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Articles by: Judith Harris

  • Art & Culture

    Happy Birthday, Rome! Celebrating 2,771 Years

    Judith Harris(April 20, 2018)
    On April 21 Rome celebrates its official birthday, 2,771 years after the city's legendary founding by Romulus in 753 BC. For the occasion a parade of 2,000 in costume -- gladiators, politicians, priestesses -- will take place. After exhibits and lectures the day ends with a traditional gigantic fireworks display.
  • Street Art. With Silvio Berlusconi, Matteo Salvini
    Op-Eds

    One Artist's Opinion: The Politicos as Cardsharps

    Judith Harris(April 18, 2018)
    President Sergio Mattarella appoints Senate President Maria Elisabetta Casellati to conduct exploratory negotiations for a new government. By way of light relief, in a street art cartoon copying Caravaggio's famous painting politicians are satirized as cardsharps.
  • Op-Eds

    Battle over US - China Tariffs May Have Fallout for Italy

    Judith Harris(April 09, 2018)
    Experts here disagree over whether the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China will have an effect on Italy and its economy, and to what extent. In particular, if U.S. wine exports to China decline because of higher tariffs, Italian wine sales may rise even further.
  • Op-Eds

    Risk of New Elections Loom Over Quirinal Talks

    Judith Harris(April 03, 2018)
    On Thursday, the second day of formal consultations in the Quirinal Palace, the risk of new elections continued to cast a shadow over the talks guided by President Sergio Mattarella. And in a changing Italy its youthful new Parliament just may prove unpredictable.
  • The Italian Senate
    Facts & Stories

    For the Old and New Pols, it's Still the Ides of March

    Judith Harris(March 28, 2018)
    For the old and new pols charged with running Italy, the Ides of March are still approaching, which is to say the day when one or the other is done in. At the moment all the players are still aiming knives at each other, even as deadlines loom.
  • It is tough economic situation facing young Di Maio if he does manage to become premier of a M5S-dominated government. Small wonder then that last week this youth, born at Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples, made a trip to a Neapolitan church to kiss the relic of the beloved saint San Gennaro, whose blood is believed to liquefy annually.
    Op-Eds

    Center Stage: Luigi Di Maio for the Five-Star Movement

    Judith Harris(March 22, 2018)
    Despite his party's resounding lead over every other party in Italy, Di Maio's M5S failed to achieve the 40% necessary to gain control of the government -- at least not yet. But on Friday the newly installed 630-member Parliament and 315-member Senate begins electing their presidents, in a notable show of horse-trading and power.
  • Life & People

    Remembering Aldo Moro 40 Years After Kidnapping

    Judith Harris(March 12, 2018)
    March 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the day when Aldo Moro was kidnapped and his five bodyguards were killed by Red Brigades, in a military-style operation on Via Fani in Rome. The ghost of that murder still haunts Italian politics.
  • Luigi Di Maio, Leader of the Five Star Movement
    Facts & Stories

    Shock Election Results Signify Dawn of 3d Republic

    Judith Harris(March 06, 2018)
    The shock waves of this election have swept away the entire political system that has managed Italy for the past two decades. Dominated by populist parties, this is now being called the dawn of Italy's Third Republic.

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