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ABC. Forget stale Christmas cakes; Italian foodies give Mafia-free food baskets of wine, oil, pasta. It's getting easier to do just that in Italy, thanks to Libera Terra (Free Land), a consortium of farmers created to do good things with the land, buildings and businesses confiscated from convicted mobsters. (Read the article)
ANSA. - It is illegal to poke your tongue out at someone to insult them, Italy's highest court of appeal said Friday. (Read the article)
ANSA. A letterbox has been set up in Rome to collect the thousands of messages sent by Italian children to Father Christmas this year. (Read the article)
ANSA. Authorities on Tuesday were scrambling to find a burial spot for the bodies of seven sperm whales that died following a highly unusual mass beaching in southern Italy last week. (Read the article)
ANSA. probe has been opened into the acquisition by the Italian State of a wooden carving of Christ on the cross attributed to Michelangelo. Rome prosecutors specialising in art cases said Wednesday they want to be sure the crucified Christ is "the real thing" and the state had not been the victim of fraud. (Read the article)
GUARDIAN. All over Italy, Libera, the association founded by Ciotti in 1995, runs land trusts created on properties confiscated from mafia bosses. Now, with a controversial amendment recently approved by the Italian senate (it still needs to be ratified by the chamber of deputies), the mafiosi assets will no longer be assigned to social co-operatives, but will be sold by public auction. (Read the article)
ANSA. United States President Barack Obama telephoned Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi Tuesday night to wish him a speedy recovery from Sunday's attack in Milan, the White House said. Obama was the latest in a string of world leaders to phone the recuperating premier. Obama found Berlusconi "in excellent spirits," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said. (Read the article)
ANSA. A 'prosciutto crudo' made in a northern Italian mountain valley on Friday increased Italy's domination of the European Union quality-food rankings. (Read the article)
ANSA. Italy's biggest pasta makers were raided Tuesday in a probe into allegations that they formed a cartel to boost prices by 50% since 2007. The headquarters of firms including Barilla in Parma, De Cecco in Pescara and Rome, Garofalo near Naples, Amato in Salerno and Di Vella in Bari were visited by tax police looking for evidence to support the price-fixing charges. (Read the article)
ANSA. Giuseppe Tornatore's Sicilian epic Baaria was one of five films nominated Tuesday for the best foreign film award at the Golden Globes in January. (Read the article)