"Buon giorno, cari lettori!" Welcome to the only newsletter that insists the 1 million tons of Naples garbage still lying around should be dumped in the Vesuvius, "Only In Italy!"

Sirs. I'm subscriber to your news letter. But anyway, I'm an Italian-American who very unfortunately ended up in Italy because of family ties (I married an Italian). Italy is a bad place for me, I mean, I just don't like the place.

You got the experience in handling such Italians, do I ignore him or do I insult him back? Victor (I hate being called Vittorio)

Thanks for the Broadway scene, Victor Vittorio.

Of course, we will not advocate violence unless it's violence you encounter and look for. However; believe it or not, there is always space for intellectual reasoning...even with Napolitanos!

Now, we're assuming that you're living in Naples or living in a neighborhood where its culture crash-landed. It doesn't matter. You can still have fun.

Now, Victor, you know very well that the Campania region where Naples is located has about 1 million tons of garbage (give or take a few hundred thousand tons) it still must find a solution for. These people threw everything out in the garbage including the kitchen sinks. Help your Napolitano bully by educating him on the wholesome good he can do for his God forsaken region by going green like his teeth and recycling.

Maybe, then, his garbage won't pile up to the third floor of two-story buildings.

Enjoy the issue, keep writing and Grazie!

Salò - January 28, 2008 - A museum dedicated to Benito Mussolini has been opened in response to requests by German tourists.

The museum in Salò, on the shores of Lake Garda, examines the last days of fascism in the town that Mussolini used as his headquarters in the final 19 months of the Second World War.

The Republic of Salò was set up by the Nazis after their paratroopers liberated Mussolini from prison in Gran Sasso in September 1943.

From here "Il Duce" spent his time oppressing Italian partisans and Jews.

He even executed Galeazzo Ciano, his own son-in-law.

Salò still has resonance for many extreme-Right political parties, including the Tricolour Flame, which refers to it as an ideal in its manifesto.

However, Roberto Chiarini, a State University of Milan history professor who is in charge of the project, denied that the museum would encourage nostalgia for Italy's fascist era.

"At last the demonisation of Mussolini has stopped and we can look seriously at the history," he said.

"Until now there were more than 70 historical institutes in Italy devoted to partisans but not one that looked at Salò."

Vatican City - January 24, 2008 - Not even the death of a worshipper was enough to stop Mass in a small church in the northern Italian town of Trento.

Pio Lieta, 86, suffered a fatal heart attack during an early-morning service at the Church of the White Madonna last Sunday.

An ambulance was called, and Mr Lieta, whose name means "pious" in Italian, was pronounced dead at the scene.

However, instead of halting the Mass, Father Mario Peron asked for the body to be covered with a white cloth and left Mr Lieta in the nave of the church while he finished the service.

It is against Italian law to move a body without the authorization of a local magistrate.

"What could I have done?" said Fr Peron afterwards. "The Holy Mass has to be celebrated. It is not right to make an exception for one individual. Only people who do not understand the point of Mass would not understand the logic of my decision. We could not stop. We were united together in church and we prayed for him."

Only a handful of parishioners were present for the early-morning service, and some expressed their surprise at the priest's decision to reporters. "We should have stopped as a sign of respect," said one unnamed worshipper.

Mr Lieta's funeral took place at the same church today, and his family said they were not upset by what had happened.

Father Angelo Lieta, his son and a missionary in Chile, said: "My father would have agreed with the continuation of the Mass. I am only sorry I could not have been there myself."

Venice - January 21, 2008 - A new waterbus service reserved for Venetians only started plying up and down the Grand Canal on Monday, allowing residents to avoid bustling groups of tourists.

The number 3 'vaporetto' line, from the main station to St Mark's Square, has been introduced a week ahead of the Venice carnival, when thousands of tourists are expected to pour into the lagoon city. One of the first passengers on the No.3 was Mayor Massimo Cacciari, who said the initiative would help eliminate the riotous stampedes of tourists and residents during rush hour on the Grand Canal.

There were a few protests earlier this month when it was announced that Venetians were to get their own waterbuses, run for them by crews sporting a distinctive blue rosette on their uniforms.

One local consumers' association compared the 'residents only' rule to the apartheid of "1960s Alabama". Critics also said that launching an untested system just before Carnival, when the entire transport network was under maximum strain, was "incomprehensible".

But generally, residents seemed happy at the innovation, which will put an extra seven boats on Venice's main waterway.

Francesco Trevis, head of a St Mark's Square residents' association, said: "For us workers and residents, not having to stand in queues with tourists for half an hour is certainly positive. They have time to waste. For us it means getting to work every day".