ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s fiercest rival after many years as his closest ally, has made several abrupt U-turns in his political career.

Since the mid-1990s, he has transformed a party that was once heir to dictator Benito Mussolini’s fascists into a mainstream conservative force, and gone from praising the Duce as the 20th century’s greatest statesman to calling fascism “absolute evil.”

ROME (Reuters) – Thousands protested in Rome on Saturday against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ahead of a no-confidence motion next week that could sink his government.

Families, pensioners and workers from across Italy streamed into squares in the capital to take part in marches organized by the opposition Democratic Party (PD).

ROME, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Thousands protested in Rome on
Saturday against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ahead of a
no-confidence motion next week that could sink his government.

Families, pensioners and workers from across Italy streamed
into squares in the capital to take part in marches organised by
the opposition Democratic Party (PD).

ROME, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Italian luxury group Tod’s is ready
to provide 25 million euros to fund the restoration of Rome’s
Colosseum, chief executive Diego Della Valle said on Thursday,
urging authorities to make a decision on the project soon.

His comments followed newspaper reports that government
efforts to attract a pool of private sponsors through a tender
had failed and restoration plans were on hold.

ROME (Reuters) – Students marched through Italian cities on Tuesday, blocking main roads and railway lines, while legislators were due to vote on education reforms that have provoked some of the biggest protests in decades.

The students, who last week occupied tourist sites around the country including the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum [ID:nLDE6AO12T] have vowed to block proposed changes by Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian students opposed to spending cuts marched in Rome on Tuesday and were blocked by police near parliament, where legislators voted on education reform that has sparked some of the biggest protests in decades.

The students, who last week occupied key tourist sites around the country including the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum, have vowed to block proposed changes by Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian students stormed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rome’s Colosseum and blocked roads and railways Thursday in protest against university reform planned by Silvio Berlusconi’s struggling government.

The measures, currently before parliament, include spending cuts and time limits on research.

ROME (Reuters) – The Italian government may crow about its recent high-profile mafia arrests, but experts on organised crime say the successes belie increasing mob infiltration in the country’s northern financial heartland.

This month’s arrest of Antonio Iovine, a boss of the Camorra group based around Naples, was celebrated as a “major blow to organised crime” by Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, who said only two of Italy’s 30 most wanted mobsters remain at large.

ROME, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
unveiled measures targeting immigrants and prostitutes on
Friday, drawing derision from the Italian opposition who want
him to resign in a scandal involving teenage girls at his villa.

A decree passed by his cabinet allows authorities to deport
citizens of other EU states after 90 days if they do not meet
conditions such as having a suitable income and an address.