Rome leads Europe by becoming the first european capital to switch completly to “all digital” TV, beating London, Madrid and Paris. As from today at 10:30am the old TV analogue signal will be switched off and the whole city goes digital. 4.5 million citizens are affected in the province of Lazio including 2.5 million in the capital of Italy. If you have an Italian property, a house in Rome, an appartment in Rome or a flat in Rome then please ensure you have bought a new TV or at least purchased a digital decoder for your old TV and retune your TV regularly this month until 30/11/09 when the switch over from analogue to digital will be complete.

Any queries call the italian helpline on 800.022.000 or visit the website www.decoder.comunicazioni.it to check when your comune switches to digital in your italian property in Rome.

Rome’s mayor has declared a state of emergency due to the risk that the river Tiber may burst it’s banks.
Following 2 weeks of intensive rain in Italy, Friday saw the whole of Rome’s forecasted rain for the month of December fall in 1 day !!
The river Tiber is currently 5 metres or 15 feet above its normal level, this is the highest the Italian river has been over the last 40 years of Italian history.
The Milvio bridge built 200BC an ancient bridge in Rome has been closed due to risk of collapse as has the Angel’s bridge (Ponte s. Angelo). The Tiber island is also under risk.
The Italian military, the red cross and the civil protection teams are on alert and distributing sand bags.
All of Italy during the last 2 weeks has suffered from a low depression. Rain has fallen from the north to the south.
Venice St Mark’s square is currently under water.
Access to the Sicilian islands around the island of Sicily, the Egadi Islands, Favignana, Marettimo is blocked.
People accessing their Italian property in the Island of Elba are also reporting ferry problems.
All this has brought very early snow in the Italian ski resorts of the Alps and the Dolomites. Early skiing and a good skiing season is forecasted.
If you are looking for Italian ski property, MIPC currently has 2 bedroom apartments for sale in Val Gardenia.

A Ryanair plane flying from Frankfurt made an emergency landing at Rome’s Ciampino airport this morning. Passengers to Italy heard a bang as a the plane flew in to flock of birds, starlings. The left wing landing equipment failed to operate correctly as the plane skidded to a halt.

The airport was closed and other flights were directed to Rome’s Fiumicino. None of the passengers who all exited the plane via the emergency shoutes were seriously injured.

Ryaniar the low cost budget airline has successfully opened up access to Italy over the last few years with regular flights to many of Italy’s major cities.

MIPC understand that Ryanair is expanding its flights to Trapani in Sicily, increasing access to international property investors whom wish to buy a house in Sicily, Italy.