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News in Italy & Local News

News from the Consulate

News from Italy

Consulate of Italy in Detroit
Calendar of Events in Ohio

Paul Sciria,

Managing Editor

fishing villages.
Most ravaged were
Sardinia, Sicily and Adriatic coastline areas.
------------------------Looking for a bargain in home buying?
A hilltop community in Sicily is selling
homes much below market price. A historic
house in the town of Gangi has been up
for grabs for the price of a tazza di caffe, a
cup of coffee. The village has undergone
hard times for decades and the residents
have moved away, leaving behind wooded
valleys and wheat fields. The town boasts
a castle and hiking trails. The local council
is hoping to sell around 20 homes; many of
them in poor condition because families did
not have the money to upgrade the property.
------------------------A flash flood in the Prosecco producing
region has taken the lives of four people.
Critics charge that the expanding vineyards
are to blame for the overflowing Lierza
River. Sales of Prosecco have boomed
to make way for new vineyards and the
region’s steep slopes have made the land
more unstable and less able to absorb heavy
rainfall. The recent flash flood swept
away cars and marquees and damaged a

local banquet center.
An investigation
is underway to determine whether
any criminal charges should be filed.
------------------------The captain of the doomed Costa
Concordia was invited to speak at an event
organized by a Rome University professor
regarding panic management, sparking
obvious outrage. Francesco Schettino, the
infamous skipper of the cruise liner which
overturned on the Tuscan coast, lectured
students, at the off campus event, on how
to handle situations of panic and crisis.
The former captain is on trial for multiple
manslaughters for abandoning the 950foot ship before passenger evacuation was
complete. He claims to have accidentally
tripped into a Y