San Giovanni in Persiceto, a northern Italian town just 14 miles from Bologna in the wealthy industrial region of Emilia Romagna, never used to have many problems. When Lorenzo Sarti started working in social services there 20 years ago, he says the community was comfortably off and its welfare system easily able to take care of those who were in need.

 I had a little chat with Mr. Ryan J. Davis, who runs social media for Blue State Digital, best known for its role in Obama's 2008 campaign. Although many of the things that Ryan and I discussed were off the record and/or irrelevant (including his passion for Broadway musicals and me singing some Spring Awakening after a couple of gin and tonics), he was a brilliant speaker at Milan's Social Media Week, where he presented the "Four 2012" campaign.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want the center-left Democratic Party (PD) to win Italy's national election, outgoing Italian Prime Minister and centrist leader Mario Monti said on Wednesday. 

 Already known in front of the camera, the Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta is also making her way in Hollywood as a film producer.‘Il Postino’ brought her to world attention in 1994, but she was also a Bond-girl in ‘The World Is Not Enough’.  

 Corruption probes at three major companies have hurt corporate Italy's image with investors and revived memories, just a week before an election, of the scandals that devastated Italian politics in the 1990s.

Italy and the Vatican on Thursday signed an agreement to complete the restoration of a secret walkway used down the years as an escape passage for popes and fictionally employed by the villains and heroes of Dan Brown's blockbuster Angels and Demons The deal was inked by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, head of the Vatican City's 'governorate', and Italian Culture Minister Lorenzo Ornaghi.