Rome, Sept. 27 : Active efforts are on to revive and rehabilitate Benito Mussolini, Italy’s wartime dictator.

On Friday, urban planners and architectural historians from across Italy gathered in Rome to honour the “glories” of Fascist architecture.

The conference, at Latina, a model “new town” created in reclaimed marshland south of Rome by Mussolini in 1932, is the brainchild of Giorgio Frasinetti, the head of urban planning at Predappio, the town in Emilia-Romagna where Il Duce was born and is buried, reports The Times.

Rome - Pilots at Alitalia SpA gave their green light to a rescue plan for the Italian airline after nearly 15 hours of nonstop negotiations, Italy's ANSA news agency reported Saturday.

The pilots agreed to a takeover by a consortium of private investors after negotiating a reduction in sackings and manager contracts for captains.

The agreement meant only Alitalia's flight attendants union had yet to approve the deal designed to keep Italy's flagship carrier from collapse. Talks were scheduled with that union Monday.

Frankfurt - Amid a struggle in Rome to avert the collapse of Italian airline Alitalia, Lufthansa has resumed talks with Italy's government, the German airline said Friday.

Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber had travelled to Italy at the government's invitation and would also meet trade union leaders, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa said in Frankfurt.

She said she could not disclose what was discussed or who else Mayrhuber would meet.

Auto component maker Autoline Industries has informed that its Cyprus unit, Koderat has acquired 49% stake in two Italian firms named, SZ Design Srl and Zagato S.r.l for 9 million Euro.

Rome - Italian government officials were set later Thursday to hold talks with labour unions on the fate of troubled national carrier Alitalia, amid what news reports said was optimism on an agreement over the carrier's takeover by a private consortium.

The late-morning meeting including the nine unions representing Alitalia employees was scheduled to be held at Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office in Rome.

The premier's close aide Gianni Letta was expected to chair it.

"I am hopeful, but to say that everything has been concluded is not correct," Transport Minister Altero Matteoli said ahead of the talks.

Rome  - Gomorrah, a grim, violent portrayal of the Camorra - the Neapolitan version of the mafia - has been selected to represent Italy at next year's Academy Awards, Italy's film industry association ANICA said Wednesday.

Directed by Matteo Garrone and based on Roberto Saviano's best-selling book of the same name, Gomorrah in May won the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix - the prestigious competition's third prize.

ANICA's announcement on Wednesday's came as Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the Italian state is engaged in a "civil war" with the Camorra.