The Italian Almanac

July 3, 1900: birhdate of Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director

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The Mediterranean is turning into a `sea of hell`, Greenpeace says. Climate change has filled the sea with alien speciessuch as poisonous puffer fish while algae is coating the seabed with slime, the environmental organisation said. In a new report, Greenpeace said it had scientifically documented the emergency in the Med for the first time, showing how the waters are heating up, attracting species from warmer seas and altering the native fish stock. ``Until now we have only traced... individual alarms for the Mediterranean, but now we finally have the complete picture of what`s happening in tourism and the environment,`` said Greenpeace`s Alessandro Gianni, who compiled the dossier.

While the Med represents less than 1% of the world`s oceans, it hosts between 5-15% of the marine species known to man, making it of strategic importance, Greenpeace said. The organisation said the sea`s deep waters were showing an annual temperature increase of 0.004 degrees, while surface waters and those along the coast were registering much greater increases. ``The average increase registered in the north-eastern basin is one degree in the last 30 years,`` the report said, while a heatwave in 2003 was the hottest event recorded underwater in the last 500 years.

The warmer waters have resulted in the colonisation of alien species arriving via Gibraltar and the Suez Canal over the last 15 years, including three species of puffer fish and two species of algae known to change seabed ecosystems. Other species formerly restricted to some areas of the Mediterranean are now spreading across the sea, such as ornate wrasse from the Eastern Med whose range has crept 1,000 kilometres to the Tyrrhennian Sea as well as barracuda, previously found only in Sicily but now also swimming off Liguria.

Greenpeace warned that a drop in whale and dolphin populations between Tuscany, Liguria, Monaco and Corsica could also be linked to climate change.

Venice got its first official female gondolier when a married mother-of-two passed her test, breaking into one of Italy`s last male bastions. Giorgia Boscolo, 23, passed a gondoliering course introduced by the city council in 2007 to become the first certified woman gondolier in the lagoon in nine centuries. While she waits to finish her apprenticeship, Boscolo will be able to ferry passengers around as a sort of `second captain`. ``I`m immensely happy and proud but today my day starts like every other, taking the children to school,`` she said.

Boscolo inherited her passion for navigating Venice`s canals from her gondolier father, Dante, when she was seven. ``I`ve always loved gondolas, and unlike my three sisters I preferred to punt with my father instead of going out with my friends``. She dismissed concerns from male gondoliers that she isn`t strong enough to handle the 11-metre-long, 500-kilogramme boats, saying ``childbirth is much more difficult``.

Boscolo`s father said he was happy for his daughter. ``I still think being a gondolier is a man`s job because it requires a lot of physical effort,`` he admitted, ``but I`m sure that with experience Giorgia will be able to do it easily``. Dante`s colleague, Roberto, said: ``Giorgia deserved it because she worked really hard, coming along with us in her free time to learn the trade``. Before the establishment of the `school` for gondoliers, the profession was passed down from father to son.

There are 40 places on the gondolier course, which lasts six months. It includes 400 hours of instruction in using the distinctive single oar that is used to propel a gondola through the water. Students must learn how to steer the banana-shaped boats from the back and the front. They also have to take English courses, study sailing law and demonstrate perfect knowledge of Venice`s canals and landmarks.

Italy will soon be deploying two more Tornado fighter jets to Afghanistan, Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said. ``They will be used in tactical support missions and will be in addition to the two we already have there``. Looking at the role Italian forces have played in Afghanistan, the defense minister observed that ``while there is certainly cause for concern, there is also reason for pride``.

``Concern because we are well aware of an ongoing attempt to step up efforts to destabilise the country. Pride because of the ability of our boys and girls to perform their duty and fight away from home against a most insidious enemy: terrorism,`` he explained. La Russa also confirmed that an additional 500 Italian troops will soon be sent to Afghanistan to help boost security for presidential elections there in August. The minister added that the additional forces would remain there through the whole election period.

Italy sent its first two Tornado fighters to Afghanistan in November and they are based in Herat, the western Afghan city where the bulk of Italy`s contingent is. The deployment of the planes was part of a package approved by the cabinet in September which extended Italy`s participation in international missions. ``The planes will obviously not be used for bombing purposes but in observation operations, the same way German Tornados are being used there,`` La Russa said at the time.

The low-level bomber was developed and built by a British, German and Italian aeronautics consortium and is known for its long-range capability and large payload capacity. Its variable wing sweep allows it to land and take off in short distances and gives it good high-speed and low-speed characteristics.