Gang of Senior Armed Robbers in Their 60s and 70s Arrested in Italy

A gang of six alleged armed robbers led by senior citizens in their 60s and 70s have been arrested in Italy after carrying out several armed burglaries at post offices in Rome.

70-year-old Italo De Witt, nicknamed “the German”, Sandro Baruzzo, 68, and 77-year-old Raniero Pula look more like harmless grandpas than hardened criminals, but appearances can be deceiving. Italian prosecutors claim that they were the leaders of a ruthless gang of armed robbers that specialized in Rome post offices. The gang had a very clear structure, with the three elderly gentlemen at the top, and three other experts, a key maker (66) to breach the various locks, and two bricklayers (51 and 56 years old) who handled “the hole” through which the gang entered the post offices. All members had criminal records, but the leaders had particularly impressive records that went back all the way back to the 1970s. Apparently, some people never change.

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This Italian Church Has a 500-Year-Old Crocodile Hanging from the Ceiling

The Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie, in Italy’s Lombardia region, is an old church famous for having a real taxidermied crocodile hanging from the ceiling.

What’s the last thing you expect to see when you look up in a church? Granted, there are plenty of interesting answers one can think of, but ‘a crocodile’ definitely ranks up there with the quirkiest of them. But if you travel to the small municipality of Curtatone, in Lombardia, Italy, you’ll find a church with a five-century-old crocodile hanging from the ceiling. It’s a peculiar sight, to say the least, but one that has been around for as long as anyone can remember. How the croc wound up at the Santuario Della Beata Vergine Maria Delle Grazie is, and will probably remain a mystery, but its purpose had been linked to religious symbolism.

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Woman Fakes 17 Pregnancies to Collect Maternity Benefits and Skip Work

An Italian woman stands accused of faking no less than 17 pregnancies – 12 natural abortions and 5 false births – over the last 24 years, to receive 110,000 euros ($120,000) in maternity benefits.

50-year-old Barbara Ioele has had an unusual number of pregnancies over the last 24 years, which have resulted in years of maternity leave and a small fortune in state-paid benefits. According to documents filed by the woman, she went through 17 pregnancies, 12 of which unfortunately couldn’t be carried to term. The other five allegedly resulted in the birth of healthy babies named Benedetta, Angelica, Abramo, Letizia, and Ismaele, only there is no record of them ever being registered, and no one has ever actually seen them. Barbara allegedly birthed her youngest child in December of last year, but now authorities claim she had been under surveillance throughout her late pregnancy and they have proof that she was never pregnant. They are also accusing her of having faked all 17 declared pregnancies to receive over 110,000 euros in benefits and get time off from work.

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Meet Flexman, the Italian Vigilante Waging War on Speed Cameras

For the past eight months, a mysterious man dubbed ‘Flexman’ by his motorist fans has been disabling speed cameras in several Italian regions by cutting their supporting metal poles with an angle grinder.

The angle grinder was invented in 1954 by a German company called Flex, and even today, in many European countries, the angle grinder is popularly known as a ‘flex’. Little did the creators of this useful tool know that many decades later, the flex would inspire the nickname of a vigilante specializing in disabling speed traps on the roads of Italy by taking an angle grinder to the metal poles supporting them. Flexman first made news headlines in May of last year, when he took down his first speed trap on a road near Bosaro, in Italy’s Rovigo region. Since then, he managed to disable at least seven other cameras in Rovigo and Veneto using his signature angle grinder, and authorities still have no idea who he is or how to stop him.

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Unusual Number of Bald, Beardless Men Going into Barbershop Leads to Drug Bust

Italian police recently arrested a Genoa barber for drug dealing after noticing that many of the clients going into his shop were bald and beardless.

The Carabinieri (Italian police) had received reports of drug dealing activity in Genoa’s Foce area, but they didn’t really have any strong leads. An investigative unit was charged with gathering more information and, with the collaboration of the Forte San Giuliano station, setting up surveillance teams to spot any unusual activity. It was one of these teams that reported an unusually high number of bald, beardless men visiting a small barber shop operated by a 55-year-old man. The individuals were of different ages and appeared to be from varied walks of life, but they had one thing in common – they didn’t appear to need a haircut or a shave…

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Months of Punctured Tire Incidents Revealed to Be Work of Dog Suffering from Gingivitis

The people of Vastogirardi, a town of 600 souls in the south of Italy, have finally solved the mystery of a series of flat tires over the last few months – a local dog with a bad case of gingivitis.

It all started in July of this year when the quiet town of Vastogirardi was faced with its first intentional tire puncture case in many years. The owner of a car left parked in Piazza Giusto Girardi found it with a punctured tire and called the carabinieri, but after an inspection of the surrounding area and a brief investigation, no suspects were identified. By the end of October, a handful of similar tire puncture complaints had been registered, all of which occurred in the town square. Rumors of rows between neighbors and even intimidation attempts by the Mafia started going around, but in the end, the true cause of the punctures proved even more surprising.

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Obese Convicted Killer Released from Prison Because He Can’t Diet Behind Bars

An Italian man who was serving 30 years in prison for murdering his girlfriend was recently released from prison because judges ruled that prison food didn’t allow him to go on a diet behind bars.

In 2017, Dimitri Fricano was arrested for killing his girlfriend, Erika, during a heated argument, while they were vacationing in Sardinia. He originally told police that robbers had attacked and killed his partner, but as investigators found more and more holes in his story, he eventually admitted that he had been the one to stab her 57 times. Apparently, she had scolded him for leaving too many crumbs on the bed when eating, and he became so angry that he couldn’t control himself. Two years later, he was put on trial for murder, but he only got convicted to 30 years behind bars in 2022, due to pandemic-related delays, before being released this month for being dangerously obese and not being able to lose weight.

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Womans Wins Court Battle to Have Adult Sons Evicted from Her Home

An Italian woman recently won a court case to have her two sons, ages 40 and 42, evicted from her home after they refused to leave the nest or contribute to the household in any way.

They say a mother’s love is infinite, but there is only so much even a loving mother can take. Take the story of this Italian woman who had no choice but to go to court to have her two adult sons evicted. The 75-year-old woman from the city of Pavia, in northern Italy, had long tried to talk her two children to finally move out of the family home, especially since they both had jobs and could afford to rent their own places. But they never even entertained the idea, and since they wouldn’t even pitch in financially or do house chores, the elderly woman had no choice but to take them to court.

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School Professor Who Missed Work for 20 Years Out of 20-Year Career Finally Fired

An Italian professor who was recently fired for around 20 years of absence out of 24 years of service at schools near Venice has vowed to contest her recent firing by the Ministry of Education.

51-year-old Cinzia Paolina De Lio, a secondary school teacher who specializes in history and philosophy, became famous in her home country of Italy for managing to skip work for a total of 20 years out of the last 24 years of service at a number of schools around Venice. De Lio was originally sacked in 2017, after an inspection found her to be “unprepared” and “inattentive” in class, but she appealed the decision, and a judge reinstated her the following year. She continued to provide all sorts of excuses to miss work until Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation decided that her original termination had been justified, especially since she had been absent from the classroom for most of her two-and-a-half decades as a school professor.

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Italy’s Famous Upside-Down Fig Tree

The ancient ruins of Baiae, near the modern city of Bacoli, in Italy are home to a botanical oddity known as the upside-down fig tree.

Looking at the tenacious tree growing out of the ceiling of an ancient Roman archway, it’s easy to see why it’s called the upside-down tree. It is literally inverted, growing toward the ground, which is quite rare. No one knows exactly how the fig tree ended up there, or how long it has been growing for, but one thing is for sure –  despite its bizarre location, the fig tree if Baia is growing stronger every year, and sometimes it even bears fruit.

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Guy Faces Jail Time for Building His Own Ferrari F430 Out of a Toyota

A 26-year-old man was recently charged with forgery and breach of trademarks after it was discovered that his red Ferrari F430 was actually a modified Toyota MR Coupé.

Italy’s Guardia di Finanza made the unusual seizure during a routine check in the town of Asti, Italy. Although the red Ferrari featured all the iconic elements of the F430, from the prancing horse logo on the bonnet and steering wheel, to the rims, brake calipers and iconic headlights, something about the vehicle seemed wrong. It’s unclear whether the motorist had the necessary documents to prove that his car was a genuine Ferrari F430 or not, but the police officers called a team of experts just to be sure. They confirmed that the car was actually a modified Toyota MR Coupé.

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Rome’s Villa Aurora – The Most Expensive House in the World

Located on a hill in the heart of Rome and featuring the only ceiling mural ever painted by the Italian Baroque old master Caravaggio, Villa Aurora is widely regarded as the world’s most expensive house.

The 30,000-square-foot, 16th-century villa is located a short walk from the famous Via Veneto, home to some of Rome’s best hotels, and close to the iconic Piazza di Spagna and the ancient Porta Pinciana. Originally a hunting lodge, the villa is all that remains of a 30-hectare complex owned by Italy’s Ludovisi noble family, who gave the country numerous diplomats, patrons of the arts, and even a Pope. Today, Villa Aurora finds itself at the heart of a legal battle and an Italian court has ruled that it should be sold at auction. Only the price set for the property is so high that no one seems interested in paying it.

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This Man-Made Mound in Rome Consists of Millions of Ancient Amphorae

Monte Testaccio, an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of broken pottery, might be the largest trash heap in the ancient world.

At first glance, Monte Testaccio looks like an ordinary greenery-covered mound, the likes of which can be found all over the world. But underneath all that shrubbery and the thin layer of dirt that supports it lies the largest pile of discarded pottery in the history of the ancient world. Covering an area of 2 hectares and with a volume of approximately 580,000 cubic meters, Monte Testaccio consists almost exclusively of millions of broken ancient pottery containers known as amphorae. It is estimated that this man-made mound consists of  53 million amphorae, which would make it the largest trash heap in the ancient world.

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Centuripe – A Small Italian Town Shaped Like a Person

Centuripe, a small town tucked in the hills of Sicily, is known as “the balcony of Sicily” for the stunning views it offers across to Mount Etna, but few know that, from the air, the town itself is quite the sight.

Pio Andrea Peri, a 32-year-old local photographer, recently used his drone to capture the unique shape of Centuripe from high up in the sky. After first discovering the unusual shape of his town while looking at it on Google Earth, Peri decided to take his drone and check it out for himself. He was so surprised by what he saw on his monitor that he snapped a few photos and shared them on social media, where they went viral almost instantly. From the right angle, Centuripe looks like the silhouette of a person with their arms and legs stretched out.

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Man Tries to Dodge Covid Vaccine With Silicone Arm

A 50-year-old Italian man was caught trying to get a coronavirus vaccine certificate without actually getting the shot, by using a fake arm instead of his own.

Today, Italian media reported the bizarre case of a man who visited a vaccination center in Biella, northwest Italy on Thursday evening, claiming he wanted to get a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Everything went smoothly until the 50-year-old man, whose name was not made public for privacy reasons, was asked by the nurse to lift up his sleeve. He only partially revealed his upper arm, which the nurse thought was a bit odd, but she was only certain that something was wrong when she touched his skin and felt that it wasn’t quite the wrong texture…

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