Going to bed on the night of 27th December in Messina, these events are always at the back of your mind.

Going to bed on the night of 27th December in Messina, these events are always at the back of your mind.

Italian Senate approves Meloni government's reform of the Italian Court of Auditors. The reform weakens the Court's powers to verify the legitimacy of public spending and reduces the penalties for public administrators who misspend public funds.

Judges in Palermo rule that former Governor of Sicily Totò Cuffaro should remain under house arrest as investigations into alleged conspiracy to commit procurement fraud and corruption continue. Cuffaro previously served a 7-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting mafiosi.

On 26 December 1965, Franca Viola, then aged 16, is kidnapped from her home in Alcamo. She is raped by her ex-fiancé, who then puts pressure on her and her family to accept a "rehabilitating marriage". Franca becomes the first woman in Italy to publicly refuse this practice [Thread] >> 1

Now is the moment to come to Sicily if you want to ski on an erupting volcano.

Top 15 countries of origin of migrants landing in Italy in 2025,up to 24th December. By far the largest number (30% of total) come from Bangladesh.

Yeah, "give us what we want or we massacre the dogs" is a message that will definitely get you sympathy for your cause.

Bianco e nero messinese.

More than enough to make your skin crawl.

According to the International Organization for Migration there have been 1,190 deaths of people crossing the central Mediterranean so far this year (not including this tragedy). Many others will have died without anybody noticing or caring.

116 people have drowned after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Tunisia. One survivor was rescued by a fishing boat.

116 people have drowned after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Tunisia. One survivor was rescued by a fishing boat.

Sunday 23 December 1984 express train "Rapido 904", packed with people going home or to visit relatives for Christmas, travelling from Naples to Milan, pulls out of Florence Santa Maria Novella Station at about 6.30 p.m., heading for its next stop, Bologna. It never arrives [Thread] >> 1

Apparently we're not supposed to shout "sì" at the end of the Italian national anthem any more. No way is that going to happen.

Apparently we're not supposed to shout "sì" at the end of the Italian national anthem any more. No way is that going to happen.

Good luck trying to enforce that.

I mean battleships went out of fashion after Pearl Harbor, but whatever.

The small town of Castel di Lucio (pop. 1,200), in the Nebrodi Mountains in Sicily, has decided not to fund Christmas illuminations this year, instead donating the money (€4k) to the Italian charity "Emergency" for humanitarian aid in Gaza.

We have ranked the counties of England from top to bottom, starting with the best, and ending, of course, with the worst. www.the-fence.com/the-ceremoni...

I posted this almost 7 months ago. Amazingly, since then, somebody has taken over the club, paid off all the debts and, halfway through the season, Messina are on +14 points (having started on - 14), are no longer bottom of the table, and have every chance of avoiding relegation.

Wow! These migrants are forcing us to cancel our Christmas, then stealing our geese and eating them to celebrate Christmas themselves!

Demolition of the old terminal at Catania Airport has finally started. This will allow construction of a second modern terminal, desperately needed for Italy's fifth busiest airport, on the verge of overtaking Naples to become the busiest in southern Italy.

There is growing evidence that the famous Riace Bronzes, discovered by a diver off the coast of Calabria in 1972, had been submerged near Riace by traffickers just a few months earlier in order to hide them. They had been secretly recovered from the seabed near Brucoli in Sicily in the late 1960s.

There is growing evidence that the famous Riace Bronzes, discovered by a diver off the coast of Calabria in 1972, had been submerged near Riace by traffickers just a few months earlier in order to hide them. They had been secretly recovered from the seabed near Brucoli in Sicily in the late 1960s.

Take any issue, any dispute, big or small, any controversy of any nature whatsoever and you can be 100% sure that Salvini will pick the wrong side.

The wonders of the Italian tax system. A 7-year-old child receives a demand for €450 of unpaid income tax in 2017. Apart from the obvious absurdity of demanding income tax from a child, he was only born in 2018.

This is kind of insane to think about. Supermassive black hole 10 million x the size of the Sun, hurtling through space at 2 million mph, pushing a galaxy-sized shock wave of matter in front, and dragging a 200k light-year tail behind it. A new kind of galactic-scale comet 🧪 #JWST #Astronomy #Space

Mayor of the Sicilian town of Termini Immerse meets the woman who wished for her to die on social media. The woman posted that she hoped the Mayor would die after being evicted from social housing she had occupied illegally. At the meeting the Mayor accepted the woman's apology and the two embraced.

Mayor of the Sicilian town of Termini Immerse meets the woman who wished for her to die on social media. The woman posted that she hoped the Mayor would die after being evicted from social housing she had occupied illegally. At the meeting the Mayor accepted the woman's apology and the two embraced.

Salvini ridicules opponents of the Messina Strait bridge but he is the biggest obstacle to the project going ahead. The Italian Court of Auditors underlines that it is his refusal to hold a new tender process stopping them from approving it. It infringes EU law and opens the door to legal action.

Thursday 17th December 1992, a terrible year for Sicily, bloodied by the dramatic murders of Judges Falcone and Borsellino, is coming to an end. In the main street of the town of Lucca Sicula, at 4.30 p.m., a man in a car waits for a motorbike to pass before pulling out into traffic [Thread] >> 1

Salvini ridicules opponents of the Messina Strait bridge but he is the biggest obstacle to the project going ahead. The Italian Court of Auditors underlines that it is his refusal to hold a new tender process stopping them from approving it. It infringes EU law and opens the door to legal action.

The Libyan "Coastal Security" Service has taken delivery of 4 patrol boats, built in Italy and funded by the EU. They will undoubtedly be used to terrorise migrants, who will be fired on, forced into the water and returned to imprisonment, torture and rape. (Source: Sergio Scandurra, Radio Radicale)

16 December 1987 the largest criminal trial in history, against Cosa Nostra, ends in Palermo: 349 hearings in 22 months, 475 defendants, 346 convictions, 114 acquittals, 19 life sentences, a total of 2,665 years' imprisonment. Judge Alfonso Giordano took an hour and a half to read the verdicts.

16 December 1987 the largest criminal trial in history, against Cosa Nostra, ends in Palermo: 349 hearings in 22 months, 475 defendants, 346 convictions, 114 acquittals, 19 life sentences, a total of 2,665 years' imprisonment. Judge Alfonso Giordano took an hour and a half to read the verdicts.

The Libyan "Coastal Security" Service has taken delivery of 4 patrol boats, built in Italy and funded by the EU. They will undoubtedly be used to terrorise migrants, who will be fired on, forced into the water and returned to imprisonment, torture and rape. (Source: Sergio Scandurra, Radio Radicale)

Italian government has taken €3.5bn away from the Messina Strait bridge project to cover holes in this year's budget. Money previously diverted from other projects in the south on the excuse that the bridge would be the miraculous solution to all the south's problems, now to be spent all over Italy.

Italian government has taken €3.5bn away from the Messina Strait bridge project to cover holes in this year's budget. Money previously diverted from other projects in the south on the excuse that the bridge would be the miraculous solution to all the south's problems, now to be spent all over Italy.

Desperately scraping the bottom of the money barrel to get the budget passed by the end of the year, the Italian government has taken funds away from the Messina Strait bridge project. I thought it was supposed to be a priority.

14th December 1945, Francesca Morvillo is born in Palermo. She follows a career as a Judge, serving on Palermo Juvenile Court and Court of Appeal. She dies with her husband Giovanni Falcone in the Capaci bomb attack on 23rd May 1992, the only female Judge ever to be killed by Cosa Nostra.

The ferry terminal in Messina is frequently the scene of violent clashes between opposing football fans travelling to & from games. Last month a coach carrying a rugby team from Benevento was mistakenly attacked by unidentified "fans". When they discovered it was a rugby team they fled.

Una che ha Salvini come alleato non dovrebbe proprio parlare di sfiga.

If these people had been citizens of Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth when the family moved into the stable they would have called the Romans' equivalent of ICE.

The policies and positions currently espoused by Badenoch are much further to the right than Meloni’s.

A Sicilian construction firm receives threats and demands for protection money via video calls from mafiosi detained in prisons in Palermo and Agrigento.

Carabinieri from Cultural Heritage Protection Squad arrest 24 people & notify restrictions to 21 others as part of operation that discovered illegal archeological digs at 76 sites, mostly in Sicily, recovering 10k artefacts worth €17m. Trafficked artefacts were sold at auction in the UK & Germany.

12 December 1985, at 8p.m. in the Sicilian town of Villafranca Tirrena, near Messina, 17-year-old Graziella Campagna leaves the "Regina" laundry, where she works to help support her parents and 7 siblings, to take a bus home to the village of Saponara. She never arrives [Thread] >> 1

Carabinieri from Cultural Heritage Protection Squad arrest 24 people & notify restrictions to 21 others as part of operation that discovered illegal archeological digs at 76 sites, mostly in Sicily, recovering 10k artefacts worth €17m. Trafficked artefacts were sold at auction in the UK & Germany.

I have always sustained that the most "natural" alliance in Italian politics is one between Movimento Cinque Stelle and Lega. Conte and Salvini are destined to get back together one day.