Sicily

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Just Months After Capture, the 'Last Godfather' Dies
Mob Boss 'Took
With Him His Secrets'
OBITUARY

Mob Boss 'Took With Him His Secrets'

Sicilian 'last Godfather' Matteo Messina Denaro, 61, dies just months after his capture

(Newser) - An infamous Italian mob boss who was captured in January after 30 years on the run has died. Officials tell Reuters that 61-year-old Matteo Messina Denaro, known as the "last godfather," has succumbed to colon cancer, after falling into a coma on Friday from which he never emerged....

Mount Etna Erupts in Italy, Suspending Flights

No injuries have been reported

(Newser) - Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, was erupting on Sunday, spewing ash on Catania, eastern Sicily’s largest city, and forcing a suspension of flights at that city’s airport. The AP reports that Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, which closely monitors Etna with instrumentation on...

Inside Mob Boss's Hideouts: Cellphones, Viagra

2 hideouts found in close proximity, just 5 miles from Matteo Messina Denaro's birthplace

(Newser) - Italian police have uncovered two hideouts believed to have been used by Cosa Nostra mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro toward the end of his 30 years on the run. Car keys in his possession during his arrest on Monday led authorities to a home in the Sicilian town of Campobello...

What Gave Away One of Italy's Biggest Mob Bosses

Matteo Messina Denaro's sickness led cops right to a Sicilian health clinic

(Newser) - In a story that seems made for Hollywood, Italian police this week captured one of Italy's most famous fugitives: Matteo Messina Denaro, who helped lead the Cosa Nostra mob syndicate even as he was on the run for the past three decades. And it was a routine, somewhat expected...

It's the First Study to Examine Sicily's Child Mummies

Researchers to examine 41 'tiny dolls' mummified in Sicily's Capuchin Catacombs

(Newser) - The Capuchin Catacombs in Sicily, Italy, are famous for their nearly 1,300 mummified corpses on display to the public. Now researchers plan to conduct the first-ever study devoted to a subset of those mummies—the children. Specifically, researchers from Staffordshire University in the UK will examine 41 mummified children,...

Europe's Tallest Volcano Is Growing—and Fast

Mount Etna at its tallest recorded height following 50 eruptions in 6 months

(Newser) - Europe's tallest and most active volcano has grown 100 feet in just six months, owing to some 50 eruptions, reaching its tallest height in recorded history, according to a new analysis. For the past 40 years, Mount Etna's tallest peak has been its northeastern crater. But the southeastern...

Sicily May Have Just Broken Temp Record for All of Europe

But the 48.8C temp must still be confirmed

(Newser) - Sicily reached a difficult-to-imagine 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.85 Fahrenheit) Wednesday, in what may be a record high temperature for all of Europe. The World Meteorological Organization must still confirm the temperature, which would break the previous record of 48 degrees Celsius set in Athens in 1977, the Guardian...

Volcanic Ash Cleanup Could Bankrupt Towns

Each eruption can cost Sicilian towns more than $1M

(Newser) - For the people of Sicily, the seemingly unending eruptions of Mount Etna are getting old—and expensive. Since February , the eruptions have been covering dozens of towns with volcanic ash that needs to be removed. Cleanup costs can top $1 million each time, the Guardian reports, pushing the towns toward...

On an Island, Elephants Shrink Surprisingly Fast
On an Island, Elephants
Shrink Surprisingly Fast
new study

On an Island, Elephants Shrink Surprisingly Fast

Study suggests it took only 40 generations for ancient beasts to lose 85% of their size

(Newser) - Somewhere around 400,000 years ago, hulking elephants made their way to what we know now as the Italian island of Sicily. In a relative blink of the eye—roughly 40 generations—they shrank to miniature versions of their former selves, reports the New York Times . That's one estimate...

Move to This Town, Get a Free House

Mayor wants new residents to spark revival in Sicily

(Newser) - "I can't stand to see this gorgeous, old historical center empty and turn into a ruin," Vincenzo Giambrone said. Owners have abandoned the crumbling, ancient houses, said the mayor of Cammarata, a town in Sicily, rather than repair them. "It leaves a deep scar on the...

Tourists Jump in Sea to Escape Volcano

Eruption killed hiker on Stromboli

(Newser) - Minor eruptions of the volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli happen so often it is nicknamed the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean"—but the one Wednesday evening was very different. Tourists on the island north of Sicily fled into the sea after a huge blast created a mushroom...

Huge Volcano May Face 'Catastrophic Failure'

Mount Etna is slowly drifting toward the Mediterranean

(Newser) - Europe's biggest and most active volcano is sliding into the Mediterranean Sea and could suffer catastrophic failure one day—even if that day is far away, the BBC reports. Scientists who studied Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily say it is sliding just over half an inch...

Tourists Gawking at Mount Etna Get Nasty Surprise

10 people are injured from magma

(Newser) - Volcanic rocks and steam injured at least 10 people, including tourists and scientists, following an explosion on Sicily's Mount Etna Thursday, witnesses and media reported, per the AP . Tourists had been drawn to Etna to observe the spectacle of the active volcano erupting, only to be caught by surprise...

Millions Flock to Catch Eruption Live-Stream From Mount Etna

Italian volcano has been pretty quiet for a couple of years

(Newser) - We're still more than four months out from the Fourth of July, but the fireworks started early in Sicily this week. Reuters reports Mount Etna experienced its first eruption of 2017, sending lava skyward above the Italian island on Monday night. By Tuesday morning, brilliant spurts from the volcano,...

Woman Dies After Miscarriage, 'Conscientious Objector' Doctor Blamed

Family says Italian woman requested abortion because her life was in danger

(Newser) - The story of an Italian woman who died after giving premature birth to twins isn't turning out to be a straightforward "complications during childbirth" story, with her family now claiming her doctor refused to perform a life-saving abortion, reports the BBC . On Sept. 29, Valentina Milluzzo was rushed...

Cops Crack Mafia's Bizarre Sheep Farming Code

Communication pointed to messages hidden at Sicily farm

(Newser) - Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has been on the run since 1993, but Italian police hope a series of raids early today will bring them closer to putting one of the most wanted criminals in Europe behind bars, per Deutsche Welle . Authorities say they arrested 11 alleged associates of...

Fear of Zombies Stretches Back to Ancient Greece

In some cases, stones were placed on dead to keep them from roaming

(Newser) - The walking dead roamed ancient imaginations long before they found their way to your television , and the concept was far less fringe in ancient times. So say researchers inspecting 2,905 burials at the Greek colony of Kamarina in southeastern Sicily. Writing in the journal Popular Archaeology , University of Pittsburgh...

Ancient Shipwreck Yields 'Atlantis' Metal

Orichalcum mystery solved, researchers say

(Newser) - It was considered one of the most precious metals in ancient times—and Plato claimed it lined the temple of Poseidon on the legendary island of Atlantis—but this appears to be the first time anybody in modern times has actually found some orichalcum. Researchers in Sicily say a shipwreck...

Sicilian Mafia Put a Hit on Giuliani

But the Gambino family said no way in the 1980's

(Newser) - The Sicilian mob hated Rudy Giuliani so much when he worked as a federal prosecutor in New York back in the 1980s that it sent a hit man to the US to get rid of him, reports the New York Post . Similar reports have surfaced before , but a mafia turncoat...

200 Rescued When Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Italy

Up to 50 people thought to be dead

(Newser) - About 50 people are dead, including 10 children, after another boat carrying migrants to Italy capsized today in the Channel of Sicily, ANSA reports. (The AP's death toll is at 27.) It could have been far worse: Officials estimate that 200 of the 250 migrants on board have...

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