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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Since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Serbs feel they have no identity. There is no national anthem, and the passports still say Republic of Yugoslavia. After years of isolation, sanctions and international criticism, Serbs feel they are on the fringes of the world.
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The body of Slobodan Milosevic arrives in Belgrade, Serbia on Wednesday, five years after the former Serb President was sent to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes. The Serbian government has refused a state funeral for Milosevic; he will be buried on the grounds of his provincial home.
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Blood tests and a letter have led to questions about the death of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his jail cell on Saturday. Milosevic recently said in a letter that he believed he was being poisoned. He faced a possible life sentence over a war crimes trial at the United Nations tribunal in The Hague. -
An autopsy is performed on the remains of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who was found dead in his prison cell Saturday morning. He was being tried for war crimes by the international tribunal at The Hague.
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Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic dies in his jail cell at The Hague, where he was on trial for war crimes. U.N. officials say Milosevic, who stirred bloody wars in the Balkans and was accused of ethnic cleansing, died of natural causes.
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The Olympic cauldron is lit, signaling the start of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. Competition officially begins Saturday. This year's games are under an intense international security plan to monitor possible terrorist threats. -
The 20th Winter Olympics opens Friday in the Italian city of Turin. Over the next two weeks, 2,600 athletes will be competing before 1 million spectators. First lady Laura Bush will attend the opening ceremony, along with numerous other international dignitaries.
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The Italian city of Turin is about to take the world stage as the host of the 2006 Winter Olympics, but its citizens seem rather blasé about the event. This northern Italian city is a complex mixture of the old and the modern, and it has seen enough history to be unfazed by a single sporting or media event. -
A trial is under way in Rome against the Getty Museum's former curator, Marion True, who is charged with knowing that the museum acquired antiquities looted from Italy. The government also has made a proposal to the Metropolitan Museum for the return of certain illegally acquired pieces in return for loans of work of equal value.
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The Winter Olympics in Italy are just three weeks away. Usually these major international sports events unleash a wave of national euphoria. But in sports-crazy Italy, the winter games are being largely ignored.
