Italian Minister for Integration Cecile Kyenge said Tuesday on France 24 that she was optimistic about the country. ''For the first time we have been able to celebrate the memory of the Lampedusa deaths. Before we just used to call them 'clandestines', people without rights who were supposed to go home.'' 

You've heard of the Cinque Terre, those five Italian fishing villages that tourists often hike through one at a time. The one that starts the chain is called Riomaggiore, and if it were up to us, we might stop there and never continue to the rest. 

There were eight new entrants into the three-year-old Hall of Fame in Florence, with the trio the biggest names inducted. Also given the highest honour in Italian football were: Italy and Milan legend Giovanni Rivera, referees Sergio Gonella and Cesare Gussoni, administrator Massimo Moratti, and former national defender Eraldo Monzeglio (awarded posthumously). 

The Capri, Hollywood Film Festival announced Monday that it would honor Oscar-nominated director David O. Russell at its upcoming edition. It also will pay homage to The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), an artful tribute to the Italian capital from Paolo Sorrentino, Italy's candidate for the foreign-language Oscar. 

Pope Francis will declare Popes John Paul II and John XXIII saints on April 27, 2014 in Rome, and millions of visitors and heads of state are expected to be on hand for the event. Some travel companies are including the Rome ceremony in tour itineraries running seven days and longer, promoted as pilgrimages to holy sites throughout Europe.


 

The Italians are claiming New York City's mayor-elect as their own.The town of Benevento in Southern Italy — where de Blasio's maternal grandfather was born — voted unanimously over the weekend to name the mayor-elect an "honorary citizen."


 

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta dismissed signs of growing tension in his government on Tuesday, ahead of a confidence vote next week to confirm his new majority after Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party quit the ruling coalition. 

 At least seven people died and three were injured when a Chinese-owned clothing factory in the Italian town of Prato burned down on Sunday, killing workers trapped in an improvised dormitory built onsite. Local media said 11 workers had been accommodated in a warren of small cardboard sleeping compartments above a warehouse in the Macrolotto industrial district of the town, known for its large number of garment factories.