Italians now referring to a message sent via Whatsapp as a 'whatsappino', proving the Italian language can smooth out the ugliest words
Tom Kington
4,535 posts
- We already knew Mussolini was on the payroll of British Intelligence in 1917. Now a new book provides evidence the UK actively backed his 1922 march on Rome and seizure of power
- Italy’s Foreign Press Association moved into Silvio Berlusconi’s old Rome apartment this morning. First discovery was a secret door to a back staircase. Good way to allow party guests to leave in a hurry?
00:00 - Don't know how long these spots will remain uncluttered, so splurged on breakfast with a view at the Trevi Fountain. €4.40 for a cappuccino, raisin bun and toasted sandwich.
- It's that time of the year in Rome when locals are in scarves and tourists are in flip flops
- In Moldova, Europe's poorest country, residents have put up 90,000 Ukrainians in their homes without asking to be paid. One refugee tells me, "When it’s safe to return home, Moldovans will be the most welcome guests in the whole of Ukraine”
- Back on my favourite train ride in Italy - the night train from Sicily to Rome which gets a lift across the Straits of Messina on the ferry
00:00 - How Rome works: To obtain a new young person's city transport season ticket for my son I had to print off a form and and take it to a station where I queued up for 45 minutes to get the ticket. It will be amazing when Rome transport managers hear about the internet
- Is it me, or does Italy's Corriere della Sera devote pages every day to predictions and leaks about pending rules on Covid-related movement restrictions which the government hasn't decided on yet... but reports them as fact? It's driving me mad.
- ‘Italy without Italians’: cover of mag owned by Berlusconi sends message that people of colour, even those born in Italy, can never be Italian. Comes days after government minister discussed threat of ‘ethnic substitution’
- You can't see Prince Harry's book on sale at my Rome newsstand because it sold out. 'This week's best seller,' says vendor
- A local in Italy's coronavirus 'red zone' tells me: 'Food shops left open let in 5 at a time, people are in masks and the chemist is serving through a hatch. We saw news about Wuhan but never thought it would happen here. It’s like an unreal cemetery' tinyurl.com/v2q8dm8
- World's greatest private collection of Roman statuary goes on show in Rome this week after being kept under wraps for decades by noble Torlonia family. Just been to press viewing and here are some pics..
