Powerful seismic swarm shuts schools and factories in Italy’s Campi Flegrei

Factories and schools in Italy’s volcanic Campi Flegrei area remained closed on Tuesday to allow authorities to carry out safety inspections after a series of tremors including a 4.4-magnitude quake – the biggest in 40 years – rocked the area on Monday. 

“I’m scared. I opened this morning but there isn’t anyone because people are scared,” Gaetano Maddaluno, a 56-year-old hairdresser in the city of Pozzuoli, told AFP on Tuesday.

Naples mayor Gaetano Manfredi said on Tuesday that the situation was “under control” and there was “no risk of eruption,” but warned that tremors could continue “for months”, AFP reported.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was set to preside over an urgent ministerial meeting in Rome on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the area, Italian media reported.

Climate activists spray orange paint over health ministry’s entrance

A group of activists from the Ultima Generazione (‘Last Generation’) collective sprayed orange paint over the entrance of Italy’s health ministry in Rome on Tuesday in what they said was an act of protest against “the deaths and conditions caused by the heat” linked to global warming, news agency Ansa reported.

“I’m here in front of the health ministry because citizens’ health must not continue to be sacrificed on the altar of profit,” said one of the protesters.

The group was later taken into custody by local police.

Ultima Generazione has staged multiple headline-grabbing acts of civil disobedience across the country in recent months. In mid-February, members of the same group targeted Florence’s Uffizi museum, pasting images of flooding in Tuscany on the protective glass of Botticelli’s Venus.

Snowy weather sparks rider protest at Giro d’Italia race

The 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia started three hours late on Tuesday after riders protested against organisers’ demands that they race through heavy snow.

Riders were supposed to start a parade around snow-covered Livigno, Lombardy, shortly before noon before heading to Prati allo Stelvio, where the stage was due to get underway at around 2.00pm – but no one appeared at the start line, news agency AFP reported.

“The riders are united on the issue,” Adam Hansen, president of the riders’ union, told broadcaster Eurosport, adding that the teams “have unanimously stated they will not participate in the stage under the current conditions.”

The start was then moved down to the valley and pushed back by three hours so riders did not have to take the Giogo di Santa Maria pass, where the snow was falling heavily, AFP reported.

Australian Ben O’Connor, who is fourth in the overall standings, called the Giro “one of the worst organised races”, telling Eurosport: “It’s just a shame that it is 2024 and you have dinosaurs who really don’t see the human side of things.”

Rome residents make over 30 calls a week over seagull attacks

Italian environmental association Earth has been fielding more than 30 distress calls per week from Rome residents over attacks from local seagulls, newspaper Il Messaggero reported on Monday.

Earth president Valentina Coppola told reporters that the recent uptick in the number of attacks is down to spring being nesting season, with roof terraces being a favourite spot for the birds to raise their young.

“Not much can be done because destroying or moving nests is prohibited by municipal regulations,” Coppola told Il Messaggero.

“All you can do is be patient and defend yourself by going out onto the terrace with an umbrella to protect yourself from low-flying strikes,” she added.