Arnoldo Foa died on Saturday. He was born in Ferrara into a family of Jewish origin. He attended the Experimental Centre of Cinematography in Rome but was forced to leave when the Fascist regime passed racist legislation.

 The mayor of the quake-ravaged Italian city of L'Aquila resigned Saturday amid fallout from an investigation into bribes allegedly paid to civil servants for contracts to rebuild the city center.

The creator of the Pompidou and the Shard is used to being 'attacked by builders'. But will he be able to hold his own in the bearpit of Italian politics? Lizzy Davies meets senatore Renzo Piano.

Rome is aiming to create a 'city of science' with a major urban redevelopment project including a museum, social housing, and shops in a former barracks, Mayor Ignazio Marino said Friday.

An operation to remove the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship from the coast of north-west Italy will begin in June, officials say. The stricken liner will then be taken away to be scrapped. Ports in Italy, Britain, France, Turkey and China are bidding for the lucrative contract to dismantle the ship, Italian officials said.

The governor of the Italian region of Sardinia warned Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Friday that he would fight against allowing the transfer of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal on the island, a statement said.