New Delhi, Aug. 5 -- NOT SINCE the great flood of 1966 has Florence known such disruption. A tramway extension has turned the road fringing the city centre into a construction site. Costing €500m ($576m), it is the city's biggest project financed by NextGenerationEU, the European Union's post-covid recovery programme. The scheme is paying for 55 other projects in the Tuscan capital, from creches to cycle paths. Sara Funaro, the mayor, calls it "a momentous juncture in the history of Florence".

Across the Mediterranean, Madrid's wholesale market is abuzz at 5am. It includes one of the world's biggest fish markets. With a grant of €400,000 in NextGenerationEU funds, the fishmongers' association has set up a digital-payment and ...