ANSA. Italian-led study has found blood cells in amniotic fluid, paving the way for new treatment for babies before they are born.In particular, the discovery holds out hope of getting to hereditary genetic diseases quick enough to make a difference, said Marina Cavazzano Calvo of the Necker Hospital in Paris. (Read the article)

ANSA. Vatican daily Osservatore Romano on Monday slammed United States President Barack Obama's decision to lift strict limits on human embryonic stem cell research. (Read the article)

ANSA. Pope Benedict XVI on Monday made a historic visit to Rome city hall - the third pontiff ever to have done so after Paul VI and John Paul II. (Read the article)

BLOOMBERG. Giorgio de Chirico was an eccentric if ever there was one. He faked his own art. Late in life, the Italian surrealist artist would paint exact copies of much earlier works, backdate them, and put them on the market. (Read the article by Jorg von Uthnann)

THE NEW YORK TIMES. International theater and world music will be front and center at this year’s Lincoln Center Festival, which will run from July 7 to 26 with visitors from Russia, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Israel and Africa.  From Italy, Piccolo Teatro di Milano and Teatri Uniti offer a production of Carlo Goldoni’s “Villeggiatura” trilogy from 1761 (July 22 to 26). Piccolo Teatro di Milano brought Goldoni’s “Arlecchino, Servant of Two Masters” to the festival in 2005. (Read the article by Ben Sisario)

THE NEW YORK TIMES. he Italians were overmatched. That was the assessment of their famous American hitting coach. To Mike Piazza, the first scrimmage against the Baltimore Orioles required a pep talk for the players from Parma, San Remo and Rimini. (Read the article by Tyler Kepner)

THE NEW YORK TIMES.  You won’t find “Sopranos”-style macho posturing in Frank Ingrasciotta’s one-man show, “Blood Type: Ragu” (nothing gangster related, really), now at the Actors’ Playhouse. But as someone once said of “The Godfather,” you can certainly smell the spaghetti (...) Mr. Ingrasciotta, a veteran performer and director who teaches acting at the State University of New York College at Purchase, has been shaping and polishing this piece for 11 years and definitely has a point to make about family (Read the review by Andy Webster).

THE WASHINGTON POST  "I read Mary Jordan's March 1 front-page article, 'As Italy's Banks Tighten Lending, Desperate Firms Call on the Mafia,' several times -- several times because I was expecting to find, somewhere, mention of the fact that Italy's banking system is among the most solid in the world (...) Or maybe I would find mention of the successes Italian authorities are scoring against the Mafia and organized crime (...). But nowhere did I read about any of this." (Read the Letter to the Editor by Giovanni Castellaneta, Ambassador of Italy to the United States.)

NyDailyNews.  At least four Petrosinos followed his great gumshoe-prints into law enforcement - nephews Prospero and James were in the NYPD. Grandnephew Joseph Petrosino is a prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office. His son Joseph Petrosino is a rookie cop in Jackson Heights, Queens. (Read the article by John Marzulli)

ANSA. Bolzano. Italy's famed Iceman will get company this week as mummies from all over the world arrive for a major show in this northern Italian city (Read the article)

ANSA. Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia is to unveil a 'fridge of horrors' next week in order to raise public awareness of the problem of counterfeit versions of Italian products, he said Monday. (Read the article)