Sylvia Poggioli
Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.
Since joining NPR's foreign desk in 1982, Poggioli has traveled extensively for reporting assignments. These include going to Norway to cover the aftermath of the brutal attacks by a right-wing extremist; to Greece, Spain, and Portugal reporting on the eurozone crisis; and the Balkans where the last wanted war criminals have been arrested.
In addition, Poggioli has traveled to France, Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, and Denmark to produce in-depth reports on immigration, racism, Islam, and the rise of the right in Europe.
She has also travelled with Pope Francis on several of his foreign trips, including visits to Cuba, the United States, Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
Throughout her career Poggioli has been recognized for her work with distinctions including the WBUR Foreign Correspondent Award, the Welles Hangen Award for Distinguished Journalism, a George Foster Peabody, National Women's Political Caucus/Radcliffe College Exceptional Merit Media Awards, the Edward Weintal Journalism Prize, and the Silver Angel Excellence in the Media Award. Poggioli was part of the NPR team that won the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for coverage of the war in Kosovo. In 2009, she received the Maria Grazia Cutulli Award for foreign reporting.
In 2000, Poggioli received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Brandeis University. In 2006, she received an honorary degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston together with Barack Obama.
Prior to this honor, Poggioli was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences "for her distinctive, cultivated and authoritative reports on 'ethnic cleansing' in Bosnia." In 1990, Poggioli spent an academic year at Harvard University as a research fellow at Harvard University's Center for Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government.
From 1971 to 1986, Poggioli served as an editor on the English-language desk for the Ansa News Agency in Italy. She worked at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. She was actively involved with women's film and theater groups.
The daughter of Italian anti-fascists who were forced to flee Italy under Mussolini, Poggioli was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in romance languages and literature. She later studied in Italy under a Fulbright Scholarship.
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The first pope to retire in centuries will stay at the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo until an apartment for him at the Vatican is renovated. Meantime, preparations for electing a new pope are under way.
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In eight years on the throne of St. Peter, Benedict XVI has angered Muslims, offended Jews and made controversial comments about the spread of AIDS. But the scandal that has most haunted him is the abuse of children by pedophile priests. -
Comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo's populist Five Star Movement is soaring in the polls ahead of elections this weekend. His rallies have attracted tens of thousands of Italians tired of a poor economy, widespread corruption and political patronage. But there are concerns that no one knows what Grillo's movement stands for. -
As the Italian elections near, disgraced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his coalition have surged to second place. Many are curious as to how he was able to resurrect himself.
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A system of favors among Greek media outlets, politicians and banks helped produce one of the most inflated media sectors in Europe. But the media have been hit hard by the country's massive austerity drive, and have taken a huge loss in terms of credibility. -
Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his resignation Monday at age 85, was a deeply conservative pontiff who sought to strengthen the church's core beliefs. But he also faced a number of difficult issues in a rapidly changing world. -
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Pope Benedict announced Monday morning he is retiring at the end of the month. He will be the first pontiff to step aside in six centuries.
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The sweeping fire sale is a requirement for multibillion-euro bailouts. And the Chinese, Russian and Arab companies lining up to take advantage of the steep discounts are making Greeks and other Europeans nervous. -
Three years of austerity measures are hitting ordinary Greeks hard. Unemployment is nearly 27 percent and rising, and the once dependable safety net of welfare benefits is being pulled in. Further cutbacks and tax hikes are about to kick in.
