Updated at 9.10 a.m ET: An explosion at a school in Italy Saturday killed a teenage girl and injured several others, according to reports and officials.

The blast happened at 7:45 a.m. at a school in Brindisi as students were waiting to go inside, NBC News reported.

The high school, which is opposite a court in the city, is named after the slain anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone and his wife, Francesca Morvillo, a judge who was also killed in the 1992 bombing in Sicily by Cosa Nostra. 

One of the wounded students, a girl who was walking alongside the victim outside the school in Brindisi, was reported in critical condition after surgery.

Officials said at least seven students were injured, but some news reports put the figure at 10. 

Brindisi's Perrino hospital, where the wounded were taken, declined to give out information by phone. 

Dr. Paola Ciannamea, a Perrino physician who helped treat the injured at the hospital, told reporters there that one of the injured was a teenage girl who was in grave but stable condition after surgery.

She added that plastic surgery was still being performed on some of the other injured, who suffered burns in the blast. 

No claim of responsibility
An unidentified hospital official, briefing reporters there, said the critically injured student was in stable condition after surgery and that several of the injured students had suffered burns and is undergoing plastic surgery. 

Max Frigione / AP

Notebooks are seen scattered at the site where an explosive device went off near the Francesca Morvillo Falcone High School in Brindisi, Italy, Saturday.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. 

Italy has been marking the 20th anniversary of the Sicilian highway attack, but it was unclear if there was an organized crime link to Saturday's explosion. 

In Brindisi, local civil protection agency official Fabiano Amati said a female student died of her wounds after being taken to a hospital and at least seven other students were hospitalized. 

Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri, in charge of domestic security, said she was "struck" by the fact that the school was named after the slain hero and his wife, but she cautioned that investigators at that point "have no elements" to blame the school attack on organized crime. 

"It's not the usual (method) for the Mafia," she told Sky television in a phone interview. The Sicilian-based Cosa Nostra usually targets specific figures, such as judges, prosecutors, turncoats or rival mobsters in attacks, and not civilian targets such as schools. 

"The big problem now is to get intelligence" on the attack, said Cancellieri. She added that she had spoken by phone with Italian Premier Mario Monti, in the United States for the G-8 summit. 

Outside the school, textbooks, their pages flipping in a breeze, notebooks and a backpack littered the street near where the bomb exploded. At the sound of the blast, students already inside the building ran outside of the school to see what happened. 

Officials initially said the device was in a trash bin outside the Morvillo-Falcone school, but later the ANSA news agency, reporting from Brindisi, said the device, consisting of three cooking-gas canisters, a detonator and possibly a timer, had been placed on a low wall ringing the school. The wall was damaged and charred from the blast. 

Public high schools in Italy hold classes on Saturday mornings. 

Specializes in fashion, social services
A school official, Valeria Vitale, told Sky that most of the pupils were girls. The school specializes in training for jobs in fashion and social services, she said. 

The bombing also follows a number of attacks against Italian officials and government or public buildings by a group of anarchists, which prompted authorities to assign bodyguards for 550 individuals and deploy 16,000 law enforcement officers nationwide. 

Minister Cancellieri indicated that after the school blast, authorities' sense of what could be a possible target had been tested. 

"Anything now could be a 'sensitive' target," she said. 

Austerity measures, spending cuts and new and higher taxes, all part of economist Monti's plan to save Italy from succumbing to the debt crisis roiling Greece, have angered many citizens, and social tensions have ratcheted up. 

"The economic crisis doesn't help," Cancellieri said, referring to the tensions. 

Brindisi is a lively port town in Puglia, the region in the southeastern "heel" of the Italian boot-shaped peninsula. An organized crime syndicate known as the Sacred United Crown, has been traditionally active there, but crackdowns have been widely considered by authorities to have lessened the organization's power in the region.

The Associated Press and NBC News' Claudio Lavanga contributed to this report.

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The Costa Condordia remains stricken after a further five bodies were found by a mechanical robot, two months after it ran aground on March 23, 2012 in Giglio Porto, Italy.

Italy's top appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, was unfit to command the cruise liner which ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio in January, causing at least 30 deaths.

In a written explanation of its decision to maintain a house arrest order against Schettino, the Court of Cassation said he had shown "little resilience in performing command functions or in handling responsibility for the safety of persons under his care."

Schettino has been accused of wrecking the 126,215-ton liner by bringing it too close to shore, where a rocky ledge tore a gash in its side and made it keel over and sink. According to the court, he "has proven not to be able to handle a dangerous situation typical of his profession, despite the specific professional skills and experience."

Costa Concordia captain's blunders detailed in Vanity Fair

Investigators also accuse Schettino of delaying evacuation and losing control of the operation, during which he abandoned ship before all 4,200 passengers and crew had been taken off the vessel.

He has been charged with multiple manslaughter, causing the accident and abandoning ship prematurely. A pre-trial hearing was held in Grosseto, near Florence, in March.

The Court of Cassation said Schettino had shown himself unable to manage a crisis and to ensure the safety of his passengers and crew and said there would be a risk of a repeat of the disaster if he were given a command again.

That part of the ruling justified the decision to keep Schettino under house arrest at his home in Meta di Sorrento, near Naples in southern Italy, as a concrete danger of a recurrence must be shown for the arrest order to be upheld.

Thirty bodies were recovered and two are missing. The wreck lies on its side in some 20 meters of water within a stone's throw of the picturesque island port.

Salvage experts are expected to stabilize the wreck by August and then refloat it and remove it from the marine natural park off the Tuscan coast where it sank.

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Roberto Monaldo / AP

Forensic police unload equipment in the courtyard of Rome's Sant'Apollinare Basilica on Monday.

ROME -- It reads like the plot of a Dan Brown novel: The tomb of a powerful mobster, who was controversially buried in a 7th century church in the center of Rome, was opened Monday by investigators looking for clues in the 1983 disappearance of a Vatican employee's daughter.

Emanuela Orlandi, 15, vanished after attending a music lesson. Her kidnapping has been at the center of conspiracy theories ever since.

After denying permission for many years, the Vatican finally allowed the remains of gangster Enrico De Pedis to be exhumed.

He was the leader of the Banda della Magliana, a criminal organization that specialized in kidnappings, drug smuggling, racketeering and prostitution in the 1970s and 1980s. De Pedis was gunned down in the center of Rome in 1990 and is thought to have taken information about Orlandi's disappearance to the grave.

Under De Pedis, the Banda della Magliana went from petty street criminals to legendary mobsters with alleged links with the Mafia, Italy’s secret services and international crime organizations. The gang took over Rome's underworld and have been linked to many unsolved mysteries, including the murder of Roberto Calvi, also known as "God's banker," who was found hanged under London's Blackfriars Bridge in 1982. 

Illicit loans?  
Some believe Orlandi was taken by the Banda della Magliana to push the Vatican Bank to pay back illicit loans. However, others believe she was kidnapped by Bulgarian secret agents to secure the release of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.

De Pedis' burial in the crypt of the prestigious Sant’Apollinare Basilica, an ancient church close to Rome’s picturesque Piazza Navona, raised eyebrows. It was, by all means, an unlikely burial site for a violent criminal. But the choice of the church wasn’t coincidental.

That's where he got married, and in front of the altar he allegedly told his wife: "When it's my turn, this is where I want to be buried." His wish was granted by the then-cardinal in charge, Ugo Poletti, who claimed De Pedis "repented while in jail" and had "done a lot of work for charity."

'Important step'
Citing a "Vatican source," media reports emerged last week suggesting that De Pedis' widow paid one billion lira (around $600,000) for the honor.

Roberto Monaldo / AP

Pietro Orlandi, brother of Emanuela, arrives at Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome on Monday.

Investigators thought the tomb might offer clues about Orlandi's kidnapping, or perhaps even contain her remains. But soon after opening the coffin, their hopes were dashed.

Authorities later revealed that the tomb "only contains the remains of a man." 

Pietro Orlandi, Emanuela’s brother, told journalists outside of the church that he believes "cooperation between the Vatican and investigators is an important step to shed some light on what really happened."

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Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images

Italians hold candles as they demonstrate against government policy in front of the Pantheon, in downtown Rome, on April 18, 2012. Trade union's anger is growing in Italy over the government's reform measures and public outrage over a series of suicides linked to the economic crisis.

ASOLO, Italy – On Tuesday, Generoso Armenante, a 49-year-old former security guard at a convenience store in the southern town of Salerno, left home after having lunch with his wife – and quietly found a secluded spot where he hanged himself. 

Armenante had been fired more than a year ago, and had been struggling to find another job ever since. Next to his body he left a letter: “I decided to end it because I am a failure. I can’t live without work.” 

Unfortunately, he is not alone. Tens of other Italians have also chosen to take their own lives in response to the strain of the economic crisis and the consequent austerity measures. 

On Tuesday, two other people committed suicide, apparently due to financial hardship. A 60-year-old businessman in Milan hanged himself from a tree after failing to repay his debts.

And a 64-year-old bricklayer in Salerno, who lost his job around Christmas, shot himself in the chest. He left a similar message: “I can’t live without a job.”

The three men are casualties of the debt crisis that has pushed Italy’s economy to the brink over the past year and put considerable strain on most Italians, especially those who own or work for small businesses. At least 34 people have killed themselves citing economic reasons since the start of the year, according to the Italian Association of Small Businesses. 

‘If my business fails, I fail with it’
A dramatic hike in taxes, combined with large cuts in public spending, a clampdown on tax evasion and a credit crunch from banks have pushed many Italian businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. 

Some have stuck to the old Italian script, griping about the government measures at the local cafe over a cappuccino and hoping for better times. But others have seen no way out, and have opted for death.  

The most affected region is the relatively prosperous Veneto in the northeast of Italy, home of Venice and an abundance of businessmen. 

Gianfilippo Oggioni / AP

Tiziana Marrone, right, widow of Giuseppe Campaniello, whose his picture is carried on a banner in background, and Elisabetta Bianchi take part in a demonstration to protest against Italian Premier Mario Monti's austerity measures, in Bologna, Italy, on Friday, May 4, 2012. Marrone and Bianchi claimed that their husbands committed suicide because of economic crisis.

In a part of the country that has had a reputation for skilled merchants since Venice was a maritime republic, as many as one in 10 own their own business. Some of the most recognized Italian brands, such as Benetton and Diesel, originate from the area. 

“My business is like my family,” Massimo Zappia, who owns a window frame business in Asolo, a town about 20 miles north of Venice, told NBC News. “I feel responsible for each of my employees. If my business fails, I fail with it.” 

Zappia, 42, blames the credit crisis for some of his woes as a small business owner.  “These days it takes six months for banks to make their mind up for small loans of just a few thousand dollars. And as a businessman, I feel left alone.” 

Struggling to ‘soldier on’
This feeling of failure and loneliness is at the very heart of acts of desperation among the business community in Italy. The message left by Armenante, the security guard who hanged himself on Tuesday is the same mantra repeated by workers and businessmen who either tried to kill themselves and lived to tell the tale or by those who thought about trying, but found other reasons to live. 

Giovanni, who is in his mid-40s and also lives in Asolo, admits that he thought about ending his life after failing to repay a debt of $25,000. The self-employed plumber, who asked that his last name not be used, told NBC News that he only stopped himself because he didn’t want his family to pay for his mistakes, adding that he has a disabled son and a wife with a history of psychological problems.

“It was a dark moment, and I thought there was no way out,” he said. “They strangled me economically; I just can’t keep up with repayments. I got to the point where I couldn’t go back home and look at my wife and children in the eyes, and tell them I didn’t know how to carry on,” he said. 

“There are moments when you think that there is an easy way out. It only takes a moment to die. But then you think of your family and you realize you can’t. You just need to soldier on.”

To help ease the problem, a workers’ association near Asolo started a helpline for people in distress. They received at least 60 calls in their first two months of activity, but say that it’s worried families who tend to call rather than the businessmen themselves. 

“It’s their wives that call the most, because businessmen around here are very proud,” said Stefano Zanatta, president of Confartigianato Veneto, a local business association. “They wouldn’t admit to having a problem until it becomes so big they can’t tackle it anymore.”

Some, however, do call. “Once we got a call from a businessman who couldn’t even afford to send his daughter to school,” Zanatta said. “We offer them psychological support and financial advice before it’s too late.” 

Zanatta says that he expected a dramatic hike in the number of calls during the month of June. That’s the deadline for filing tax returns in Italy, and the time when many businessmen may realize they just can’t survive the economic crisis.  

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Luca Zennaro / EPA

Italian military police investigate the site where Roberto Adinolfi, the chief executive of a state-controlled nuclear company, was shot in Genoa, Italy, on Monday.

MILAN - The head of a nuclear power company was shot in the leg by an unidentified gunman in Italy on Monday, police said, in an incident reminiscent of politically motivated violence that raged in the country in the 1970s and 1980s.

Roberto Adinolfi, chief executive of Ansaldo Nucleare, a company linked to Italian defence conglomerate Finmeccanica, was shot in the street outside his house in Genoa in northern Italy, police said.

Shooting people in the legs was a trademark practice by the Red Brigades, a left-wing guerrilla group that carried out a campaign of murder and kidnapping aimed at destabilizing Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.

An investigative source told Reuters two people on a motorbike wearing helmets had fired three shots, hitting him in the leg. The bullet fractured his right knee but he was not in serious condition, the source said.

The investigative source said magistrates were considering whether anarchists might have been responsible for the attack.

The anarchist movement has a strong presence in the city and, according to Italian news agency Ansa, police were looking at recent pronouncements by some anarchist groups calling for "a shift to a new phase that could lead to armed action," BBC News reported.

Politicians from all sides were quick to condemn Adinolfi's shooting, some of them blaming a spreading "climate of hatred" in the recession-hit country.

"We hope investigators can find as quickly as possible those responsible for an act that brings us back to a very sad chapter of Italian history," said Lorenzo Cesa of the centrist UDC party.

Finmeccanica controls Ansaldo Energia, the parent of Ansaldo Nucleare. The Genoa attack would be "extremely serious" if it was linked to political and social frictions, said the chief financial officer of Finmeccanica, Alessandro Pansa.

Austerity measures by the government of Prime Minister Mario Monti to control Italy's huge public debt have caused mounting resentment, although protests have generally been peaceful and there have been no real signs of organised political violence.

A string of suicides, notably among businessmen suffering financial problems, has however underlined the human cost of the crisis. Last week, a 54-year-old man took a hostage in the offices of tax agency Equitalia in an act of desperation although the incident ended without violence.   

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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Karima El Mahroug of Morocco (left), also known as "Ruby the Heart-Stealer," poses for photographers in a hotel in the western Austrian ski resort of Ischgl in April, 2011. Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attends a soccer game between Parma and AC Milan in Parma in March of this year.

ROME – All we knew of Ruby was that she stole Silvio Berlusconi’s heart. But according to leaked telephone conversations published on Monday, she also took quite a lot of money from him to lie about their relationship.

Karima El-Marough, better known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer,” is a Moroccan-born dancer who, according to prosecutors in Milan, had sex with the former Italian prime minister for money when she was still a minor. It’s a crime which could land Berlusconi in prison for up to three years. 

So far El-Marough has denied having had sex with Berlusconi, although she did admit to having received thousands of euros from him. Berlusconi has claimed to have given money to her and other women as gifts to “help out,” but according to leaked telephone conversations between and her friends, that money was meant to buy her silence. 

In the wiretapped telephone conversations dating back to October 2010, when the scandal broke, El-Marough told a number of friends that Berlusconi asked her to act "crazy" and lie. In exchange, he would give her whatever she wanted.

According to the wire-tapped calls on Oct. 28, 2010, she told a friends: “Silvio called me to tell me he’ll give me as much money as I want, as long as I act like I am mentally unstable and a liar… as long as I don’t tell the truth. He told me ‘I’ll give you all the money you want…I’ll cover you in gold…just don’t say anything.’” 

'Burlesconi' sex scandal comes full circle

On the same day, El-Marough told a friend named Sergio that she had even set a specific price for her silence on the relationship with Berlusconi. 

“Through my lawyer I asked him for five million euro ($6.5 million) in exchange for me acting like I am crazy… a liar… He accepted,” she said, according to the transcripts.

When another friend asked her if she was afraid of being involved in such a high-profile scandal, Ruby seemed to acknowledge that she had actually hit the jackpot.

“No, I am not afraid. I will get a lot of money…fame…why should I be afraid?” she is heard saying on the phone.

What is certain is that she did gain fame. Since the scandal broke out, she has become a household name, even though she is better known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer” than Karima El-Marough. She has since had a baby and appeared in a couple of small commercials.

Whether she was effectively paid to lie in order to protect Berlusconi is up to the prosecutors to prove. But the leaked phone conversations are so far the most damaging piece of evidence against the former Italian prime minister in a trial that has that could not only end his political career, but his life as a free man.

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Giuseppe Cacace / AFP - Getty Images

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at a recent soccer match between Parma and AC Milan at Ennio Tardini Stadium in Parma on March 17, 2012.

ROME – Among the many derogatory nicknames Silvio Berlusconi’s detractors came up, one was "Burlesconi," a way to emphasize his propensity for gaffes and tendency to adopt sexist and inappropriate humor.

But as usually happens with the flamboyant former Italian prime minister, truth is stranger than fiction.

On Friday Berlusconi, 75, made a rare appearance at the trial in which he stands accused of having sex with an under-aged prostitute known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer” during one of his now infamous “Bunga Bunga” parties, sex-fueled revelries that allegedly took place at his private residence in Milan.

And suddenly, burlesque had a lot more to do with him than his detractors could have ever dreamed of. 

While the trial officially started at the end of last year, it has already offered a fly-on-the-wall peek into Berlusconi’s scandalous private life, with lurid details revealing an impressive partying lifestyle that would be trying for a man a third his age.

On Monday Imane Fadil, one of the models who was invited to Berlusconi’s “elegant dinners,” as he called them, testified in court. She said that she personally saw women dressed as nuns don their habits and crucifixes before they jumped on a pole where they performed some very unholy dance moves.

Another model, Fadil said, wore a mask of Ronaldinho, a famous soccer player from AC Milan, the Italian team owned by Berlusconi, before she kicked off her skirt down to her G-string.

Witness: Italian ex-PM Berlusconi hosted strippers dressed as nuns

Gifts from Gadhafi
On Friday, the former prime minister, and currently still the leader of the biggest political coalition in the Italian lower house of parliament, clarified once and for all some of what happened.

Speaking to journalists in Milan's High Court after the hearing, Berlusconi described what he saw in detail. "I remember seeing a woman dressed as a policeman, one as a nurse and another one as Father Christmas ... those were dresses that I received as presents from Gadhafi," Berlusconi said. (See a video published on the website of Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper. He's speaking in Italian).

"[Gadhafi] gave them to me when I went to Tripoli for an expo on Libya's fashion. I saw those dresses and told him I liked them, so he sent them to me," he said.

A little later, he again spoke with journalists, this time outside the courtroom in Milan. “They were dressed up, some as policemen, but it was only a burlesque contest.” 

He insisted that the girls were guests of innocent dinners dominated by an atmosphere of joy, serenity and conviviality.

“Sometimes,” he specified, “the girls would follow me to the house theater room,” a room formerly used by his sons as a private discotheque.

“Women are exhibitionists by nature,” Berlusconi said. “And if they work in show business, they are even more exhibitionists. They like putting up shows and they decided to compete in a burlesque show.”

When asked if he was a judge of the show, he replied: “No, but I watched with interest. I had a lot of fun, and will continue to have fun.”

(See video of Berlusconi’s comments to journalists outside the courtroom. He’s speaking in Italian).

And there is the irony of it all.

While the admission by any current or former prime minister of a European country that they held a burlesque contest with half-naked women dressed as nuns and policemen would be enough to end their political career shamefully, Berlusconi seems somehow different. His list of alleged felonies, including sex scandals, tax frauds and abuse of office, has now become so long that confessing to organizing a strippers competition, at the end of the day, seems not so bad.

The trial continues, and with more revelations expected from witnesses, the former prime minister’s private life will soon be stripped naked. Nothing more appropriate, for a man dubbed Burlesconi.

/

Family and friends of soccer player Piermario Morosini, 25, follow his coffin after the funeral service at a church on Thursday.

Thousands of fans filled the streets of Bergamo, Italy on Thursday for the funeral of Piermario Morosini, a 25-year-old soccer player who collapsed and died during a match last weekend. 

About 600 people packed into the Church of San Gregorio Barbarigo for the service, while thousands watched on big screens outside. 

Morosini's coffin was draped in his Livorno shirt as well as an Atalanta top bearing his name and the No. 8. Adorned with wreaths and flowers, it was also covered by several football scarves. Next to the coffin had been placed boots and footballs. 

"Mario is really in our hearts. I'm not scared and I am here not only for Mario but with Mario," father Luciano Manenti said at the start of the service. 

Morosini, a 25-year-old midfielder who was on loan from Udinese, started out in Atalanta's youth team. The entire Atalanta squad was present at the funeral, as well as Udinese players and numerous former teammates, including an emotional Sulley Muntari. 

Various representatives of other teams and Italian soccer  also attended the service, including Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete and national team coach Cesare Prandelli. 

REUTERS

A mourner wears a jersey with Livorno's soccer player Piermario Morosini's number as the coffin leaves leaves following Morosini's funeral in Bergamo.

"Faced with this tragedy, football has to ask itself questions," Prandelli said. "Sports medicine and prevention in Italy are cutting-edge but it can improve. 

"Piermario has done the miracle of uniting all the banners which normally in every football game are one against the other. He taught us that you can face life's difficulties with a smile on your face always." 

Morosini's long-term girlfriend Anna Vavassori and her family also attended the funeral, which was broadcast live on various Italian TV stations. 

Reuters

A picture is displayed in homage to Italian footballer Piermario Morosini outside San Gregorio Barbarigo church.

"We have lost a son and a brother," Vavassori's mother, Mariella, said. "The pain is great but we know that you don't want us to be sad but to smile, with that smile that always lit up your face. 

"Goodbye Mario, we thank you for your presence in our life. You taught us so much, you made our hearts more true and loyal, free like you were. I thank you for giving so much love to our Anna." 

Another of the chief mourners was Morosini's elderly aunt and his elder sister Maria Carla, two of his few remaining family members. Morosini's mother died when he was 15 and his father died two years later. His brother died shortly afterward, too. 

Udinese has set up a fund for Maria Carla, who is disabled and relied on her brother for financial support. 

Morosini's coffin was carried out at the end of the service to lengthy applause and chants of his name, while several fans also lit flares.

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Cesare Abbate / EPA

Antonio Manfredi, director of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum near Naples, Italy, watches as he burns a painting. He said he plans to burn three paintings every week to protest government cuts in funding for museums and galleries.

Frustrated by limited government funding, the director of an art museum outside Naples, Italy, set fire to two paintings this week in protest, warning more would feel the heat of budget woes, the Guardian of London reported.

"There's no money for upkeep. We were flooded recently. And there are tons of garbage mounting up outside," Antonio Manfredi, director of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, told the Guardian.

The first painting sacrificed was by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who supported the burning. The painting was worth about $13,000. Bourguignon watched her painting burn via Skype, the BBC reported.

The second painting was by Neapolitan artist Rosaria Matarese, The Associated Press reported. She also gave her consent to burn her work, worth about $9,000.

Manfredi said he intends to burn three more as part of what he called “art war.”

Italy has faced a series of austerity measures in the last year. Art institutions say they have been hit hard as state subsidies have decreased, the BBC reported.

But Manfredi has asked not just for public funding but also official support.

The lack of funds has resulted in weakened security, which thieves have used to their advantage, the Guardian reported. Manfredi said the mafia, which thrives in Naples, has stolen security cameras and art.

"Our 1,000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the government's indifference," Manfredi said.”This is war. This is revolution.”

He noted that his museum has 1,000 pieces of art by European, African and Chinese artists, so this could be a long protest.

Officials of the center-left Democratic Party in Italy appealed for money for the museum Wednesday.

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ROME -- Two bodies recovered from the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship have been formally identified as Americans Barbara and Gerald Heil from Minnesota.

The bodies were among five that were recovered in the past three weeks from the liner, which capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio after hitting rocks on January 13.

At least 30 people died and two are still unaccounted for.

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"Five bodies recovered from the Costa Concordia have been identified," said a statement from the Grosseto prefecture on Tuesday.

The other three were named as Christina Matheson Ganz and Norbert Josef Ganz, both Germans, and Giuseppe Girolamo, an Italian citizen and member of the crew.

A salvage operation to move the wreck, owned by Carnival Corp., is expected to begin next month.

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