Culture
Maggie Gyllenhaal calls lack of female directors up for award ‘systemic’
The lack of female directors competing for the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival reflects a wider “systemic problem”, jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal said as the world’s oldest film festival prepared to open on Wednesday.
![Cardinal Scipione Borghese By Ottavio Leoni - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101285191](https://italynews.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Portrait_of_Cardinal_Scipione_Borghese_by_Ottavio_Leoni-cropped-136x102.jpg)
Life in Italy
Italy set to fine pedestrians who use phones while crossing the road
The updated Highway Code, expected to be approved by mid-October, will impose fines starting at €75 for “smartphone zombies” – pedestrians using a mobile phone – distracted at street crossings.
Environment
Tornado and hail leave dozens injured in Cremona
Unforecast weather tears through Cremona resulting in the loss of the cathedral spire, ten churches damaged, and thousands of cars destroyed.
Rising dolphin sightings in Venice signal depleted Adriatic
Growing numbers of dolphin sightings near the lagoon city point not to a recovery but to overfishing and warming seas pushing the mammals closer to shore, say experts.
Italy’s heatwave breaks with thunderstorms across the country
Italy’s fifth major heatwave of the summer is beginning to ease, with thunderstorms expected in several regions and temperatures set to fall over the coming days. The subtropical anticyclone that has dominated Italy’s weather in recent weeks, bringing exceptionally high temperatures, is now giving way to more unstable weather patterns. According to Federico Brescia, a […]
