The anxiously awaited attempt to pull the crippled Costa Concordia upright from its side off Italy's Tuscan coast is under way.

Now that Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud conviction and four-year prison sentence have been upheld by Italy's highest court, key questions remain about what will happen next to the former Italian premier. Here are some answers.

Thousadns of mourners yesterday paid homage to the 38 people who died when their bus plummeted from a flyover near Naples as they returned from a weekend away.

Famous crime writer Donna Leon takes Linda Herrick on a murderer's tour of Venice.

Fifty years ago, Bruno Amitrano opened a bar half-way up the hill from the tiny beach in the seaside resort of Positano. Seventeen years ago, his daughter Ornella and her husband Mario converted the bar into a restaurant.

They symbolise the romance and unique heritage of Venice, but the lagoon city's famed gondoliers are becoming known for drunken antics and could soon be forced to take drug and alcohol tests.

The Mayor of Florence has denied that the Renaissance city is a hotbed of "bunga bunga", amid a growing scandal involving prostitutes being paid for sex by council officials and local worthies.

Rarely are hikers rewarded so richly for their toils as on the steep slopes of Italy's Cinque Terre region, where five ancient fishing villages cling to the sheer slate cliffs below.

The palazzos were built for nobility, but it is artists, fashion designers and hoteliers that uphold their grandeur today, says Kate Simon.

Venice hosts its famous art biennale in June. Graham Reid offers survival tips.

Julia Shallcrass discovers Topdeck bus tours provide the swiftest way to see Europe and make new friends.

Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring showgirls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but one woman dressed up as President Barack Obama.

Justine Tyerman finds Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage site on Italy’s Ligurian Coast, just as she had envisaged.

The Salvatore Ferragamo show concentrates on shapes. All in black, white and navy blue, with no prints or bold shades, the clothes have to speak for themselves. Massimiliano Giornetti, designer for the Florentine brand best known for its accessories, gives his winter styles a voice through sculpted silhouettes and carefully chosen fabrics. A few examples: a wide Alpaca jacket is worn with an A-line short skirt in pony leather; an oversized cashmere pullover is paired with a dainty slip with beaded hemline; and a classic overcoat becomes even more classy when worked in shiny silk. Even fur and leather are worked to highlight the artistry of the collection, starting with suede stitched in smocking, or beaver shorn to look like satin. The famous Ferragamo shoe next winter is a knee-high boot with pointed toe and relatively low stiletto heel, cut out at the instep and laced up the barelegged back. The latest Ferragamo bag is a shopper with metal inserts.

Fendi is to fur what Ferrari is to cars. Yet given current concerns about animal rights, the brand has moved from the lavish fur coats that were all the rage in the 1980s to a more discreet way of interpreting fur as fashion. Fendi creative director Silvia Venturini, daughter of one of the company's five founding sisters, opted for wisps of fur used as hair decorations, bracelets, or charms hanging from Fendi bags. Fur also appeared as inserts in a skirt or a dress, or sheered and fashioned into a cozy, but not showy, jacket. Long fur, usually goat, also seen on other runways during Milan's preview showings, was used to make up a skirt or a cape.

Head to the Italian resort of Courmayeur to enjoy the Vallée Blanche without the crowds of Chamonix.

Influence pedallers: The best cities for bicycle rides.

Justine Tyerman discovers Castelluccio, in Umbria, Italy.

Justine Tyerman keeps a promise made nearly three decades ago to make a pilgrimage to Rome, The Eternal City.

Here are some of the world's key doomsday destinations and other places marked by fear and fascination.