Italy’s top story on Tuesday:

A mountain climber plummeted to his death on Monday morning while attempting to summit Gran Paradiso mountain in Italy’s Graian Alps, Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

The victim, from Italy’s northeastern Veneto region, had been preparing to reach the mountain’s peak with a friend at around 9am when he fell 300 metres from its north face.

The alarm was raised by a group of climbers who witnessed the fall, the cause of which is under investigation. The man’s body was transported to the town of Courmayeur by the Valle d’Aosta Alpine Rescue service.

The accident marks the second death on the massif in as many months: on April 26th, 47-year-old Frenchman Benoit Bordat lost his life after falling into a ravine on the neighbouring Herbétet peak, Corriere reported.

Shark sighted off coast of northern Italy

There was panic on the shores of the Italian Riviera on Sunday morning after bathers spotted a 1.5-metre blue shark in their midst, according to national broadcaster Rai News.

A lifeguard evacuated La Spezia’s Marinella di Sarzana beach without incident, and the shark swam away after a few minutes, allowing swimmers to return to the waters.

Blue sharks are not an uncommon sight in the Mediterranean: one was spotted in the Marina di Pisa on the Tuscan coastline last August, and there were various sightings off the coast of Mallora around the same time.

The species, which feeds on small fish and calamari, rarely attacks humans. Its numbers are critically endangered by overfishing, according to the WWF, with Italy being one of the world’s largest domestic consumers of shark meat.

15 million Italians to go on holiday in June

15.1 million Italians are expected to go on holiday in the month of June, bringing an anticipated €10 billion boost to the economy, according to a recent survey from Italian hoteliers’ association Federalberghi.

90.1 percent of respondents said they intended to remain in Italy, with the vast majority (66.6 percent) choosing coastal destinations.

10.8 percent planned to go to the mountains, 10.7 percent to centres of art and culture, and three percent to lake resorts.

More than half of vacationers – 8.7 million – were members of families bringing children or grandchildren with them, the survey indicated.

Chairman of Italy’s state-controlled shipbuilder dies

The chairman of Italy’s state-controlled shipbuilder Fincantieri, Claudio Graziano, a retired general who once headed the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has died aged 70, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday, as reported by AFP news agency.

The cause of death was not disclosed but Italian media reported that a gun and note were found near his body in his house in Rome. He had recently been widowed, the reports said.

“The passing of General Claudio Graziano leaves me speechless,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

“He was a friend and an extraordinary officer who also honoured Italy in his European roles. May a prayer accompany him on his journey to join his bride,” he said on X.

Fincantieri is Europe’s leading shipbuilder, with 21,000 employees and revenues exceeding 7.7 billion euros ($8.2 billion), AFP reported.