The past few days have been both complex and bright for Italian politics as old and new parties showed how, when forced by circumstances, they have the courage and the resources to promote the institutional and symbolic change the country desperately needs. On Saturday Italy's Senate elected Pietro Grasso, the...

By Iginio Gagliardone and Davide Morisi

It has been more than eight months since Silvio Berlusconi resigned as Italy's Prime Minister and a government of technocrats stripped international reporting on Italian politics of the burlesque tones that used to characterize his time in office.

Berlusconi, however, who

Among the increasing number of countries filtering the Internet, China has stood out in its efforts to articulate a doctrine to validate this practice. In a White Paper released in June 2010, for example, Chinese authorities indicated "state security and social harmony" among the pillars of Internet development,...

After Tunisia and Egypt, can the winds of change blow across the Mediterranean Sea, bringing reforms in another troubled neighbour? Not Jordan or Syria. But Italy.

It may not be justified to compare Hosni Mubarak's 30 years in power or Ben Ali's 23 with Silvio Berlusconi's rule over Italy,...

Just weeks away from Italy's regional elections the country witnessed one of the most awkward, and potentially dangerous, episodes in the history of its politics. Newspapers abroad have not been picking up on this story, partly because of its complexity, but what happened in the past few days is analogous...

While the world watches the effects of another natural disaster, Italians, especially the citizens of L'Aquila, the city struck by an earthquake in April 2009, are waking up to a new kind of desolation. Italian magistrates have started unveiling the results of the inquiries on the reconstruction that...