The Italian Almanac
January 2005
Italian News - January 31 Italian diplomats could not believe their ears when a UN committee on women's rights accused their government of discrimination
Italian News - January 31 A tiny Umbrian village is taking on the mighty Metropolitan Museum in New York, claiming that an Etruscan chariot was illegally exported 100 years ago.
Italian News - January31 The Italian Army was called in on Sunday to reach snowbound villages in the central region of Ancona. Other units were mobilized in Apulia and in Sicily
Italian News - January 28 Museum curators yesterday announced plans to take Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, to Italy to celebrate the painting’s 500th anniversary.
Italian Movies - January 28 There'll be a tribute to the actor and director Sergio Castellitto from January 28 to February 7 at the Lincoln Center in New York.
Italian Sport - January 28 An Italian pair won the 2005 UAE International Offshore Powerboat Championship in Abu Dhabi yesterday after a close competition.
Italian News - January 27 Italy faces a national emergency as over development causes its beaches to shrink at an alarming rate, posing a threat to nature and to holiday trade.
Italian Sport - January 27 The country where football reigns supreme does have a cricket team, and the national side is competing in an eight-nation tournament in Malaysia next month.
Italian News - January 27 Chico Scimone, a 94-year-old Italian musician, will be among the more than 150 athletes taking part in the annual Fleet Empire State Building Run-up.
Italian Nominations - January 26 There are two Italians among the Oscar nominations for the 77th edition of the Academy Awards: they are Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo.
Italian News - January 26 Italy's last surviving veteran of the first world war, Carlo Orelli, has died aged 110. Mr. Orelli enrolled in the Italian infantry when he was 21.
Italian News - Janual 25 Rome has declared war on illegal tour guides. The city's 1,200 authorized guides are fed up with the outlaws, who take a sizable chunk out of the tourism industry.
Italian News - January 25 Some Italian doctors are telling people, particularly the young, that furious typing on mobile phones could lead to acute tendonitis.
Italian News - January 24 For the second week in the row, Oliver Stones "Alexander" with Colin Farrell, is in the number one slot in the Cinetel listings.
Italian Sport - January 24 This year’s "Giro d’Italia" will act as a promotional launch pad for the 2006 Winter Olympics
Italian News - January 22 Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will write to 16 million households across Italy asking them to cut down on medicines they do not need.
Italian Music - January 22 "Pinocchio" is not just the worldwide known tale written by Collodi and animated by Disney, it's also a musical staged by "Compagnia della Rancia".
Italian News - January 21 The Irish priest who disrupted the Olympic marathon in Athens last year has been officially defrocked by the Vatican.
Italian Movies - January 21 Location scouting is currently underway in Puglia for Pupi Avati. The Italian director will be starting shooting on his new film "La seconda notte di nozze".
Italian News - January 20 In his tireless efforts to bring a little discipline into Italians' health, Minister Girolamo Sirchia is preparing a new crusade.
Italian News - January 20 Italy is taking action against pigeons whose acidic droppings are damaging ancient Roman ruins in Ercolano.
Italian News - January 20 Pinching a woman's behind as she walked down Italian streets went out of style decades ago. Now Italy's top criminal court has ruled that a fleeting pat on the backside deserves jail.
Italian News - January 19 Wolves are back at Rome's gates more than 2,000 years after the animal became a symbol of the capital, the discovery of a dead wolf is reviving environmentalists' hopes.
Italian News / Art - January 19 Using video cameras, a team of researchers has unveiled a mosaic, in almost perfect condition, showing a team of naked men at the time of Emperor Nero, trampling the grape harvest.
Italian News - January 18 Italian researchers announced that they have discovered properties in a Chinese variety of sage that could be effective in treating alcoholism.
Italian Sport / Television - January 18 Diego Maradona Jr, the Italian son of Argentine football legend Diego Armando Maradona, played a good debut game on Sunday.
Italian News - January 17 People in Rome, Milan and other Italian cities yesterday got a round on public transport, bicycles and even on horseback as cars were banned to reduce pollution.
Italian News - January 17 Weeks before Nazi troops a bandoned Rome, Adolf Hitler personally ordered the SS to kidnap the Pope so he could be brought back to Germany and locked up in a castle
Italian Fashion - January 17 Yesterday evening's show opened a new chapter for Versace menswear. The house is showing a much more sober side to its character.
Italian News January 15 A woman who pretended to be a ghost and "haunted" an Alpine castle was sentenced to four months in prison by an Italian court.
Italian News January 15 Italy is to formally hand over to Peru a millennium-old artefact recovered by specialist art police here after it had been stolen in southern Peru.
Italian Movies - January 14 Italy's erotic best-selling novel based on the diary of a young Sicilian woman, is to be brought to the silver screen.
Italian News - January 14 Italy's most popular cartoonist, Giorgio Forattini, is looking for a job after being controversially dropped by newspaper "La Stampa".
Italian News - January 14 Italy's aristocracy is mourning the death of Dado Ruspoli, the playboy prince and wayward Renaissance Man of its post-war Dolce Vita era.
Italian News - January 12 Leonardo Da Vinci designed some of the world's greatest inventions. A new exhibition has put his foresight on display.
Italian News . January 12 Up to 36 per cent of men say that they endure grief and suffering at the end of an affair, compared with only 21 per cent of women.
Italian News - January 10 Smokers took their last puffs in smoky bars Sunday, hours before the start of Europe's toughest laws against smoking.
Italian Television - January 10 Mediaset has big plans for the start of 2005 as far as drama is concerned. Canale 5 will be starting off the season with a winning team.
Italian News - January 8 The Vatican will loan the work of Moses Maimonides, one of Judaism's most celebrated rabbis and sages, to Israel this year
Italian News - January 8 Fiat ended 2004 on a glum note, with its share of a flat Italian car market slipping to a historic low even after it launched new models to turn around a slump in sales.
Italian Television - January 7 The actor Lando Buzzanca is back on television in the new two part drama "Mio figlio" (My Son), being shown on January 9 and 10 on RAI Uno
Italian News - January 7 Synthetic snakes will unblock pipes and artificial ants will clean windows. The project by four Italian universities was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Italian News - January 5 Italian museum specialists might install a stream of gushing air around Michelangelo's David to protect the Renaissance masterpiece from dust tracked in by tourists.
Italian News - January 4 A long-running cultural and diplomatic wrangle looks likely to be resolved within months, with the return of a 1,700 year-old obelisk.
Italian News January 4 Police in the city of Potenza announced that they smashed the gang of thieves dubbed "la banda del Brunello" (the Brunello Gang).
Italian Sport - January 3 Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere won the 30th edition of the traditional Silvesterlauf 5km road race in Bolzano.
Italian News - January 1 In the year 2004, the Italian stock exchange index rose by 18.1%, performing better than any other European market.