On this day: birth of Maria Salviati
Maria Salviati was a Florentine noblewoman whose descendants included kings of France and England. She was also, the mother of Cosimo I de’ Medici.
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Category: News
Italian primary pupils’ maths skills fall
Just over 60% of elementary school children meet the basic standard expected for their age in maths, according to the latest Invalsi tests. The figure is still sliding further from pre-pandemic performance.
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Tajani stands firm as Nicaragua moves to break off ties
Rome refuses to back down over its demand for the extradition of Red Brigades fugitive Alessio Casimirri, after Nicaragua reacted furiously to being branded “extremist”.
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Bolzano courthouse partially collapses
A quarter of the Fascist-era Bolzano courthouse caved in early on Thursday during renovation work. Fortunately, only three cleaners were inside with one suffering minor scratches, in what the court’s president called a miracle.
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On this day: Birth of St Clare of Assisi
St Clare was born on 16 July 1194 in Assisi, into a noble family whose sheltered future she abandoned at eighteen for a life of poverty. She founded one of the great religious orders of medieval Europe.
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On this day: Fire destroys Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
One of Rome’s four great papal basilicas – Saint Paul Outside the Walls – and the last of the city’s ancient churches to have survived largely untouched since antiquity, was gutted by fire on 14/15th July 1823. It was a disaster that shook the Christian world as deeply as the Notre-Dame fire would nearly two […]
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Pietrabbondante: A Samnite mountaintop sanctuary
Deep in the Apennines of Molise, one of Italy’s most obscure regions, is Pietrabbondante, a 2,000-year-old Samnite theatre and temple complex largely undisturbed by tourists. It offers a rare, intact glimpse of a civilisation Rome fought hard to subdue.
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Meloni coalition loses key vote on electoral law
A secret ballot defeat by a single vote on electoral law amendment sparks chants of “elections” and “resignations” in the Lower House. The opposition accuses the government of losing its own majority.
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Regeni trial verdict due September 28
Rome court sets date for ruling in the in-absentia trial of four Egyptian national security officials charged over the abduction and torture-killing of Cambridge researcher Giulio Regeni in Cairo.
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Italy to send undersecretary to Washington
Antonio Tajani defended the decision to send an undersecretary to Washington insisting Italy is right to be present at the gathering, whatever form of terrorism is on the agenda.
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