Italy has been neglected on this page of late but I promise to make up for this in the next few weeks as I have two trips planned — one to Tuscany and one to the Veneto.

As I write this the weather has turned remarkably mild so I’ve abandoned my original topic of winter warming wines in favour of good value wines suitable for parties — parties can happen in good and bad weather after all. Christmas seems to start earlier and get more expensive every year so in the coming weeks I’ll try to keep value as much in mind as much as quality.

When a national leader is tackled about a problem he or she doesn’t feel able to fix, they will often be heard to say in an anguished sort of way, yes, something must be done, but because it’s an international issue we must have a global solution.

It would not be wrong to say that a great many Italians tend to go along with Bill Shankly’s typically understated description of what might or might not still be the Beautiful Game: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death.

Hitting a difficult patch can actually be a catalyst to change — and it doesn’t matter how old you are, psychologist Dr Dina Glouberman tells Margaret Jennings.

The Italian economy has under-performed for years. Jean Pisani-Ferry looks at the reasons why and asks how the Italian government can turn things around.

This week Leslie Williams recommends two juicy reds and three northern whites

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and fiercely independent — it is after all an island between two continents — Africa and Europe

The leader of an Italian party that hopes to capitalise on growing resentment of migrants and asylum-seekers told supporters it would be "splendid" if he wins national elections and his government can issue one-way tickets home to undeserving refugees.

While most soccer-loving fans around the globe will be glued to their televisions next year during the World Cup, restaurants and cinemas around Italy might find themselves extra busy during the summer.

The European wine harvest is in full swing but the late spring frost and hail and an extreme summer heatwave have not proved beneficial.

Police in Sicily say 15 firefighters are suspected of setting blazes that they were then called to extinguish.

WHEN Michel Barnier next engages with David Davis, his British counterpart for Brexit negotiations, he might have the humility to acknowledge that not everything is right with the EU and that a lot of work needs to be done if it is to become a union of independent states that we can all be proud of – with or without the UK.

Holidaymakers rescued from a resort in Sicily because of wildfires have described how their day at the beach turned into an emergency evacuation by sea, many wearing just their bathing suits and flip flops.

Even as World War II fades from living memory, its vocabulary retains the power to shock, to call us to reckoning. 

Heavy snowfall and below-freezing temperatures have continued to sweep the European continent, causing more than a dozen deaths, grounding planes and crippling ferries in Italy and Turkey.

A station master has reportedly admitted giving the green light to one of the commuter trains that collided head-on in southern Italy.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Twenty-five people died and dozens were injured when two passenger trains collided head-on in southern Italy.

Update 4.25pm: Italian transport minister Graziano Delrio has announced an official inquiry into the accident.

Italian police have discovered an underground bunker in the countryside of southern Calabria with two fugitive mobsters holed up inside.

Brilliant TV to check out this week.

Now that we are properly into 2016, I have had some further thoughts on wine experiences I enjoyed last year.

I saw two options, eurozone compromise or Greece would exit the euro. That Greece would capitulate as it has was never considered, says Megan McArdle            

The EU’s top prosecutor said she has been told smugglers bringing migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe are also carrying terrorist fighters from Islamic State.

Milan city officials have appealed for help in managing the huge number of migrants arriving from southern Italy after rescue at sea, as rising numbers are unable to find beds and are sleeping in the train station.

A Peugeot 208 has just set a new long-distance fuel economy record, travelling 1,337.19 miles using 43 litres of fuel; an amazing return of 141.2mpg.

The European Union must take a collective stand to tackle migrant trafficking at its source in African countries, Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi said ahead of an emergency summit of the bloc’s leaders yesterday to discuss the crisis.

In recent weeks, I have been praising Spain as a source of good value but this week I want to focus on Italy.

Italy has issued its strongest warning yet about the danger of the Islamic State group establishing a stronghold in Libya from where it could attack Europe and destabilise neighbouring states.

Italian authorities have carried out about 170 arrest warrants in a major crackdown on the 'ndrangheta, an organised crime syndicate in southern Italy which officials say has become deeply rooted in the business world in the north.

Hundreds of passengers and crew braved cold temperatures and gale-force winds as they waited for nearly a day to be evacuated from a burning ferry adrift in rough seas between Italy and Albania.

A ferry carrying about 470 people caught fire off the Greek island of Corfu, trapping passengers on the top decks as gale-force winds and choppy seas hampered the evacuation.

The key to successful present buying I believe is to find something that the recipient wants, but which it did not occur to them to buy for themselves.

AN 80 year old from Naples has delved into an old box of sentimental ephemera and turned it into a book. 

THE stench of rotting garbage and diesel fumes hangs heavily over the main street of Giugliano in Campania, a sprawling town just north of Naples.

Marcel Kittel, the winner of successive stages in Belfast and Dublin, has today abandoned the Giro d’Italia before the resumption in Italy due to illness.

The EU capital may start charging drivers per mile to combat congestion, writes Trent Broad.

Eating a Mediterranean diet could prevent illness.