Italy has introduced more flexible sanctions against racism and regional discrimination after ultras threatened to deliberately provoke bans in protest at recent clampdowns. Inter Milan's Ultras, the Curva Nord, last week started a campaign inciting all supporters to break rules simultaneously with the intention of having an entire weekend where all the matches would be played behind closed doors. 

To shouts of “assassin” and “murderer,” the hearse bearing the corpse of Erich Priebke, the former Nazi who died under house arrest in Rome last Friday, wound on Tuesday through the streets toward a church in a tiny hilltop town 20 miles south of Rome. Police officers in riot gear had to hold back enraged citizens who kicked and punched the vehicle as it passed. 

 A group of Miss Italy contestants turned up at the finals to the pageant with the words "neither nude nor mute" scrawled on their T-shirts in a protest against a female Italian politician who condemned the event as outdated and sexist.

 Italian food culture is probably very different from what you're used to at home. And, since Italians have been perfecting it for over 1,000 years, try going with the wine and olive oil flow instead of fighting against the current when you're in Italy.