Rome
Rome: 2.7 million people demonstrate against the crisis
According to the Italian union Cgil, today - 4th April - 2.7 million people marched in the streets of Rome to demonstrate against the current financial crisis.
According to the police headquarters, only 200,000 people were there. In reality, five different processions took hours to get to the main meeting point, the Circo Massimo.
Italy: the Wave, Cobas and social centres against the G14
Last Saturday - 28th March 2009 - sixty thousand people walked into the main squares of Rome against the G14 on welfare and social support measures which started on Sunday.
The demonstration has been described as unauthorized by the Roman council and violated the protocol on demonstrations recently approved also by the council and the main Italian unions. In fact, according to the protocol, demonstrations must follow a path decided by the council in order not to create traffic jams.
Italy: Lightning taxi blockade in Rome
Cab drivers caused gridlock in central Rome on Wednesday in a dispute over liberalisation and rates.
Hundreds of white cabs blocked traffic at Rom'es central Piazza Venezia while drivers protested in front of the nearby City Hall. The strike was called by the taxi drivers' union after it abandoned talks with the mayor.
Cab drivers have staged several strikes in recent months in opposition to government plans to liberalize the service and grant more licenses, and for rates increases.
Italian taxi drivers back on strike
Almost a year after a wave of wildcat strikes, cab drivers in Italy struck again yesterday against liberalisation of the industry.
Xinhuanet.com reported that Italian taxi drivers resumed strike action Tuesday to protest against government plans to deregulate the sector.
Taxi union officials said some 25,000 cabbies were taking part in the one-day stoppage which caused havoc as travelers left stranded at airports, stations and taxi ranks.
1971: The people's clinic, Rome
The history of the residents in one of Rome's outlying ghettos who had inadequate health care provision. Seizing a government building, they and sympathetic health workers set up their own medical centre and ran it collectively.
In Italy in 1960s and 70s San Basilio, one of Rome’s outlying ghetto areas, a movement was developing of people fighting against their lousy, inhuman living conditions. There were 40,000 people trapped in this slum district. In the previous few months about 100 families had been on rent strike. This started as a spontaneous protest, and was becoming more organised.
1926: The attempted assassination of Mussolini in Rome
An account of the unsuccessful assassination attempt of Benito Mussolini by anarchist Gino Lucetti who threw a bomb at his car in Rome on 11 September, 1926.
The plot was hatched in anti-fascist Italian exile circles in the south of France. And not just by anarchists but also members of the Giustizia e Libertá groups of the Action Party and others of differing persuasions - all convinced of the need to eliminate the fascist leader physically.
Unions end week of Alitalia wildcat strikes
Workers for airline Alitalia at Rome's main airport have agreed to call off a week of unofficial industrial action following a request from unions.
Berlusconi could send in military against Alitalia wildcat strikers
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted yesterday at sending in the military to break up wildcat strikes which have paralysed Alitalia, the Italian national airline.
"We may get to that point, but we will try to avoid it because we know tragedies could happen," he said.
Berlusconi played down those comments, saying the existence of Alitalia was a matter of national pride for Italy.
Berlusconi said Alitalia had to push ahead with a restructuring plan and face down wildcat strikers who have paralysed the airline over the past week.
Union leaders suspend Alitalia strikes
Following wildcat strikes over the weekend which downed flights, Alitalia SpA union leaders said they would "suspend'' a 24-hour strike planned for Jan 23 after the government offered to discuss complaints about longer shifts, decreasing job security and the sale of a unit.
"We've been called in for a meeting with the government on Wednesday to discuss the Alitalia situation, so we've suspended the 24-hour strike due to start tonight at midnight,'' said Alberto Cassandra, a spokesman for Filt Cgil, the transport branch of Italy's largest union federation, in an interview.
Wildcat walkouts over restructuring ground flights in Italy
Alitalia cancelled 44 flights today due to continued labour unrest, the second day in a row Italy's struggling national carrier has had to scrap flights because of wildcat walkouts.
Italy's main unions, meanwhile, met at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport to discuss whether to proceed with a threatened full-day strike starting Monday - the second in a week. Italian news agencies ANSA and Apcom said the walkout was cancelled pending the outcome of a meeting with the government scheduled for Wednesday.
