Italy’s first centre for horses saved from abuse and slaughterhouses
Sonny Richichi first made contact with horses when he enrolled in a riding course when he was 25. But with time he realised that horses are neither a tool nor a pastime, even though culturally, horses are the most exploited and least protected animals in Italy. Sonny therefore gave up everything and founded Italian Horse […]
Venice, a city crippled by crowds. Overtourism in Europe series
Venice is one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. In 2023, the city of 51 thousand residents welcomed roughly 5.7 million visitors. The city’s local government has recently introduced a tourist tax, which has to be paid by those travelling at peak times and weekends. While the local government is hopeful it will fix the […]
Metamorphosis: Meta’s story
Erjugen Meta is an Albanian man based in Milan, who spent almost twenty years in prison. Today, thanks to the classes he took while he was behind bars, he’s a luthier, earning a living by making musical instruments. His story is more unique than common. According to Antigone, the Italian jail observer association, in 2023 […]
Dreaming of Europe: Georgians in Naples
“We want to have the same rights that other young people have”, says a young woman sitting in her kitchen in Naples. She and many of her friends have to go years without seeing their families because of the long wait for the documents and struggle to find a job in which they can thrive. […]
Motherhood and Body: Martina and Sara’s Journey
Martina and Sara had tried to have a baby many times, without success. Finally, they managed to conceive Zeno: Sara had her eggs implanted in Martina’s uterus so both of their bodies participated in the pregnancy. But pregnancy is not easy and often leaves marks on the body, especially for couples that use IVF. Our […]
Sangue Salato: the struggle of small-scale fishermen in Italy
Vincenzo Grasso lives in Sapri, a small town in the south of Italy and comes from a long line of fishermen. He spends most of his life at sea: every day he sets off from the port at 3AM on his boat Fortunato II and stays out until the evening. He loves his job, but […]
The Polish artist who uses embroidery as a form of protest
After the recent elections, Poland is experiencing a stalemate in terms of the recognition of rights. Monika Drozynska is part of a generation of artists trying to use entertainment as a means of making art in a political way. Drozynska embroiders train headrests with political slogans in various languages, including Braille. For her, fun is […]
“I felt like I was the only homosexual man on earth”
Gualtiero is 70 years old and lives in Milan, Italy. For a few years, he’s been part of an organisation called “Silver Rainbow”, his way of giving back to the LGBTQI+ community, which he has overlooked for too long. @vdnews_ita met Gualtiero and recorded his story. @vdnews_ita is a Sphera Network member and this […]
“The Hottest thing in Italian amateur football”
“KOP” is the part of the football stadium where a soccer club’s most fervent supporters gather. Thomas Porlon from @streetpress went to meet those radical groups around Europe to show how football and politics are intertwined across the continent, particularly within the far-right movement. The third stop is Italy, where fans created their own amateur […]
Unpaid internships undermine the future of Italian youth
In March the European Commission revealed a proposal for directive and recommendation to regulate the EU internship legislation. Long-awaited, the move sets a way to enforce the interns’ rights but does not specifically ban unpaid internships. In Italy, internships are one of the main ways to enter the work market, but most remain unpaid, which […]
