italy
I Almost Died Traveling from Somalia to Lampedusa
"The cannibalism didn't start until our second boat journey, from Libya to Lampedusa. We had already been traveling for ten days; people were dying and there was no food. I actually saw one guy cutting a piece of flesh from another man's body. "
Thirty Tons of Hash Set Ablaze? A Pothead’s Lament
These guys were just chugging along on a happy little boat filled with sticky goo that makes people good and dizzy. The vibe only went sour when the cops showed up. And now $400 million of hash is gone.
Faisal Islam Has Spent Five Years Watching Europe Collapse
His book, The Default Line: The Inside Story of People, Banks, and Entire Nations on the Edge, documents the 2008 financial crisis and the aftershocks that are still being felt from Greece to the UK.
The Sienese Are Whipping Each Other with Dried Bulls' Penises as Their City Collapses
Palio is a spectacular 90-second bareback horse race run twice a year around Siena's central plaza in which jockeys whip one another with dried bulls’ penises. But how much longer can the city distract itself with the Palio horse race when the bank...
I Was Kidnapped by a Bulgarian Human Trafficking Ring
Of the estimated 30 million people trapped in slavery around the world, only about 140,000 of them come from Europe. While that might make some Europeans feel a little better about the continent they're dwelling on (bankrupt and increasingly irrelevant...
These Italian Dwarfs Love Getting Their Bones Broken
Achondroplasia is a form of dwarfism caused by a genetic mutation, affecting one in 20,000 people. In Italy, there are about 2,500 people living with achondroplasia. Italian dwarfs, as opposed to other nationalities, are particularly fond of a...
Global Food Poisoning in Italy
Bra is the sort of town where old women really do wear all black to signify their widowhood and where the stores are closed for three, sometimes four, hours every afternoon. I went there to study Piedmontese regional food culture but instead found a...
All the PDA in Salerno
Public displays of affection are part of the daily fabric of life in Italy. In America we are typically guarded when we publically express our affection for others, and it reads as petty and self-involved. Italians are not afflicted this way: Lovers...
CasaPound's First Big Outing in Rome Was a Snooze-Fest
During the recent austerity protests in Rome we decided to ditch the mainstream marchers and their boring old chants about poverty in favor of following the "terrible beauty" around and maybe witnessing some kind of apocalyptic vision of what the...
White Girl Immigration Problems
The oppression of a language barrier is not to be underestimated. As privileged white American people who idly study Spanish as a second language in public school, we take this for granted. Especially if you are, like me, decently educated and...
World Peace Update
Oh hai, Israel! Nice of you to join us. Ever since one of your drones took out Hamas' military leader, Ahmed Jabari, in a missile strike last Wednesday, you've been bombing the crap out of the Gaza Strip. Bravo on your maiden appearance in World Peace...
World Peace Update
Humans found a vicious, unsuspecting competitor in fucking the world up this week: Nature, who decided to fart out Hurricane Sandy and hog up all the limelight. So, as Kurds took on the streets of Turkey and shop owners beat up police in Peru, you all...