Venice under a cloud as Rome predicts rain, whatever the weather

Venice and Rome have squabbled for centuries over taxes, trade routes and artistic supremacy. Now the two former rival city states, have discovered a new issue to divide them: Italy's national weather forecast.

Venice is demanding the right to produce its own forecasts locally, after a recent run of predictions of weekend rain, wind and cool temperatures - issued from Rome - caused hotel cancellations as Italian tourists and foreign visitors stayed away.

Each weekend, the skies instead dawned blue and the sun shone gloriously all day - leading to complaints from tourism officials and hoteliers that the inaccurate forecasts are damaging the city's most vital industry.