Chiellini was in tears as he arrived with Gianluigi Buffon and other teammates for Astori's funeral today.

"You're not like others, you are football, the real one, the pure one of children."

Prosecutors have opened a culpable homicide case over the death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori.

The bodies of nine Italians have been identified after an attack on a restaurant in Bangladesh, the Italian foreign minister said.

Republic of Ireland Euro 2016 opponents Sweden and Italy began their build-up to this summer’s tournament with disappointing results on a busy night of international friendlies.

Amanda Knox vowed to fight her second conviction for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 while the two were students together in the Italian university town of Perugia.

Prosecutors in Italy have launched a criminal investigation into Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson and their Canadian trainer Christopher Xuereb.

Celtic legend Billy McNeill has hit out at the unruly Hoops fans who have landed the club in the dock again.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be allowed to be at pitch-side for tomorrow’s Champions League play-off second leg against Udinese after UEFA agreed to defer his two-match ban.

AN IRISH company has signed a €20 million 15-year contract with one of the world’s largest satellite operators to help provide a high-speed broadband service across Europe.

VICTOR MATFIELD anticipates a tight tussle when South Africa meet Italy in the first game of a two-Test series at the Puma Stadium in Witbank today.

HARD man to second guess, is Declan Kidney.

IRELAND team manager Paul McNaughton has warned that world champions South Africa are not a team on a “slippery slope” despite their unimpressive performances on their European tour.

SOUTH AFRICA captain John Smit may return to the middle of the front row for his side’s visit to Dublin to take on Ireland next weekend.

Italy 10 South Africa 32

A WIN of any kind may seem to be a low benchmark for the world champions as they take on Italy, but such has been the disastrous nature of South Africa’s northern hemisphere tour that they are taking nothing for granted in Udine today (2pm Irish time).

AUSTRALIA have made just one change to their starting XV for Saturday’s autumn international against Scotland.

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has made four changes from the team beaten by France last weekend for Saturday’s clash with Italy in Udine.

ELUANA ENGLARO, the comatose accident victim at the centre of a right-to-die drama gripping Italy, died yesterday as lawmakers debated a bill to force doctors to restore her life support.

Italy 2 Georgia 0

Two Hungarian cavers were killed by an avalanche in the Alps in north-eastern Italy, rescuers said today, while another seven remained trapped in a mountain cave.

BARCELONA extended their first division lead to seven points with a 2-0 win over Real Mallorca, as their rivals Real Madrid crashed 2-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Italy Under-21s 21 Ireland Under-21s 33

With the RBS Six Nations Championship occupying everybody’s thoughts, the Ireland under 21s will be opening their Six Nations Championship away to Italy in Udine (110km from Venice) this Saturday.

Armed bandits staged three separate euro robberies in Italy today, but police caught one gang and recovered their 95,000 euro haul.