Italy's Uffizi Galleries has pledged new selfie limits after a clumsy tourist damaged an 18th-century painting while posing in front of it for a photograph.

The mayor of Florence slammed the looming closure of the city's US consulate as part of a major overhaul of the state department by the Trump administration.

Italy is to launch a new high-speed rail link between Germany and Austria by 2026, the state-owned Italian railway company Trenitalia announced this week.

Rome police stopped a German tourist cruising down a street on a rented electric scooter with the marble base of a Roman column between his feet.

Political debate mounts in Italy ahead of five pivotal referendums, including a landmark vote on easing the nation's strict citizenship rules, on 8-9 June.

Italy has five of the world's must-see gardens according to an expert guide by The New York Times, with three in Lazio, one in Tuscany and one in Piemonte.

Italy is to expand its travel rules to allow pet owners to take larger dogs with them on board flights, in the cabin, the Italian transport ministry said.

A 47-year-old tourist was seriously injured when he became impaled on railings around the Colosseum after attempting to scale a fence at the Rome landmark.

Work got underway in the Vatican on Friday morning to mount a chimney over the Sistine Chapel ahead of the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, is to be buried in the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore following his funeral at Saint Peter's on Saturday.

Rome is to tighten security ahead of the visit of US vice president JD Vance who arrives on Friday and will stay in Italy's capital over the Easter weekend.

US vice president JD Vance is to meet the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin during his upcoming visit to Italy, the White House confirmed.