Italy heads back to the polls for second round of local elections
Voting continued on Monday morning in dozens of Italian towns for runoff elections after no candidate won an outright majority in the first round on the 24th and 25th of May.
Polls opened on Sunday morning and close at 3pm Monday, with counting beginning immediately after.
Six provincial capitals were among those holding runoffs: Agrigento, Arezzo, Chieti, Lecco, Macerata and Trani. More than 1.1 million voters were eligible to take part across a total of 42 towns.
Unlike the first round, voters in the runoff may only vote for the mayoral candidate, without splitting their vote between a candidate and a different party list.
Ex-Venice mayor Brugnaro to face trial in fraud case
Former Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro was on Friday ordered to stand trial on charges of violating spending laws during his 2020 local election campaign, news agency Ansa reported. The trial has been set for September 21st.
Brugnaro, 64, who ended his term as mayor earlier this year after founding his own party Coraggio Italia, is accused of exceeding the electoral spending limit of around 300,000 euros.
Three others were indicted alongside him on charges of forgery and illicit financing: his chief of staff Morris Ceron, Walter Bianchi of the Northeast Production and Development Consortium, and campaign expenses representative Adriano Giugie.
Brugnaro has not commented publicly on the charges.
American tourist's €44 Rome gelato bill goes viral
A tourist from Florida visiting Rome sparked debate online about rip-off gelato shops this week after she posted a receipt showing she had been charged 44 euros at a gelateria near Piazza di Spagna, according to news agency Adnkronos.
Posting the image in a Facebook travel group, the woman said staff had added toppings including “cannoli and macarons” during preparation, suggesting they were free. "It seemed like he said 14 (euros), so I didn't even notice until I looked at the receipt," she wrote.
"Honestly it wasn't even good. The worst of all the gelatos I've had, I couldn't even finish it," she added, calling the shop "a tourist trap."
She said she had also visited Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Positano during the same trip. "Surprisingly, Rome was the only place we kept running into scams," she wrote. Her original post attracted hundreds of comments, with most agreeing she had been overcharged.
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