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MILAN (AP) — Italy cleared the way Wednesday to build the world’s largest suspension bridge linking the Italian mainland with Sicily in a massive 13.5 billion euro ($15.5 billion) infrastructure project that has been long delayed by debates over its scale, earthquake threats, environmental impact and the specter of mafia interference. The Strait of Messina Bridge will be “the biggest infrastructure project in the West,” Transport Minister Matteo Salvini told a news conference in Rome, after an interministerial committee with oversight of strategic public investments approved the project. Premier Giorgia Meloni said that the bridge “will be an engineering symbol...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIKINI: 65 Years In The Life Of The Two-PieceSimone Foxman | Jul. 5, 2011, 5:31 PM From ridicule to ubiquity, the bikini has come a long way over the past 65 years. It was on this date in 1946 that French fashion designer Louis Réard hired a nude dancer to sport his two-piece creation after the runway models he approached refused to wear it. But despite provoking controversy -- centering around everything from morality to skin cancer to liposuction -- it is clear that the teenie weenie suit is here to stay. Click here to see the most...

Archaeologists in Sicily, Italy have uncovered a striking mosaic depicting what appear to be Roman-era flip-flops, adding a new chapter to the rich artistic heritage of the Villa Romana del Casale. The sandals, crafted in the fourth century A.D., were found in the villa’s southern bath complex during ongoing excavations. The discovery includes more than the footwear motif. Alongside the sandals, researchers identified a mosaic inscription and three columns with capitals. Specialists say the artifacts highlight the villa’s exceptional craftsmanship, providing fresh insight into decorative themes used in elite Roman residences. Part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site The Villa...

Selinunte - ancient Selinus - was one of the wealthiest Greek colonies on Sicily. Before its sudden destruction by Carthage, the city built a series of temples, which survive today as some of the Mediterranean's most impressive ruins. Selinunte: More Temples than Athens | 7:20 Scenic Routes to the Past | 42.1K subscribers | 10,799 views | July 25, 2025 0:00 Introduction 1:18 Temple E 2:16 Temple F 3:01 Temple G 4:43 Acropolis 5:26 Temple C 6:21 Temple D

Euryalus Castle, high above the Sicilian city of Syracuse, was the strongest and most sophisticated fortification anywhere in the ancient Greek world. The Strongest Ancient Greek Castle | 8:35 Toldinstone Footnotes | 42.4K subscribers | 3,851 views | June 24, 2025 Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:35 Outworks 1:37 Tunnels and galleries 4:38 Keep 6:37 Outer courtyard 7:48 Walls of Dionysius

Salvage experts winched Mike Lynch’s sunken superyacht towards the surface on Friday, 10 months after it went down off the coast of Sicily, killing the British tech tycoon, his teenage daughter and five others. The vessel is scheduled to be lifted out of the water in the final phase of the recovery on Saturday, TMC Marine, the company leading the salvage operation, said. “Accelerated progress in salvage works off the coast of northern Sicily mean that all preparations are now nearing completion, ahead of the delicate lifting procedure,” the statement said. The work was briefly halted last month after the...

A referendum in Italy on easing citizenship rules and enhancing workers' rights has been declared invalid. Around 30% of voters participated - well short of the 50% threshold required to make the vote binding - in the poll, which began on Sunday and ran until 15:00 (14:00 BST) on Monday. The ballot featured five questions covering different issues, including a proposal to halve the length of time an individual has to live in Italy before they can apply for citizenship from 10 to five years. The referendum was initiated by a citizens' initiative and supported by civil society groups and...

SICILY, Italy – Italy’s Mount Etna volcano violently erupted on Monday, sending plumes of toxic ash and smoke billowing into the sky as people on the mountain ran for safety to escape the danger. According to Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), activity at Mount Etna on Sicily began during the pre-dawn hours on Monday and culminated with "intense and almost continuous" strombolian explosions hours later. The INGV said that strombolian activity is a relatively low-level volcanic eruption, during which a modest amount of energy is released. Dramatic photos and video showed dangerous pyroclastic flows racing down the...

According to the Greek Reporter, archaeologists have discovered the earliest known evidence of human occupation on the island of Sicily in San Teodoro cave near the town of Acquedolci -- finally proving a theory that was first posited over 75 years ago but unable to be confirmed then. Modern dating methods of sediment layers where stone tools, animal bones, and charred wood were found estimated that they were 16,500 years old, revealing that humans inhabited Sicily much earlier than previously thought. Groups of hunter-gatherers likely crossed the sea in small boats from mainland Europe as the last Ice Age was...

The chestnut trees of Europe tell a hidden story charting the fortunes of ancient Rome and the legacy it left in the continent's forests. The ancient Romans left an indelible imprint on the world they enveloped into their empire. The straight, long-distance roads they built can still be followed beneath the asphalt of some modern highways. They spread aqueducts, sewers, public baths and the Latin language across much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. But what's perhaps less well known is the surprising way they transformed Europe's forests. ... Romans had something of a penchant for sweet chestnut...

Three crew members of the Bayesian superyacht are officially under investigation for crimes including negligence, recklessness and failing to save the ship from an oncoming storm, according to Italian prosecutors. Captain James Cutfield, chief engineer Timothy Parker Eaton and deckhand Matthew Griffiths are in line to face criminal charges, according to the public prosecutor of Termini Imerese in Sicily, close to where the yacht sank amid a severe storm. The potential charges were set out as rescue workers strive to raise the vessel, currently 50 meters (164 feet) below the surface, off the coast of Porticello. Allegedly, “through negligence consisting...

According to a Live Science report, European hunter-gatherers traversed the Mediterranean Sea in primitive boats and visited North Africa much earlier than previously thought. A new study sequenced the DNA from nine individuals who lived in modern-day Algeria and Tunisia between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. The surprising results revealed that some of them may have been descended from Mesolithic Europeans. The genome of one particular man buried at the site of Djebba in Tunisia indicated that at least six percent of his DNA could be traced back to European hunter-gatherers. These results suggest that the individual's local ancestors mixed...

A U.S. naval base in Sicily, Italy, was placed on lockdown on Wednesday due to an "ongoing situation" at an entry control point, officials said.

Explanation: Can a lava flow extend into the sky? No, but light from the lava flow can. One effect is something quite unusual -- a volcanic light pillar. More typically, light pillars are caused by sunlight and so appear as a bright column that extends upward above a rising or setting Sun. Alternatively, other light pillars -- some quite colorful -- have been recorded above street and house lights. This light pillar, though, was illuminated by the red light emitted by the glowing magma of an erupting volcano. The volcano is Italy's Mount Etna, and the featured image was captured...

The display of seismic activity has drawn numerous visitors, including Marco Bassot, a snowboarder. Several days ago, Bassot began sharing footage of climbing and riding the erupting volcano. The snowboarder in the videos cruised down patches of snow while, in the background, a river of lava bubbled. "This fracture started some days ago and created a huge, intense and impressive lava flow for more than 1.000 m, you can really feel the heat," Bassot wrote in a social media post. "I've seen many things in my 40 years of life but riding side by side of a flowing river of...

A shipwreck dating to the sixth or fifth century b.c. has been discovered near Sicily along with a collection of ancient anchors, according to a report from CBS News. The wreck was found buried under sand and rock 20 feet underwater off Santa Maria del Focallo, at the southern tip of the island. The excavation was carried out by underwater archaeologists from the University of Udine in collaboration with Sicily's superintendent of the sea. Researchers determined that the ship's hull was built using a simple early shipbuilding technique known as "on the shell." Further study of the wreck may help...

In the province of Catania, archaeologists have excavated the remains of a Roman house with a mosaic floor dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD. The house was part of a whole Roman village and was situated close to the town of Vizzini in southeastern Sicily, at an elevation of almost 500 meters above sea level...These geophysical measurements led the research team to the remains of the buildings that have now been excavated. The building extended 30 by 13 meters, and its remains are just below the current surface. Inside, there is a representative room of nearly 100 square...

Italian special forces divers have recovered potentially crucial video equipment from the wreck of Mike Lynch’s superyacht, which could explain how it sank. Seven people, including the British tech tycoon and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, died when the Bayesian sank in severe weather off the coast of Sicily last month. The divers, from an Italian navy unit equivalent to Britain’s Special Boat Service, recovered video surveillance systems, computers and hard drives that will be sent to specialised labs, a source close to the investigation told Reuters. It is hoped that, if the equipment was recovered intact, it may help investigators...

Underwater archaeologists from the Soprintendenza del Mare Regione Siciliana, RPM Nautical Foundation, and the Society for the Documentation of Submerged Sites (SDSS), has recovered two more bronze warship rams at the site of the Battle of the Egadi Islands, a pivotal naval engagement during the First Punic War, that led to the victory of Rome over Carthage.The Battle of the Egadi Islands, also called the Battle of the Aegates, was a naval battle fought on the 10 March 241 BC off the western coast of the island of Sicily.Ancient authors recount the size and scale of the battle, which saw...

After two years of underwater searches around the islands, which lie west of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, experts last year found a bronze helmet and some amphorae from about 241 BC, the date of the decisive Roman victory over the Carthage fleet. At around the same time, a team of Italy's famed art police busted a collector who had a ship's bronze battering ram from the same period on display in his home. It turned out the relic had been illegally looted using nets from the same area... The Battle of the Aegates Islands was the final naval battle...