Today in Italy: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Italian PM warns of smear campaign against police, Italy’s Competition Authority calls for more taxi licences in major cities, and more news from around Italy on Thursday.
Italy’s Competition Authority calls for increase in taxi licences in major cities
Italy’s Competition Authority has asked multiple major cities around the country, including Rome, Milan, Naples and Florence, to increase the number of taxi licences and make drivers’ shifts more flexible in order to respond to critical shortages, national news reports said on Wednesday.
The competition body reportedly said that cities failing to meet local demand must increase the number of local licences by over 20 percent by means of public tenders.
Italy has long experienced severe cab shortages, with many of The Local readers previously reporting long waiting times in many Italian cities.
According to a recent report from the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Rome has around 1.3 million 'unresolved calls' - that is, people who try and fail to book a taxi - per month, while Milan has 500,000.
PM Meloni warns of ‘unfair smear campaign’ against police
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said that Italian police forces are at the centre of an “unfair smear campaign” following violent clashes between officers and young pro-Palestine demonstrators in Pisa and Florence on February 23rd.
"I would like to recall here that in 97 percent of the demonstrations that have taken place in recent months there have been no policing issues," Meloni told police union representatives during a meeting in Rome.
"There have been problems in only 3 percent of cases and this shows an excellent management of public order," she added.
A total of 10 protesters, of whom at least two under the age of 18, were hospitalised following the February 23rd events – an episode which sparked widespread outrage in Italy, even drawing a formal reprimand from Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
Rome councillor condemns ‘shameful’ Fascist chants by Lazio fans
Rome Sports Councillor Alessandro Onorato on Wednesday condemned the Fascist chants performed by a group of Lazio football fans in Munich on Monday as “shameful” and damaging to “the image of the club, of all the supporters and of Rome".
Onorato’s words came after footage showing around 100 Lazio fans hailing former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and giving Fascist salutes at the Hofbräuhaus beer hall (where Hitler founded the Nazi Party in 1920) sparked widespread outrage on social media platforms.
The supporters were in Munich for their team’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich, which Lazio went on to lose 3-0.
Munich police continued to investigate the incident on Wednesday after reportedly arresting an 18-year-old on Tuesday.
Lazio supporters are not new to acts of racism or support of Fascism. A group of fans made anti-Semitic chants during a derby match with city rival Roma last March.
Italy sees sharp year-on-year rise in cyber attacks
Italy recorded a total of 310 successful cyber attacks in 2023, up by 65 percent against 2022, a report from the Italian Association for IT Security (Clusit) said on Wednesday.
Over half of the attacks were of “critical” or “high” severity according to the report.
Clusit President Gabriele Faggioli said the figures were a source of concern, saying that Italy must “conceive of and adopt new strategies” to slow down the trend.
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Italy’s Competition Authority calls for increase in taxi licences in major cities
Italy’s Competition Authority has asked multiple major cities around the country, including Rome, Milan, Naples and Florence, to increase the number of taxi licences and make drivers’ shifts more flexible in order to respond to critical shortages, national news reports said on Wednesday.
The competition body reportedly said that cities failing to meet local demand must increase the number of local licences by over 20 percent by means of public tenders.
Italy has long experienced severe cab shortages, with many of The Local readers previously reporting long waiting times in many Italian cities.
According to a recent report from the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Rome has around 1.3 million 'unresolved calls' - that is, people who try and fail to book a taxi - per month, while Milan has 500,000.
PM Meloni warns of ‘unfair smear campaign’ against police
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said that Italian police forces are at the centre of an “unfair smear campaign” following violent clashes between officers and young pro-Palestine demonstrators in Pisa and Florence on February 23rd.
"I would like to recall here that in 97 percent of the demonstrations that have taken place in recent months there have been no policing issues," Meloni told police union representatives during a meeting in Rome.
"There have been problems in only 3 percent of cases and this shows an excellent management of public order," she added.
A total of 10 protesters, of whom at least two under the age of 18, were hospitalised following the February 23rd events – an episode which sparked widespread outrage in Italy, even drawing a formal reprimand from Italian President Sergio Mattarella.
Rome councillor condemns ‘shameful’ Fascist chants by Lazio fans
Rome Sports Councillor Alessandro Onorato on Wednesday condemned the Fascist chants performed by a group of Lazio football fans in Munich on Monday as “shameful” and damaging to “the image of the club, of all the supporters and of Rome".
Onorato’s words came after footage showing around 100 Lazio fans hailing former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and giving Fascist salutes at the Hofbräuhaus beer hall (where Hitler founded the Nazi Party in 1920) sparked widespread outrage on social media platforms.
The supporters were in Munich for their team’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich, which Lazio went on to lose 3-0.
Munich police continued to investigate the incident on Wednesday after reportedly arresting an 18-year-old on Tuesday.
Lazio supporters are not new to acts of racism or support of Fascism. A group of fans made anti-Semitic chants during a derby match with city rival Roma last March.
Italy sees sharp year-on-year rise in cyber attacks
Italy recorded a total of 310 successful cyber attacks in 2023, up by 65 percent against 2022, a report from the Italian Association for IT Security (Clusit) said on Wednesday.
Over half of the attacks were of “critical” or “high” severity according to the report.
Clusit President Gabriele Faggioli said the figures were a source of concern, saying that Italy must “conceive of and adopt new strategies” to slow down the trend.
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