US president directs fresh criticism at pontiff days before secretary of state Marco Rubio’s visit to Vatican

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Donald Trump has issued another verbal attack against Pope Leo, accusing the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.

The remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

US secretary of state’s two-day visit reportedly intended to thaw Washington’s frosty relations with Vatican and Italy

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will meet Pope Leo on Thursday, weeks after Donald Trump’s unprecedented broadside against the pontiff.

Rubio will meet the first US-born pope privately in the Vatican’s apostolic palace at 11.30am (10.30 GMT), the Holy See’s press office confirmed on Monday after media reports on Sunday.

US secretary of state will be in Italian capital on Thursday and Friday, the one-year anniversary of Pope Leo’s papacy

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is to travel to Rome this week for a visit reportedly aimed at thawing frosty relations with the Italian government and the Vatican.

Rubio is scheduled to be in the Italian capital on Thursday and Friday, which will also mark the one-year anniversary of the papacy of Pope Leo, the first US-born pontiff.

Livorno council says residents have complained of foul smell after rise in number of pets

Dog owners in an Italian port city will be required to clean up their pets’ urine from public spaces or face fines of up to €500.

Luca Salvetti, the mayor of Livorno, on the Tuscan coast, introduced the measure after complaints from residents about the smell of dog urine, particularly in parks and children’s play areas.

US president says European countries are ‘absolutely horrible’ to refuse to support operations in strait of Hormuz

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The US is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany, the Pentagon announced on Friday, as Donald Trump also threatened Italy and Spain for not helping to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

The president’s move to reduce the number of personnel deployed in Germany came after the country’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran.

Decision follows backlash from Italian government and European Commission

The jury of the Venice Biennale has quit just days before the prestigious art exhibition is due to begin, amid a row over the decision to allow Russia to participate.

The resignation of the five-member international jury was announced late on Thursday in a brief statement by the Venice Biennale organisers, and came a day after the Italian culture ministry sent inspectors to Venice in search of information about the decision to allow Russia to have a pavilion at the event.

Teatro La Fenice says Beatrice Venezi let go for making ‘repeated offensive’ statements

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Teatro La Fenice, the prestigious Venice opera house, has fired its incoming music director after she insinuated its hiring practices were nepotistic, with jobs “practically passed down from father to son”.

After months of controversy over the appointment of Beatrice Venezi, La Fenice Foundation said on Sunday it had decided to “cancel all future collaborations” with the 36-year-old conductor and pianist.

Italian newspapers claim singer and actor, who is tipped to be next James Bond, are planning ‘wedding of the year’ in the city

Last July, Dua Lipa shared a series of photos on Instagram while on holiday in Palermo with Callum Turner, the British actor she had become engaged to weeks earlier. In these photos, the pair appeared radiantly in love with each other – and the Sicilian capital.

There were pictures of the couple strolling through the city’s vibrant baroque alleys, admiring the ceiling frescoes in its striking cathedral and enjoying sunset boat trips. In another, a smiling Turner is holding a pair of ricotta-filled cannoli, the Sicilian dessert. One photo even captured the word ‘“amore” scrawled on a wall.

Sabrina Crawford among those refused citizenship because of new law stopping access via distant ancestry

In 2025, after a long and arduous journey in her attempts to gain Italian citizenship, including a pivotal genealogical research trip to a village in Calabria, US-born Sabrina Crawford was hoping to fulfil her lifelong dream of building a life in Italy as she edged towards the final hurdle of the bureaucratic process.

But her plans were scuppered when Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government enacted a law stopping access to Italian citizenship via distant ancestry. Since May last year, only those with a parent or grandparent who was an Italian citizen at birth, and who did not take on dual nationality, are eligible to apply.

Police catch woman, 28, climbing colossal 16th-century statue of Neptune to touch its genitals as a dare

A tourist has been charged after allegedly climbing a colossal marble statue in Florence to touch its genitals for a pre-wedding prank.

Experts said the woman caused thousands of euros of damage to the Neptune fountain in Piazza della Signoria.

Reported response comes hours after Trump announced delegation to Islamabad, having earlier threatened to raze Iran’s infrastructure

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Tehran is not currently planning to take part in new talks with the US, Iran state media reported on Sunday evening, as its military accused America of violating a fragile ceasefire between the two countries, hours after Donald Trump said he was dispatching negotiators to Islamabad.

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that an Iranian cargo ship that tried to get past the US-enforced blockade near the strait of Hormuz had been seized. “We have full custody of their ship, and are seeing what’s on board!” Trump wrote on social media.

Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to ask MPs to back controversial voluntary repatriation scheme

Italian lawyers will be paid bonuses if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home under a government plan that has been compared to a “wild west-style bounty”.

The incentive is in the latest security bill from Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and goes to the lower house of parliament for final approval this week. It was passed by the upper house after fiery debate.