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EARTHQUAKES

Prince Charles to meet Italy quake survivors

Britain's Prince Charles is set to visit the quake-hit Italian town of Amatrice on Sunday as part of a European tour designed to shore up relations with EU allies post Brexit.

Prince Charles to meet Italy quake survivors
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, with the mayor of Florence Dario Nardella when they arrived on March 31 for a six-day visit in Italy. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP
The Prince of Wales is expected to tour the historic town in central Italy and speak with survivors of last year's quake that killed nearly 300 people, and meet some of those helping with reconstruction efforts.
 
He will enter the abandoned “red zone” where collapsed houses lie next to the ruins of a 13th century Civic Tower, one of dozens of architectural gems in the region damaged by the August 2016 quake.
 
The prince is also scheduled to visit a Save the Children pavilion.
 
Charles, 68, who will succeed his mother Queen Elizabeth II on her death, is on a European tour with his wife Camilla which started in Romania and ends in Austria on Wednesday.
 
The charm offensive comes just as Britain this week officially triggered the Brexit process, becoming the first country to leave the European Union in the bloc's 60-year history.
 
Charles's son Prince William and his wife Kate undertook a similar trip to Paris earlier this month.
 
'Renaissance man'
 
The six-day Italian tour began Friday with a romantic stroll over Florence's mediaeval Ponte Vecchio bridge at sundown.
 
On Saturday, the prince paid homage to the victims of World War I in Vicenza, while Camilla, 69, visited “La Gloriette”, a pool-side villa overlooking the Gulf of Naples confiscated from a mafioso nicknamed “the madman” and now home to a project for youths suffering from mental illness.
 
While Charles is in Amatrice, Camilla will visit the Arcobaleno association in Florence which helps female victims of human trafficking — a hot issue in Italy during a time when the country is rescuing hundreds of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean, including vulnerable women.
 
The royals will be back in the Tuscan capital Monday to attend a reception hosted by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation to mark the 100th anniversary of the British Institute of Florence, where Charles will be honoured as the “Renaissance Man of the Year”.
 
The heir to the throne and the Duchess of Cornwall will meet Pope Francis and enjoy a tour of the Vatican the following day.
 
The visit to the hilltop beauty spot of Amatrice will not be the prince's first to a quake-hit zone. In 2004, Charles travelled to the scene of an earthquake that devastated the ancient Iranian city of Bam, killing over 40,000 people.
 
In 2006, he and Camilla visited Kashmir, where a quake claimed the lives of more than 73,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.
 
After the Amatrice disaster, Queen Elizabeth made a personal donation to help re-house the homeless and restore damaged churches.
 
On Saturday, protesters gathered in the region and in front of parliament in Rome to demand that the government speed up the construction of new quake-proof houses and help local farmers and businesses get back on their feet.
 
The town's mayor Sergio Pirozzi announced this weekend that the German government and a series of German companies would be paying for the reconstruction of the town's damaged hospital.
 
Before the quake, Amatrice was best known as the home of amatriciana, one of Italy's favourite pasta sauces.
 
 

HEALTH

Brits living in Italy under post-Brexit rules won’t pay healthcare fee

British nationals who moved to Italy before January 1st 2021 are exempt from paying Italian healthcare fees, according to an update on the UK government website for British nationals overseas.

Brits living in Italy under post-Brexit rules won't pay healthcare fee

Italian authorities have clarified that British residents covered by the post-Brexit withdrawal agreement (WA) should not be subject to fees for using the Italian national health service (servizio sanitario nazionale, or SSN), according to the update published on the British government’s Living in Italy website on Friday afternoon.

“The Italian government has recently decided that British nationals who entered and have been living in Italy prior to January 1st 2021 and are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement can register for free with the Italian national health system and are therefore not required to make voluntary contributions,” it read.

READ ALSO: Trouble proving residency rights leaves Brits in Italy paying €2k health charge

The unexpected announcement came as a relief to many of The Local’s British readers, who have been battling local authorities’ varying interpretations of the rules for those who are covered by the WA.

However there were no further details available immediately about how the rules would work or how this would be communicated to local healthcare offices around Italy.

The British government’s update stated: “We continue to engage to fully understand guidelines and requirements,” and added that any updates would be published on the website.

Clarissa Killwick, citizens’ rights campaigner with Beyond Brexit, told The Local the update on Friday had come as “a big surprise”.

“Obviously very good news, but we need to wait and see the detail as to how this is going to work.”

READ ALSO: Why Brits in Italy say they’ve been ‘hung out to dry’ over €2K healthcare fee

“There has been a very positive reaction from our members,” she said. “I can feel a great weight lifting from those who have gone through a lot of anxiety since the new minimum of €2,000 for SSN voluntary contributions was first mooted last October.”

Italy’s government confirmed the new minimum €2,000 charge applies from the start of 2024, though there has been a persistent lack of clarity over exactly who it applies to.

In the absence of clear national guidelines, local health authorities have reportedly applied differing interpretations of the rules for WA beneficiaries, with several British nationals reporting being wrongly charged the fee in January.

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