Italy
Venetian restaurants know I’m English from the back
The Gatto Nero — or ‘Black Cat’ — is in Burano, a tiny island in the Venetian lagoon. It is…
Portrait of the week
Home Talha Asmal, aged 17, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, died in a suicide bomb attack on forces near an oil…
Welcome to Italy: this is what a real immigration crisis looks like
More than 50,000 boat people have arrived already this year, with many more expected
Country house picnics (with some ace opera attached)
I stole a blanket last night. Rather a nice one, in fact. I feel bad about it, of course, but…
My new plan: let’s pay people benefits for not moving here
Yet another exciting discovery from the world of Islamic science. As you are probably aware, Islamic culture has always paid…
What Italy made of the result of the British general election (not much)
On election day I was in Puglia in the ‘heel’ of Italy, where interest in British politics could hardly be…
How Lampedusa copes when the migrant ships come in
Encounters with those who have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean
Carl Jung meets David Icke (and writes a book of bonkers business-speak)
What do you get if you cross renegade psychoanalyst Carl Jung with lizard-men conspiracist David Icke? It is a question…
Cameron led calls to remove Gaddafi. Why is he silent on Libya's drowning refugees?
One Friday, 28 people were rescued by the Italian coastguard when the boat on which they were fleeing Libya capsized in…
How Fellini made his modernist masterpiece
Ian Thomson on the creative limbo that spawned Fellini’s modernist masterpiece, 8½
Rise early to see the Vatican at its best
The sun has only just risen in Rome and we are standing bleary-eyed in a short queue outside the Vatican.…
How to walk along canals in Venice without feeling like a tourist
I arrived in Venice believing it would reek of sewage. It didn’t. The walk into the centre went through cobbled…
Good time girls: Italian women prefer sunglasses to babies, according to Nicholas Farrell
Like so many Britons who chased the dream and woke up in Italy I have contemplated writing a book about…
Nigel Farage’s diary: How I survived Dry January
Dry January is tougher than it sounds. Well, for me anyway. It’s now been some 28 days since I’ve had…
The benefits of breeding like a rabbit
Why I’m glad to have five children, with a sixth on the way
Pippa Middleton on wine, fishing and Kim Kardashian
A few days ago I went truffle hunting in Piedmont. It’s been a bumper year for white truffles in northern…
Spectator letters: Richard Ingrams defends Joan Littlewood, and the truth about Napoleon’s poisonous wallpaper
The state of Italy… Sir: Ambassador Terracciano’s letter (Letters, 1 November) about Nicholas Farrell’s article (‘The dying man of Europe’,…
The shameful truth: Britain lets in far too few refugees
Britain’s appalling record on refugees is a moral failure, and national disgrace
Letters: In defence of Italy, and the rise and fall of the military moustache
Italy’s to-do list Sir: You would expect a long letter of rebuttal by a piqued senior diplomat in response to…
How Italy failed the stress test (and Emilio Botín didn’t)
Continuing last week’s theme, it was the Italian banks — with nine fails, four still requiring capital injections — that…
The one economic indicator that never stops rising: meet the Negroni Index
This dispatch comes to you from Venice — where I arrived at sunset on the Orient Express. More of that…
Italy’s in terminal decline, and no one has the guts to stop it
Italy is in terminal decline
Prue Leith’s diary: I want to be green, but I’ve got some flights to take first…
‘Please God, make me good, but not yet.’ I know the feeling. As I get older and more deeply retired,…
Ezra Pound – the fascist years
‘There are the Alps. What is there to say about them?/ They don’t make sense. Fatal glaciers, crags cranks climb,…
Italy is killing refugees with kindness
Italy’s decriminalising of illegal immigration has acted as a green light to boat people, and the journey is a deadly one
