All posts tagged: Giorgia

Giorgia Meloni’s Italy wants to rename electricity – POLITICO

Giorgia Meloni’s Italy wants to rename electricity – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

For Rome, “the Italian proposal is part of a broader effort to promote the country’s scientific heritage and Italy’s role in major international technological innovation initiatives.” The diplomatic push intensified on Thursday, with junior digital minister Alessio Butti discussing the proposal with Annette Koo, director general of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), a Paris-based international organization in charge of measurements. “The Italian proposal goes well beyond the linguistic question and represents the desire to give important historical recognition to one of the fathers of modern science, whose work radically changed humanity’s relationship with electricity and technological progress,” Butti said in a statement. In his meeting with Koo, Butti said that most units of measurements that are named after indivuals maintain the full family name, without abbreviations. This is the case with hertz, newton or watt, for example. The Italian official was in the French capital also to attend a G7 meeting of digital ministers. The change would need to first be implemented domestically and then pushed at the international level with the …

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni loses referendum – POLITICO

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni loses referendum – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

A loss in the referendum will probably weaken the right-wing prime minister’s hand politically, most critically ahead of a general election expected before the end of next year. Italy’s right has long wanted to shake up a judicial system that it claims is politicized and biased toward the left — an assertion disputed by the opposition and many legal experts — vowing the reforms proposed in the referendum would make the system more accountable. Opponents of Meloni’s reforms warned an overhaul risked weakening judicial independence and portrayed the referendum as an attempt to bring fiercely autonomous legal officials under government control. Voters were asked to approve changes to how judges and prosecutors are governed and disciplined, including separating their career paths and reshaping oversight bodies. The tension over the judiciary reflect long-running tension in Italian politics. The Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) investigations of the early 1990s exposed a vast network of corruption that wiped out an entire political class, leaving magistrates with heightened authority and politicians deeply mistrustful of the judiciary. The shadow of former …

Giorgia Meloni’s strong poll numbers, a deceptive success

Giorgia Meloni’s strong poll numbers, a deceptive success

Published by Sam Flores

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, February 5, 2026. REMO CASILLI / REUTERS In a Europe shaken by uncertainty, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni stands out, perhaps surprisingly, as an outlier of stability. Neighboring France has struggled with successive weak governments while Germany’s traditional parties are facing challenges from the far right, but in Italy, Meloni – the direct inheritor of Italy’s neo-fascist legacy – is showing unmatched strength in opinion polls. Despite regularly identifying an ever-growing list of internal enemies, nothing has seemed to shake her, not even an approaching referendum on judicial reform, scheduled for March 22 and 23. According to the Italian polling institute YouTrend, her party, Fratelli d’Italia, maintained 29.7% of voting intentions, a figure higher than in the 2022 legislative elections (26%) and the 2024 European elections (28.8%). Meloni’s trust rating, measured at 45% in the 2026 Eurobarometer, stood in contrast to 33% for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and just 15% for French President Emmanuel Macron. This position has given her enough confidence to intervene in France’s tense political climate, …

Rome Fresco Altered After Complaints Over Giorgia Meloni Likeness

Rome Fresco Altered After Complaints Over Giorgia Meloni Likeness

Published by José Betancourt

The face of an angel who appeared to resemble Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has been removed from a fresco in a Rome church after complaints from Vatican officials. The image appeared in a chapel of the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina, where artist Bruno Valentinetti restored a fresco he originally painted in 2000. Valentinetti initially denied that the angel bore any resemblance to Meloni. He said the recent intervention was a necessary conservation effort after water damage, a claim echoed by the parish priest, Monsignor Daniele Michelett, in comments to the BBC. Related Articles The likeness was first reported earlier this month by La Repubblica, which noted that the angel, depicted holding a map of Italy, had previously featured a more generic cherubic face. Speaking to the newspaper on February 5, Valentinetti later acknowledged the resemblance, saying, “Okay, it was Meloni, but along the lines of the painting that was there before.” The angel’s face was erased last week after Italy’s culture ministry and the diocese of Rome opened an inquiry into …