Italian News Snippets: 05.04.07
- A woman took a dip recently – naked – in Rome’s Trevi Fountain. Her defense? “The water belongs to everyone and it was hot. What’s wrong (with taking a dip)?” Now she’s a bit more contrite, wishing people would just forget about her. Fat chance.
- Italy will begin taxing lap dancing at a higher rate than before, so make sure you bring extra cash. Oh, and just go to the article to see the picture that accompanies it – who is that poor sod?
- Italy’s Health Minister is in favor of a plan to “give greater public support to people who want to have medical treatment to change their sex.” More interesting to me, however, is that the MP who’s introducting the bill is Europe’s first transgender MP.
- A new dog law is planned after the death of a baby by her family’s two pet Rottweilers.
- Italy’s government is already worried about what it thinks will be a disastrous drought this year.
- The Italian government is looking at increasing the penalties against environmental criminals and polluters.
- If the Pope is concerned about climate change, does that help the cause? I hope?
- An appeals court has upheld the conviction of a woman who was charged with bludgeoning her three-year-old son to death in 2002.
- Biologists are trying to take some of the mystery out of the elusive black truffle by researching its DNA. (Doesn’t that take some of the fun out of it?)
- Immigration is one of the biggest hot-button issues in Italy, and the author of the immigration law is more than a little unhappy with a bill that would soften it.
- Want to see the top of Mt. Vesuvius without suffering from shin splints? A new train will get you there easily.
- The city of Naples will create a museum to honor local actor Totó, a comic actor like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
- Mona Lisa’s birthplace has been found in her home town of Florence.