Latest news with #Carabinieri
The Advertiser
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Ancient mosaic stolen during WWII returned to Pompeii
A two-millennia-old mosaic, which was stolen by a Nazi officer has been returned to Italy more than 80 years after the end of World War II. The piece will now be displayed on the site of the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, which was buried in the year 79 AD during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the director of the museum site, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said. "Every returned stolen artefact is like a wound that heals," Zuchtriegel said The intricately crafted piece depicts a man and a woman in Roman attire in a bedroom in an intimate pose. According to the museum, the mosaic most likely originates from the region around the volcano and may have once adorned the floor of a bedroom. It is believed to have been created in the first century BC or AD. According to the Carabinieri Police Force for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the mosaic probably came into the "wrongful possession" of the Wehrmacht member during the German occupation. The German officer gifted the piece to a civilian, who kept it until his death. His heirs, realising its origin, contacted the Italian authorities to arrange its return. Documents regarding the theft, the gifting, names, or similar have not yet been found, a Carabinieri spokesman said. A two-millennia-old mosaic, which was stolen by a Nazi officer has been returned to Italy more than 80 years after the end of World War II. The piece will now be displayed on the site of the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, which was buried in the year 79 AD during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the director of the museum site, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said. "Every returned stolen artefact is like a wound that heals," Zuchtriegel said The intricately crafted piece depicts a man and a woman in Roman attire in a bedroom in an intimate pose. According to the museum, the mosaic most likely originates from the region around the volcano and may have once adorned the floor of a bedroom. It is believed to have been created in the first century BC or AD. According to the Carabinieri Police Force for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the mosaic probably came into the "wrongful possession" of the Wehrmacht member during the German occupation. The German officer gifted the piece to a civilian, who kept it until his death. His heirs, realising its origin, contacted the Italian authorities to arrange its return. Documents regarding the theft, the gifting, names, or similar have not yet been found, a Carabinieri spokesman said. A two-millennia-old mosaic, which was stolen by a Nazi officer has been returned to Italy more than 80 years after the end of World War II. The piece will now be displayed on the site of the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, which was buried in the year 79 AD during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the director of the museum site, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said. "Every returned stolen artefact is like a wound that heals," Zuchtriegel said The intricately crafted piece depicts a man and a woman in Roman attire in a bedroom in an intimate pose. According to the museum, the mosaic most likely originates from the region around the volcano and may have once adorned the floor of a bedroom. It is believed to have been created in the first century BC or AD. According to the Carabinieri Police Force for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the mosaic probably came into the "wrongful possession" of the Wehrmacht member during the German occupation. The German officer gifted the piece to a civilian, who kept it until his death. His heirs, realising its origin, contacted the Italian authorities to arrange its return. Documents regarding the theft, the gifting, names, or similar have not yet been found, a Carabinieri spokesman said. A two-millennia-old mosaic, which was stolen by a Nazi officer has been returned to Italy more than 80 years after the end of World War II. The piece will now be displayed on the site of the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, which was buried in the year 79 AD during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the director of the museum site, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said. "Every returned stolen artefact is like a wound that heals," Zuchtriegel said The intricately crafted piece depicts a man and a woman in Roman attire in a bedroom in an intimate pose. According to the museum, the mosaic most likely originates from the region around the volcano and may have once adorned the floor of a bedroom. It is believed to have been created in the first century BC or AD. According to the Carabinieri Police Force for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the mosaic probably came into the "wrongful possession" of the Wehrmacht member during the German occupation. The German officer gifted the piece to a civilian, who kept it until his death. His heirs, realising its origin, contacted the Italian authorities to arrange its return. Documents regarding the theft, the gifting, names, or similar have not yet been found, a Carabinieri spokesman said.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
For a decade, a Chinese tailor worked 13-hour days making high-end garments near Milan
The crackdown, led by Milan's corporate court and the labour-crimes unit of the Carabinieri military police, has snared contractors linked to five well-known fashion labels including Valentino, Armani, and Dior. Loro Piana, owned by French luxury powerhouse LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, became the latest last week, and was placed under court supervision for up to a year. 'There is already a reputational issue in the fashion industry, which started with prices spiralling unreasonably,' said Stefania Saviolo, a lecturer on fashion and luxury management at Milan's Bocconi University. 'These investigations not only damage the brands involved, they affect all of Made in Italy as a system.' Loro Piana, part of LVMH since 2013, denied wrongdoing and said it will co-operate with authorities. The company said it terminated relations with the supplier within 24 hours of being informed of the contractors' existence. The fragmented, mostly family run structure of high-quality Italian manufacturing 'can pose challenges in transparency and oversight', said Toni Belloni, president of LVMH Italy. The group has strengthened controls and revised its internal charter, he said in a statement to Bloomberg News. 'However, areas of fragility remain, so we must work to improve our practices.' The fashion industry is one of Italy's biggest, accounting for about €96 billion worth of Made in Italy products in 2024, according to industry group Camera Nazionale della Moda. The vast majority are destined for overseas markets. Yet the tailor's case shines a light on the treatment of workers who make garments that can cost thousands. He worked from 9am to 10pm daily through to late 2024, when his 'caporale', or boss - also a Chinese migrant - stopped paying him for unknown reasons, according to the court documents. After repeated demands for his wages, a confrontation ensued. The employer punched the tailor and beat him repeatedly with an aluminium tube, the documents said, leading to a criminal complaint. Persistent Lapses Past enforcement efforts have failed to stamp out labour abuses. 'These cases have been increasing in the last few years, with more big groups taking control of smaller Italian companies and starting outsourcing part of the production,' said Roberta Griffini, secretary for the Filctem CGIL Milano union. Responsibility is sometimes hard to determine because subcontractors work for more than one fashion group, Griffini added. Britain has also cracked down on illegal sweatshops, particularly small factories operating in cities such as Leicester. A 2021 United Kingdom report found companies in numerous industries couldn't guarantee their supply chains were free from forced labour. For fashion producers in Italy, the supply chain should be short and closely monitored, said Saviolo of Bocconi University. Younger consumers in particular are paying more attention to brand credibility. Milan is the locus of the sprawling fashion industry in Italy, housing about one-fourth of the nation's 600,000 fashion workers across some 60,000 companies, according to Camera Nazionale della Moda. The Lombardy region's dense ecosystem of design studios, tanneries, and sample makers gives brands unrivalled speed but also shelters what prosecutors called 'a generalised manufacturing method' in which legitimate subcontractors parcel out work to micro-factories operating from converted garages and semi-legal industrial parks. Chinese-owned firms make up a significant part of this complex. About 20% of Lombardy's 10,000-plus textile workshops and factories are Chinese-owned, according to Milan's Chamber of Commerce. The area has drawn a large number of Chinese immigrants, driven by small-business opportunities, globalisation of the fashion industry, and growing family ties. A Loro Piana SpA label on a cashmere pullover. Photo / Alessia Pierdomenico, Bloomberg via the Washington Post Falling Sales The judicial clampdown in Italy is unfolding against a jittery global backdrop, with demand falling and a United States-led tariff war threatening to magnify export costs. The personal luxury-goods industry, worth €364b, lost 50 million customers in 2023 and 2024, Bain estimated last year. The sector will shrink between 2% and 5% this year, according to the consulting firm's June follow-up. Italy's fashion industry was already grappling with falling sales, inflation and international tensions. Brands squeezed by softer demand and volatile costs have doubled down on 'near-shoring' quick orders to Lombardy's workshop belt to protect margins. That very strategy, say prosecutors, is fuelling the race to the bottom that the courts are now trying to halt. Investigators traced Loro Piana's knitwear to intermediaries which subcontracted to factories where illegal migrants worked 90 hours a week and slept next to their sewing machines. The judges said the firm 'negligently benefitted' from illegal cost-cutting. The judicial administrator appointed last week is tasked with monitoring Loro Piana management's progress towards addressing its supply chain. The issues have been similar at other luxury brands, including Giorgio Armani Operations, Dior Manufactures, Valentino Bags Lab and Alviero Martini: opaque layers of small subcontractors, paper safety records, and a workforce of mostly undocumented Chinese migrants. Armani, Dior, and Alviero Martini were released of court oversight after implementing measures such as real-time supplier audits. The unit of Valentino, which is majority owned by Mayhoola of Qatar alongside partner Kering SA, is still subject to court monitoring. The Italian Competition Authority has also been involved. In May it closed an unfair-practices probe into Dior, securing €2 million in funds for anti-exploitation initiatives and requiring the company to improve supplier vetting. Dior, also part of the LVMH orbit, noted then that no infringement was established, and said it is dedicated to high standards of ethics and excellence. Armani Group, still under investigation by the competition authority over alleged unfair commercial practices, said the allegations have no merit and its companies are co-operating with authorities. Greater co-ordination In Milan, co-ordination has tightened with an accord in May between the Milan Prefecture, the fashion chamber, trade unions, and leading brands. The pact sets up a shared database of vetted suppliers and commits signatories to regular certifications. The outcome of the Loro Piana case for now rests with updates to the bench on its progress. LVMH's Belloni said the group had carried out more than 5000 audits in Italy and introduced a stronger control body. While the prefect's new protocol is a 'building block', deeper change will take time and a more collective effort is needed, he said. As for the tailor, the Milan prosecutor is now trying to get him hired legally, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing a personal matter. This would require the employer to make pension contributions, pay taxes, and provide standard benefits. - With assistance from Antonio Vanuzzo, Deirdre Hipwell and Angelina Rascouet.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Irish Independent
Venice gangs using young children to steal from tourists
But criminal gangs are cleverly exploiting a legal loophole and recruiting thieves as young as 12 or 13. Those under the age of 14 escape criminal prosecution. Police chiefs say gangs have turned away from using pregnant women – who can be prosecuted – and instead turned their attention on children. But even when the youngsters are caught and sent to a community centre for the night, they escape within hours, according to Marco Agosti, the commander of the Venice local police. Many of the pickpockets are known to police. Frustrated local activists catch them tailing their victims and later post their images on social media, as well as their names or nicknames such as 'Shakira', 'Mika' or 'Dodu'. 'I didn't feel a thing, they were invisible,' said one 50-year old British victim, who did not want to be named. She was targeted during the city's annual Carnevale festivities in February. 'I didn't realise my wallet was gone until I arrived at the railway station.' Local and national Carabinieri police say they have apprehended more than 150 alleged thieves since the beginning of the year and filled 15 large bags of stolen bags and empty wallets at the town hall. The victims are mostly foreigners and they hardly ever come to the hearing Despite more than 800 police cameras conducting surveillance across the World Heritage listed city, police say they are hamstrung by legal loopholes that allow criminal gangs to exploit the 'baby borseggiatori' (or baby pickpockets) as well as the transient nature of their crimes. 'Pickpocketing is only actionable on a party's complaint and if the robbed person does not show up for trial, the complaint is thrown out,' Gianni Frazoi, the deputy commander of Venice police, told newspaper Corriere della Sera. 'The victims are mostly foreigners and they hardly ever come to the hearing. And so there are no trials and no convictions.' Venice police said 41 people had been caught pickpocketing or arrested between January and May this year but there had been more arrests in June and July. In the first two weeks of May, police arrested 11 pickpockets. All were minors but five could not be prosecuted under Italian law because they were under the age of 14. Commandant Agostini rejected suggestions Venice was any worse than Italy's other tourist hotspots such as Milan, Rome, Florence or Naples. But he did say it was sometimes difficult to get a conviction under Italian law, citing the recent arrest of an alleged Venetian burglar known as 'The Grasshopper' for leaping from one building to another and who has been in and out of jail for his alleged break-ins. Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro is calling for an immediate change to the law and broader police powers.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Telegraph
Venice tourists targeted by child pickpockets
They come in all shapes and sizes and have an uncanny ability to blend in with the crowd. As thousands of tourists surge into Venice in the summer months, so do the pickpockets who shadow the holidaymakers cruising down the Grand Canal or winding through the Lagoon City's labyrinth of narrow alleys. But criminal gangs are cleverly exploiting a legal loophole and recruiting thieves as young as 12 or 13. Those under the age of 14 escape criminal prosecution. Police chiefs say gangs have turned away from using pregnant women – who can be prosecuted – and instead turned their attention on children. But even when the youngsters are caught and sent to a community centre for the night, they escape within hours, Marco Agosti, the commander of the Venice local police, said. 'They were invisible' Many of the pickpockets are known to police. Frustrated local activists catch them tailing their victims and later post their images on social media, as well as their names or nicknames such as 'Shakira', 'Mika' or 'Dodu'. 'I didn't feel a thing, they were invisible,' said one 50-year old British victim, who did not want to be named. She was targeted during the city's annual Carnevale festivities in February. 'I didn't realise my wallet was gone until I arrived at the railway station.' Local and national Carabinieri police say they have apprehended more than 150 alleged thieves since the beginning of the year and filled 15 large bags of stolen bags and empty wallets at the town hall. Despite more than 800 police cameras conducting surveillance across the World Heritage listed city, police say they are hamstrung by legal loopholes that allow criminal gangs to exploit the 'baby borseggiatori' (or baby pickpockets) as well as the transient nature of their crimes. 'Pickpocketing is only actionable on a party's complaint and if the robbed person does not show up for trial, the complaint is thrown out,' Gianni Frazoi, the deputy commander of Venice police, told the daily, Corriere della Sera. 'The victims are mostly foreigners and they hardly ever come to the hearing. And so there are no trials and no convictions.' Venice police said 41 people were caught pickpocketing or arrested between January and May this year but there were more arrests in June and July. In the first two weeks of May, police arrested 11 pickpockets. All were minors but five could not be prosecuted under Italian law because they were under the age of 14. Commandant Agostini rejected suggestions Venice was any worse than Italy's other tourist hotspots like Milan, Rome, Florence or Naples. But he did say it was sometimes difficult to get a conviction under Italian law, citing the recent arrest of an alleged Venetian burglar known as 'The Grasshopper' for leaping from one building to another and who has been in and out of jail for his alleged break-ins. In early July, Venetian activists called 'Non Distratti Stop Borseggi' (don't be distracted, stop pickpocketing) at a street march warning tourists and residents to be more attentive in the fight against pickpocketing. One of the leaders of the group, Monica Poli, known as 'Lady Pickpocket', could not be reached by The Telegraph but has been campaigning for years to fight pickpocketing and recruitment of children. She has been known to confront pickpockets on the streets when she finds them. Venice mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, is calling for an immediate change to the law and broader police powers to tackle the problem which police say has surged after the Covid-19 pandemic. 'We cannot resign ourselves to the normalisation of crimes that damage people's lives and the city's image on a daily basis,' Mr Brugnaro said this week. 'We need urgent corrective measures. The government has to listen to local communities and guarantee urban security.' Italy's national justice undersecretary, Andrea Ostellari, and interior undersecretary, Nicola Molteni, both from the far-right League Party, say they are looking at changes to the law. Meanwhile, other Italian mayors including Daniele Silvetti from the city of Ancona, and Nicola Fiorita from the southern city of Catanzaro in Calabria, have also called for wider police powers to stop pickpocketing and street robberies. The pickpocket victims reflect the global reach of Venice's allure. They include an 80-year-old British tourist, an Emirati sheikh fleeced by robbers near the Rialto Bridge, and a Chinese tourist targeted in St Mark's Square. In the past week there have been a number of targeted attacks on well-heeled tourists in Italy, including British peer and eminent surgeon, Lord Darzi. Lord Darzi was robbed of his £175,000 watch by thieves while he was on holiday on the Italian island of Capri this week. Turkish tourist, Nevzat Kaya, had his €300,000 (£224,000) Richard Mille watch wrenched from his arm by three thieves as he returned to his hotel in Milan on Tuesday. On the same day a 60-year old Milan man had his luxury Patek Philippe Aquanaut watch stolen on the street.
Mint
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
‘After The Fox': When a neorealist directed a classic Peter Sellers comedy
Vittorio De Sica walks on to the set, a vast expanse of sand. Handsome, hair perfect, dressed in a suit, he graciously acknowledges the crew clapping, and says, 'Please, save the applause for when I'm finished." He sets up the shot: Moses leading the slaves out of Egypt. As a crane lifts his chair up, he says through the megaphone, 'I need more sand in the desert," an instruction his assistant dutifully repeats. This is the kind of the joke you'd expect in a film written by Neil Simon and starring Peter Sellers. But what might surprise some is that After the Fox is directed by De Sica himself. In the 1940s, he was one of the central figures of the neorealist movement in Italian cinema, which prioritised location shooting, non-professional actors and social themes. His unadorned, emotional films, which included Shoeshine (1946), Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Umberto D. (1952), made him one of the most famous directors in the world. How did De Sica end up making a silly slapstick caper? Well, the star asked for him. Simon, already a successful New York playwright, found his maiden screenplay about a fake director in Italy optioned by British actor Peter Sellers, who wanted to work with De Sica. But it's also true that De Sica, though best known for his neorealist films, was a wide-ranging director with a particular fondness for comedies. He came aboard the project with Cesare Zavattini, writer of Rosselini's Rome, Open City and many of De Sica's own 1940s and '50s classics. Aldo Vanucci, played with fake Italian accent and real gusto by Sellers, is a master thief in semi-retirement. Tempted by the thought of one last job, he agrees to help move the gold—arriving by ship in Italy—from a recent robbery in Cairo. The trouble is, he's only just broken out of jail and the police are looking for him. Hiding from the Carabinieri in a movie theatre, he stumbles upon a solution. Aldo and his cronies turn up in the seaside village of Sevalio (with equipment stolen from the De Sica Moses film), telling everyone the famous director Federico Fabrizi is there to shoot a film with Hollywood star Tony Powell (Victor Mature) and new sensation 'Gina Romantica", actually Aldo's cinema-mad sister (Britt Ekland). The plan is to use the production as cover until they get hold of the gold bars and escape. The scene where Aldo/Fabrizi convinces Tony to join his extremely sketchy production is played for laughs, but the scenario isn't that far-fetched. Italy was a common destination for American films and actors in the 1950s and 1960s, so much so that a term was coined: 'Hollywood on the Tiber". A lot of these actors were B-graders back home, who got to be in Italian Westerns and pepla (historical epics) and be treated like stars. Bigger names came down as well: to enjoy the glamour of Rome, shoot in the legendary Cinecittà studio, and to work with famous directors like De Sica. The film has the unmistakable sardonic zing of Neil Simon; when Gina gushes about Tony being a good kisser, Aldo says, 'Do you know how many good kissers are starving in Italy?" But no one could accuse De Sica and Zavattini of not being good sports. After the Fox gleefully parodies the kind of cinema they made their reputation with. 'What's neorealism?" Tony asks his agent (Martin Balsam). 'No money" is the instant response. The first Sevalio residents Aldo meets are a group of women washing clothes. 'How my heart goes out to these poor forgotten people," he says—neorealism in a nutshell. In a climactic court scene, the emotional language Zavattini once used is turned on its head for a typical Simon put-down: 'Should they be punished because they want to feed the hunger of an empty soul?" Aldo asks, referring to the villagers. 'Yes," the judge replies. 'Take them away." De Sica must have enjoyed even more skewering a movement he had no association with. New Wave Italian cinema, with its themes of alienation and soul-searching, was in vogue then, and presented an irresistible target (in 1963, American critic Pauline Kael wrote a critical piece called 'Come-dressed-as-the-sick-soul-of-Europe parties: La Notte, Last Year at Marienbad, La Dolce Vita"). For their first scene, Aldo tells Tony and Gina to do nothing, just sit silently at a lone table on a beach; he calls it 'a comment on the lack of communication in our society", a jab that seems especially aimed at the stylish, despairing films of Michelangelo Antonioni. All the inside jokes and jabs can't sour After the Fox, which remains silly, sunny and busy from start to finish. Sellers, whose 100th birth anniversary is this September, is sublime as the scheming, quick-thinking Aldo, the exact opposite of his bumbling Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films. But everyone else is fantastic too, from Victor Mature gamely sending himself up to the commedia dell'arte detective duo. The film looks ravishing in DeLuxe colour, cinematographer Leonida Barboni taking advantage of the seaside views and Piero Tosi's fetching costumes. As I watched this film on a BFI Blu-ray, beautifully restored, I thought how wonderful it would look on a big screen. And it struck me that not only has it been years, maybe decades, since there was a good-looking studio-backed comedy out of Hollywood, but that full-fledged comedies have mostly receded from the theatrical landscape. It's a huge loss. There's nothing like rocking with laughter in unison with a hundred other people.
