A piece of a 16th-century fresco that fell from the ceiling of a corridor in Florence's Uffizi Gallery on Wednesday happened when a worker stepped through the floor from the storey above. The piece, which has a diameter of around 30cm, did not hit any visitors as it fell.

A mystery love letter has been discovered in the Colosseum where it was hidden 60 years ago. The letter, which dates back to the early 1950s, was written by Domenico and addressed to Franca.

 The day after the Metropolitan Opera in New York unveiled a production ofVerdi's "Rigoletto" set in Las Vegas during the 1960s. I was in Belgium, where another exercise in operatic updating is underway at theTheatre royal de la Monnaie. Here, Mariusz Trelinski’s staging of Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” — through Feb. 8 — situates the opera in the waiting room of a subway station.

The Columbus Citizens Foundation has invited the National Organization of Italian American Women (NOIAW), Staten Island Network,  to present its program on the history of Carnevale at a Feb. 21 networking cocktail party for foundation members and  members of NOIAW in the foundation’s Manhattan townhouse at 8 East 69th St 

 The head of an anti-racketeering organisation in Italy has set himself on fire in a protest against illegal loans – usually given by criminal organisations.Frediano Manzi doused himself with petrol in front of the Milan headquarters of Italian media company RAI, to whom he had written a letter about why he was taking such extreme measures.

 Not for the first time Mario Balotelli, who plays for one of Europe's biggest soccer teams AC Milan, is in the spotlight again.The Italian international is the focus of racially charged remarks made by Milan vice president Paulo Berlusconi, the younger brother of former prime minister and team owner Silvio Berlusconi.

 The leader of Italy's center-left Democratic Party is facing pressure to ditch his leftist allies and seek a pact with outgoing premier Mario Monti as a resurgent Silvio Berlusconi threatens to spoil an election victory that once seemed assured.

An Italian gay couple -- Stefano and Federico -- will make their way across the ocean to New York to get married on Feb. 14 after being together for 11 years. The couple posted a beautiful video on YouTube yesterday, sharing signs in Italian (with English captions) of how the two met and fell in love.

talian police have arrested a former restorer of Pompeii on corruption charges and are investigating five others, including the former commissioner appointed to deal with the increasing degradation of the historic site. Italy declared a state of emergency in 2008 at Pompeii after archaeologists and art historians complained about the poor upkeep of the crumbling site, pointing to mismanagement and lack of investment.