ROME — Nationwide primaries to choose the candidate who will lead Italy’s center-left Democratic Party in elections next spring have ended without a clear winner, setting the stage for a run-off on Sunday between a seasoned party stalwart and a young upstart who has threatened to shake up Italian politics.

MY parents have an unofficial ritual: wherever they travel, whether it’s Paris, San Francisco or Havana, they visit the Jewish part of town. They go to temple, they seek out local Jews, they make a donation. It’s their way of feeling connected to their heritage, and also of showing solidarity.

THE 2011 installation at Metropoliz (Via Prenestina, 913), a former salami factory in Rome’s eastern periphery, had all the markings of an insular art-world creation. It was planned by Giorgio de Finis, a curator, filmmaker and author. The work itself was a space shuttle built from salvaged materials, a commentary on the liminal nature of the assistants who helped build it. The work was even written up in a listing of public art.

A series of student protests are scheduled across Italy on Saturday to demonstrate against austerity measures and budget cuts to education. Protests last week were marred with violence, with students clashing with police who fired tear gas in attempts to quell violence in Rome.

Sauntering along one of Verona's most famous shopping streets, the Corso Porta Borsari, the locals hardly seem to notice the magnificent, exceptionally well-preserved Roman gate as they pass under its great arches, eating ice cream, gossiping or checking out each others' clothes – this is Italy after all.