guardian news Italy looks set for fresh elections as it enters third month without government

[umbertino]

Wild weather across Europe leaves nine dead in Italy

 

Winds of 110mph bring destruction in Italy as snow traps more than 1,000 drivers in France

 

 

Agence France-Presse in Rome

Tue 30 Oct 2018 12.53 GMT

 

 

Destroyed yachts and boats lie in the harbour of Rapallo, near Genoa

Photograph: Antonio Calanni/AP

 

 

 

More pics

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/wild-weather-across-europe-leaves-nine-dead-in-italy

[umbertino]

Destruction in Italy after severe winds and rain ravage the north – video

 

Italy's fire and rescue service released footage of Belluno in the Veneto region showing hundreds of uprooted trees clogging up the Comelico Lake dam.

The past week's bad weather has caused widespread destruction across Italy, leaving at least 11 people dead

 

 

Source: Vigili del Fuoco (Fire Dept.)/AP

Sat 3 Nov 2018 17.13 GMT

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2018/nov/03/destruction-in-italy-after-severe-winds-and-rain-ravage-the-north-video

[umbertino]

Bad weather now moving South of the Country....after destroying several areas in the North (including a few close  to where I live)......

 

 

Nine dead in one family after river bursts banks and floods house in Sicily

 

Survivor Giuseppe Giordano says ‘I’ve lost everything’ as Italy-wide death toll from extreme weather passes 30

 

 

Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Sun 4 Nov 2018 12.32 GMT

 

 

2 vids & pics

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/03/fierce-winds-raze-forests-bringing-storm-hit-italy-to-its-knees

[umbertino]

 ( So called) Years of Lead (Italy) / Terrorism

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Years_of_Lead_(Italy)

[umbertino]

Di Maio insists basic income scheme will go ahead by Christmas

 

The Five Star Movement’s (M5S) flagship policy of a basic income for the poor will be put into a decree at Christmas, Deputy Prime Minister and M5S leader Luigi Di Maio insisted on Friday

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

5 November 2018

13:04 CET+01:00

 

 

 

Head of the Five Star Movement, Italy’s Labour Minister and deputy PM Luigi Di Maio speaking in Rome. Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI/AFP

 

 

 

"The basic income is in the budget and anyone who says otherwise is lying," he wrote on Facebook, after reports that the scheme, along with pension reforms, will be removed from the 2019 budget due to demands from Brussels.

 

Expected to cost 10 billion euros next year, basic income is the most expensive item in a big-spending 'people's budget' which itself has raised concerns in the European Union that Italy could be sowing the seeds of a financial crisis.

 

The planned budget, which proposed to increase public spending, was rejected by the European Commission.

 

Italy has until November 13 to submit a revised budget, and President Sergio Mattarella has promised a "constructive dialogue" with Europe's institutions.

 

"There's beef in the budget, there's the money", Di Maio said, adding that the decree will be issued "at Christmas or straight after."

 

 

The basic income scheme was the centrepiece of M5S’s populist election campaign. It promised up to 780 euros per month for low earners and unemployed people searching for work.

 

The government says the measure is aimed at alleviating ‘emergency’ levels of poverty in Italy. Current unemployment schemes in the country offer a far smaller amount of money and little help with finding work.

 

But many critics of the basic income scheme, including members of M5S government coalition partner, the League, have said it would be too complicated, impractical or expensive to implement. Many expect it to be reduced or cut altogether in the revised budget.

 

But instead, Di Maio insists the cuts will be to oil industry tax breaks, media funding, and so-called golden pensions for ministers.

 

The M5S leader also said there would "soon" be a measure to cut MPs' pay.

 

League sources reportedly said they had” no intention to block the basic income" and that there was "no clash" with the M5S on this point.

 

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who is close to the M5S, has previously said that "the basic income will be brought in starting in 2019, gradually.”

 

The M5S and the League have been at odds over some policy moves, notably whether or not to halt major infrastructure projects such as the controversial TAP gas pipeline in southern Italy.

[umbertino]

Italy’s battle with Brussels is about more than money

 

The unlikely coalition running Italy has one thing that unites it – hostility to the EU

 

 

Wed 7 Nov 2018 06.00 GMT

By  Maurizio Molinari ( director of Italian daily newspaper La Stampa )

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/07/italy-brussels-money-coalition-italy-eu

 

 

 

[umbertino]

EC revises upwards Italy deficit, Conte counterattacks

Tria, Conte say budget plans won't change

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

08 November 201815:22 News

 

 

 

Pierre Moscovici & Giovanni Tria

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA/AP

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/11/08/ec-revises-upwards-italy-deficit-rome-counterattacks_478d5d5e-fd51-4915-adda-cfe8c335fb81.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Some) Italians rush to put money into Swiss banks as budget fears grow

 

Italians put their assets into Swiss accounts as their government rejects negative economic forecasts

 

 

AFP/The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

8 November 2018

15:04 CET+01:00

 

 

 

For the last three weeks, Italians have been lining up to put their money into Swiss bank accounts as fears grow for the safety of their assets under the government’s proposed ‘people’s budget'.

 

Some are having to wait weeks to open an account. It’s becoming difficult for banks in Swiss cities to find appointments for their would-be Italian clients to open an account as a non-resident, according to a financial advisor at the Raiffeisen Institute. “We’re overburdened,” he told Repubblica.

 

Spooked by the EU’s stern warnings of potential economic crisis, downgrades by ratings agencies and a growth slowdown, scores of well-off Italians have crossed the border to find out if they can open an account in Switzerland.

 

Minister Paolo Savona, after all, is one of many of Italy’s ministers who takes part of his hard-earned money for security here in the Confederation, Repubblica writes.

 

Meanwhile, Italy's finance ministry today rejected a grim economic forecast by the European Commission, describing it as a "technical failure."

 

The European Commission predicted in today's report that Italy’s deficit would balloon due to a spending boost planned by Rome's populist government that blatantly defies EU rules on expenditure.

 

The EU said in its report today that growth in the eurozone would slow in 2019 and beyond, citing global uncertainty and heightened trade tensions. 

 

"We regret to note the Commission's technical failure," Giovanni Tria said in a statement, slamming "an inadequate and partial analysis" of the populist government's proposed 2019 budget.

 

According to Brussels, Italy's deficit will reach 2.9 percent of its gross domestic product next year, much bigger than the 1.7 percent in its previous forecast.

 

 

Crucially, the EU believes Italy will only grow by a mere 1.2 percent in 2019 - while Rome's 2019 budget is based on an estimate of annual growth of 1.5 percent.

 

In its Thursday forecast, the Commission said it believed that continued overspending means Italy's massive debt will remain unchanged at around 131 percent of GDP over the next two years.

 

But Italian leaders insist a high debt and low growth rate are all the more reason to kickstart the economy through a spending spree.

 

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte insisted that Italy's debt would be reduced to 130 percent of GDP next year and to 126.7 percent in 2021.

 

The Commission "underestimates the positive impact of our budget and our structural reforms," Conte said in a statement.

 

"Let's move forward with our estimates... there are no grounds for questioning the validity and sustainability of our forecasts," Conte said.

 

Any other scenario is "absolutely unlikely" said Conte.

 

The Italian government said that, while the Commission's forecast was in "sharp contrast" to its own, it still wanted "constructive dialogue".

 

Fears of an economic slowdown in Europe have risen as markets fret over the possibility of a no-deal Brexit and trade tremors sparked by US President Donald Trump's protectionist policies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EU predicts Italy's deficit will soar next year

 

The EU on Thursday said growth in the eurozone would slow in 2019 and beyond, citing global uncertainty and heightened trade tensions

 

 

AFP

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

8 November 2018

11:50 CET+01:00

 

 

 

The European Commission also warned that Italy's deficit would balloon in 2019, due to a spending boost planned by Rome's populist government that blatantly defies EU rules on expenditure.

 

In its latest forecasts, the European Commission expects growth in the currency bloc of 2.1 percent this year, followed by 1.9 percent in 2019, lower than the 2.0 percent predicted in its last assessment in July. Growth is expected to continue to decline in 2020 to 1.7 percent.

 

The commission, the EU's executive arm, cautioned that "there is a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the forecast and there are many interconnected downside risks". These yet unseen dangers "could amplify the others and magnify their impact," it warned.

 

According to Brussels, Italy's deficit will reach 2.9 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) next year, well bigger than the 1.7 percent in its previous forecast. 

 

Crucially, the EU believes Italy will only grow by a mere 1.2 percent in 2019, instead of the more optimistic Italian forecast of 1.5 percent.

 

Rome has unveiled a massive spending boost for 2019 in a budget that was rejected by the commission last month in an unprecedented move.

 

 

 

[umbertino]

Conflicted Italy hovers on the brink of renewed hard times

 

After a long recession, Italians have enjoyed three precious years of growth: but now the country is stalling again as its populist leaders wrangle with the EU

 

 

Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Sat 10 Nov 2018 16.00 GMT

 

 

 

The Vespa stand at a motorcycle show in Milan last week. The Italian economy had been in good health since emerging from recession in 2015

Photograph: Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/10/italy-conflicted-brink-renewed-hard-times-populist-eu

[umbertino]

 

Maybe just maybe...That sounds familiar.......

 

 

Italian president defends free press after government ministers insult journalists

 

Italian President Sergio Mattarella spoke out after Five Star politicians called journalists 'prostitutes' and 'jackals'

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

12 November 2018

16:52 CET+01:00

 

 

 

Italian President Sergio Mattarella. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

 

 

 

The president highlighted the importance of listening to “opinions you don’t share” when speaking to students today at the Qurinale presidential palace.

 

"I read the papers in the morning; news and opinions, both those that I agree with and those I do not, and for me perhaps the latter are more important,” he said.

 

"Because it is important to know the opinion of others, their views. Those I share are interesting, naturally and are close to my heart; but those I don't share are for me an instrument on which to reflect.”

 

"And for this reason, freedom of the press has a great value because, also reading things that you don't agree with, even if you deem them wrong, it enables and helps you to reflect".

 

His comments came after Deputy Prime Minister and M5S leader Luigi di Maio and Alessandro Di Battista, a M5S deputy, hurled insults at the Italian press this weekend over coverage of M5S Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi’s corruption trial, calling journalists "prostitutes”, “hacks" and "low-down dirty jackals.”

 

“The real scourge of this country is the overwhelming majority of the media that are

intellectually and morally corrupt, the same ones who are making war on the government,” Di Maio wrote on Facebook.

 

The movement has pledged to cut funding for media as part of the new budget plan, and has also said it would introduce legislation to crack down on so-called 'impure media owners', apparently referring to publishing groups with alleged conflicts of interest.

 

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said today he was "proud to be a journalist” and spoke of “worrying” attacks on freedom of information across Europe.

 

"Without a free press, democracy does not exist," wrote Tajani on Twitter,  

"The European Parliament rejects all threats to journalists and recalls the sacrifice of #DaphneCaruanaGalizia and #JßnKuciak,” he said, referring to two murdered journalists.

 

 

 

Sono fiero di essere giornalista. Senza libera stampa non esiste democrazia. Ci sono preoccupanti segnali in Europa contro la libertà d’informazione. Il Parlamento europeo respinge ogni minaccia ai giornalisti e ricorda il sacrificio di #DaphneCaruanaGalizia e #JánKuciak.

Translation:

I'm proud to be a journalist....There's no Democracy without free press...There are worrying signals in Europe  in regards to freedom of information.....The European Parliament  rejects all threats toward journalists and remembers the sacrifice of Daphne Caruana Galizia  and Jan Kruciak

 

— Antonio Tajani (@EP_President) November 12, 2018

 

 

 

Italy already has one of the lowest press freedom rankings in Europe, and Reporters Without Borders has warned that violence against journalists in Italy is "alarming and keeps growing". The watchdog points to threats made against reporters by organised crime groups, anarchists and fundamentalists.

 

The group also reports that Italian media is highly politically influenced, and that in Italy, "journalists increasingly opt to censor themselves because of pressure from politicians."

 

 

 

[umbertino]

Salvini meets rescued migrants, promises 'welcome' in Italy

 

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini met dozens of African migrants, recently evacuated from Libya by the UN, and sought to reassure them that Italy is "a welcoming, generous and supportive country."

 

 

AFP/The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

14 November 2018

17:37 CET+01:00

 

 

 

Salvini with migrants at the military airport in Rome today. Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

 

 

 

Salvini, who has been at the forefront of the country's hardline approach to immigration, met the group of 51 migrants, mostly families or women with children, on the tarmac at a military airport near Rome.

 

"For women and children in difficulty, the only way to arrive is by plane, not by inflatable dinghy, because the dinghies are operated by criminals who in exchange for trafficking in human beings, buy weapons," he said.

 

"This is a demonstration that Italy is a welcoming, generous and supportive country, where I have been entrusted with the duty of bringing back some rules and order." 

 

Almost all those in the group of 32 adults and 19 children came from Horn of Africa nations Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, as well as Sudan. 

 

They were among more than 2,300 vulnerable people who have been evacuated from Libya via Niger by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, since December.

 

They will be placed with host families in Italy by a Catholic association.

 

 

Salvini, the head of the hard-right League, which is in a coalition government with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), has vowed to stop migrant arrivals and Rome has moved to close its ports to rescue boats.

 

He supports a deal between Italy and Libya, forged under the previous, centre-left government, under which the Libyan coast guard intercepts migrants and returns them to the conflict-torn country.

 

In return, Italy is developing initiatives to legally accept vulnerable people stranded in Libya, where thousands of migrants face arbitrary detention, extortion and violence.  

 

Last month the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned the "political discourse concerning refugees and migrants, particularly those arriving by boat, has become dangerously toxic", adding that while boat arrivals had fallen, deaths at sea had risen.

 

Yesterday Italian police bulldozed a makeshift camp in Rome, where about a hundred migrants had been living after leaving Italy's reception system, voluntarily or otherwise.

 

Dozens of documented migrants with humanitarian protection had ended up in the camp after being turned out of reception centres following the passing of Salvini's new 'anti-migrant' security decree, under which they are no longer protected.

 

 

After the decree was passed, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Rome to "say no to Salvini and no to racism", describing the decree as "draconian."

Salvini also staged a Q&A session with Italian children as part of a TV show yesterday in which one child asked him: "are you a racist?"

He replied: "Nah."

 

 

 

Obvious "token" rescue by fascist & racist Minister Salvini in order to show he's not fascist nor racist.......Smart ( he thinks) political move....Yeah ...Right......

 

Just look at that shining ( and oh so sincere....) smile....Smells of fraud a 100 miles away......

 

 

 

 

 

For instance....Salvini chose / decided to eliminate / delete this thing below...SPRAR ruling....Some  migrants who were once protected  and staying in some on-purpose facilities ( until 3 days ago, roughly)  by this system were suddenly forced out and are now wandering  in the city streets, sleeping in parks, underpasses, etc.....So much about " safety"....The guy is peculiar.....

 

Unless all of that is a wicked political calculation ( "I create more problems  safety-wise...therefore people ask me for  tougher laws and I get re-elected") ...It might very well be the case...These folks ( League  politicians) are baaad.....

 

 

https://www.sprar.it/english

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by umbertino

[umbertino]

Italy risks EU sanctions by sticking to debt-happy budget

 

Italy's government defied the European Commission on Tuesday by sticking to its big-spending budget plan, risking financial sanctions in a high-stakes standoff with Brussels

 

 

AFP

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

14 November 2018

09:02 CET+01:00

 

 

 

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (C) with his deputies Luigi Di Maio (R) and Matteo Salvini (L). Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

 

 

 

Despite pressure from the European Commission, which rejected Rome's budget outright last month in a first for the EU, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio vowed to stand firm on the country's anti-austerity plans.

 

"The budget will not change, neither in its balance sheet nor in its growth forecast. We have the conviction that this is the budget needed for the country to get going again," Di Maio, who leads the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), said on Tuesday evening after a ministerial meeting.

 

M5S and its coalition partner, the League, insist the budget will help kickstart growth in the eurozone's third largest economy and reduce the public debt and deficit. League head Matteo Salvini, who is also a deputy prime minister, vowed on Monday to put his back into "defending the budget, as if it were a rugby scrum".

 

The Commission had given Italy until Tuesday to make changes to its 2019 plans and warned non-compliance could activate the "excessive deficit procedure" (EDP), a complicated process that could lead to fines and possibly provoke a strong, adverse market reaction.

 

Italy intends to run a public deficit of 2.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2019 -- three times the target of the government's centre-left predecessor -- and one of 2.1 percent in 2020.

But Brussels forecasts Italy's deficit will reach 2.9 percent of GDP in 2019 and hit 3.1 percent in 2020 -- breaching the EU's 3.0 percent limit.

 

While Rome targets economic growth of 1.5 percent, Brussels anticipates just 1.2 percent, putting Italy at the bottom of the EU table. The IMF forecasts growth of 1.0 percent for 2020 and was sceptical of Italy's reform programme in its latest report on the country.

 

Italy's Economy Minister Giovanni Tria has accused Brussels of getting its sums wrong. It would be "suicide" to try to reduce the deficit to the previous goal of 0.8 percent of GDP, he has said, insisting "we must get out of the trap of weak growth".

 

The big problem is Italy's public debt, now a huge €2.3 trillion, or 131 percent of Italy's GDP -- way above the 60 percent EU ceiling.

 

The fine for refusing to review the budget could correspond to 0.2 percent of Italy's GDP -- about €3.4 billion.

 

European Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has said he hopes a compromise can be found to avoid sanctions. Speaking on Tuesday to the European Parliament, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU wanted to reach out to Italy, a founding member.

 

"But Italy also adopted the many rules that we now all have in common," she added.

 

The European Commission "will make the first step to move Italy into EDP" after a debt update expected on November 21st, said Lorenzo Codogno, former chief economist at the Italian Treasury Department.

 

The country will likely be given three to six months to prepare correction plans, after which nothing will happen until a new Commission takes up office at the end of next year following European Parliament elections, he said.

 

"The true guardians of fiscal discipline will be, as usual, financial markets," he said.

 

All eyes are now on the "spread" -- the difference between yields on ten-year Italian government debt compared with those in Germany -- which has more than doubled since May, when negotiations to form the coalition government in Rome began. Uneasy investors have already cost the taxpayer an additional €1.5 billion in interest over the past six months.

 

A wider fear is that stress in Italy could spread to other European countries which are only just recovering from the eurozone debt crisis.

 

"We do not expect a crisis that would lead to a loss of market access," said Agnese Ortolani, analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit.

 

But the country's debt and the weakness of its banking sector mean "Italy would be too large to rescue without massive ECB support in the event of a large-scale financial crisis," she said. 

 

 

umb's note:  this is a train running full-speed against  the wall....Crazy...

 

I am certainly concerned as it's my Country, my money, my life ....all on the way to destruction if some basic things are not understood in time and drastically changed.......

 

So much for the "CHANGE"  some thought to obtain through this populist voting...It's of course due to the bad prior Gov'ts ( Democratic Party plus others as well) who got many folks to get really upset & desperate and finally decided to give a few Politicians a hard lesson by going toward these 2 parties ( League and Five Star Movement)....JMHO

[umbertino]

Weekend Wanderlust: Inside San Marino, Europe’s least-visited country

 

What to expect when you visit the curious mountaintop capital of this ancient independent city-state, surrounded by Italy

 

 

Clare Speak

clare.speak@thelocal.com
clarespeak

16 November 2018

14:49 CET+01:00

 

 

 

How can you be in Italy, but not in Italy? No, I'm not talking about the Vatican. There's another miniature country on the peninsula which is at least equally as fascinating.

 

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino is a mountainous microstate on the border of Le Marche and Emilia-Romagna, just a 40 minute drive from Rimini.

 

There’s no hard border or Vatican-style security check, but you can get your passport officially stamped - for five euros.

 

San Marino is an echo from an era when city-states proliferated across Europe, the sole survivor among the independent states that madeup the Italian peninsula before the unification of Italy. It’s the world's oldest republic and Europe's third smallest state.

 

The imposing hulk of Mount Titano, part of the Appennine range, dominates San Marino's landscape and the Unesco-listed capital San Marino City, or Città di San Marino, is draped right across the top of it.

 

As we approached from the road, Mount Titano loomed ahead, jutting improbably out of the rolling green landscape. As we got closer I could see that it was crowned by a ring of battlements linking what looked like three small castles, each set on a rocky outcrop.

 

It’s a slightly surreal sight as you approach from the road, and driving almost all the way to the top seemed improbable. But you can, and we did, along a series of steep roads with hairpin bends and incredible views across a green patchwork landscape.

 

You can park up next to a piazza about halfway up and take a toy train the rest of the way into town, but the long queue convinced us to keep driving and cross our fingers for a parking spot further up.

 

Also because we were told that the train only takes people up, and never back down. When I asked why the attendant just shook his head grimly, saying “it’s a long story.”

 

The city itself, which feels nothing like a city, sits at 700 metres above sea level, higher than any in Italy.

 

The narrow streets were packed with tourists; mostly Russians staying in Rimini, or Italian families on day trips. I wouldn’t have believed it then, as people jostled me with selfie sticks and bags full of duty-free alcohol, but apparently San Marino is the least-visited country in Europe. It only gets 60,000 visitors per year.

 

The state of San Marino covers 61 square kilometres, but 99.9% of visitors do as we did and head straight for Città di San Marino, which is only seven square kilometers. The Vatican City meanwhile covers a tiny 0.44 square kilometres, and packs in more than five million visitors a year.

 

San Marino only has 30,000 inhabitants, meaning it has more vehicles than people. But none of the cars are allowed within the old city walls.

 

The three towers are the symbol of the city (and the national flag) and also the main attraction, though you can only visit two of them; Guaita and Cesta. The Montale tower, the smallest, has the best view of all but is sadly off-limits .

 

The views from the other two towers are impressive enough, and you can explore all of 11^th-century Rocco Guaita, briefly used as a prison, right up to the tiny top floor of the tower reached by rickety steps.

 

The second tower, Castello della Cesta, is a bigger structure which is home to a Museum of Ancient Weapons.

 

As we were leaving, an outdoor concert was starting in a tiny piazza next to the castle. We stopped for a while to listen, and I was told that in summer such performances happen several times a week, beginning in the late afternoon or early evening.

 

After the castles, the second biggest draw in San Marino seemed to be the tax-free shopping. As well as the usual tourist gift shops San Marino is packed with perfume, jewellery, designer sunglasses and, more disturbingly, numerous gun shops. 

 

I was told that the guns were all replicas, just here to attract tourists, and that buying a gun is as illegal in San Marino as it is anywhere else in Europe.

 

One thing that's definitely not a bargain here however is bottled water, or drinks of any type. They seem to carry a huge premium at every shop in town, so make sure you bring your own.

 

The republic finally did become serene at around 5pm when the crowds seemed to vanish and we suddenly found ourselves more or less alone, wandering the narrow cobbled streets.

 

The historic centre is as pretty as you’d expect any medieval Italian town to be. There’s plenty of atmosphere and almost the entire centre is pedestrianised.

 

You can also walk along some sections of the city walls, and sights include the city’s tiny parliament building and the Basilica di San Marino, a Roman-style church.

 

It's hard to see why San Marino gets so few visitors. While some travel blogs excitedly call it a 'hidden gem' it's far from unknown, as one one look at the large number of souvenir shops will tell you. The location, far from the biggest tourist hotspots in Italy and really requiring a car - though there are some buses from Rimini - probably doesn't help.  

 

Maybe  all those replica gun shops are putting people off - or the peculiar one-way train.

 

But there are plenty of good reasons to visit. While the historic centre of San Marino City gets busy in summer, it’s nowhere near the severe overcrowding in Florence and Venice, or the hordes flocking into the Vatican. Plus there’s cool, fresh mountain air, tons of history and those incredible views over Le Marche.

 

And if you don’t mind the cold, visiting out of season means the same fantastic views and no crowds at all.

 

 

umb's note:  I visited eons ago and it was indeed a pretty little city-state...Besides it became also a sort of tax haven...Especially for non-Italians...there are restrictions for Italians to do banking there ( since it'd be too easy with no borders at all so Gov'ts in the past applied restrictions.....) but real Foreigners shouldn't have any problem ( I suppose...but  not 100% sure though)

 

 

Many pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A local's guide to Lake Como

 

There's more to Como than ritzy villas and celebrities. Head off the beaten path and you'll find a lake for all budgets and all seasons

 

 

Rachael Martin

news.italy@thelocal.com
thelocalitaly

15 November 2018

09:53 CET+01:00

 

 

Lake Como – Liberty Style villas and gardens, pastel-coloured villages and mountains that plunge down into the lake. Pliny the Younger, Bryon, Stendhal, Goethe, Mark Twain, Gianni Versace and George Clooney all loved or love it.

 

Yet it’s not just a playground for the wealthy and famous. Get off the usual tourist trail and there are pleasant surprises galore.

 

And don’t stick to just visiting in summer: granted, a lot of places close during winter, but you can always ring in advance or take a picnic for a day trip. The mood of the lake changes according to the season. Autumn seems more melancholy, spring shows more promise, and nothing beats the beauty of snow-topped mountains against clear blue skies in winter.

Read on for a local’s guide to the lesser-known parts of Lake Como.

 

Alessandro Manzoni (Italian novelist of the past) describes the eastern branch of Lake Como at the beginning of his novel The Betrothed. This is the land of those uninterrupted chains of mountains, numerous bays and inlets as you go south towards Lecco and Mount Resegone above it.

 

This side of the lake is famous for its 45 km-long Sentiero del Viandante – the old mule track stretching back as far as Roman times – that goes from Abbadia Lariana to Colico and offers great walking in any season.

 

The Viandante begins near the chapel of San Martino south of the small hamlet of Borbino, and passes through the pretty hamlets of Linzanico, Crebbio and Maggiana with watchtowers along the way.

 

Abbadia Lariana (literally, 'the abbey of Lake Lario') is the first village, popular for its white pebbly beach and holiday atmosphere, and a lakeside walkway that’s lit up at night. For food, go to Camping Spiaggia or the “campeggio” – the campsite, as it’s known amongst the locals, for drinks, cocktails, bar food, pizza in the evening and live music. It gets busy, so book in advance. 

 

Further up is Mandello del Lario below the Grigna mountain massif, home of Moto Guzzi motorbikes. Not just a pretty open lakefront, it’s worth walking up to the centre of town to explore its narrow streets.

 

Take the road upwards to the pretty medieval hamlet of Maggiana that’s built around the Torre del Barbarossa, the tower and residence of Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Near here Osteria Sali e Tabacchi has an excellent reputation for local food, while Mamma Ciccia is a café bistro, B&B and cookery school just off the marina.

 

The road from here goes up through Varenna until you reach Bellano, a pleasant town known for its Orrido, which is actually a gorge but with a name that means 'horrific' in reference to the howling echo it makes.

 

Drive up above Bellano to Crotto di Biosio restaurant in the hamlet of the same name for, amongst other local dishes, chisciöi – fried buckwheat pancakes filled with local Casera cheese. Behind the lakeside terrace lies a crotto – or grotto – typical of the area that functions as a natural fridge. Cold air comes out of the mountain and maintains a temperature of between 4 and 8 degrees. 

 

Originally known as Crott de Balin, for decades the restaurant has been a stop-off point along the Viandante for a glass of wine, a couple of slices of salami and a game of cards.

 

To pick up the Viandante, turn right as you’re facing the crotto southwards down the lake, up through a cluster of houses and keep going. You’ll walk above the lake with views to soothe any soul. 

 

Take the SP36 state highway as far as Colico, to the northern area of the lake known as Alto Lario. Then turn left along the top of the lake through the Natural Reserve of Pian di Spagna and Lago di Mezzola.

 

This natural plain at the base of both the Valtellina and the Valchiavenna lies between the northern end of Lake Como and Lake Mezzola, both connected by the River Mera. It’s an area of wetlands, and a migratory bird environment where birds both rest and nest. It’s also a great place for walking and mountain biking. For information about the reserve and itineraries, see the reserve's website

 

Dascio is a hamlet of the village of Sorico on the opposite side of the River Mera to the wetlands. It’s a quiet spot at the end of the Roman way known as the Via Regina, one of the oldest trade routes that linked Italy and Switzerland.

 

For lunch, both Hotel de Mera and Hotel Berlinghera are family-run hotels each with their own restaurant serving lake fish and traditional dishes from the Valtellina.

 

Then walk it all off up to the Sasso di Dascio for views of the Pian di Spagna and the lake.

 

Sorico is known for its wide sandy beach, one of the best on the lake and is a popular place for windsurfing, kitesurfing and sailing thanks to the Breva wind that generally gets up around midday.

 

Tourism is based around family-run campsites and camper vans with an easy and relaxed atmosphere, with an emphasis on water sports, walking and cycling. Lakefronts are wide and spacious, great for just wandering along and soaking up all those mountain views.

 

The cycle path from Sorico (Ponte del Passo) to Domaso is 9 km long and goes firstly alongside the River Mera and then by the lake. Stop at the town of Gravedona with its white pebble beach and lido, and visit the beautiful 12th-century Romanesque church of Santa Maria del Teglio.

 

William Wordsworth came to Gravedona and got lost in the mountains above; he found a rock to sit on and just wait for morning, and then wrote about the whole experience in The Prelude.

 

You could a do lot worse here than just finding your own rock and if not quite waiting for morning, just whiling away a half hour or so. Take it slowly, savour those views and just enjoy being in one of the most beautiful destinations Italy has to offer. 

 

Many pics

 

 

umb's comment: pretty lake and places  no doubt...But imho it's somehow overrated also due to the fact that lots of celebrities bought villas there ( including George Clooney)...Cost of living and / or vacationing is sky-high....

 

I personally deem Lake Garda ( biggest lake in Italy) much better and with more interesting and beautiful villages all around it...Also much more affordable as per costs ( hotels, renting home, etc)....JMHO

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by umbertino

[umbertino]

Italy orders seizure of migrant rescue ship over 'HIV-contaminated' clothes

 

Prosecutors allege garments on Aquarius should have been labelled as ‘toxic waste’

 

 

Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

Tue 20 Nov 2018 12.59 GMT

 

 

The Aquarius is operated by MSF and SOS Méditerranée

Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/20/italy-orders-seizure-aquarius-migrant-rescue-ship-hiv-clothes

 

 

Hmmm......These prosecutors ( one in particular) have tried to create court cases in the past over the immigrant issue  which ( as far as I know) always ended up in a big zero......

 

They used to call rescue ships in the Mediterranean " sea cabs for migrants"...While those ships and crews were saving lives instead....Nuff said.....A large part of Italy's current Gov't is on their side though.......Esp. mr. Salvini ( minister of Interior affairs).....So......

[umbertino]

 

What had I written before about this populist Gov't train going full-speed against the wall ( defying whatsoever economic logic & rules)????

 

Here we go again...I personally couldn't care less if some  insane Politicians  hurt themselves and themselves only....But their mental instability is affecting us all, the  Italian People, big time.......

 

 

 

 

Matteo Salvini ready to ‘confront EU’ after Italy’s budget rejected again

 

Far-right deputy PM defiant despite threat of sanctions of up to 0.7% of GDP

 

 

Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Wed 21 Nov 2018 18.49 GMT

 

 

 

 

Matteo Salvini and others in the coalition government have refused to budge from their deficit target of 2.4% of GDP

Photograph: Remo Casilli/Reuters

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/mattei-salvini-ready-to-confront-eu-after-italys-budget-rejected-again-italy-european-commission

 

 

I repeat once again:   ARROGANT & INCOMPETENT....The two adjectives usually go arm-in-arm

 

 

God, Universe, Destiny....Please help us before it's too late...Please

 

 

[umbertino]

We'll ask for long timeframe in infringement enactment-Conte

Tria says mortgage rates may be hit, new Salvini-Moscovici spat

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

22 November 201817:41 News

 

 

 

Giuseppe Conte, Italy's Prime Minister

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/11/22/well-ask-for-long-timeframe-in-infringement-enactment-conte_935f352b-42ba-45a7-bdbf-37c9716b3123.html

 

[umbertino]

UN condemns Italy's anti-migrant decree and 'climate of hatred'

 

The United Nations has expressed "grave concern" over changes to Italy's migration laws that would remove humanitarian protection for migrants and make it harder to access shelters, warning that they will violate human rights and fuel hate

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

22 November 2018

11:04 CET+01:00

 

 

 

A protester in Rome decries the country's immigration reforms. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

 

 

 

Italy is in the grip of "a climate of hatred and discrimination" stoked by its politicians, the UN's special rapporteurs for human rights said in a statement on Wednesday.

 

"During the most recent electoral campaign, some politicians fuelled a public discourse unashamedly embracing racist and xenophobic anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner rhetoric," the rapporteurs said.

 

Now, they warned, the new government was implementing the same anti-migrant measures upon which it campaigned, starting with the immigration reforms shepherded through the upper house of parliament by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, whose League party governs in coalition with the Five Star Movement.

 

If the decree passes the lower house this month as expected, it will abolish Italy's special "humanitarian protection" residency permits, exclude asylum seekers from integration-focused reception centres and instead concentrate them in isolated detention centres.

 

The reforms make it easier to strip people of refugee status or even Italian citizenship if they commit crimes, as well as to deport them. They also allow police to evict those in unauthorized camps or squats without giving them anywhere else to go.

 

Such measures "fundamentally undermine international human rights principles, and will certainly lead to violations of international human rights law," the UN rapporteurs said.

 

"Removing protection measures from potentially thousands of migrants and limiting their ability to regularise their stay in Italy will increase their vulnerability to attacks and exploitation. They will be at greater risk from traffickers and other criminal groups, and many will have no means to meet their basic needs through lawful means," they warned.

 

The reforms also risk fuelling tensions in Italian society, they said, pointing to what they said was an escalation of hate speech and attacks against migrants and minorities in Italy. During and after the election in March civil society groups counted reports of 169 racially motivated incidents, 126 that involved racist hate speech and 19 that were violent, the rapporteurs said.

 

They also expressed concerns about what they called a "smear campaign" against NGOs carrying out search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, which they said was putting lives at risk. 

 

The UN's report comes in the same week that Italian prosecutors seized the rescue ship Aquarius and accused members of the medical charity that helps operate it, Doctors Without Borders, of illegally disposing of potentially hazardous waste. The ship was already confined to port after losing first its Gibraltan then its Panamanian flag under what NGOs claimed was pressure from the Italian government. 

 

A week earlier, meanwhile, police flattened a makeshift camp in Rome that was home to hundreds of people, including documented and undocumented migrants and Italians.

 

And last month, the interior ministry shut down one of Italy's most successful integration projects, the programme to repopulate the Calabrian town of Riace with refugees, after its mayor was arrested on charges of aiding illegal immigration.

 

Salvini, who has seen his popularity ratings climb since promising to "close the ports" to migrants, compile a register of Roma people and impose closing times on "little ethnic shops", denies being xenophobic or anti-immigration – despite  fiercely resisting attempts to give children born to legal immigrants in Italy a shorter path to citizenship and claiming that foreigners, including those in Italy legally, are more likely to commit crimes than Italians.

 

He claims that he opposes only illegal immigration, last week telling a group of refugees from African countries evacuated to Italy by the UN: "Italy is a welcoming, generous and supportive country, where I have been entrusted with the duty of bringing back some rules and order."

 

The UN rapporteurs acknowledged that, as Salvini and others argue, Italy does not get enough support from the EU when it comes to hosting the thousands of migrants who have arrived on its shores by sea. But while recognising "the challenges Italy faces due to the absence of an effective European-wide system of solidarity", they said it wasn't an excuse for violating human rights.

 

"The government must adhere to the values enshrined in the Italian constitution, and the international commitments it signed up to," they wrote.

 

It's not the first time that the UN has criticised Italy's new government. In September, its human rights commissioner announced plans to send a team of observers to investigate reports of a spike in attacks on migrants and minorities in Italy, prompting Salvini to retort: "We won't won't take lessons from anyone, least of all the UN."

 

 

Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

[umbertino]

Budget deal can be found, door open - Moscovici

Don't want to meddle in Italian internal affairs - commissioner

 

Redazione ANSA Brussels

23 November 201816:02 News

 

 

 

Pierre Moscovici

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA/EPA

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/11/23/budget-deal-can-be-found-door-open-moscovici_5652e0b3-67a1-4c4d-bd8d-f4d7c7230014.html

[umbertino]

Shares rally as Italy edges away from Brussels budget clash

 

Frankfurt’s Dax index rises by 1.45%, while the City’s FTSE 100 ends day up by 1.2%

 

 

Larry Elliott Economics editor

Mon 26 Nov 2018 18.44 GMT

 

 

 

 

Starlings fly over the Altare della Patria (homeland altar) monument in Rome

Photograph: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/26/shares-rally-as-italy-signals-it-may-back-away-from-ec-budget-clash-fitse-100

[umbertino]

Mafia boss arrested at luxury hideout after 15 years on run

 

Antonio Orlando had continued to issue orders to Camorra clan from apartment near Naples

 

 

Agence France-Presse in Rome

Tue 27 Nov 2018 16.21 GMT

 

 

 

 

A Carabiniere military police car is parked in front of a bar during an anti-mafia sweep in Rome in 2014

Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/27/italian-police-arrest-mafia-boss-at-luxury-hideout

[umbertino]

Negative effects if EU rules not respected says Tria

Dialogue with EU but we won't betray Italians - Di Maio

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

28 November 201813:33 News

 

 

 

Italian Economy Minister Giovanni Tria

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/11/28/negative-effects-if-eu-rules-not-respected-says-tria_d96e7281-1ff7-4737-ad92-b7bbe125f4f9.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regeni probe accelerates, first suspects soon

Egyptian cops and spies ID'd by ROS and SCO units

 

Redazione ANSA Rome

28 November 201817:41 News

 

 

 

 

Giulio Regeni

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

 

 

 

http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/11/28/regeni-probe-accelerates-first-suspects-soon_65488fcc-bcc6-474a-9165-9697bc8f0cab.html

 

 

[umbertino]

Salvini's anti-migrant security decree becomes law in Italy

 

The new package of laws came into force yesterday, removing humanitarian protection and making it more difficult to obtain Italian citizenship

 

 

The Local

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

29 November 2018

12:00 CET+01:00

 

 

 

Italy yesterday formally adopted the anti-migrant and security decree, despite fierce criticism from opponents.

 

The Decree-Law on Immigration and Security, pushed by far-right League leader and interior minister Matteo Salvini, abolishes humanitarian protection status for migrants and makes it easier to strip migrants of Italian citizenship.

 

It also stops asylum seekers from accessing reception centres designed to combat social exclusion, the UN said.

 

Often referred to as the 'Salvini decree', not least by Salvini himself, it’s a package of laws made up of 42 articles.

 

The bill was passed in the lower house of parliament with 396 in favour to 99 against.

 

The Senate had already given the go-ahead to Salvini's controversial decree, which the populist coalition government of Salvini's League and Luigi Di Maio's Five Star Movement (M5S) first put forward in September.

 

And it had already been used to force asylum seekers out of reception centres in Rome and onto the streets.

 

"I'm happy, it's a memorable day," Salvini told journalists, shrugging off criticism from "left-wingers who think illegal immigration is not a problem".

 

The bill however also affects refugees and legal immigrants, particularly anyone applying for Italian citizenship.

 

As The Local reported last week, the decree means that all Italian citizenship applications via naturalization or marriage will now take four years, instead of the previous two, to be processed by the Italian government.

 

This causes further bureaucratic headaches for British nationals living in Italy, as it means their applications for citizenship won’t be reviewed before the end of the expected Brexit transition period.

 

The decree also ends two-year "humanitarian protection" residency permits - a lower level of asylum status based on Italian rather than international law - given to 25 percent of Italy’s asylum seekers last year, AFP reports.

 

Instead, residency permits will now take the form of a one-year "special protection" status or a six-month "natural disaster in country of origin" status.

 

A new procedure to fast-track the expulsion of "dangerous" asylum seekers will also come into force.

 

The Italian Refugee Council has said it is "seriously concerned" by the new laws.

 

The decree “will not achieve in any way the objective that the legislator has set out; that is, more security in our country,” said Mario Morcone director of CIR, the Italian Refugee Council.

 

“The abolition of humanitarian protection will create thousands of irregular migrants who cannot be repatriated," he said.

 

"The dismantling of Sprar [asylum-seeker reception centres] will create new forms of marginalisation, a drift of social exclusion that will inevitably make the people who arrive in Italy more fragile, increasing the risk of conflict and making them permeable to paths of radicalisation.”

 

 

Second thoughts on UN migration pact

 

The bill's adoption followed a statement from Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's distancing Italy from the UN’s new migration pact.

 

Conte's statement on the UN pact was the latest sign that some countries who signed up to the agreement in July after 18 months of talks are now having second thoughts.

 

Switzerland, Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, and the United States have also either publicly disavowed the pact or notified the United Nations that they are withdrawing or postponing a decision.

 

The non-binding UN accord lays out objectives to facilitate legal migration, as the number of people on the move worldwide has grown to 250 million, or just over three percent of the world's population.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Last Tango In Paris' director Bertolucci dies

 

Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci, whose films include "Last Tango In Paris" and "1900", died on Monday aged 77

 

 

AFP

news@thelocal.it
@thelocalitaly

26 November 2018

11:15 CET+01:00

 

 

 

Bernardo Bertolucci celebrates his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California on November 19, 2013. Valerie Macon / Getty Images North America/ AFP

 

 

 

Bertolucci died at his home in Rome early on Monday, his press office Punto e Virgola said in an email.

 

Considered one of the giants of Italian and world cinema, Bertolucci was the only Italian ever to win the Oscar for best film, snapping up the award in 1988 for "The Last Emperor."

 

The biographical masterpiece about the last Chinese emperor won a total of nine Oscars, all of those for which it was nominated.

 

He acquired notoriety for his 1972 erotic drama "Last Tango In Paris" starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider which featured a controversial sex scene involving butter.

 

He had been wheelchair-bound for several years and won an honorary Palme d'Or for his life's work at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

 

Former festival president Gilles Jacob said he was saddened by the death of "the last emperor of Italian cinema, the lord of all epics and all escapades." 

 

"The party is over: it takes two to tango," Jacob told AFP.

 

Born in Parma, northeastern Italy, in 1941, Bertolucci made films that were often highly politicised, dealing with workers' struggles in "1900" or the fate of left-wingers in fascist Italy in "The Conformist".

 

In 2016 several Hollywood stars accused him and Brando of abusing Schneider by keeping her in the dark about how the notorious butter scene in "Last Tango" was to be shot.

 

Bertolucci acknowledged Schneider was not aware that Brando's character would use butter as a lubricant during the scene in which the actor simulates anally penetrating his lover, played by then 19-year-old Schneider.

 

"The only new thing was the idea of the butter. It was this, I learned many years later, that upset Maria, and not the violence that was in the scene and was envisaged in the script of the film.

 

"It is both consoling and distressing that anyone could be so naive to believe that what happens on the cinema screen actually takes place," he said of viewers.

 

Schneider, who suffered drug addiction and depression before her 2011 death, said four years earlier she had felt "a little raped" during the scene and was profoundly angry about it for years afterwards.

 

When asked in 2013 how he would like to be remembered, Bertolucci told AFP: "I don't care."

"I think my movies are there, people can see them," he said at a presentation of a 3D version of "The Last Emperor" to mark the 25th anniversary of its international release.

 

"And sometimes I laugh, thinking I will be remembered more as a talent scout of young girls than as a film director," he said.

 

The list of starlets he discovered includes Dominique Sanda in "The Conformist" in 1970s, the passionate Schneider in "Last Tango in Paris" (1972), Liv Tyler in 1996's "Stealing Beauty" and Eva Green, who made her screen debut in "The Dreamers" in 2003.

[umbertino]

As Italy’s first black minister, I suffered vile racist abuse. But this poison damages us all

 

Respect for human rights is at the heart of the EU’s ethos. Together, we need to fight all forms of discrimination

 

 

Thu 29 Nov 2018 17.51 GMT Last modified on Thu 29 Nov 2018 18.10 GMT

By  Cécile Kyenge

 

 

 

 

Incoming immigration minister Cecile Kyenge (centre) and new justice minister Anna Maria Cancellieri are greeted by  (then) Italy’s president, Giorgio Napolitano, during a government swearing-in ceremony in Rome, 28 April 2013

Photograph: Alesandro Di Meo/EPA

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/italys-first-black-minister-racist-abuse-discrimination

[umbertino]

'Italians first': how the populist right became Italy's dominant force

 

Six months after entering government for the first time, the League is drawing on formidable support from Italy’s ‘red belt’ – the swathe of the country that used to vote Communist

 

 

Julian Coman in Cascina, Italy

Sat 1 Dec 2018 14.00 GMT

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/01/italians-first-matteo-salvini-the-league-rise-rightwing-populism

[umbertino]

Giulio Regeni: lawyer adds 20 more suspects in Egypt murder case

 

President Al-Sisi must have known of fate of tortured Italian student, says lawyer

 

 

Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and Ruth Michaelson in Cairo

Wed 5 Dec 2018 19.17 GMT

 

 

Commemoration of Giulio Regeni in January 2017, who was found dead on a Cairo highway the year before

Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/05/giulio-regeni-lawyer-adds-20-more-suspects-in-egypt-case

[umbertino]

Getty museum must return 2,000-year-old statue, Italian court rules

 

Institution vows to defend ‘legal right’ to Victorious Youth statue discovered off Pesaro in 1964

 

 

Angela Giuffrida in Rome

Wed 5 Dec 2018 12.10 GMT

 

 

 

Also known as the ‘Getty bronze’, the statue was made by Greek sculptor Lysippos between 300 and 100 BC

Photograph: The J. Paul Getty Museum

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/05/italy-rules-getty-museum-must-return-2000-year-old-victorious-youth-statue