible to passersby in Florence and Rome—as a warning sign of tourist traps rather than authentic Italian dining.
Niccolò Mariani
Venice Biennale loses European funding as Russia returns to world's largest art show
The New York Times reports the European Commission withdrew support after organisers allowed Russian participation, marking a cultural rift over the Ukraine war.
The New York Times reports that European authorities have withdrawn funding from the Venice Biennale after its organisers invited Russian artists to participate, widening the cultural divide over the war in Ukraine.
Niccolò Mariani
Japanese beetle spreads south; Marche's farms watch and wait
The pest that ravaged Valle d'Aosta vineyards is advancing. Marche's leather and furniture districts fear supply-chain disruption if orchards fall.
The Japanese beetle, now confirmed in northern Italy's vineyards, poses a threat to the region's agricultural suppliers and the small firms that depend on them.
Elena Marcheggiani
'Made in Italy' supply-chain probe exposes cracks in quality myth
Vogue reports prosecutors are investigating labour practices across Italian fashion supply chains, undermining the brand's association with ethics and craftsmanship.
An ongoing investigation into 'Made in Italy' supply chains has exposed labour-practice weaknesses that challenge the brand's reputation for superior quality and ethical production.
Elena Marcheggiani
Vatican's secretive legal system faces scrutiny in Jesuit abuse case
Lawyer for five women criticises Church's closed proceedings as Pope's reform efforts face test
A lawyer representing five women who allege sexual and spiritual abuse by a prominent Jesuit priest has issued a sharp critique of the Vatican's opaque legal framework, arguing her clients lack basic procedural rights.
Davide Ruspoli
Pompeii finds new audience through Hiddleston's travelogue-drama hybrid
Tom Hiddleston's National Geographic series blends documentary and reenactment to bring the buried city to life for global viewers.
National Geographic's new series 'Pompeii: Out of Time' with actor Tom Hiddleston merges travelogue, documentary and dramatic reenactments to explore the ancient city.
Rosaria Esposito
Sicily's wildfires reignite old fears of Mafia-set flames
As summer fires ravage the island, investigators confront a history of organised crime using arson as a tool of control and land seizure.
Sicily's summer wildfire season has drawn international scrutiny to a darker chapter: the role of organised crime in deliberately burning the landscape.
Concetta Vassallo
Pasta windows: when authenticity becomes the lure for tourists
The Guardian flags the trend as a warning sign, but Sardinia's interior sees little of the coastal spectacle
The Guardian has flagged the 'pasta window'—a performer making fresh pasta visible to the street—as a potential marker of tourist traps, raising questions about what counts as genuine hospitality in Italy's crowded resort zones.
Gavino Sanna
European Commission withdraws Venice Biennale funding over Russia's return
Art world caught between cultural diplomacy and geopolitical lines as major exhibition faces funding crisis
The New York Times reports that European authorities have pulled financial support from the Venice Biennale after the organizers agreed to allow Russia to participate, marking a sharp collision between artistic freedom and European sanctions policy.
Gavino Sanna
Canada enters British-Italian combat aircraft alliance
Ottawa joins Global Combat Air Programme as observer, broadening European defence ties beyond NATO core
Canada has joined the British-Italian-Japanese fighter jet development programme as an observer nation, expanding the coalition's reach into North America.
Adriana Sole
European Commission withdraws Biennale funding over Russia's return
Venice art show faces funding cut as Brussels enforces sanctions compliance on flagship cultural event
The European Commission has withdrawn support for the Venice Biennale after organisers invited Russia to participate, marking a clash between cultural inclusion and EU sanctions policy.
Adriana Sole
European Union cuts $2.3m from Venice Biennale over Russia's participation
The art world's flagship gathering faces financial pressure as Brussels enforces cultural values test
The European Union has withdrawn approximately $2.3 million in funding from the Venice Biennale after Russia's renewed participation at the event, citing concerns over democratic values and freedom of expression.
Eleonora Vanzetti
Italy readies 61 authors and 33 publishers for Guadalajara Book Fair honour
Eco anniversary marks tenth year since the semiotician's death as Italian literature looks outward
Italy will serve as Guest of Honor at the 2026 Guadalajara International Book Fair with a curated delegation of authors and publishers, marking the tenth anniversary of Umberto Eco's death with the theme 'The world speaks to us like a great book.'
Eleonora Vanzetti
Rome's 'pasta windows' lure tourists but raise questions of authenticity
Charming street-side spectacle masks restaurant industry's shift toward performance over substance
The sight of a woman ostentatiously making fresh pasta in a window has become a fixture of Rome's tourist landscape, but travel writers warn the practice often signals a mediocre establishment designed to exploit visitor expectations.
Davide Ruspoli
La Perla appoints Gucci veteran Vannetti as CEO in Milan turnaround
Historic lingerie brand taps luxury executive to rebuild after bankruptcy, signalling renewed push into high-end market
La Perla Atelier has appointed Alessio Vannetti, a former Gucci executive, as chief executive as the Milan-based lingerie house pursues a turnaround following its acquisition out of bankruptcy.
Beatrice Comolli
Antibiotic resistance documented in South Tyrol care facility
Nature study reveals multidrug-resistant bacteria in Bolzano long-term care setting, raising regional health concerns
A genomic surveillance study conducted in 2022 at a long-term care facility in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano has documented multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales bacteria among residents and staff.
Klara Hofer
U.S. Ambassador's superyacht visit stirs Venice protest over Trump diplomacy
Billionaire Tilman Fertitta docks 384-foot yacht in lagoon for 'Coastal Diplomacy' tour, drawing crowds and activist backlash
U.S. Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta arrived in Venice aboard his 117-metre superyacht this week as part of a 'Freedom 250 Coastal Diplomacy' tour, drawing protests from residents who view the voyage as a display of American power amid cooling ties with Rome.
Tommaso Veronese
Opinion
The Performance of Authenticity: What Pasta Windows Reveal
A woman making pasta in a Florence storefront may look authentic, but the Guardian warns travellers: the performance itself is the trap.
Editorial Board
When the World Watches: Bologna and the Weight of Comparison
The death of Abderrahim Fakir in police custody has drawn international parallels to George Floyd. Italy must reckon with what those comparisons reveal.
Editorial Board