Today in Italy: A roundup of the latest news on Monday

Italy's top news story on Monday...

Italy’s Department of Civil Protection has issued a yellow warning to eight regions in the country due to strong winds.

Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, Abruzzo and parts of Sardinia and Emilia-Romagna are all on yellow alert today as winds pass from the east of the country to the west, causing bad weather including storms along coastal areas.

The two islands, Sicily and Sardinia are expected to be the worst hit, with heavy rainfall alongside the winds.

Temperatures are also expected to drop in all yellow alert regions.

Anniversary of Italy's tricolour flag

Sunday saw the 227th anniversary of Italy's iconic tricolour flag. The classic red, white and green design was first adopted by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic, in Reggio Emilia in 1797, so has been an integral part of Italian history since long before unification in 1861.

President Sergio Mattarella paid tribute to the flag on Sunday. "Today commemorates the 227th anniversary of the birth, by the will of the Parliament of the Cispadane Republic in Reggio Emilia, of the first red, white and green Tricolour," Mattarella said.

"It has come down to this day as a symbol of the homeland "We are rightly proud of the Tricolour, which the Constitution gives as the emblem of the country, its heritage of history and culture.

"Our fellow citizens identify with it and it stimulates our commitment to make the values of the Constitution real. Long live the Tricolour, long live the Republic".

Italy's foreign minister makes case for EU army

Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani has claimed that the European Union would play a greater role in international peacekeeping operations if it had its own army.

Speaking to Italian newspaper La Stampa, Tajani said that for his Forza Italia party European-wide cooperation on defence, peacekeeping missions and preventing conflicts internationally was a priority. 

"If we want to be peacekeepers in the world, we need a European military. And this is a fundamental precondition to be able to have an effective European foreign policy," Tajani said on Sunday.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani addresses media at the first meeting of the Italian-French Border Cooperation Committee in October 2023. Photo: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP.

Deadly avalanche in Val Formazza

Ansa reported that on Sunday a deadly avalanche killed two people in Val Formazza, in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province of the Piedmont region.

The avalanche occurred between Lake Toggia and the San Giacomo pass, not far from the Swiss border.

Rescuers identified the bodies of the two ski mountaineers. One was recovered from the snow, and the second was in Lake Toggia. Operations have been made more difficult by bad weather.

Italian purchasing power on the rise

After the successive economic shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and lingering inflation, it seems that Italians might finally be getting some respite from the financial pressures of recent years.

According to data from Italy's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), the disposable income, purchasing power and savings of Italians all grew in the third quarter of 2023.

Both the disposable income and consumption expenditure of households grew by 1.8 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. The real terms purchasing power of households increased by 1.3 percent over the previous quarter against a slight 0.5 percent increase in prices.

Household savings rates stood at 6.9 percent, 0.6 percentage points higher than in the second quarter of 2023.

Couple killed after car plunges into Lake Como

A 45-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man died over the weekend after their car fell into Lake Como. According to witnesses speaking to Ansa, the car was parked by Villa Geno, overlooking the lake, before going through the barrier and dropping 10 metres into the water.

The bodies were recovered early on Sunday morning.

This is the second such incident at Lake Como in less than a week, after a woman drowned in a similar incident on Tuesday.