Italy

Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, 93, a past president of Italy who held the post during the sweeping corruption scandal of the early 1990s that reshaped the country's postwar political landscape, died Sunday in Rome. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano paid tribute to his predecessor as "a protagonist in the democratic political life" and an example of "moral integrity. " "As president of the republic, he firmly and steadfastly confronted one of the most difficult periods of our history," Napolitano said in a statement.

NEW YORK - Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is the kind of place where you might be bribed with a cannoli. Many years ago, my father, a teacher, was begged by a student not to tell his parents he'd been caught fighting. "I'll bring you a box of cannolis every Friday," promised the student, who worked at a pastry shop in this old-school Italian American enclave. My dad did not accept the cannolis. But as a kid growing up in nearby suburbs, I often had treats from Arthur Avenue that he brought home.

PARIS - Italy and France sought to present a united front Friday as grim economic news threatened to push Europe back into recession and exacerbate a spiraling debt crisis. European leaders are scrambling again to stem the march of the crisis, which pushed the euro to a 16-month low against the U.S. dollar on Friday, drove Italy's borrowing rates to unsustainable levels, and is threatening France's prized AAA credit rating. With the debt jitters regarding core economies, economic indicators show that even powerhouse Germany has not been spared.

Joseph Leporace, 79, of Huntingdon Valley, an engineer, developer, and entrepreneur, died of lymphoma Friday, Dec. 23, at home. In the early 1960s, Mr. Leporace established NDI Engineering Co. and was later president of Wavetech Inc. in Pennsauken. The firm was sold in the early 1990s. In 1989, he developed Landmark Plaza, a shopping center in Bensalem where he opened Celebrations, a banquet facility, and LaCena Ristorante. In the 1970s, he operated Villa Anna Ristorante in Northeast Philadelphia.

During the summer of 1970, when I was 10 years old, my parents Nicola and Carmela decided to take me and my sister Paula to visit our mountaintop hometown of San Bartolomeo in Galdo, Italy. We boarded the Michelangelo cruise ship out of New York Harbor for the eight-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Over the next three months, we reconnected with family and friends that I had heard stories about. What a magical time it was riding bikes with my cousins through the little town and playing the kissing game with the cute Italian girls - wonderful memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

ROME - An Italian man with extreme right-wing views opened fire in an outdoor market in Florence yesterday, killing two vendors from Senegal, then critically wounded three other Senegalese immigrants in another Florence market before killing himself, authorities said. Police said that the man shot himself in the head in the heart of the Tuscan capital, as police were approaching him. Investigators identified the attacker as Gianluca Casseri, 50. RAI state TV said that he was known to police for having participated in racist marches by an extreme right-wing group.

By Adriano Farano Antonio is an Italian friend of mine who works in information technology. In his thirties, he already had a job that, in Italy, would normally be reserved for someone of at least 45. Tired of trying to prove he deserved his position, he grew a beard and dyed it gray. That anecdote is worth bearing in mind as Italy and Europe look beyond former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's rococo and recently ended leadership. Indeed, Italy's number-one problem was never Berlusconi; it is the country's entrenched gerontocracy, nepotism, and anti-meritocratic behavior.

Italy's borrowing rates skyrocketed during bond auctions Friday, temporarily battering stock markets in Europe as the escalating debt crisis laid siege to the eurozone's third-largest economy. Italy's new government, under economist Mario Monti, faces a battle to convince investors it has a strategy to cut down the country's 1.9 trillion euro ($2.6 trillion) debt. Driving market fears is the knowledge that Italy is too big for Europe to bail out, as it has done with smaller nations Greece, Portugal, and Ireland.

ROME - Against the backdrop of anti-austerity protesters clashing with riot police, Italy's new prime minister appealed to Italians on Thursday to accept sacrifices to save their country from bankruptcy, but pledged economic growth and greater social cohesion in return. Mario Monti is under enormous pressure to boost growth and bring down Italy's high debt, not only to save Italy from succumbing to the debt crisis but to prevent a catastrophic disintegration of the common euro currency.

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti formed a government of bankers, diplomats, and business executives Wednesday, saying the absence of politicians in his cabinet would spare political parties the "embarrassment" of taking the tough decisions needed to steer the country from financial disaster. The former European Union competition commissioner and his cabinet were sworn in at a ceremony that formally ended Silvio Berlusconi's 31/2-year-old government and the media mogul's 17-year political dominance.