https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Italy in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed "There's a huge passion to make music in Italy, which makes it a great place to work and spend time," says conductor Alpesh Chauhan. At the age of just 28, Chauhan is the principal conductor of the main orchestra in Parma, the northern city chosen as Italy's Capital of Culture for 2020. https://www.thelocal.it/20180730/its-incredible-to-lead-an-orchestra-in-italy-the-place-where-music-was-born Mon, 30 Jul 2018 13:57:16 +0200 its-incredible-to-lead-an-orchestra-in-italy-the-place-where-music-was-born The gondola is an Italian icon, and tourists around the world dream of taking a trip on one of the traditional Venetian boats, courtesy of a gondolier dressed in a striped shirt and straw hat. https://www.thelocal.it/20170607/rowing-in-venice-is-unique-its-the-closest-youll-get-to-walking-on-water Wed, 07 Jun 2017 10:32:55 +0200 rowing-in-venice-is-unique-its-the-closest-youll-get-to-walking-on-water Organic farmer and innkeeper Ashley Bartner admits that her move to Italy "didn’t really make sense". She and her husband Jason decided to relocate to the rural Marche region from New York in their mid-20s, having only visited the country once on their honeymoon. https://www.thelocal.it/20180430/lessons-running-agritourism-marche-business-italy-expat Mon, 30 Apr 2018 11:58:31 +0200 lessons-running-agritourism-marche-business-italy-expat Finding accommodation in Italy is a headache, with scams and unscrupulous landlords to watch out for, red tape to wade through, and of course the high cost of buying or renting in a city. Architect Leonardo Di Chiara’s solution is simple: he created, and now lives in, a studio apartment on wheels, his entire living space measuring just nine metres squared. https://www.thelocal.it/20180426/meet-the-italian-architect-who-lives-in-a-nine-square-metre-home Thu, 26 Apr 2018 17:15:42 +0200 meet-the-italian-architect-who-lives-in-a-nine-square-metre-home Formerly a California banker, Marie Ohanesian Nardin moved to Italy 31 years ago after a short trip to Venice turned into something permanent. Now she has written a book based on her experiences, and tells The Local how the lagoon city has changed her own outlook on life, and how learning Italian has made her a better writer. https://www.thelocal.it/20180419/being-bilingual-has-made-me-a-more-creative-writer Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:45:52 +0200 being-bilingual-has-made-me-a-more-creative-writer He faced jail for smuggling Kalashnikovs, but the teenage heir to a powerful mafia clan in Italy was instead removed from his family and given a chance to break free of the criminal underworld. https://www.thelocal.it/20170707/italian-calabria-therapy-teenage-mafia-ndrangheta-clan-heirs-family Fri, 07 Jul 2017 11:28:23 +0200 italian-calabria-therapy-teenage-mafia-ndrangheta-clan-heirs-family It is not an experience he's keen to repeat but Carmelo Cuzzolino is resigned to the inevitable as stretched resources mean more merchant ships get caught up in the Mediterranean migrant crisis. https://www.thelocal.it/20170531/we-barricaded-ourselves-in-veteran-italian-seamen-speaks-about-his-experience-of-the-migrant-crisis Wed, 31 May 2017 10:56:43 +0200 we-barricaded-ourselves-in-veteran-italian-seamen-speaks-about-his-experience-of-the-migrant-crisis “There’s a huge contrast between the love tourists and so-called ‘expats’ like me have for Tuscany, and the shock that asylum seekers have to absorb when they are told that they might have to spend several years in the Tuscan outback,” explains Katja Meier, who spent several years running a refugee centre in the Tuscan hills. https://www.thelocal.it/20170421/working-in-a-refugee-home-right-and-wrong-dont-go-hand-in-hand-with-the-law Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:59:24 +0200 working-in-a-refugee-home-right-and-wrong-dont-go-hand-in-hand-with-the-law