Owner of Al Condominio in Verona says response to the initiative during meals has been very positive An Italian restaurant is offering a free bottle of wine to customers who relinquish their mobile phones during meals. Angelo Lella, the owner of Al Condominio, a restaurant that opened in the northern city of Verona in March, said the aim was to encourage diners chat to each other instead of constantly glancing at their phones ..read more

Two climbers who were stuck on a mountain in the Italian Alps were rescued by Italy's fire and rescue service on Saturday. Footage shows the climbers stranded at 3,700 metres on a snowy mountain peak as rescuers lower themselves down from a helicopter. The two mountaineers were safely winched up to the helicopter ..read more

Italian fashion designer who used exotic animal prints, embossed leather and distressed denim to create his flamboyant clothes As Italian fashion went global in the later 20th century, it diverged into two schools: the sensuous, soft in silhouette and touch, and the boldly sexual, flamboyant to the eye. The first, and lasting, head of the sexy school was Roberto Cavalli, who has died aged 83. The material bases for both schools were the nation’s specialist textiles and leather firms: for Cavalli, they delivered figured and lamé leathers, garments printed after sewing so that no seams interrupt ..read more

Netflix hit series based on Patricia Highsmith novel brings prospect of surge in visitors to Atrani area of Amalfi coast When Andrew Scott’s eponymous character in the hit new Netflix series Ripley travels from Naples to the village of Atrani, the rickety bus has the road almost to itself; a solitary Vespa passes going the other way. When he tracks down Dickie Greenleaf at the beach, the rich American and his girlfriend are the only people sunbathing on the pristine sands. Visitors to the Amalfi coast today will note the contrast. Unlike in 1961, the road between Positano and Salerno is now kn ..read more

‘Black room’ with frescoes inspired by Trojan war described as one of most striking discoveries ever made at site in southern Italy A banquet room replete with well preserved frescoes depicting characters inspired by the Trojan war has been unearthed among the ruins of Pompeii in what has been described as one of the most striking discoveries ever made at the southern Italy archaeological site. The 15-metre-long, six-metre-wide room was found in a former private residence in Via di Nola, which was ancient Pompeii’s longest road, during excavations in the Regio IX area of the site ..read more

Italian coastguard rescues 22 survivors trying to cross Mediterranean and searches for missing Nine people, including a baby, have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the Mediterranean in stormy weather, and another 15 people are feared missing, Italy’s coastguard has said. The coastguard said on Thursday it had received a cooperation request from Maltese search and rescue officials after the boat capsized about 30 miles (50km) south-east of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday ..read more

American appealed for conviction to be dropped after wrongly accusing Patrick Lumumba of murdering Meredith Kercher An Italian court has opened a new trial against Amanda Knox over a slander conviction she received for wrongly accusing a bar owner of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher. Knox, who, along with her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, spent four years in prison after being convicted over Kercher’s murder in 2007, asked for the slander conviction to be dropped on the basis of a ruling by the European court of human rights in 2019 that found her defence rights had be ..read more

A search is continuing for the missing after parts of the structure collapsed and led to flooding at Enel’s power station near Bologna An explosion at a hydroelectric plant in northern Italy has killed at least three workers and injured five others, a regional fire chief said. At least four other people are missing. The blast on Tuesday was at power company Enel’s decades-old Bergi plant, south of Bologna, and happened during maintenance work, according to authorities. Regional fire chief Francesco Notaro told local media that part of the nine-story underground structure collapsed, started a f ..read more

Viewers’ association accuses Amica Chips of resorting to blasphemy in order to increase sales An Italian TV advert that depicts nuns eating crisps instead of altar bread while receiving holy communion has been accused of blasphemy by an outraged association of Catholic TV viewers. The 30-second advert for Amica Chips – one of Italy’s top crisps brands – takes place in a monastery and opens with nuns preparing to receive holy communion. Their mother superior realises that the tabernacle is empty of hosts, and so fills it with crisps ..read more

Mount Etna has blown volcanic vortex rings into the Sicilian skyline after the recent formation of a near-perfectly circled mouth. Although the rare natural phenomenon looks like smoke rings, they are actually made up of steam and gases. According to volcanologist Boris Behncke, Mount Etna produces more rings than any other volcano on earth. Locals have nicknamed Etna the 'Lady of the Rings' ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube Aerial footage shows Icelandic volcano erupting – video Iceland: lava engulfs road, forcing Blue Lagoon to close – video From a graceful turn to a dangero ..read more