The Italian Almanac

Italian News - July 29

Two Sicilian love rivals rolled back the centuries
Thursday by resolving a dispute over a lady with a
duel.  The men fought each other with  knives  and
jackets wrapped around their arms.

Italian News - July 29

Italian celebrity Anna Falchi's bee-kissed lips are
entirely a gift from  Mother Nature,  a  court  has
ruled.  The court awarded damages  of  15,000  Euro
against the Conde' Nast publishing group.

Italian News - July 29

Italian technology is going to help clean  up  the
garbage mountaineers leave every year on mountains
like Everest and K2. The new system, called EARTH,
was presented Wednesday by its creators.

Italian News - July 28

Alessandro di Benedetto called in Sunday to say he
was ahead of schedule on  his bid  to  become  the
first person to steer a  vessel  without  a  cabin
across the world's largest ocean.

Italian News - July 28

Renowned Italian mountaineer  Reinhold Messner  is
set to lead his family,  including his  four  year
old daughter, on a physically demanding pilgrimage
to the world's most treacherous mountain.

Italian Gossip - July 27

TV star Michelle Hunziker has rekindled hopes that 
her fairy-tale romance with ex-hubbie, the Italian 
pop sensation Eros Ramazzotti,  might soon be back 
on.

Italian News - July 27

Violent thunderstorms and gale-force winds hit northern
Italy but the rest of the country continued to bake  in
a fierce heatwave. The ferocious heat has raised  urban
ozone levels to dangerous highs.

Italian News - July 26

Venice's gondolas are set to  go  back  to  basics,
shedding the glitzy trappings recently tacked on to
lure tourists.  The city's gondola association  has
drawn up strict guidelines.

Italian News - July 26

The beaches of Italy offer a wide variety of  facilities,
but the Adriatic resort of Pescara can now offer a unique
attraction - the opportunity to emerge from  a  night  of
partying with a soul wiped free of sin.

Italian News - July 25

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi dressed up
as an exotic dancer last week to spring his  wife a
romantic birthday surprise.  The  surprise was  the
climax of a fun-packed two-day stay in Marrakech.

Italian News - July 25

A little village in the Ligurian mountains has turned
itself  into a self-sufficient island of organic food
and sustainable  energy,  becoming  the  ultimate  in
'green' communities.

Italian News - July 25

The next time you call directory enquiries in Italy,
you may  speak  to  a  convicted  murderer.  Italy's
biggest phone  operator,  Telecom Italia,  presented
its new call-centre in Rome's largest prison.

Italian News - July 22

Authorities are taking action to help tourists survive
the heat wave Italy is simmering under at the  moment.
The Rome  Civil Protection Department  is handing  out
bottles of water to dehydrated visitors.

Italian Movies - July 22

The National Gallery of Art will encourage cinematic
time-traveling by hosting  a rare  screening  of  an
Italian  production, a 1914 classic spectacle titled
"Cabiria".

Italian News - July 21

A python inadvertently stolen when  a  knapsack  was
snatched earlier this week turned up safe and  sound
on Thursday. The two feet Royal Python was "calm and
only a little debilitated by the current heatwave".

Italian News - July 21

An Italian scooter rider fleeing from police hit the
throttle, racking up a record penalty of 144  points
off his 20-point driving licence in a few minutes of
reckless riding.

Italian News - July 20

The fascinating contents of Andy Warhol's time  capsules
have arrived in Italy for the first time thanks to a new
exhibition in Trieste.  The show is  entitled  Timeboxes
and it opens on Saturday.

Italian News - July 20

Pope Benedict has ordered that documents in  Vatican
archives relating to the pre-war pontificate of Pius
XII be made accessible to the public.  The  archives
will be available to historians and researchers.

Italian News - July 19

Forcing your wife to kneel down and scrub  the  house 
floor clean is a crime and amounts  to  mistreatment, 
Italy's highest  appeals  court  ruled  yesterday  to
upheld a conviction to a man who was left by his wife. 

Italian Movies - July 19

Italian director  Gabriele Muccino,  who  made  his
English-language debut with the upcoming Will Smith
drama "The Pursuit of Happy-ness,"  is turning  his
attention to a French remake.

Italian News - July 18

Sicilian retailers are turning the tables on negative 
stereotypes about Italy and organized crime, by using 
the Mafia name to make honest cash. A number of shops 
are now selling "Cosa Nostra" T-Shirts.

Italian News - July 18

The 16th-century  gardens,  grounds,  fountains  and
fancy waterworks of this Renaissance jewel at Tivoli
have beaten  100  other  great  Italian  gardens  to
qualify for the competition.

Italian News - July 17

Italian discotheques and police launched  a  scheme to
boost road safety among disco-goers,  by offering them
free entry if they use a designated driver. The scheme
lasts until the end of August.

Italian News - July 17

The Vatican Museums, whose treasures  include fresco
ceiling by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel,  plan
to acquire modern artworks,  the director said in an
interview. 

Italian News - July 15

Italy has built the longest sailing ship of the modern
era,  a  sleek  black  steel-and-carbon-fibre  clipper
measuring almost 100 meters. The boat was commissioned
by US computer magnate Tom Perkins.

Italian News - July 15

Italy is facing a dire shortage  of  vehicle license
plates, automobile associations warned on Friday.The
associations said the registration of new cars could
suffer long delays as a consequence.

Italian News - July 14

Italy's only world heavyweight boxing  champ,  giant
1930s slugger Primo Carnera, has been feted in a new
documentary.  Part  of  celebrations for  the  100th
anniversary of Carnera's birth.

Italian News - July 14

Thousands of fake replicas of the 'status symbols' 
have been commissioned from a local firm and  are 
ready to be strapped around the wrists of  guests
before they take to the city.

Italian News - July 13

The famed Italian Baroque 'castrato'  singer  'the
divine' Farinelli has been dug up again so experts
can  try to find  out  what  made  these  vanished
virtuosi so special.

Italian News - July 13

Rome's Trevi Fountain was 'netted' against the use
of  illegal nets by Italian fishermen.  Dozens  of
bewildered tourists looked on as a  mermaid  waded
into the waters of the landmark fountain.

Italian News - July 12

Graduating high-school students at  a  German-speaking
institute in northern Italy  are  engaged  in  a  spat
over the school's tradition of making them leave their
classroom as good as new.

Italian Fashion - July 12

Former equestrian champion Amalia Borgnino,  who  is
still stunning despite her age,  showed off designer
Alessandro Consiglio's latest haute couture creation
on Tuesday.

Italian News - July 11

The Italian population seems destined to become  more
and more multicultural in coming decades as immigrant
families continue to have more children  than  native
Italian ones.

Italian News - July 11

Italy's motorbike and scooter maker Piaggio  made  a
brilliant debut on the Milan stock market on Tuesday
leaping  8.91% from the  price  established  in  its
initial public offering.

Italian News - July 10

The Italian Air force's famed Frecce Tricolore  (Tri
Color Arrows) acrobatic team will welcome back World
Cup champions Italy streaking the sky with the green,
white and red of the Italian flag.

Italian Movies - July 10

Italian actor Raoul Bova, out to show he's made of
sterner stuff than his hunky movie-star image  may
suggest, is co-producing an independent film about
the conflict between different cultures.

Italian News - July 8

Italians unable to travel to Berlin for the World Cup
final between Italy and France were busy preparing to
join the flag-waving crowds in piazzas  and  football
stadiums across the nation.

Italian News / Art - July 8

The show, entitled the Dragon and the Butterfly,
features around 100 paintings that give visitors
a view of the Oriental nation's art in the  20th
century and the latest trends.

Italian News - July 7

Italians are drinking less than ever,  according to
a report that countered recent alarms about a surge
in youth bingeing.  "The survey shows  that alcohol
consumption is dropping steadily,"

Italian Science - July 7

Italian scientists have for the first time sailed
above the North Pole in a perfect circle to glean
precious new information on  the  unique magnetic
forces it exerts. 

Italian News - July 6

Considered an icon in her native Italy, Sophia Loren
is causing a new sensation with rumours  she  is  to
pose nude for the 2007  Pirelli calendar,  with  the
actress dressed in nothing but a pair of earrings.

Italian News - July 6

The world's top design-and-architecture publication, 
is spreading its influence eastwards with  a  plush 
new Chinese edition.  "Domus' arrival  in China  is 
confirmation of the magazine's mission. 

Italian Art - July 6

The exquisite ceramics, Oriental-inspired paintings
and delicate panels of the  Tuscan  artist  Galileo
Chini have gone on display in Rome in  one  of  the
largest ever shows devoted to his work.

Italian News - July 5

An Italian man escaped from house arrest and begged
police to put him in jail because he could not bear
living with his grandfather.  The 30-year  old  had
been placed under house arrest for six months.

Italian News - July 5

An Italian actress taking part in a re-enactment of
an infamous witchburning incident caught fire going
too close to a torch as she was about  to take  the
stage.

Italian News - July 4

Italy is outshining its European partners  when  it
comes to promoting products which are kinder to the
environment. Italian consumers have shown a growing
attitude to buy environmentally-friendly products.

Italian News - July 4

Italy's wine producers are looking  to  break  into
emerging markets in order to consolidate their lead
in the world's export rankings.  Italy was the  top
wine exporter last year in terms of volume.

Italian News - July 3

Italy is facing a summer of strikes after its  new
government unexpectedly announced bold measures to
strip away layers of bureaucracy  in  business and
open protected professions to competition.

Italian Science - July 3

An Italian researcher working in the United States
has made a key advance in the study of the genetic
causes of skin cancer.  Much of her basic research
was done at Cesena Hospital in northern Italy.

Italian News - July 1

Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome has thrown its doors open
to the public at night, offering a packed  programme
of events turning the circular monument into a giant
open-air theatre.

Italian Science - July 1

Pisa University is teaming up with NATO's Undersea
Research Centre (NURC)  for a new study to promote
the conservation of marine life. The project seeks
to put 'eyes' and 'ears' under the sea of Pianosa.