PASTA 30% UP BUT WHEAT 25% DOWN (ANSA) - Rome, August 20 - This year's extraordinary rise in pasta prices has been even higher than previously thought, the Italian Treasury said Wednesday. But the price of wheat, which is used to make pasta, has dropped almost as sharply, a top farming association said. Pasta pric... > Full news story

PASTA PRICE HIKE EVEN HIGHER, TREASURY SAYS (ANSA) - Rome, August 20 - This year's extraordinary rise in pasta prices has been even higher than previously thought, the Italian Treasury said Wednesday. Pasta prices have risen some 30% in the first half of the year, the ministry said, touching up the 25% figure issued by national s... > Full news story

FABIO CAPELLO MADE INTO PIZZA (ANSA) - London, August 20 - A pizza in the shape of England football manager Fabio Capello's face is proving wildly successful at a fish and chip shop in the north of England. Nick Dhillion, who owns the chippy in Sutton Coldfield, north of Birmingham, has created the Italian coach's ... > Full news story

PRICEY SANDWICH OUTRAGES BRITISH TOURIST (Updates previous coverage). (ANSA) - Tusa, August 13 - A British tourist on Wednesday complained to police after being presented with a 30-euro bill for three sandwiches at a bar in a Sicilian seaside village. The tourist had been with six other people - including two native Sicilians - at the bar, which is set ... > Full news story

PRICEY SANDWICH OUTRAGES BRITISH TOURIST (ANSA) - Tusa, August 13 - A British tourist on Wednesday complained to police after being presented with a 30-euro bill for three sandwiches at a bar in a Sicilian seaside village. The tourist had been with six other people - including two native Sicilians - at the bar, which is set ... > Full news story

SENATORS CALL TO LEGALISE MOONSHINE GRAPPA (ANSA) - Rome, August 12 - Two Northern League senators on Tuesday began a campaign to make distilling northern Italy's famous Grappa spirit at home legal. Enrico Montani and Sergio Divina presented a bill that would allow people to make up to 30 litres of Grappa a year as long as they... > Full news story

HOLIDAY FARMS PACKED FOR FERRAGOSTO (ANSA) - Rome, August 12 - Italy's ever-growing number of holiday farms are expecting full occupancy for the mid-August Ferragosto holiday which marks the Feast of the Assumption. An estimated 550,000 overnights are forecast for the three-day weekend of August 15 at the some 18,500 holida... > Full news story

FOOD BEST SYMBOLISES ITALY, POLL FINDS (ANSA) - Rome, August 8 - More than its art and culture it is Italy's food which best symbolises the country, according to a vast majority of Italians. A poll published Friday by the Coldiretti farmers' union found that 63% of Italians thought that Italy was best represented by its foo... > Full news story