Carciofo alla giudia. Artichoke prepared Jewish-style (fried). Happy Easter Monday from Rome!

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy tells Pope Francis it’s ‘a great honour’ as the two meet today inside the Vatican, a first in-person meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine.

🇺🇦 President Zelenskyy now on Italian TV: ‘We want peace, but we also want justice if we’re giving our lives for the future.’

A quiet reminder in Venice of the first woman in the woman in the world to graduate from university. Elena Lucrezia Piscopia, in case you didn’t know. 😉

Italy in a nutshell.

What lies behind Russia’s acts of extreme violence? Freudian analysis offers an answer theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Join me tonight on CBC Radio's Ideas as I take a close look inside the Sistine Chapel with fellow Canadian & Rome resident Jeannie Marshall, author of the wonderful book on the masterpiece & on the mystery of why art moves us, All Things Move.

Last week on The Current on CBC Radio I spoke about Sonyal Mehboob, one of the hundreds, many young Pakistani men, who disappeared when the migrant boat capsized in Greek waters. Like all on board, he was loved. #GreekBoatDisaster #migrants

Life-giving, always looming, Etna.

News travels slow in Sicily. #ChiesaSantissimoSalvatore #Noto

Backing up what survivors say.👇🏼 nytimes.com/2023/07/01/wor…

Naples has some of the most creatively designed subway stops. Tiles on the entrance to the Università stop near the port designed by Canadian Karin Rashid & Italian Alessando Mendini.

What a privilege to sit in on dress rehearsal of ‘In the Solitude of the Cotton Fields.’ Tour de force performances by John Malkovich & Ingeborga Dapkūnaite, directed by exiled, anti-war Russian Timofey Kulyabin. Opens tonight in Naples, Campania Theatre Festival. Fondazione Campania dei Festival

What is left to say, really.

Turkey detains five mayors in latest crackdown on opposition on.ft.com/4kngVJU

300,000 people, including leaders of all main opposition parties, out in Rome on Saturday calling for ‘an end to the massacre’ in Gaza.