The Italian Almanac

Italian News - December 30

Virginia Dighero died of a stroke in her Genoa 
home.  She  celebrated  her  114th birthday on 
Christmas Eve with her sons Giacomo,  83,  and 
Attilio, 80.          

Italian Science - December 30

Sun  on  snow  purifies the air above it,  Italian 
scientists have found.  The scientists said  that, 
with enough sun, compounds in ground snow released 
types of beneficial radicals.

Italian News - December 29

Fears of a wild feline on the prowl have hit 
the country for the fifth time in just  over 
a  decade.  The  latest  reports  came  from 
citizens on the outskirts of Turin.          

Italian News - December 29

A  veteran Italian tomb raider was  stopped with 
three bulging bags of plundered artifacts.  In a
raid on the 74-year-old man's home, police found 
almost 10,000 pieces.

Italian News - December 29

Paolo Maldini, a top soccer fullback who was 
in  Maldives  when  the Indian Ocean tsunami 
struck,  is  back  to help fight rising drug 
abuse in the archipelago.          

Italian News - December 28

Serie A clubs report that the proportion  of 
women at stadiums is on the up, and a recent 
Rome University study confirmed  that female 
interest in football is booming.

Italian News - December 28

The mobile phone continues to take over the 
world. If the media and  telecommunications 
companies are right the mobile will be  the 
universal all-purpose device.          

Italian News - December 27

Italian women spend more of their time  doing 
housework and looking after children than any 
of  their European peers,  according to a new 
survey by national statistics bureau Istat.

Italian News - December 27

Italian police have a new device which will 
enable them  to foil cunning  motorists who 
drive over the speed limit  and  slow  down 
only on monitored stretches of road.          

Italian News - December 24

This year's essential Christmas present for 
urban Italians is a miniature vineyard that 
can be planted in a window box or grown  on 
the smallest balcony.

Italian News - December 24

Trieste is celebrating the oriental coffee 
trade  that  made  Italy's gateway to  the 
Orient a melting pot that inspired writers 
and poets.          

Italian News - December 24

Grappa is a brandy distilled from the pulpy 
mass of skins, pits, and stalks left in the 
wine  press  after the juice  of the grapes 
have been extracted to make wine.

Italian News - December 23

A night in an igloo, preferably one you have 
made  yourself,  is one way of escaping from 
the same  old holiday routine of days  spent 
skiing, shopping and clubbing.          

Italian News - December 23

Five young wolves will be settling into their 
new home in the Rome's Zoo, or Biopark,  over 
Christmas  after being saved from  hunger and 
probable death in Croatia.

Italian Movies - December 23

To  fans' dismay Massimo Boldi and Christian De 
Sica  have  announced  that Christmas In Miami, 
which flew to the top of the box-office charts,
will be their last movie together.          

Italian News - December 21

The Tarot:  Art And Magic looks at material  from 
the 15th century  to the 20th century,  including 
a number of engravings by well-known artists such 
as Albrecht Durer.

Italian News - December 21

Exasperated with repeated delays on the rail 
network,  an Italian teacher has decided  to 
take the national train company to court for 
causing him "existential damage".       

Italian News - December 20

Rome commuters of all ages are  asking  Santa 
Claus for a helping hand by sticking messages 
to him on a huge Christmas tree in the city's 
main railway station.

Italian Sport - December 20

The Italian skiing team's spectacular form 
is raising hopes here that the host nation 
is in for a rich medal haul at  February's 
Turin Winter Olympics.      

Italian News - December 18

An 11-year-old Austrian boy who saved the life 
of a young relative last summer lit a towering 
Christmas tree in  St. Peter's Square,  giving 
Vatican City a festive air.

Italian Movies - December 18

The long-crowned king of the Italian box, 
Leonardo Pieraccioni is back  again  this 
Christmas, with something  of a  language 
lesson weaved inside his new comedy.      

Italian News - December 17

Scientists analyzed  the portrait of the Mona 
Lisa,  a woman with famously mixed  emotions, 
hoping to  unlock her smile with the help  of 
emotion recognition software.

Italian News - December 17

Two sisters-in-law, each married to a member 
of a wealthy Milanese clan, could battle  it 
out for the job of Milan's city mayor  early 
next year.      

Italian News - December 16

A  renowned statue  of  Marcus Aurelius,  considered 
a symbol of Rome,  has found a permanent home  after 
26 years of wandering. The massive equestrian bronze 
will be on view starting next Thursday.

Italian News - December 15

Italians  under the age of 18 must get  their 
parents' permission if they want even a small 
tattoo, the  country's highest  appeals court 
ruled on Wednesday.        

Italian News / Music - December 15

Excitement is mounting for this Sunday's concert 
in Acireale by the British pop group Simply Red, 
whose flame-haired  singer Mick Hucknall  has  a 
vineyard on the nearby slopes of Mt. Etna.

Italian News - December 15

Italy's homicide rate is the seventh highest 
in  the  European Union with more  than  700 
murders in 2004, according to a crime report 
issued on Tuesday.        

Italian News - December 14

The  razzle-dazzle  of Paris's  circuses and  the 
bustle of its  marketplaces are explored  through 
the work of great French illustrators and artists 
in a new exhibition.

Italian Music - December 14

Claudio Baglioni’s concert last Saturday  was a 
night to remember for his many Maltese fans and 
also for those who might not like Italian music 
or this singer in particular.        

Italian News - December 13

The Domus Aurea, a celebrated monument  dating 
from Ancient Roman times, is to be closed with 
immediate effect. The announcement was made at 
a media conference by minister Buttiglione.

Italian News / Fashion - December 13

American actress Julia Roberts has completed 
a  photo  session  with  photographer  Mario 
Testino in her new role as pretty woman  for 
fashion label Ferre'.        

Italian News - December 13

Lazio striker Paolo Di Canio's second Fascist 
salute  in less than a year was condemned  on 
Monday by soccer officials,  politicians  and 
members of Italy's Jewish community.

Italian News - December 12

In a new TV commercial 86-year-old  Andreotti 
sits in a plane while explaining how he likes 
to hear music on his third-generation  mobile 
phone. “How trendy you are, Mr. Senator.”       

Italian News - December 12

Addressing thousands of pilgrims the pope  said 
that "Christmas unfortunately suffers a sort of 
commercial contamination which  risks modifying 
its authentic spirit."

Italian News / Sport - December 10

The  speedskating  oval  for  the Turin Winter 
Olympics opened with World Cup  races  Friday, 
winning praise  from those who were  convinced 
it would not be completed in time.      

Italian Movies - December 10

Oscar-winning Italian director Gabriele Salvatores 
will take to the sea for his next project,  titled 
"Open Sea,"  a film he described as a  'Master and 
Commander' for the wretched.

Italian News - December 9

More ammunition in the eternal debate in Italy 
around the Christmas holidays. What represents 
the season better:  the Nativity scene or  the 
tree?      

Italian News - December 9

An Italian actor threw German police into panic 
on  Wednesday night,  when he showed up at  the 
European  premiere of a  Hollywood  blockbuster 
pretending to be Silvio Berlusconi.

Italian News - December 9

Italy  is  to  host the headquarters  of  the 
Mediterranean's only marine mammal sanctuary, 
set up to protect and encourage the growth of 
dolphins, whales and other marine life.      

Italian News - December 8

Tuscany's famed Fiorentina  T-bone steak  is  to 
return on New Year's Day after a four-and-a-half 
year ban. The return of the steak was agreed  in 
October by the EU's food safety committee.

Italian News / Music - December 8

Daniel Harding scored a personal triumph  and 
a standing ovation Wednesday after conducting 
Mozart's "Idomeneo" at the season opening  of 
the famed La Scala opera house.      

Italian News - December 7

Italians are the biggest opponents  of  torture, 
even as a method of extracting information  from 
terrorists, according to an international survey 
out Tuesday.

Italian News - December 7

Italian archaeologists have found  a  remarkable 
trove of five untouched  Roman sarcophagi  in  a 
burial vault outside Rome.  One of them probably 
contains the remains of a small child.      

Italian News - December 6

An elementary school teacher in Como has come under 
fire  from  several  of her  students' parents  for 
telling her third grade class that Santa Claus does 
not exist.

Italian News - December 6

The Velletri  jail will  soon  be offering  yoga 
classes to its inmates in a year-long experiment 
aimed at helping the prisoners find inner  peace 
and aiding their social rehabilitation.      

Italian News - December 5

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is the most elegant man 
in the world,  according to  the  Japanese  monthly 
Men's EX. The magazine came to its conclusion after 
surveying 450 opinions in the fashion sector.

Italian News - December 5

An  Italian  mother who had a sex change has, in 
her new  incarnation as a man,  married a female 
childhood friend at a ceremony witnessed by both 
their sets of children.     

Italian Science - December 5

Italy's  base  in  Antarctica  could  play  an 
important role in plans to map the chromosomes 
of  fish in the region,  an Italian researcher 
has revealed.   

Italian News - December 4

Florence is to  deploy a squad of hostess  to 
reprimand visitors who offend the authorities 
with casual  holiday acts such  as picnicking 
on church steps.     

Italian News - December 4

Florence  University  is  soon  to   become 
Europe's first  higher education  institute 
to offer a specialization course in Chinese 
herbal medicine.   

Italian News - December 3

Vets at Rome zoo, anxious to relieve Bellamy, 
a 13-year-old male lion, from arthritis  have 
injected  tiny  particles  of gold  into  its 
aching muscles.     

Italian News - December 3

A porn tax, an idea often discussed but never 
yet implemented, is being looked at seriously 
again as the government's  budget package  is 
debated in parliament.   

Italian News - December 1

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi  has had an 
island in the Caribbean Sea named after  him, 
something none of his predecessors can boast.
From now on it is to be known as Silvio Bay.     

Italian News / Music - December 1

Opera legend Luciano Pavarotti confirmed he 
would play at least one final concert  with 
Jose Carreras  and  Placido Domingo as  the 
world famous Three Tenors.