"Buon Giorno!" Welcome to the newsletter that has to ask, "Whose brilliant idea was it to exhume Padre Pio and why?" Only In Italy!

Regarding young people not flying the nest it is not only an Italian problem. Most of them have too cozy a life style, all their creature comforts and not to mention all their money to spend on themselves. Why give up this? How can they live without their Nike shoes, expensive sunglasses, etc.? And poor darlings work so hard they need their little breaks.

Where did we go wrong in not passing on these values to our children? Anonymous

Thanks for the forthcoming letter, Anon.

You're absolutely correct in your argument. Today's carefree generation should understand that our wise Italian elders knew what real deprivation was and what it meant to make sacrifices to help support the family. They were priceless values that should have been passed on from generation to generation.

By the way, would you be kind enough to supply us with the name of the store where you purchased your furniture, second hand washing machine and strictly essential tableware? It would help today's young Italian graduates earning an average salary of 600-800 Euros ($900-1200) a month.

Enjoy the issue, keep writing and Grazie!

Milan - February 28, 2008 - Italian financial police have busted a ring of counterfeiters who built fake Ferraris and sold them for as little as $30,000 a car, officials said Thursday.

Authorities have confiscated 14 fake Ferrari Modena 360s, seven sold and seven under construction, in an operation reaching from Palermo to Milan, said Guido Geremia, head of the Palermo unit that led the investigation.

Investigators do not know how many of the cars have been sold in the past but Geremia said the buyers knew the cars were fakes and were clearly seeking to impress unknowing neighbors with the sleek-bodied speed machines.

"That is the only reason," he said.

Eight people are under investigation, authorities said. The ring used mostly Pontiacs as their base, but also Mercedes and Toyotas, building a copy of a Ferrari body over the original car's engine.

"It was done very well. They were very skilled," Geremia said.

The financial police, who lead Italy's fight against the counterfeiters who cash in on the country's reputation for quality in everything from handbags to prosciutto, launched the Ferrari investigation six months ago. Geremia said they were helped by Internet sites where the cars were offered up for sale.

The 360 Modena went out of production in 2004, and was priced at the time at $215,000, said Ferrari spokeswoman Mariella Mengozzi. The current suggested retail price by Italy's consumer auto magazine for a 2004 model is around $150,000.

Mengozzi said it is not the first time the Ferrari brand has been copied and that the automaker, which is owned by the Fiat Group, monitors Web sites for evidence of fakes.

"Ferrari is a product that maintains its value over time and of course we try to protect our clients who buy the real thing," Mengozzi said.

London - February 29, 2008 - A popular language college in London is controlled by the leader of an Italian neo-fascist party who has links to the British National party, news agencies have learned.

CL English Language, a college in west London that teaches hundreds of foreign students each year, is controlled by Roberto Fiore, leader of Forza Nuova, an extreme right-wing party.

Fiore, who once said he was happy to be described as a neo-fascist and who is an old friend and mentor of Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, was appointed as a director of the college more than two years ago and became sole director in August last year.

Many of the students, who pay up to 30 pounds an hour for tuition, are Italian, while others are from Africa, the far east and eastern Europe. None of those interviewed outside the college last week were aware of Fiore's involvement. Staff at the college have said there are usually more than 100 students there at any one time. Despite its size, however, its latest accounts show that it recorded a profit of just 2,214 pounds during 2006, and 1,821 pounds the year before.

Fiore arrived in Britain in October 1980 as a 21-year-old fugitive from the Italian police, who wanted to question him about the Bologna train station bombing two months earlier in which 85 people were killed and more than 200 injured.

He was reputed to be a member of the extreme right-wing organization the "Armed Revolutionary Nuclei", several of whose members were subsequently convicted of mass murder. After being arrested by Scotland Yard officers the following year, Fiore was brought before Bow Street court, but the authorities in Rome failed to secure his extradition.

In Rome, meanwhile, he was cleared of involvement in the bombing, but was convicted of subversive association and jailed for nine years, reduced to five-and-a-half on appeal. The jail term was eventually "timed out" under Italy's statute of limitation laws, and Fiore was able to return to his homeland in April 1999.

He had already founded Forza Nuova, an anti-immigration party committed to revoking laws that ban the recreation of the fascist party. A year after his return he was quoted as saying: "If you call me a neo-fascist I won't kick up a fuss."

Rome - February 28, 2008 - One in three Italian women are prepared to get down on one knee and pop the question if a marriage proposal from their partners is not forthcoming, a new Internet survey revealed on Thursday.

Online community Badoo.com sampled the opinions of 1,500 Italian women for the survey. Around 44% of singles said they planned to get married at some point, with 33% insisting they would be prepared to do the asking themselves emulating Hollywood stars such as Renee Zellweger and Halle Berry.

Of those not afraid to take the initiative, 29% said they would like to propose by posting a video on the Internet so that friends could watch and comment on their performance. A further 16% would prefer to propose on live television, while 10% would opt for a large advertising billboard on the streets.

Some 22% said they would ask for an "I do" on a special occasion, such as Valentine's Day or a birthday, while 16% said they would make their move in more private surroundings like the top of a mountain.