Italy’s top story on Monday:

Headlines in Italy were dominated by local election news on Monday morning as the region of Basilicata was the latest to vote on April 21-22nd.

Voter participation was at a low of 37 percent in Basilicata, down from 53 percent at the last regional elections in 2019, reported news agency Ansa.

Basilicata was the third of five regions to hold elections this year, with Piedmont’s vote set for June 8-9 and Umbria’s expected in either November or December.

Abruzzo and Sardinia voted in March and February respectively, with the vote in Abruzzo seen as an indicator of the right-wing national government’s popularity there. In Sardinia meanwhile, the centre-left’s victory was viewed as a defeat for Meloni’s government.

Venice Biennale opens with focus on international conflict

Venice’s 60th Biennale international art show has opened its doors with exhibitions highlighting the climate crisis as well as war in Ukraine, while tensions have erupted in the city over Gaza.

Protests erupted outside the Israel pavilion over the weekend, while the official Israeli artist pulled out of the event, and the Ukraine team put up posters showing maps of the nearest bomb shelters in Venice.

The exhibition showcases artists from 88 countries, also including pavilions from Japan, Denmark, Brazil and the Czech Republic.

The Biennale Arte 2024, one of the world’s leading international art exhibitions, runs until November 24th.

Rai accused of censorship in row over antifascist author

State broadcaster Rai faced new accusations of censorship over the weekend after cancelling the appearance of a high-profile author who planned to give an antifascist speech on one of its talk shows.

Antonio Scurati, who has authored several books on Mussolini and Italy’s Fascist era, had been due to deliver the monologue on the Rai3 show Chesarà on Saturday, five days before Italy’s national day of liberation from fascism on April 25th – but host Serena Bortone wrote that his invitation had been rescinded “without plausible explanations”.

Rai’s said the cancellation had nothing to do with the speech’s content and came about because the writer had asked for an 1,800-euro fee – a claim which Scurati said was “false” and “defamatory”.

Rai employees earlier this month accused the broadcaster of becoming a “government mouthpiece” amid growing concerns that Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right administration was exerting excessive control over the country’s media, particularly state-owned Rai.

Italy braces for ‘wintry’ weather

More cold weather was expected in Italy this week as an Arctic front was forecast to move in, bringing storms and a drop in temperatures.

Mercury levels were expected to drop as low as 6C (43F) during the day in parts of the northwest, with snow anticipated in the Alps and on parts of the Piedmont plains, and storms and possible hail across the centre-north.

The civil protection department has issued low-level ‘yellow’ weather warnings for areas of Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Marche on Monday, where snow is expected above 400m locally.

Southern Italy was forecast to remain sunny towards the start of the week, but temperatures were set to drop by as much as 10C (50F) between Monday and Wednesday.