Fabrizio Giovannozzi / AP, file

The Duomo in Florence is the fifth largest in Europe.

ROME, Italy - An American tourist underwent emergency surgery after being stabbed in the Italian city of Florence on Tuesday, a hospital doctor and media reports said.

The 68-year-old was in front of the city’s famed Duomo cathedral listening to a street musician with his wife when someone tried to mug him and he resisted, according to a report by Italian news agency, ANSA.

The report said he suffered knife wounds to a kidney and a lung.

Armando Sarti, head of the emergency care department at the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, said by phone on Wednesday that the man was recovering after an operation.

“The patient underwent surgery overnight and his condition has now improved and ... seems to be stable, although it is too early to release him from intensive care,” he said.

A hospital spokesman said the man's kidney was removed during surgery.

Local media reports in Florence said a 37-year-old Italian man from Bari was arrested shortly after the mugging and remained in custody, although this could not immediately be confirmed with police.

• More NBC News coverage of Italy

Tiziana Fabi / AFP - Getty Images, file

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino leaves after a session of the trial in the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster on April 15, 2013 in Grosseto.

ROME -- He was judged guilty by public opinion after his cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, capsized off the tiny Italian island of Giglio last year, killing 32 people and leaving thousands traumatized. Now Captain Francesco Schettino will face justice in a court of law.

A judge in Grosseto, a town in Tuscany, announced Wednesday that there was enough evidence to try Schettino for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard. Schettino denies the charges.

The Costa Concordia ran aground in January 2012 as it passed very close to the island's shore. It was one of the most high-profile shipwrecks since the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

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The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy killing 32 people - including two Americans.

Launch slideshow

Schettino will be the only defendant in the trial, which will begin on July 9 in Grosseto. Five other defendants have sought plea bargains in separate cases.

Schettino's defense team tried to convince Judge Paolo Molino to drop the charge of abandonment of ship, one of the worst and most embarrassing offenses for a captain. But Molino ruled there was enough evidence to suggest the captain left the cruise liner voluntarily hours before the last passenger was rescued, rather than falling off the ship accidentally as he initially claimed.

"I can only tell you that anyone who has been in a position of authority would feel very, very depressed, exactly as he feels," said Francesco Pepe, Schettino's lawyer. 

He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to his lawyer.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Full coverage of the Costa Concordia disaster on NBCNews.com

Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images

Italian businessman Marcello De Finizio stands on the dome of St Peter's basilica to protest against austerity measures on May 21, 2013 at the Vatican.

A man climbed onto a ledge on the dome of St Peter's Basilica on Monday and unfurled a banner protesting against a "political horror show," an apparent reference to Italy's embattled coalition struggling with recession and high unemployment.

Identified by police as Marcello Di Finizio, the man unfurled a white banner reading "Stop this massacre!" in English, scrawled in black and red ink, with "Help us Pope Francis" in Italian.

Di Finizio, who was still on the ledge on Tuesday, has staged similar protests in the past. Last October he stayed overnight on the dome with a banner criticizing multinationals, Europe, and former Prime Minister Mario Monti. Read the full story.

Filippo Monteforte / AFP - Getty Images

Stefano Porta / ANSA via EPA

Karima El-Mahrough, nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer, leaves a Milan courtroom after testifying about former premier Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties.

MILAN -- The Moroccan woman at the center of a sex scandal involving former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi testified Friday in court for the first time, describing how a young woman attending one of Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" parties dressed as a nun, danced provocatively and stripped down to her underwear for the premier.

Karima el-Mahroug took the witness stand in the trial of three former Berlusconi aides charged with recruiting her and other women for prostitution. They deny the charges. The trial is separate from the one in which Berlusconi is charged with paying for sex with a minor — el-Mahroug herself — and trying to cover it up.

El-Mahroug, also known as Ruby or Ruby the Heart Stealer, has made carefully orchestrated statements to the media since the scandal broke but has never publicly given sworn testimony. Both she and Berlusconi deny having had sex.

The three Berlusconi aides — Emilio Fede, an executive in Berlusconi's media empire; Nicole Minetti, a former dental hygienist, showgirl and local politician, and talent agent Dario "Lele" Mora — are accused of recruiting women for prostitution at the parties and abetting prostitution, including of a minor.

El-Mahroug's testimony Friday confirmed the sexual atmosphere at Berlusconi's infamous "bunga bunga" parties, which were filled with beautiful young women. Many of those women have said they received money from the billionaire media mogul.

Dressed soberly with her hair pulled back, El-Mahroug said she first made contact with Berlusconi's inner circle when she participated in a beauty contest organized by Fede in Sicily when she was 16.

Vincenzo Pinto / AFP - Getty Images

Karima el-Mahroug said she visited a mansion belonging to Silvio Berlusconi, seen here in 2011, a half-dozen times. Each time she received an envelope containing money, el-Mahroug testified Friday.

After that she made her way to Milan, hoping to find work. She said she tried to get work through another defendant's talent agency but wound up landing a job as a hostess in nightclubs, earning around $130 a night.

Eventually, she ran into Fede at a restaurant, where she reminded him of his promise in Sicily to help her. Shortly thereafter, she was invited to a dinner party — at Berlusconi's villa outside Milan.

She testified that she met the premier that night — on Valentine's Day in 2010 — and that he gave her an envelope of 2,000 to 3,000 euros ($2,600 to $3,900), saying it was "a little help" and asking for her telephone number, which she gave him.

At that party, she said, she introduced herself as Ruby and told other guests a fake tale that she was Egyptian, that her mother was a famous Arab singer and that she was related to then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. She was 17 at the time but had passed herself off as being 24.

El-Mahroug confirmed Friday what other witnesses have testified previously: that at some of the soirees, young female party guests had dressed up like nuns and danced for Berlusconi and then stripped down to their underwear.

El-Mahroug said Minetti, one of the defendants, had dressed up like a nun at that Feb. 14 party and lifted her costume to show off her legs as she danced in Berlusconi's in-house disco, which was outfitted with a lap-dance pole. El-Mahroug demonstrated from her seat how Minetti had raised her hemline. She said Minetti eventually took off her costume and was in just her lingerie.

She said other girls dressed up as President Barack Obama and a Milan magistrate who is leading the prosecution against Berlusconi in the sex scandal.

"The girls who were dressed in costumes approached him in a sensual way as they danced. They raised their skirts," El-Mahroug testified. She added: "I never saw contact."

El-Mahroug said she visited Berlusconi's mansion, Arcore, a half-dozen times, and that each time she was given an envelope with money, always in 500 euro ($645) bills. The second evening she went she said she was given more than $2,500.

Prosecutors in Berlusconi's separate trial have said El-Mahroug's testimony is unreliable and are relying on her sworn statements. The defense had initially called her as a witness, but then changed its strategy and didn't call her. That trial is nearing a verdict.

Related:

• Berlusconi: 'I'll cover you in gold'
• 'Ruby' shows up for Berlusconi sex trial
• Berlusconi sex scandal comes full circle

LA SPEZIA, Italy -- If you’re under 70, you’ve probably never heard of the USS Williamsburg.

But at one time she was among the most famous ships on the planet -- the stuff of newsreels and bold headlines.  

Steel-hulled and built to look like a mini-Titanic, the 240-foot Williamsburg started out in the early 1930s as the Aras, a private yacht. She became a patrol gunboat during World War II.  But it was as President Harry S. Truman’s yacht that she gained acclaim as his "seagoing White House."

Truman loved to do business on the Williamsburg as much as he loved the ship itself.

Over his seven tumultuous years as president, discussions on board with leaders including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill – often over card games and long bourbons - led to decisions that still affect the world today: the launch of the Cold War, the Marshall Plan, NATO, the Korean War, and the creation of Israel, to name but a few.   

But, for the past 20 years, the USS Williamsburg has barely kept afloat in a quaint backwater in northern Italy. 

The vessel's Italian owners  – who run a shipyard – say that in four or five years it will likely sink from its own decay and will be cut up for scrap.  How did it come to this?  And what can be done to save it?

VIDEO: A glimpse inside the iconic USS Williamsburg

Ask Gianfranco Oddone, a man on a mission. Oddone is a retired ship repairman who once was a high school exchange student in Truman’s home town of Lamar, Mo. He will tell anyone who listens about the Williamsburg’s saga, as he seeks out a buyer who’ll sail this piece of Americana back to where Oddone believes it belongs -- in the U.S.

In the meantime, the grandest of America’s surviving presidential yachts increases its list – and rust – far from home.  

Francesco Pecoraro / AP

Rescuers search what is left of the toppled control tower in the port of Genoa, Italy, after a cargo ship slammed into it on Tuesday.

GENOA, Italy -- Six people were killed and three are missing after a container ship crashed into a control tower in the northern Italian port of Genoa, rescuers said on Wednesday.

The tower, which was more than 160 feet high and looked much like the ones common at airports, collapsed into the water late on Tuesday after being struck by the prow of the vessel, the Jolly Nero.

Two of the dead were coastguard officers and a third was a pilot for the port, the coastguard said.

The three other victims have yet to be identified. Two were recovered from the wreckage of the tower's lift, a firefighters' spokesman said.

The accident happened as staff were changing shifts and there were 13 people in the tower when it was struck, the coastguard said.

As well as the dead and missing, officials said four people were injured and had been taken to hospital. Two were seriously hurt and one had lost a foot, investigators said.

"The main injuries are fractures, crushed body parts, significant traumas," emergency services doctor Andrea Furgani said.

The crash occurred shortly after 11 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) in calm conditions as the Jolly Nero was maneuvering out of the port.

Genoa prosecutor Michele Di Lecce has opened an investigation and is focusing on a possible malfunction of the ship's engine or steering mechanism, judicial sources said.

The crash is the most serious maritime accident in Italy since the Costa Concordia luxury cruise liner struck a rock and capsized off the island of Giglio in January 2012, killing 32 people.

Massimo Cebrelli / AFP - Getty Images, file

This 2011 photo shows the control tower at the Italian port of Genoa.

"There's no logical explanation because two tug boats were moving the ship and there was a port pilot on board and sea conditions were optimal," the head of the Genoa Port Authority, Luigi Merlo, said.

The only thing left where the tower had stood was a leaning metal-framed stairway. Divers from the fire department joined the search for bodies.

The Jolly Nero, which is 781 feet long with a gross tonnage of 40,594 metric tons, is owned by local operator Ignazio Messina and Co.

"A thing like this has never happened, we are devastated," said Stefano Messina, one of the directors of the family-owned firm, who was in tears when he spoke to a local TV channel.

This story was originally published on Wed May 8, 2013 7:14 AM EDT

Samantha Zucchi / EPA

Workers perform renovations Feb. 20 at the top of convent of Mater Ecclesiae, where Pope Benedict XVI will live starting Thursday.

A new page was written in Vatican history Thursday, when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI returned to take up permanent residency in the city-state.

The unprecedented co-location of a reigning pope less than a 10-minute walk from a retired pope occurred as Benedict arrived at the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae monastery.

The pope emeritus made the short helicopter flight from the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, where he had been staying since Feb. 28.

According to a statement from the Vatican, he was greeted by Pope Francis at the entrance to the monastery and the two men shared a short time of prayer in the building’s chapel.

In another unique arrangement, the Vatican has confirmed that Benedict will reside with his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, who accompanied Benedict on his return to the Vatican. Gaenswein will also continue in his day job as head of the papal household, with responsibility for Pope Francis’s schedule.

As the Vatican enters uncharted territory, experts predict immediate attention will be focused on any differences that arise – or may even seem to arise – between the two men.

Osservatore Romano / Reuters

Pope Francis, left, embraces Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as he arrives at the Castel Gandolfo summer residence on March 23.

“If Benedict fulfills his pledge to live out the rest of his days ‘hidden from the world’, it will reduce the chance of misunderstandings, or even of drawing contrasts,” Vatican journalist Alessandro Speciale told NBC News.

The two pontiffs had met at Castel Gandolfo on March 23 for an informal and largely private face-to-face discussion, which a Vatican spokesman described as “a moment of profound and elevated communion.”

In April, Pope Francis, who had already earned the reputation of a potential reformer,  launched an eight-member review committee to consider the way the Vatican is run.  According to the Vatican’s deputy Secretary of State, Angelo Becciu, advice on how he should proceed is ‘already raining in’, but Francis has yet to meet with the committee members.

If tension develops tension between pro- and anti-reformists, Alessandro Speciale said it could prove awkward having a former pope in the mix. “What might happen - and would be very embarrassing for the Vatican and a huge problem for the church - is that Benedict might become a rallying point for those who oppose the reforms and simpler style advocated by Francis.  The  traditional trappings and pomp of the papacy was something that Ratzinger was bringing back into favor.”

Benedict described himself as “a simple pilgrim” as he stood down from the papacy, but he will continue to wear white robes.

His new accommodation, located inside the Vatican gardens, is a comparatively modern building, having been completed in 1994.

It was founded under Pope John Paul II as accommodation for a monastic group of nuns and a place of prayer. Refurbishment work on the building started in November; one former resident nun said the basement suffered from humidity

Related:

• Popes meet for historic lunch
• Benedict leaves Vatican for final time as pope
• Full Vatican coverage from NBC News

Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

An Italian policeman is carried away by paramedics after two policemen were wounded in a shooting outside the Italian prime minister's offices as the country's new ministers were being sworn in on Sunday.

ROME — Two police officers were shot and wounded outside the Italian prime minister's office on Sunday as Enrico Letta's new government was being sworn in around a mile away at the president's palace, RAI state television reported.

One of the officers was shot in the neck and was in a serious condition, a police official said.

One man, described as unemployed and in his 40s, was arrested at the scene of the shooting, a witness said, and it was initially unclear whether the attack was linked to the launch of the new government.

Newly installed Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the attack appeared to be an isolated incident.

"An initial examination of the incident suggests that this can be considered as an isolated act," Alfano told reporters, adding that further checks were being carried out.

He said there was no cause for concern about the overall security situation in Italy but added that protective measures had been stepped up at potential targets.

Letta, 46, the moderate deputy head of the Democratic Party (PD), on Saturday ended two months of political stalemate since February's inconclusive election when he brought together former political rivals in a broad coalition government.

Letta's ministers stepped forward one by one to swear allegiance to the republic before President Giorgio Napolitano, who personally picked Letta as prime minister and had a central role in the choice of his cabinet team.

Related:

• Finally! Italy set for new premier after two months without leader
• Italy's Berlusconi says he would be PM candidate if new vote held

Domenico Stinellis / AP

Italian Premier-designate Enrico Letta speaks during a press conference at the Quirinale Presidential Palace in Rome, Saturday, April 27, 2013.

Italian center-left politician Enrico Letta said on Saturday he had won support of other parties to form a coalition government that will include one of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's closest allies as deputy prime minister.

Letta met President Giorgio Napolitano after talks with Berlusconi and leaders of his center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party to confirm that he had reached an accord which would clear the way for a government to be formed.

"I hope that this government can get to work quickly in the spirit of fervent cooperation and without any prejudice or conflict," Napolitano told reporters.

PDL secretary Angelino Alfano will be deputy prime minister and interior minister, giving the center-right a powerful voice at the heart of the new government.

Bank of Italy director general Fabrizio Saccomanni will take the key economy ministry portfolio and former European Commissioner Emma Bonino will be foreign minister.

The government, which Letta said would contain a record number of women ministers, will be sworn in at 5:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday and Letta is expected to go before parliament to seek a vote of confidence on Monday.

Letta, 46, the deputy leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), spent more than two hours on Saturday in talks with Berlusconi, who will not be a member of the government but is likely to play an important backstage role.

Letta is on the right of the PD and the nephew of one of Berlusconi's closest aides.

Agreement had been held up by wrangling over ministerial posts and policy differences, notably over Berlusconi's demand to scrap the unpopular IMU housing tax, a move that would blow an 8 billion euro hole in this year's budget plans.

Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, has been without an effective government for months, with the long post-election deadlock holding up any concerted effort to end a recession set to become the longest since World War Two.

Letta received some encouragement late on Friday when the ratings agency Moody's kept its rating on Italian government debt unchanged at Baa2 because low interest rates were making it possible to buy time to implement much-needed reforms.

Bond yields have fallen to their lowest in more than two years as investors hope for enough stability to help Italy revive its economy and gradually tackle its large public debt.

However, Moody's also said medium-term growth prospects were weak and forecast the economy would shrink by 1.8 percent this year, compounding more than two decades of stagnation

Letta has said his priorities will be boosting the economy and tackling unemployment, restoring confidence in Italy's discredited political institutions and trying to turn Europe away from austerity to focus more on growth and investment.

On paper, the priorities laid out by Letta fit in well with proposals from Berlusconi's camp, which has attacked the austerity policies of outgoing prime minister Mario Monti.

Berlusconi, in the middle of legal battles over a tax fraud conviction and charges of paying for sex with a minor, had pressed for the cabinet to include close political allies and had opposed the inclusion of technocrats.

In the event, however, several of the big ministries were led by non-political figures.

As well as Saccomanni at the economy ministry, Anna Maria Cancellieri, the former police official who served as interior minister under Monti took the justice portfolio, while the labor ministry went to Enrico Giovannini, head of statistics agency ISTAT.

Monti's centrist movement Civic Choice obtained a token presence in the government, with Mario Mauro taking the defense ministry.

Letta has had to fight strong resistance in parts of the Democratic Party to an accord with Berlusconi, its sworn enemy for almost 20 years.

The center-left, which threw away a 10-point lead before the elections poll and now trails Berlusconi by more than five points, according to a poll by the SWG institute on Friday.

The other main force in parliament, Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, has ruled out taking part in a government made up of the two main parties. He called the right-left coalition "an orgy worthy of the best of bunga bunga", a reference to Berlusconi's parties at his private villas.

Related:

• Finally! Italy set for new premier after two months without leader
• Italy's Berlusconi says he would be PM candidate if new vote held
• Fallen Italian nobles turn castles into B&Bs
  

Max Rossi / Reuters

Enrico Letta, 46, would ne Italy's second youngest Italian prime minister since World War II.

ROME -- There is much about 46-year-old Enrico Letta, named as Italy's new prime minister designate on Wednesday, that is likely to please financial markets and Rome's international partners.

When Italian President Giorgio Napolitano asked Letta to form a new government, it signaled the end of a damaging two-month vacuum since elections in the euro zone's third largest economy in February. He was due to start talks to form a broad-based coalition on Thursday, with a parliamentary vote of confidence expected early next week.

Letta is young, moderate and pro-European, and despite his low public profile he has been a member of the European political elite for many years. Letta speaks fluent English and has a sound grasp of economics.

He is the second youngest Italian prime minister since World War II, yet with his wire-rimmed glasses and a hairline that has been receding for at least a decade, he exudes gravitas and responsibility.

In accepting the job from Napolitano two months after February's inconclusive election he made no attempt to hide the difficulties ahead for a country mired in deep recession and led by a discredited political class.

"I feel a strong responsibility on my shoulders, stronger than my shoulders' ability to support it," he told reporters at the president's palace.

He said Italy's politicians had "lost all credibility" and appealed to the whole of parliament to back his reform efforts, including convincing the European Union to change the direction of policy which is "too focused on austerity."

Letta comes from the centrist wing of the center-left Democratic party and has had a trail-blazing career since the early 1990s when he joined the defunct Christian Democrats (DC) who dominated post-war Italian politics.

At the age of 31 he was already deputy leader of the Popular Party, an offshoot of the DC, and when he became European Affairs minister in 1998 he was, at 33, the country's youngest post-war cabinet member.

He has always focused on EU affairs. In the 1990s he led a Treasury Ministry committee to prepare Italy's entry into the euro and served in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2006.

One of his tasks as prime minister will be to try to negotiate more budget flexibility for Italy from the EU, a position strongly supported by both the PD and Silvio Berlusconi's center-right, who will be backing his government.

Letta, the PD's deputy leader, was picked by Napolitano as a center-left figure who would be acceptable to Berlusconi in a broad, right-left coalition like the one that backed outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti.

His uncle is Gianni Letta, Berlusconi's closest aide for over a decade. He succeeded Gianni as Cabinet undersecretary when Romano Prodi beat Berlusconi at the 2006 election and the two men changed places again when Berlusconi won two years later.

In an early sign of the challenges ahead, within minutes of Letta being summoned by Napolitano, Berlusconi was already laying down tough conditions to support his government.

Reuters' Barry Moody and James Mackenzie contributed to this report.

Antonio Parrinello / Reuters

Italy's volcanic Mount Etna spews lava during an eruption on the southern Italian island of Sicily on April 11, 2013. Mount Etna is Europe's tallest and most active volcano.

Antonio Parrinello / Reuters

Antonio Parrinello / Reuters

A round circle of smoke coming from the mouth of Etna is seen in the sky during an eruption on the southern Italian island of Sicily on April 11, 2013.

Antonio Parrinello / Reuters

Antonio Parrinello / Reuters

See more photos of Mount Etna's eruptions on PhotoBlog.