Over the past decade Italy has nearly halved the share of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), recording the steepest decline in the European Union. The rate for 15‑ to 29‑year‑olds fell from 25.7% in 2015 to 13.3% in 2025, a drop of 12.4 percentage points, according to Eurostat data released in May 2026. While Italy remains above the EU average of 11%, the gap that long set it apart has narrowed markedly; in 2025 only Romania (19.2%), Bulgaria (13.8%) and Greece (13.6%) posted higher NEET rates among large EU economies.

Much of Italy’s progress has been concentrated since 2021, when almost one in four young Italians was still classified as NEET at close to 23%. The rate then fell to 19% in 2022, 16.1% in 2023, 15.2% in 2024 and 13.3% in 2025, according to national and EU sources. This trajectory makes Italy the EU country with the largest ten‑year reduction, ahead of Greece (down 10.5 points) and Croatia (down 9 points).

The NEET label covers a mixed group: young people actively seeking work but unable to find it; those who have stopped looking after repeated failures; school leavers or drop‑outs not in training; and individuals out of the labour market for family or personal reasons. The trend therefore reflects both education and labour‑market dynamics. In 2025 the share of 18‑ to 24‑year‑olds who left education or training early dropped to 8.2%, below the EU’s 9% target for 2030, while the proportion of “standard” jobs among 15‑ to 34‑year‑olds rose by more than 11 percentage points compared with 2019, with vulnerable forms of employment shrinking. Analysts caution that these improvements help explain the context but do not point to a single cause behind the NEET decline.

National averages mask stark regional differences. In southern Italy (the Mezzogiorno) 20.2% of 15‑ to 29‑year‑olds were NEET in 2025, more than double the 8.7% recorded in the north; the centre stood at 11.8%. The gap widens at city level: Catania (35.4%), Palermo (32.4%) and Naples (29.7%) show very high rates, while Florence and Genoa are around 17.7% and Bologna the lowest among major metropolitan capitals at 17.3%, though even within Bologna neighbourhood figures range from 5.6% to 47.2%. Other analyses highlight that regions such as Sicily, Campania and Calabria still exceed 24–26% for broader youth brackets, whereas northern regions like Trentino‑Alto Adige, Veneto and Emilia‑Romagna are under 9%.

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Beyond geography, the phenomenon remains concentrated among specific groups. Women are more affected than men (14.9% vs 11.8% in 2025), and the peak incidence is among 25‑ to 29‑year‑olds, where the rate reaches about 20%. These patterns suggest that, despite the strong overall improvement, targeted policies are still needed to address structural barriers in the south, support young women’s labour‑market participation, and help older teens and young adults transition from school to stable employment.

[L’Indipendente, September 1, 2026, Gloria Ferrari]

The German press conference was held jointly by Foreign Minister Wadephul and his Interior Ministry counterpart, Alexander Dobrindt. Dobrindt explained that the investigation into the drone found on the evening of August 4 in the security zone of Leipzig Airport pointed to Russian intelligence as responsible for the attempted attack. "Berlin has not presented any evidence to support its accusations against Moscow, because none exists and none can exist. Germany will receive an adequate response," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Dobrindt in fact offered few details about the investigation: according to the minister, the attack was carried out using "elements known to us from other hybrid operations conducted by Russia and from its war against Ukraine." Specifically, the drone's configuration, its components, the explosives, and the detonation technology reportedly matched patterns already observed in previous Russian operations. The technology used and the interaction between the various elements "demonstrate a high degree of technical expertise and considerable organizational effort in planning and carrying out the attack," he said. The operational phase, however, was reportedly entrusted to "low-level agents" who allegedly "acted on behalf of Russian state entities."

Dobrindt stated that, overall, the police investigation, the methods used in the attack, and the intelligence gathered pointed to Russia as responsible for the failed attack. The rest of the information remains unknown. The German newspaper Die Zeit attempted to reconstruct the events in more detail, speaking directly with investigative sources. According to the weekly, the device failed to detonate by "pure chance." The drone, the paper reconstructs, flew over the airport at 7:29 p.m. on August 4, and its flight was captured by an airport surveillance camera. It then reportedly headed toward the airport tarmac, where Ukrainian Antonov cargo planes have been parked since 2022, believed to be the intended targets of the attack. "The drone went unnoticed for several hours. Flight operations were only halted when a bus driver spotted it around 11:40 p.m.," Die Zeit writes. The aircraft was allegedly remote-controlled from a transmission station set up in the village of Kursdorf, "strategically positioned between the airport's north and south runways." There, investigators reportedly found an antenna system fastened to a tree with adhesive tape.

Investigators believe multiple people were involved. Overall, Die Zeit confirms that the elements pointing to Russia are investigative in nature and rely mainly on similarities between the operational methods and technologies used in the attack and those already observed in previous operations attributed to the Kremlin; the investigation, in any case, is still ongoing. In light of these findings, Germany has announced its toughest diplomatic measures against Russia since 2023, when Berlin and Moscow agreed to mutually reduce their diplomatic and consular presence in each other's countries, keeping only one consulate general open on each side in addition to their embassies. At the same time, the EU is also starting to move: "I will discuss this matter tomorrow with NATO Secretary General Rutte. The issue, including possible additional sanctions, will then be prepared by the Foreign Ministers at their next meeting under the Irish Presidency (Ireland currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the Council of the EU)," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote.

The matter could land on the table of EU and NATO leaders as early as today. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is expected at the Berlaymont building (the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels) for a meeting with President von der Leyen, where "hybrid threats" will also be discussed. At the same time, Germany is expected to present its findings on the attempted Leipzig attack to the NATO Council. Discussions could therefore focus on strengthening cooperation among allies in countering hybrid operations, particularly in light of the investigative theory that the attack was organized and carried out — at least in its operational phase — from within German territory. The real sticking point, however, remains the frozen Russian assets: most of these assets are held by the Belgian company Euroclear, a central securities depository, and Belgium has so far opposed their direct use to finance Ukraine; currently, only the interest generated by the frozen assets is used for that purpose. The new diplomatic rift between Russia and Germany, however, could revive the issue and push European countries to press for the direct use of the funds to support Kyiv.

Citizens in Forlì, a city in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, have launched a coordinated campaign to block a proposed 100-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) in the rural locality of Malmissole, citing flood and seismic risks, inadequate fire-safety calculations, and concerns over falling property values. The project, submitted by RNE19 Srl, would cover 3.5 hectares with 18 “islands” of storage—each comprising a charging station and eight containerised battery units mounted on reinforced concrete bases—to hold electricity from renewable sources and release it when the grid needs it. For now, the plan remains on paper, pending a formal opinion from ARPAE, the regional environment and energy agency, which is one of the bodies involved in the multi-agency “Conference of Services” that reviews major infrastructure proposals.

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The local protest committee—Comitato di Poggio, Malmissole e Durazzanine—has filed a single “Technical and Legal Opposition Deed” with ARPAE, the municipality of Forlì, and other institutions, arguing that the chosen site lies in an area classified as prone to flooding under the regional flood-risk plan (PAI). Residents’ technical consultants also question ground stability, noting that the safety factor against soil liquefaction in one subsurface layer is reported as 1.017, below the 1.3 threshold typically required, and are asking the regional geological and seismic service to reassess the data. On fire safety, the committee says the project’s anti-fire design is only a preliminary sizing exercise and lacks calculations for pressure relief in the event of an explosion, while noise impact studies allegedly show too little margin for measurement error, especially for night-time operation. The document also flags “documentary anomalies,” including references to other municipalities and projects, and challenges the classification of spent battery containers as non-hazardous waste.

Another strand of the opposition focuses on urban planning and local infrastructure. The site sits in open countryside among farmland and traditional farmhouses, yet the committee argues that existing rural roads are unsuitable for the heavy goods vehicles needed during construction and maintenance. To soften the visual impact of five-metre-high perimeter barriers stretching almost a kilometre, RNE19 has proposed planting trees along the fence line, but residents say this will not offset the expected drop in nearby property values. They also point to existing “negative externalities” in the wider industrial zone, including a waste-to-energy plant in Coriano, and are calling for a cumulative environmental impact assessment that takes into account other nearby energy infrastructure such as Terna’s electricity substations, biogas plants, and additional storage projects. Terna is Italy’s national high-voltage grid operator; in this area it already manages an electrical substation that is slated to become the northern terminus of the so-called Adriatic Backbone (Dorsale Adriatica), a 600-kilometre transmission line intended to carry power from Foggia in the south to Forlì. According to local reports, another BESS facility is already planned less than two kilometres from the Malmissole site, near that Terna substation.

Committee president Loris Reggiani has stressed that the group is not opposed to the energy transition in principle, but rejects what it describes as a “copy-and-paste” project driven by foreign investment funds at the expense of local health, constitutional protections, and household assets. The committee has warned it is prepared to challenge any authorisations granted by local authorities before the TAR, the regional administrative court, and to file a formal complaint with the public prosecutor’s office if needed. The Forlì case mirrors a wider pattern of resistance to large-scale battery storage in Italy and beyond: in late August, similar protests erupted in Selargius, Sardinia, where activists opposed a 200 MW BESS in productive agricultural land, while in the UK and US, communities have raised fire-safety, water-pollution and land-use concerns about comparable schemes.

[L’Indipendente, August 31, 2026, Salvatore Toscano]

On September 2, 1980, journalists Italo Toni and Graziella De Palo disappeared in Beirut and were never seen again. Toni, 51, was a documentary filmmaker who had worked with RAI, Italy’s state broadcaster. De Palo, 24, was a freelancer writing for Paese Sera. They were investigating alleged arms trafficking tied to Italy. They left their hotel to meet a contact and vanished. The Rome prosecutor’s office reopened the case in 2025.

Lebanon was then gripped by civil war, and the PLO had a major armed presence in Beirut. Investigators point to an alleged secret pact, nicknamed the “Lodo Moro“ after premier Aldo Moro, under which Italy reportedly let arms transit in exchange for immunity from attacks. Toni and De Palo were said to be probing this deal. The case unfolded during Italy’s “Years of Lead,” a period of political violence and covert state dealings. Beirut’s mix of smuggling and civil war made it a dangerous beat.

Their fate remains unsolved, and their bodies were never found. Decades of inquiries stalled on classified files and diplomatic caution. Press freedom groups cite the case as a warning about reporting on arms and intelligence networks. The 2025 reopening reflects continued pressure from De Palo’s family and journalists. Toni and De Palo remain symbols of journalism that chased dangerous truths.

Some parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have begun to regain live coral cover. New surveys by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) show an increase in coral coverage in the northern and central regions, while conditions in the south have remained broadly stable. For scientists, these are the first signals of recovery after a string of very difficult summers marked by elevated sea temperatures and repeated mass bleaching events.

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The Great Barrier Reef is the planet’s largest coral reef system: it stretches for more than 2,300 kilometers along Australia’s northeast coast and is made up of around 3,000 individual reefs. It has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and hosts an extraordinary variety of marine species. In recent years, however, ocean warming has subjected its ecosystem to increasingly frequent pressures.

One of the most visible consequences is coral bleaching. Corals are animals that live in close symbiosis with tiny algae in their tissues, from which they obtain much of the energy needed to survive and also much of their color. When water stays too warm, this relationship breaks down and the coral expels the algae. The tissue becomes transparent, revealing the white skeleton underneath. A bleached coral is not necessarily dead: if the stress ends in time, the algae can return and restore it. If high temperatures persist, however, the coral weakens, struggles to feed, and eventually dies. In recent years this has been happening with unusual frequency.

According to AIMS, between 2016 and 2025 the Great Barrier Reef experienced six mass bleaching events; before the 1990s, episodes of this scale were exceptional. The 2024 event caused particularly heavy losses. In the report published in 2025, hard coral cover had fallen by 24.8% in the northern region compared with the previous year and by 30.6% in the southern region—in both cases the strongest annual decline observed since monitoring began.

Even so, between Cape York and Cooktown, in the northern section, average coral cover rose from 30% in 2025 to 35.1%, a relative increase of 16.7%. In the central region, between Cooktown and Proserpine, it climbed from 28.6% to 31.6%. Farther south, between Proserpine and Gladstone, there was a small retreat, from 26.9% to 26.4%—a change small enough to be considered not statistically significant.

The main factor behind this respite was the weather. The austral summer again brought above-average sea temperatures, but a monsoon arriving late in the season increased cloud cover and cooled the waters. According to AIMS researchers, this shift likely limited both the intensity and extent of bleaching.

The figures, however, do not describe a reef that is now out of danger. Some of the corals that have supported the fastest recoveries belong to the genus Acropora: they grow quickly and contribute heavily to reef structure, but they are also particularly sensitive to heat and to crown-of-thorns starfish, natural coral predators.

[L’Indipendente, August 27, 2026, Gloria Ferrari]

Coffee and olive oil have both risen by roughly half since 2021, air fares are up almost 90 percent, and consumer groups say households have little relief in sight

Grocery bills in Italy have climbed 29.5 percent over the past five years, outpacing the country’s overall 21 percent rise in consumer prices, according to an analysis of official data published August 31 by the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano. The figures, drawn from Istat, Italy’s national statistics institute, cover the period from July 2021 to July 2026.

Overlapping shocks: pandemic, war and climate

The increase reflects several crises stacked on top of one another. The inflationary surge that followed the COVID-19 pandemic was compounded by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which drove up global energy and fertilizer costs. Since then, recurring droughts and extreme weather have hit crops from Spain to Brazil, and more recently a fresh spike in oil prices has been tied to the military confrontation between the United States and Israel against Iran, which began in February 2026 and has repeatedly rattled crude markets, according to reporting by Euronews, CNBC and Al Jazeera.

Where the biggest increases hit

Within the food category, the steepest increases fell on kitchen staples: olive oil and butter are up 49 percent, coffee 50.8 percent, vegetables and legumes 34 percent, and fruit more than 28 percent. Dairy, eggs, sugar, cereals and meat all rose by roughly a quarter or more, fish rose 22.5 percent, and soft drinks and bottled water climbed over 30 percent, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano’s breakdown of Istat’s price sub-indices.

A separate same-day analysis by the news agency ANSA, using a monthly 31-item basket for a family of three, found several individual items rising even faster — tomatoes up 45 percent, potatoes 44 percent, eggs 43 percent and rice 44 percent — pushing the notional weekly shop from €100 to roughly €129.50. The two outlets used different methodologies (Istat’s official price sub-indices versus a fixed shopping-basket survey), which explains why individual product figures diverge even as both point to the same overall trend.

Consumer advocacy groups have put a price tag on the squeeze: the association Codacons estimates Italian families have spent about €1,900 more per year on food over the past five years, and Istat-linked surveys cited by the English-language outlet The Local found that the share of households cutting back on food quantity or quality rose from roughly a quarter in 2021 to about a third now.

Why coffee and olive oil led the way

The coffee shock has an identifiable cause: prices for arabica beans hit record highs over the past year as drought and extreme heat damaged harvests in Brazil and Vietnam, the world’s two largest producers, according to CNBC and commodity-market reporting. Olive oil’s rise traces back largely to Spain, which supplies a large share of Europe’s olive oil and suffered a severe multi-year drought that pushed prices to their highest level in decades by 2023, compounding a separate hit from the war-related disruption to Ukrainian sunflower-oil exports, according to CNBC and Olive Oil Times.

Beyond the grocery cart

Food is not the only category to have outrun overall inflation. Istat data show housing, water, electricity and gas costs — the single heaviest line in Italian household budgets — up 43.3 percent over five years. Air travel, despite the spread of low-cost carriers, has become the fastest-rising major expense of all, up 87 percent since mid-2021 and 116 percent over the past decade; package holidays rose 47 percent and restaurants and hotels 27.4 percent, a comparatively modest increase.

Financial and insurance services rose 17 percent, personal-care and childcare services 15.1 percent, and home furnishings and recreational and cultural services roughly 14 to 15 percent, while clothing, education and health services all rose by less than 10 percent. Telecommunications was the rare category to get cheaper, falling more than 12 percent as device costs dropped.

A slower pace, but no reversal

Istat’s most recent monthly report, covering July 2026, shows the pace of increase has since eased considerably: headline annual inflation stood at 2.9 percent and food inflation had slowed to 1.1 percent year-on-year, with fresh fruit and vegetable prices actually falling. But economists note that a slower rate of increase does not undo the much higher price levels already reached since 2021, meaning households continue to pay more even as month-to-month relief appears.

Istat figures also show retail sales volumes — the actual quantity of goods Italians take home — remain about 6.5 percentage points below their mid-2021 peak even as nominal spending has risen, a gap that opened during the 2022–2023 price spike and has not closed since. Over the same period, online retail sales have surged, with Istat’s e-commerce index reaching 159.2 in June against a 2021 baseline of 100, while small neighborhood grocery stores have lost about 20 points of sales share.

A political dispute over purchasing power

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has led a right-wing coalition government, dominated by her nationalist-conservative Brothers of Italy party, since October 2022, has pointed to different indicators to argue the economy is improving. On August 14 she said gross domestic product per capita had risen by nearly €4,500 since 2022 and that this “reflects citizens’ actual wealth,” while also citing a reduction in Italy’s budget deficit from 8.1 to 3.1 percent of GDP.

That per-capita income growth is real, according to a fact-check by the Italian outlet Pagella Politica, which found Italy’s real disposable income per capita rose 1.7 percent in the third quarter of 2025, faster than in Germany or Spain. But the fact-check noted the increase comes off a much lower base, with Italy’s income index still trailing Germany’s by a wide margin, and that nominal wage growth in Italy has been among the slowest in the European Union — meaning the gains are not primarily driven by fatter paychecks. That distinction matters because a rising GDP figure does not, on its own, indicate whether an ordinary household’s paycheck stretches further at the supermarket.

What comes next

Officials and forecasters warn the pressure on food prices could build again: rising fuel costs threaten to raise the cost of transporting goods by road, and meteorologists have warned that an unusually strong El Niño weather pattern could make 2027 the hottest year on record, with potential knock-on effects for global harvests.

The pattern Italy is experiencing is not unique to the country: food-importing economies across the euro zone are contending with the same combination of climate-driven crop losses and geopolitical shocks to energy and commodity markets, a dynamic central banks and consumer-goods companies across Europe are watching closely as it shapes both inflation policy and household spending well beyond Italy’s borders.

In a historic center on the outskirts of Rome, a residents’ committee decided that public assemblies and petition drives were no longer enough to defend the square’s trees, threatened by bulldozers to make way for an underground parking lot. So they turned the protest into a free smartphone app, in which players must try to protect twenty-four trees from excavators before it’s too late.

The place is Monterotondo, in the province of Rome: the square is Piazza della Libertà, once a fruit and vegetable market, now subject to landscape and archaeological protection. Beneath the pavement, the municipality approved, with a City Council resolution of April 23, 2024, a two-level underground parking lot with about two hundred spaces, built through project financing by the company AJ Mobilità of Spoleto: an investment of around €4.6 million (approximately $5 million), to be repaid over decades through paid parking management. In 2019, the Superintendence (the Italian heritage authority) gave initial approval on the condition that new trees be planted directly in the ground along the front of the historic buildings; the approved project instead provides, for part of the new plantings, prefabricated planter boxes sixty centimeters to one meter deep, above the garage structure. The “Let’s Save Piazza della Libertà” Committee, formed this year at the initiative of the Centro Storico in Movimento Association and Italia Nostra, also argues that the project documents lack the tree-relocation plan repeatedly promised by the administration.

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The real battle will be fought in the Conference of Services and the upcoming administrative steps, but the good news lies in the method. After two silent flash mobs in the square—citizens dressed in red huddled around the trunks and QR codes linking to technical documents—the committee chose a tool capable of reaching even those who would never attend a public meeting or read a municipal resolution. Turning public space into something you can literally play, in a few minutes, on your phone, is a way to involve the public in a technical issue before it becomes, as often happens, a done deal.

[L’Indipendente, August 31, 2026, Mario Catania]

It has often been said that the war in Ukraine is the testing ground for new military technologies; in recent days, however, this awareness has taken on an explicit dimension, both politically and financially. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s former defense minister, is on a tour aimed at cementing ties with the powerful in Europe and the United States, shaking hands with the big bosses of the tech sector, with the explicit goal of convincing venture capitalists, private investors, institutions, and companies to take part in an investment fund to develop military startups in Ukraine.

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Italians became abruptly aware of this process last Friday, when Defense Minister Guido Crosetto unexpectedly met with Fedorov himself, officially appointing him as a consultant for defense innovation. Crosetto presented this new link as an “opportunity for in-depth discussion, in particular, on the topic of drones, unmanned systems, and air defense, as well as an exchange on the evolution of the technological ecosystem.” The Ukrainian diplomat, meanwhile, shared his thoughts on X: “I will assist Italy in adopting modern military technologies, in enhancing its defense sector, and in adapting to emerging global security challenges. Ukraine and our team possess real and unique experience in high-tech warfare, and we are enthusiastic about sharing it with our allies.”

There is no need to imagine what the two said behind closed doors; the topics of debate were made explicit: drones, autonomous systems, air defense, and the construction of a technological ecosystem, with Italy already having a foot in the door via Leonardo Ukraine, a company launched on May 20 and coming to public attention only in recent weeks. Rome, however, was only the first stop on Fedorov’s trip—indeed, it was almost an airport layover—because after shaking hands with Crosetto, the former Ukrainian minister boarded another flight, this time bound for Washington, D.C.

If his appearance in Italy took many by surprise, in the United States Fedorov has placed himself at center stage, accompanying his visit with an interview with the Financial Times. A choice that is not all that surprising: his U.S. presence is aimed at raising funds and forging collaborations with some of the wealthiest and most important players operating in the technology and finance sectors, so the public exposure of his trip turns into a veritable advertisement, useful for highlighting already scheduled meetings and, perhaps, convincing those who have not yet accepted his invitation to meet him.

To the U.S., Fedorov proposes the creation of a fund focused on financing war robotics, interceptor drones, and low-cost missiles guided by artificial intelligence, but he also advances the idea of bringing Ukrainian know-how on-site to “build an army of drones” for the Stars and Stripes military. In exchange for this possible collaboration with the Pentagon, the diplomat is asking the Trump Administration to provide Kyiv with a restock of powerful Patriot missiles, now running low. Among the well-known names already on the agenda are Alex Karp, the controversial CEO of the controversial Palantir Technologies, a data-management company that openly claims to have played a major role in ensuring Ukrainian missiles hit Russian targets, but also Hal Lambert and Richard Schwartz, heads of Clearview AI, a facial-recognition company considered illegal by the EU and employed in Ukraine to identify the presence of Russians and collaborators in contested territories.

The motivations behind Fedorov’s launch of this fundraising effort are the subject of intense debate. Certainly, it is possible that his intentions are purely patriotic and that his ultimate goal is to take actions he believes could benefit his nation, but it is not certain that the former minister, dropped by Volodymyr Zelensky last July during a government reshuffle, is not simply taking the first steps in a lobbying career, the destination to which many politicians eventually drift after leaving the halls of power. Last but not least, Fedorov’s moves could be preparatory to a possible electoral candidacy of his own. His dismissal helped spark a wave of public protests at home, and he himself recently posted a video in which he calls for the country to be involved in “war elections.” President Zelensky, whose term technically ended on May 20, 2024, has commented that holding an electoral process in the midst of fighting would end up “destroying” the nation.

[L’Indipendente, August 31, 2026, Walter Ferri]

On 1 September 1922, Vittorio Gassman was born in Genoa, Italy, to a German father and an Italian mother. He trained at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica in Rome, one of Italy’s leading schools for dramatic arts. He first made his name as a stage actor, known for commanding performances in Shakespearean roles such as Hamlet and Othello. This dominating stage presence earned him the nickname “il Mattatore,” an Italian term for a performer who commands total attention. In 1952, he co-founded the Teatro Popolare Italiano with director Luchino Visconti. His success on stage soon carried over into a major career in Italian cinema.

Gassman rose to prominence during the golden age of “commedia all’italiana,” a genre that used comedy to explore serious social and political themes in postwar Italy. He starred in landmark films including I Soliti Ignoti (1958), directed by Mario Monicelli, and Il Sorpasso (1962), directed by Dino Risi, both considered essential works of Italian cinema. He briefly worked in Hollywood in the 1950s and was married to American actress Shelley Winters before returning to build his career primarily in Italy. His dramatic range was showcased in Profumo di Donna (1974), for which he won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, a top honor in world cinema. This role later inspired the 1992 Hollywood remake Scent of a Woman, starring Al Pacino.

Gassman died in Rome on 29 June 2000, after a career spanning more than five decades. He is widely credited with helping establish commedia all’italiana as serious cinematic art rather than simple entertainment. His success in both classical theater and popular film made him one of the few Italian actors to achieve lasting international recognition. The Hollywood remake of Profumo di Donna introduced his legacy to audiences unfamiliar with the original. Today, he remains a defining figure of 20th-century Italian culture. His films continue to be studied as central works of Italian cinema’s golden age.

Promoting circularity, cutting waste, and pushing producers and distributors to take responsibility for goods circulating in the European market: that is the aim of the PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation), Europe’s reference legislation on packaging (Regulation (EU) 2025/40), which entered into force and became fully applicable on August 12, 2026. The regulation applies across all sectors and to all types of packaging: regardless of the material used, it covers all packaging waste generated in retail, distribution, services, food service, and wholesale activities. Those affected include packaging manufacturers, companies selling products under their own brand, importers of products or packaging from non-EU countries, distributors and retailers, e-commerce businesses, firms that unpack goods without being the end user, packaging suppliers, operators of reuse, refill, and deposit-return systems—essentially anyone involved in shipping and moving goods, including fashion companies, for which packaging is not only a means of protecting the product but also a vehicle for communicating brand value, identity, and positioning (and is therefore often excessive and ephemeral).

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What’s New

One of the regulation’s main goals is to move toward total recyclability of packaging. Starting in 2030, packaging must be designed to be recyclable at industrial scale and in an economically sustainable way. Recyclability will be assessed through performance classes—A, B, and C—with a gradual phase-in, but by 2038 packaging must reach at least class B to be placed on the market. From 2035, assessments will also consider whether the material is actually recycled at industrial scale, not just whether its design is theoretically recyclable. This forces a rethinking of materials, formats, adhesives, various components, and closures in light of these new principles.

Another aspect under scrutiny is size: weight and volume must ensure necessary protection and safety, but oversized packaging or packaging with excessive promotional or decorative material is no longer allowed (finally, unboxings will be more sober, faster, and less cluttered with unnecessary material). For packaging intended for transport and e-commerce, the ratio of empty space to space occupied by the product will be subject to a maximum limit of 50%, under conditions set out in the regulation. Packaging must be functional and essential.

Plastic use is also being challenged: from 2030 onward, plastic packaging must contain a minimum share of post-consumer recycled material, with that share increasing from 2040. Targets vary by packaging type: for example, specific targets are set for beverage bottles, food-contact packaging, and other plastic containers. And on the subject of plastic, restrictions also apply to single-use packaging, especially those used in food contexts when clearly unnecessary. Further restrictions concern the presence of PFAS in packaging: from August 12, 2026, food-contact packaging may not contain PFAS above the thresholds set by the regulation, with additional limits on heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium. Packaging must therefore be designed, checked, and correctly labeled under the new rules, and planned for multiple cycles so that it enters a concrete system of collection, return, washing, repair, or refurbishment (depending on the type of packaging).

Concrete Compliance Steps

Every new regulation brings new obligations and steps to achieve compliance. Starting August 12, 2026, the manufacturer (the party that physically produces the packaging) must prepare an EU declaration of conformity for packaging subject to the regulation, attesting that the packaging meets the requirements set out in Articles 5 to 12 of the PPWR, and must provide a technical file documenting: materials and composition, weight and dimensions, recyclability assessment, calculations on empty space, percentage of recycled material, information on PFAS and other substances, proof of reusability, supplier data and declarations, labels and disposal instructions, and any tests and technical standards applied.

For a fashion, beauty, or lifestyle brand, compliance does not concern only the main box but the entire packaging experience: protective bags, polybags, tissue paper, tags, tapes, shipping boxes, gift packaging, and return packaging.

Companies, in addition to monitoring their suppliers’ compliance, must verify extended producer responsibility (EPR) obligations, register in the systems provided by individual member states, and finance the collection and treatment of packaging waste. In Italy, this means coordinating PPWR obligations with CONAI, sectoral consortia, the environmental contribution, and applicable national procedures. This is a significant additional workload that, as often happens, does not account for the size and turnover of a business.

The Regulation’s Impact on Micro-Enterprises

The regulation makes no exceptions and applies indiscriminately even to small and micro-enterprises, imposing the same obligations of control, certification, registration, and tax payments as on any other company. In practice, a small boutique selling clothes online in boxes and protective bags is not automatically exempt from the PPWR. It must still know which packaging it places on the market, reduce unnecessary packaging and empty space, collect material information from suppliers, verify EPR and CONAI obligations in Italy, comply with labeling rules, retain the required documentation, and register (and pay) on the various sites depending on the country to which goods are shipped (at present there is no unified site; each EU member state has its own). The only exemption for a micro-enterprise placing no more than 1,000 kg of packaging in a member state is from the related mandatory reuse targets (provided all conditions are met). While it makes sense that everyone should do their part to reduce and recycle packaging and take responsibility, European legislators still fail to perceive the structural differences and operational limits of smaller businesses, burdening them with bureaucracy and costs on par with multinationals. This often forces them to further downsize their business—or, in the worst case, to close. For this reason, a petition is already active to request a revision of the rule that concretely eases the burden on micro-enterprises.

[L’Indipendente, August 25, 2026, Marina Savarese]

Italy has extended, for a second time, its temporary reintroduction of Schengen border controls on arrivals from Spain, keeping document checks in place until roughly September 15, the Interior Ministry — known in Italy as the Viminale, after the Roman palazzo that houses it — confirmed Monday, according to Italian news agencies.

The checks apply only to air and sea travel, since Italy and Spain do not share a land border. Italy first reintroduced the controls on August 1, citing threats to public policy, the risk of “secondary movements” of third-country nationals within the Schengen area, and internal security concerns. The measure was originally notified to Brussels as a one-month window running through September 1.

The trigger was the crisis at Ceuta, Spain’s small enclave on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast — sovereign Spanish territory, and therefore an external EU border, despite sitting on the African continent. Beginning July 29, an estimated 72,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Morocco without authorization, in what authorities called the largest 24-hour irregular-entry episode ever recorded on EU territory. The death toll remains disputed: Spanish authorities have confirmed 83 deaths, though some sources put the real toll above 140.

Monday’s extension was decided after Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi briefed his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, by phone, with the ministry citing the recommendation of Italy’s immigration and border-security analysis committee. Rome’s official line is that the conditions behind the original decision have not disappeared, even as Madrid and Brussels have taken steps toward normalizing the situation. Piantedosi has previously rejected the framing of the move as an attack on Spain, insisting there was never any will for confrontation and that the measure amounts to routine reinstatement of border checks, not sanctions on Spanish citizens.

Spain hit back within days of Italy’s original move. Madrid reinstated its own checks on travelers arriving from Italy starting August 8, with the Spanish Interior Ministry saying they would run at least until September 7 — a date that, given Italy’s new extension, looks increasingly likely to move as well. The dispute has turned personal: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly pushed back on Rome, citing Frontex data showing Italy recorded more irregular entries than Spain between 2021 and 2026.

Legally, this is not a “Schengen suspension,” despite that shorthand circulating in Italian media — it is a temporary reinstatement of internal border checks, permitted under exceptional circumstances by EU Regulation 2016/399, the Schengen Borders Code, and formally notified to the European Commission, as required. It targets non-EU nationals, though in practice every passenger on affected routes faces a document check.

Brussels, meanwhile, is separately handling Madrid’s request for financial help with Ceuta itself. Spain has asked the EU for more than €32 million (about $37.8 million) in emergency funding, and wants Europol to step up cooperation against smuggling networks suspected of organizing or encouraging the crossings, alongside extra Frontex staff for processing migrants still in the enclave. The Commission says it’s treating the request as a priority but has not given a timeline.

This year, nearly half of global oil flows are coming from nations affected by conflict: specifically, countries currently at war worldwide have produced around 45 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for more than 43% of total supply. In other words, most oil-producing countries are in a state of conflict, and this not only affects the final cost of fuels and energy bills but also increases the risk of disruptions or slowdowns in supply. European countries’ gas storage levels have hit a historic low this year, averaging about 55%, at a time when reserves should be nearly full ahead of the coming winter. Moreover, rising fuel prices are helping push U.S. debt to a record $40 trillion.

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According to calculations by Reuters, based on data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), the overall dynamics of oil flows are being driven mainly by the conflict in the Middle East and the war between Russia and Ukraine—but not only those. Political instability, protests, and ongoing guerrilla activity in Libya, together with U.S. restrictions on Venezuelan oil exports earlier this year, have further worsened the international energy landscape. That situation deteriorated sharply following the Israeli–U.S. attack on Iran, which triggered the largest oil-supply crisis ever, with no clear resolution in sight. In particular, Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries have caused fuel shortages in the Eurasian country, which has therefore banned gasoline and diesel exports, tightening global fuel markets. Specifically, Ukrainian strikes have left 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity exposed to drone attacks. In addition, 3 million bpd of exports from Baltic Sea ports are at risk due to Ukrainian incursions, and another 2.5 million bpd of exports via the Black Sea are threatened for the same reason. In Libya, protests and drone attacks have destroyed more than 380,000 barrels per day of production, while in Venezuela 1.16 million bpd have been held back by U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil tankers.

The biggest drag on overall production comes from facilities in the Middle East, where 24 million barrels per day of flows are now at risk, both in terms of passage through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. However, according to analysts’ estimates, the ability to bypass access restrictions to major export channels has put the current disruption of oil supplies in the Gulf at between 5 and 7 million barrels per day: Saudi Arabia, for example, is rerouting flows via the Red Sea, while Gulf exporters are smuggling oil shipments clandestinely out of the Strait of Hormuz. Even so, the global energy situation remains critical, and conflicts in the Gulf and Ukraine are estimated to have reduced global refining capacity by about one-tenth.

One of the most significant effects of the current energy situation has been the world’s growing dependence on U.S. oil supplies. However, even in the United States, diesel prices have reached record levels, despite refineries operating at full capacity, because inventories in the country are still falling due to strong export demand. According to data published this month by the Energy Information Administration, U.S. fuel stocks stood at 107.1 million barrels as of 7 August, the lowest level for this time of year since 1996. The most direct impact of this situation is falling on U.S. farmers, but in the long term it could hit most other sectors of the global economy. But rising fuel prices and falling inventories are not the only critical factors for the U.S.: high energy costs have pushed up inflation, contributing to higher financing costs and driving U.S. debt to an unprecedented $40 trillion.

The countries paying the highest price for the instability of the international energy landscape—due above all to wars provoked and sanctions imposed by the United States—are European states, increasingly dependent on U.S. exports and facing concrete supply risks. The continuation of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine can only deepen the energy crisis, pointing to a bleak future for the global economy.

[L’Indipendente, August 27, 2026, Giorgia Audiello]

Following the judicial administration imposed last February by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office due to serious incidents of labor exploitation (caporalato) in rider management, Deliveroo has filed a commitment plan with the court in an attempt to exit judicial oversight. The food delivery platform proposes raising the minimum hourly wage from €10 to €14, a minimum compensation of €3.77 per delivery, and new worker safety measures including gloves, motorcycle protections, anti-smog masks, and helmets. Deliveroo’s plan largely mirrors the one presented by Glovo in recent weeks, which the Public Prosecutor’s Office rejected, reiterating the need to hire riders as subordinate employees and eliminate the system of false self-employment. Meanwhile, Deliveroo is facing criticism from unions, which contest the retention of piecework pay and algorithmic control over work.

The main sticking point concerns the wage calculation mechanism: the €14 hourly rate, unions explain, is not calculated on all time actually worked, but on “estimated active time”—that is, the duration attributed by the algorithm to individual deliveries through average times and statistical parameters. “The problem,” highlights the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), “is not how much an hour of work is worth on paper, but who decides which minutes make up that hour and which instead disappear from compensation.” According to the union, “the mechanism remains piecework: not all time during which the rider makes their work available is compensated, but compensation is constructed based on the duration attributed to individual deliveries through average times and statistical parameters. And who holds all the data necessary to construct those averages? Deliveroo. Travel times, distances, waiting periods, speeds, and delivery history are in the hands of the company itself.”

The primary path indicated by Public Prosecutor Storari for exiting judicial administration was the transformation of rider contracts from self-employed to subordinate employment. Deliveroo, however, appears wholly unwilling to pursue it. “The organization of work does not change, and piecework remains,” commented Roberta Turi of the Nidil Cgil secretariat, announcing that the union has withdrawn from talks with AssoDelivery because “it was leading nowhere.” The investigative line opened by Storari, in fact, concerns not only hourly pay and contract type, but also the issue of algorithmic work control. The apps used by riders monitor GPS, speed, trajectories, orders accepted and rejected, and performance, making workers hetero-directed and thus effectively subordinate. This is an issue that cannot be resolved solely through wage increases.

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Deliveroo employs approximately 20,000 people in Italy, 3,000 in the Milan area alone. The company came under investigation in February, when the Carabinieri’s Labor Inspectorate Unit registered the company (for administrative liability) and sole administrator Giuseppe Zocca as suspects for illegal labor intermediation and labor exploitation. The judge then appointed judicial administrator Massimiliano Poppi with the task of overseeing worker regularization. Now, to exit judicial administration, Deliveroo will need to demonstrate that the commitments made are actually maintained and that they truly serve to remedy the exploitation situation identified months ago. The road ahead, however, remains long. The formal application for revocation of the measure has not yet been filed, according to available information.

[L’Indipendente, August 29, 2026, Stefano Baudino]

On 31 August 1870, Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, near Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast. The only child of a civil-service accountant and an educated mother, she grew up encouraged to learn and think independently. Her family moved to Rome in 1874, where she attended state schools with a strong focus on science and mathematics. Despite her father’s initial opposition, Montessori pursued medicine at the University of Rome and, in 1896, became one of Italy’s first female doctors.

Working in psychiatry and pediatrics, Montessori became deeply interested in the development of children, particularly those with learning difficulties. Her observations led her to challenge traditional teaching methods and develop a new approach based on observation, independence, structured environments, and hands-on learning. In 1907, she opened her first Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House) in a working-class neighborhood of Rome. The results helped establish the foundations of what became the Montessori method, emphasizing concentration, autonomy, and respect for each child’s individual development.

Montessori’s ideas eventually spread far beyond Italy, transforming approaches to early childhood education around the world. Her work also connected with wider movements for women’s rights and peace. She died in the Netherlands on 6 May 1952, but her educational philosophy remains influential today. Her portrait later appeared on Italy’s 1,000-lira banknote, reflecting her place as a national symbol of educational innovation and social progress. Her birth in a small Adriatic town in 1870 ultimately marked the beginning of a movement that changed how generations of children have been educated.

In 2005, in northern Norfolk, the Sayer family stopped growing rapeseed in a two-hectare field: the soil was difficult to drain and it was no longer worth the effort. Since then, not a single seed has been planted on that land. No deep plowing, no commercial wildflower seed mixes, no removal of topsoil: the standard methods used across Europe to try to bring a meadow back to life. Just one mowing per year, with the hay carried away, as was done a century ago. Today, that field, renamed Sayer’s Meadow, hosts more than 150 plant species and, in summer, thousands of wild orchids that village residents reach along an informal path traced by their own footsteps.

This is documented in a study published in Restoration Ecology by geographer Carl Sayer, of University College London, together with his father Derek, the landowner, and colleagues Peter Robinson and Jan Axmacher. For eleven years, from 2011 to 2022, the group surveyed the field’s plants every two or three seasons, focusing on several dozen one-square-meter plots. Result: the average number of species per plot doubled, from about ten to nearly twenty. After the first decade, locally rare species appeared, such as the southern marsh orchid, tufted hair-grass, and common knapweed, along with lesser yellow-rattle, a semi-parasitic plant that weakens grasses and opens space for more delicate flowers: not coincidentally, in England, they call it the “meadow maker.”

One detail complicates the most reassuring reading of the story: some rare species were not growing in any field within a radius of almost five kilometers. The researchers hypothesize that the seeds arrived stuck in the hooves or fur of passing deer, a hypothesis that says more about wildlife dispersal than about any restoration plan drawn up at a desk.

The point the study examines concerns the ecological restoration policies that governments and environmental agencies fund in Europe. The standard method involves commercial seed mixes, often non-local, capable of quickly producing what some conservationists call “McMeadows,” with a not-too-subtle reference to the standardization and low quality of McDonald’s: generic flower meadows, always dominated by the same white daisies and the same purple cornflower, identical from Wales to Slovenia. The risk, the authors explain, is eroding precisely the local genetic diversity that the word biodiversity is supposed to protect. Sayer puts it bluntly: “Shouldn’t we more often rely on patience, rather than on the seed packet?”

In the United Kingdom, flower meadows have declined by more than 90% since the Second World War. Abandoned agricultural land, however, is not lacking, and for years governments have looked to it as hunting ground for biodiversity restoration plans. The study does not say that sowing is always wrong: where there are no native plant populations nearby, nature alone is not enough. But before spending on seeds and machinery, it is worth asking whether a piece of land left alone, with minimal management, could not do most of the work on its own. Since this year, the field has also hosted a pair of barn owls, hunting over the tall grass. Sayer, who inherited the project from his father, does not mince words: “It’s the thing I’m most proud of in my entire life.”

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The principle also applies on a smaller scale, in the home garden. You don’t need a hectare in Norfolk: just a corner of lawn not mowed every week, a few spontaneous plants left to grow instead of being uprooted, dry leaves not always collected. Less order and fewer pesticides mean more room for bees, butterflies, and small wildlife to find refuge. Not every garden will become an orchid sanctuary, but the logic is what has just been demonstrated: sometimes the most effective gesture for biodiversity is to do nothing, and have the patience to wait.

Cover photo: Joanna Atherton

[L’Indipendente, August 25, 2026, Mario Catania]

“Taxing windfall profits is the competence of the Member States, which can act on the basis of national legislation.” With these brief but pointed words, the European Commission rejected the proposal to introduce a Europe-wide mechanism to tax the windfall profits of oil companies. The proposal had been put forward by six countries, including Italy and Germany: the promoters were calling for a tax that would return to citizens part of the extraordinary gains made by major oil firms following the conflict with Iran. In short, a blame game has begun, in which Brussels sends the issue back to the Member States and national governments call on Europe to act. If the Italian government appears to be hiding an internal split, with Minister Tajani stating that “we need to hit those who are speculating” and that Eni would not be “among them,” the EU is forgetting the precedent of 2022, when a similar mechanism was introduced to deal with the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.

Six Countries Push for Joint EU Approach

The six EU countries asking the bloc to discuss the introduction of a common windfall-profit tax mechanism, led by Germany, sent a letter to the Commission highlighting the “need for a joint approach that ensures those who profit from the crisis do their part in reducing the burden on the public at large.” The letter’s contents began circulating on 23 August and were immediately confirmed by Augusta Montaruli, deputy leader of the Fratelli d’Italia group in the Chamber of Deputies. Commission spokespeople confirmed receipt yesterday, 25 August, answering journalists’ questions at a press conference.

“Are you afraid there are legal issues, problems of a legal nature such as circumventing unanimity, or is there an economic reason why you are sceptical about this?” a journalist asked regarding the possibility of introducing a windfall-profit tax. “What I can say is that taxing windfall profits is a competence of the Member States, which can act on the basis of their own national legislation,” a Commission spokesperson replied; “However, such measures must comply with EU law. Therefore, Member States can use their national fiscal powers to address the costs of social equity and, in this context, can adopt windfall-profit taxation measures, if they so wish.” An institutional exchange that effectively sends the request to tax windfall profits back to sender. A journalist pointed out that a similar tax was introduced in 2022, but the spokesperson limited herself to saying that, on that occasion, “it was exceptional circumstances, in which prices had reached unprecedented levels.”

Fuel Prices Soar as Italian Measures Run Out of Steam

The Israeli–US war against Iran shows no sign of stopping, and prices for commodities and fuel remain off the charts. The summer season is drawing to a close and the Italian government has already used a substantial portion of its resources in an attempt to contain fuel prices by cutting excise duties, a measure that, given the trend in prices, seems to have patched things up rather than solved the situation. On 24 August, after several extensions, the measure expired, only to be extended at the last minute with an intervention that confirmed the use of so-called “mobile excise duties”: a mechanism that allows the extra VAT revenue generated by rising fuel prices to be used, via a ministerial decree, to reduce the excise duties applied to sales. The problem is that the available resources do not seem sufficient to guarantee a price reduction for a prolonged period: the effects of the intervention will end today, 26 August, and a meeting of the Council of Ministers is scheduled for the afternoon to discuss the issue again.

Tajani Casts Doubt on Windfall Tax, Pushes for Dialogue

At present, one of the options on the table is precisely to tax the windfall profits of the oil giants, so as to return to consumers part of the extraordinary gains linked to the crisis. Not all members of the government, however, seem favourable to this solution. Tajani has in fact cast doubt on the advisability of introducing a specific windfall-profit tax: “The concept of windfall profit is a concept that does not exist in law,” he told RTL 102.5; “there are profits. I would be more concerned about speculation by large companies; in that case, we need to sanction and hit those who speculate at the expense of citizens.” The Deputy Prime Minister nevertheless said he was in favour of opening a discussion with the oil giants to identify a form of contribution to the national economy: “I am in favour of finding concrete solutions, just as we did with the banks. There was a long negotiation, but in the end there was a positive contribution from the banks and insurance companies. With the oil companies we can dialogue to ensure there is a positive contribution for our economy.”

From Voluntary Deals to Mandatory Levies

Tajani’s reference is to the measures launched by the government during the current legislative term. A first form of extraordinary taxation was introduced in 2023, with a 40% levy on the increase in banks’ net interest margin, later modified and accompanied by the possibility of setting aside a reserve instead of paying, a solution taken by most financial institutions. In 2025 the government instead opted for a “voluntary contribution” from banks and insurance companies; Tajani himself, speaking about the budget, stressed that “no windfall-profit tax was imposed”: banks could join by making resources available through various methods, including advance tax payments and the use of deductions, benefiting in return from tax advantages, including the possibility of voluntarily releasing profits set aside in 2023 at a reduced rate from 40% to 27.5%. In 2026, mandatory measures were instead introduced, including a temporary two-percentage-point increase in IRAP (the regional tax on productive activities) for banks, financial intermediaries and insurance companies, as well as limits on the deductibility of certain tax components.

[L’Indipendente, August 26, 2026, Dario Lucisano]

Verona’s city council has approved a zoning amendment that radically changes the rules for new tourist rentals in the city, requiring a switch from residential to tourist-hospitality use.

In the historic center, which is protected by UNESCO, such a change of use is now prohibited, effectively blocking the opening of new facilities.

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This makes Verona the first city in the Veneto region to move in this direction, following Florence, Bologna, and Naples.

The numbers explain the choice: in 2014 there were just 56 such rentals, rising to 4,366 by June 2026—a 78-fold increase.

The new restrictions do not affect rentals already active with a CIN (Codice Identificativo Nazionale, the national identifier code for short-term rentals in Italy).

The final approval process is expected to be completed by early 2027.

[L’Indipendente, August 27, 2026]

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has been appointed as an advisor to Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto on defense innovation.

An expert in military technologies, drones, unmanned systems, and air defense, Fedorov will help bring to Italy solutions already tested in Ukraine.

The appointment comes as the Italian government remains divided over support for Kyiv and military spending, with the League opposed and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni inclined to proceed with greater discretion.

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The move also strengthens the role of Leonardo, which has already opened Leonardo Ukraine.

Fedorov aims to turn Ukraine’s wartime experience into the foundation of a new European defense model.

[L’Indipendente, August 29, 2026]

On 30 August 1949, the Turin Military Tribunal sentenced Pietro Pinna to ten months’ imprisonment (with conditional suspension) for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Pinna, born in 1927 in Finale Ligure to a Sardinian family, had been called up in 1948 but, as a committed pacifist, declined to take part in military training. He spent several months in military prison and faced two separate military trials before being exempted on medical grounds. At his trial, key supporters included the philosopher Aldo Capitini and the lawyer and former partisan Bruno Segre, who defended him.comune.

In postwar Italy, military service was mandatory and there was no legal recognition of conscientious objection; refusal was prosecuted as disobedience under the military penal code. Influenced by Capitini’s philosophy of nonviolence and shaped by his experience of the Second World War, Pinna framed his stance as a political and moral choice against war and armies, not against the nation itself. After his release, he devoted his life to building an organised nonviolent movement in Italy, becoming one of Capitini’s closest collaborators after the first Perugia–Assisi peace march. In 1962, together with Capitini, he founded the Movimento Nonviolento (Nonviolent Movement), and in 1964 he helped launch the magazine Azione nonviolenta, which he directed until his death.

Pinna’s case became a reference point for the Italian peace and antimilitarist movement and helped pave the way for the 1972 law that introduced alternative civilian service in place of conscription. He died in Florence on 13 April 2016, at the age of 89, remembered as the first Italian conscientious objector for non-confessional, explicitly political reasons and as a lifelong advocate of unarmed civil defence and nonviolent action. According to the Movimento Nonviolento, today’s young people who undertake civilian service owe much of that possibility to Pinna’s decades of coherent, rigorous commitment to eliminating war by challenging the institution of standing armies.

Franco Fontana, an Italian photographer who pioneered the use of bold color and abstract composition in landscape photography, died at his home in Modena, northern Italy, on August 29, 2026, at the age of 92. Born in 1933 in Cognento, a small village near Modena, he began taking photographs in the early 1960s, at a time when black-and-white imagery still dominated fine art photography and color was often dismissed as commercial or secondary. Fontana embraced color anyway, influenced by abstract expressionism and minimalism, and made it the core of his visual language.

His signature style combined what he called “reckless cuts” — daring framings that sliced through scenes — with flat areas of saturated color, stark lines, and carefully placed shadows to transform ordinary landscapes into something closer to painting or abstraction. Beaches, countryside, urban streets, parked cars, and architectural details became fields of geometric contrast, sometimes reduced to a single tree, a cloud, or a human silhouette against a vivid background. Over the course of his career he mounted more than 400 solo exhibitions across four continents, worked in fashion and advertising for major brands including Fiat, Versace, and Sony, and saw his photographs enter the collections of more than 50 museums worldwide. Despite international success, he remained based in his hometown throughout his life, even turning down an offer to move to New York while working for American Vogue. “I believe that photography should not document reality, but interpret it,” he once said, likening raw reality to a block of marble that an artist can turn into either an ashtray or Michelangelo’s “Pietà.”