The Local Italy

Six bizarre health tips Italian grans swear by

Tue, 09 Jun 2015 17:42:26 +0200

Italians have come up with some truly weird and wonderful remedies for common health complaints but do they help, or are they just a bunch of old wives' tales?

Vaccine row erupts in Italy as populist govt seeks to ease rules

Sat, 11 Aug 2018 11:08:24 +0200

A row is erupting over vaccines in Italy as the country's new populist government fights to roll back a law that bans children from attending school if they haven't received a series of jabs.

Mandatory vaccinations: Italian parents will no longer need to provide doctor's note

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 13:08:48 +0200

Parents in Italy will no longer need to provide medical evidence that their children have received ten mandatory vaccinations in order to enrol them at a state primary school, the Health Minister said on Thursday.

Italy measles cases rise fivefold as vaccination argument turns political

Fri, 05 May 2017 14:26:25 +0200

Measles cases rose more than fivefold across Italy in April compared to the same month last year, according to National Health Institute figures which were released as the debate over the growing anti-vaccine movement heated up.

For the first time, Italians will be able to get abortion pills in clinics

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 13:16:05 +0200

Women in Italy will soon be able to terminate pregnancies without going to hospital, as Lazio - the central region including Rome - becomes the first in Italy to make abortion pills available at family planning clinics.

An Italian woman was forced to go to 23 hospitals to have an abortion

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 11:48:06 +0100

An Italian woman has shared her story of the difficulty in getting an abortion in Italy, where around 70 percent of doctors refuse to carry out the procedure on moral grounds.

Italian doctor sentenced to jail for sexual abuse

Mon, 27 Feb 2017 11:19:07 +0100

A 64-year-old doctor from northern Italy faces four years in jail for sexual abuse for touching female patients' genitals.

Avalanche victims 'died of impact, not hypothermia'

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 11:36:46 +0100

Results of autopsies on the victims of Italy's deadly avalanche have revealed how the 29 people died.

Marijuana, made in Italy: Inside the military police cannabis lab

Wed, 01 Feb 2017 09:48:55 +0100

It's every stoner's nightmare: marijuana plants as far as the eye can see and not a spliff in sight.

Italian hospital chief suspended after photos show patients treated on the floor

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 10:27:21 +0100

Three staff at a Naples hospital, including its director, have been suspended after widespread criticism over photos showing patients being treated while lying on the floor.

Italian doctors transplant kidney for spleen in world first

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 14:52:19 +0100

A hospital in northern Italy said on Wednesday it had achieved a world first by successfully transplanting a kidney in the place of the spleen in a six-year-old girl.

Italy's 'Angel of Death' anaesthetist held over suspicious deaths

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 11:54:05 +0100

Police on Tuesday arrested two Lombardy hospital workers, a nurse and an anaesthetist who called himself the "Angel of Death", suspected of causing the deaths of at least five patients through a lethal cocktail of drugs.

Child contracts TB from infected paediatrician in northern Italy

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 11:52:15 +0200

A child in Trieste, northern Italy, has tested positive for tuberculosis (TB) after coming into contact with a paediatrician infected with the disease.

Italians queue to donate blood for train crash victims

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 12:23:42 +0200

As Italy assesses the damage of Tuesday's train crash in Puglia which left at least 27 dead and dozens injured, local residents have been praised for their outpouring of support and solidarity.

Fewer Italians want to be doctors

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 14:46:52 +0200

Once considered among the most prestigious careers, medicine is attracting fewer candidates in Italy after a lengthy exam scandal left many students feeling it is no longer worth the commitment.

Schizophrenic man dies after 'invasive' treatment

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 11:43:32 +0200

An investigation has been launched into the death of a schizonphrenic man in the northern Italian city of Turin while he was being transported to hospital for mandatory medical treatment.

Boy survives after 42 minutes under water

Wed, 27 May 2015 19:08:26 +0200

A 14-year-old boy has survived after 42 minutes under water in the northern province of Milan, an "exceptional event" according to the child's doctor, Italian media has reported.

Doctors scam €1.5m from 'dead' patients

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 12:41:00 +0200

Four hundred doctors in the southern Italian region of Caserta defrauded the state by €1.5 million by claiming payment for treating nearly 6,000 'fake'patients.