2014 is not a recent thing. The action happened one year ago. The passato prossimo does not fit in this case. By the way, the passato remoto is widely used when it comes to talking about past actions, even one month ago. There is not a general rule. Personally, I would disagree with the Italians who say that the passato remoto is rare or that it is used to talk about actions tremendously far away from the present. This is not true at all.

Hi Susan, Sadly in the Italian used nowadays there is not a big difference between "passato remoto" and "passato prossimo". They could have written "Purtroppo, però, anche un ematoma al cervello che l'ha fatta cadere in un coma durato 11 mesi. "... for me it doesn't change so much!. I have noticed people from the southern of Italy tend to use "passato remoto" more... and It's a little bit strange for me... even if I know it's proper Italian. Bye

Hi Susan, passato remoto is used when talking about past actions. I agree with Elia when he says that it is not true that passato remoto is rare or is used just for actions very far away from the present moment. I come from the centre of Italy where the difference between passato remoto and passato prossimo is still marked in oral and written Italian. I think that when people use a past that is closest to the present moment is because they feel that past action as "not so far from the present moment" or because they need to emphasize that event, but this is just my opinion... the fact is that sometimes people laugh when I use passato remoto where they simply would put a passato prossimo, but for me it would be a strange thing to do :)

I agree that Passato Remoto us widely used especially in the written language, so you will find it a lot if you read any newspaper.

Ok thanks for you replies!!