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A rare mantle of snow blanketed the historic centre of Rome Friday, forcing the closure of schools and tourist sites such as the Colosseum as Pope Benedict XVI took a peek at the snowflakes. More >

French luxury brand Louis Vuitton will open a boutique and jewellery studio on Paris’ Place Vendome this spring and is preparing its first perfume, the label’s head Yves Carcelle told AFP Friday.

“In April we will have our own jewellery workshop and in May will will open our boutique in the same building,” Carcelle said during the inauguration of the “Maison Rome Etoile,” Louis Vuitton’s new shop in the eternal city.

Usain Bolt will race over 100 metres at the Compeed Golden Gala in Rome on May 31.

The triple Olympic champion will headline the third Diamond League meeting of the season ahead of the defence of his titles in London. The Jamaican won last year’s meeting in 9.91 seconds before sensationally false starting in the final at the World Championships in Daegu.

More police are being deployed in Rome after robbers shot and killed a man and his 8-month-old child outside their home. More >

The Colosseum lost another piece Tuesday as Rome’s most famous monument deteriorated further ahead of a long-delayed restoration funded by an Italian billionaire now scheduled to start in March.

The chunk of volcanic rock fell from one of the iconic arches of the nearly 2,000-year-old structure just two days after a similar incident reported by a group of concerned tourists on Christmas Day put local staff on alert.

The Colosseum — a 50,000-seat amphitheater that was completed in 80 AD and used for gladiator contests and mock sea battles — is at the center of a busy traffic junction and is inundated with thousands of tourists every day.

A parcel bomb has exploded at a tax collection office in the Italian capital Rome, injuring the director.

Officials at the Equitalia agency said the blast shattered a glass desktop, causing hand and eye injuries to director Marco Cuccagna.

Police said the package also contained a leaflet signed by the Italian anarchist group FAI.

The FAI has said it sent a letter bomb on Wednesday to the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany.

As experts from around the globe debate global warming and measures to slow it in Durban, South Africa, the city of Rome is taking measures to lower the high levels of toxic particles in its own air.

The Italian capital, due to its infamous traffic congestion and extraordinarily good weather, has exceeded the air safety limits 56 times already this year.

As a result, the municipal government must take emergency measures. They are using partial blocks of vehicles and pedestrian weekends to push air pollution levels back down to normal.

Black Friday was barely a minute old when fights broke out at a Walmart in Rome, sending two shoppers to the hospital and landing at least one more in trouble, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office said.

A few shoppers were pushed to the floor near a cell phone display and several fights erupted about 12:01 a.m. after shoppers were let into the electronics department at the Walmart at 5815 Rome Taberg Road, sheriff’s officials said.

Italy’s caretaker government of unelected technocrats led by Mario Monti took charge of the eurozone’s third-biggest economy on Wednesday to the applause of Europe’s leaders and scepticism of investors. More >

The sixth Rome Film Festival, marred by protests over cuts in arts funding and struggles to attract big stars, ended Friday with the top prize going to Sebastian Borensztein’s “A Chinese Tale”.

The film stars Ricardo Durin as a lonely hardware store owner whose life is upturned by the appearance of a young Chinese man.

France’s Guillaume Canet won the festival’s best actor prize for his performance, widely applauded in the Italian press, in “A Better Life” directed by Cedric Kahn.