The Italian Almanac

Italian News - March 31

The opulence of Roman banqueting is recreated
in a new show in Naples which brings together
for the first time all  the silverware  found
at Pompeii.

Italian News - March 31

Cult comedienne and  filmmaker  Sabina Guzzanti
is to star as Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi
in  one  of  Britain's best-known satire  shows
this weekend.

Italian News - March 30

For the first time in the world, Italians have
managed to tap the national  electricity  grid
into power generated by waves.  The successful
experiment took place at Messina.

Italian News / Television - March 30

The 2003 attack on Italy's peacekeeping contingent
in southern Iraq had a huge impact on  the  public
consciousness, producing a surge of national pride
but also polemics over the mission.

Italian News - March 29

As well as earning less than their male peers,
Italy's high-flying career women are also much
more likely to divorce or be forced to give up
all thoughts of a family.

Italian News - March 29

Italian archeologists working in Iraq have found
a trove of ancient stone tablets from the fabled
civilisation of Ur. The tablets bear around  500
engravings of a literary and historical nature.

Italian News - March 28

Until April 13 Milan plays host to  Mozart of
the Marionettes,  a festival that brings  the
Austrian  composer's  operas   together  with
puppet theatre.

Italian Television - March 28

Just  as  the second installment of  "Rome"  starts
shooting at Italy's Cinecitta, a toned-down version
of HBO's lusty historical  skeinskein  has  finally
marched onto Roman TV screens.

Italian News - March 26

According to the report that the drop for the
entertainment  sector is very disturbing  and
the  situation  will  become  a  full-fledged
crisis if this decline continues in 2006.

Italian Science - March 26

Italian scientists from the San Michele all'Adige
Agrarian Institute have uncovered the 'life code'
of  the  pinot noir  grape plant,  a breakthrough
destined to change the future of wine-making.

Italian News - March 25

The tomb of Italy's greatest poet, Dante,  is
to be restored. The tomb in the  northeastern
city of Ravenna will be cleaned up in a seven
month project starting after Easter.

Italian News - March 25

The government's environmental record was at the
centre of a political tug-of-war,  following the
publication of a national report on the state of
the country's ecological health.

Italian News - March 24

Images of quarreling couples and  bitterly
divided families on TV screens sow discord
in the hearts of the real Italian families
watching them, according to new research.

Italian News / Art - March 24

Suburban houses, flowers, birds, fruit, languid
ladies and starchy bowler-hatted men float from
Brussels to  Lake Como in  Italy's largest-ever
show on Surrealist great Rene' Magritte.

Italian News - March 23

The round concrete pedestal on which 'vigili'
stand  to  direct traffic in  Piazza Venezia,
waving their white-gloved hands in an elegant
display of mime, has been there since 1898.

Italian News - March 23

Police in Forli' town are investigating the  case
of a  statue of the  Virgin Mary which reportedly
wept tears of blood last week. The bishop removed
the figure and called the police.

Italian News - March 22

The tragic history of the medieval Catharn is
mingled with the Bosnian war in a  new  total
theatre show with actors, dancers and singers
interplaying with film footage and computers.

Italian News - March 22

A meeting in Rome seeks to shake  the world  into
doing more to stop landmines and unexploded mines
killing  and injuring  thousands of  people every
year.

Italian News - March 21

AS Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi is the
toast of Italian soccer after an exemplary
gesture of fair play during his side's 2-1
win over Messina Sunday.

Italian News - March 21

"Cicerobot is able to plan out tours according
with  the needs of individual visitors,"  said
Antonio Chella, head of the Palermo University
robotics laboratory that invented the robot.

Italian News - March 21

The medieval crusades had a "high and noble"
goal and were not something to be apologised
for, conference participants were  told at a
Vatican-sponsored university this weekend.

Italian News - March 19

Turkey has protested against Taviani brothers,
world wide known Italian film directors, going
to shoot a film called Lark Farm, dedicated to
the Armenian Genocide.

Italian News - March 19

About 40 Saudi businesswomen participated  in
the first forum of Saudi and Italian busines
women in Rome.  The business  forum  was  the
first of its kind.

Italian News - March 18

The world's first research centre specializing
in plant intelligence has started studying the
power  of  green matter  in Florence.  "We are
entering a totally unexplored world."

Italian News - March 18

According to a survey of 10,000 children  and
adults from all over the Italy, Alto Adige on
the  Austrian  border has only 5.3% of  obese
people, compared to 19% in Sicily.

Italian Gossip - March 17

Speculation spread once again that  Brad Pitt  and
Angelina Jolie would wed on Italian shores. George
Clooney lakefront  villa in the town of Laglio  is
cited as a credible location for such a ceremony.

Italian News - March 17

The Vatican is to take measures against  the
ticket touts that plague tourists around the
Vatican Museums. "We're aware of the problem
and we're going to do something about it."

Italian News / Movies - March 16

Italy's greatest silent film epic Cabiria has been
reconstructed from rushes.  The reincarnated  film
will have its premiere preceded  by a  video intro
by Martin Scorsese.

Italian News - March 16

At least  500,000 illegal immigrants now  live
in Italy,  one of Italy's top  charities  said
after  immigrants  flooded  post offices  with
applications for legal status.

Italian News - March 15

The hunt is on for the 'brothers' of a 2,400 year
old bronze satyr fished out of the sea off Sicily
seven years ago.  "We are sure there are  similar
objects down there."

Italian News - March 15

Florence this weekend will host the  first-ever
Taste Festival which aims to present the public
with the best in food, wine and  other  earthly
delights Italy has to offer.

Italian News - March 14

The many facets of Venice are to be  spotlighted
in a  new satellite  TV channel, Venice Channel.
The new channel aims to promote the famed lagoon
city as an emblem of Italian beauty and style.

Italian News - March 14

Some 300 stolen Ancient Roman coins were  found
in a town north  of  Rome on Monday as  Italy's
recent crackdown  on art theft  continued.  The
owner was cited for receiving stolen artifacts.

Italian News - March 14

Rome's  chief  rabbi paid a historic  visit to
Rome's mosque on Monday. It was the first time
a rabbi had visited the mosque, the biggest in
the West.

Italian News - March 13

Sudoku masters from Europe, the Americas and
the Far East have come to Italy  to bid  for
the  first world title in the popular  brain
teasers.

Italian News - March 13

Italy's high court on Friday acquitted a woman
who  called an  immigrant co-worker a  'bloody
n**ger'.  The Court said a  charge  of  racial
discrimination was "not relevant" in the case.

Italian News - March 13

Ansaldo Signal said it would design, make and
install an advanced train control nsignalling
system on Indian Railways, one of the world's
largest networks.

Italian News - March 10

Boschi said  INGV  could "categorically deny the
alarmist and irresponsible statements  regarding
the future activity of Vesuvius" made by Buffalo
University's Michael Sheridan last Friday.

Italian News - March 10

Two new pavilions have expanded the area at
the Verona fair grounds to some  80,000smq,
which will host 4,200 stands, over 100 more
than last year.

Italian News - March 10

The latest gadget in the  78-year-old  pontiff's
array of equipment is a specially designed iPod,
a portable digital media player that is the rage
among teenagers.

Italian News - March 8

A nurse in World War One, Stark was rumoured
to have had a fling with Lawrence of Arabia,
and in WWII worked for  British intelligence
in Aden, Baghdad, and Cairo.

Italian News - March 8

Still glowing from the success of  the  Winter
Olympics, Turin and its surrounding  mountains
are now looking forward to make its Paralympic
partner a hit.

Italian News - March 7

Italy's love for mineral water is overflowing,
says a new book that seeks to guide  consumers
around the maze of  spring-water  products  on
the national market.

Italian News - March 7

Visitors to 'Un senso per l'arte' (A Sense for
Art)  can opt  to be  taken around the exhibit
blindfold, led by blind guides,  who help them
discover the works on show via touch.

Italian News - March 5

Venice  is  selling 13 historic palaces  and
villas in  some  of  the  most  sought-after
locations on the planet: on the Grand Canal,
the Lido and the island of Murano.

Italian Science - March 5

Italian doctors have used stem cells  to  rebuild
human skin and repair tissue damage. A University
team took stem cells from patients,  grew them in
the laboratory, and recreated the patients' skin.

Italian News - March 4

As toads across Italy gear up for the mating
season, embarking on their annual migration,
hundreds of animal lovers are taking to  the
roads to save them from meeting a messy end.

Italian News - March 4

A group of young Italians has come up with a
solar-powered scooter you can put under  the
desk or stairs after it helps you beat inner
city traffic.

Italian News / Art - March 3

A fascinating new exhibition in Rome seeks to
give  visitors a glimpse of  African art  and
culture  and  buck  some stereotypes  in  the
process.

Italian News - March 3

Ferrari sports cars  are starting  to make  inroads
in China. The glamorous Italian auto maker expanded
its sales network to meet demand from  the  booming
Chinese market.

Italian News - March 2

Nobel Laureate and self-proclaimed jester  Dario
Fo kicks off Milan's  first  international clown
festival. The playwright-performer will lead the
opening procession of performers.

Italian News - March 2

The 5,000-year-old  hunter who emerged from an
Italian glacier in 1991 is to be flanked by 12
members  of a large  group of mummies found in
the mountains of Peru in 1996.

Italian News / Television - March 1

An Italian presenter apologised for  her  'Janet
Jackson moment' and wardrobe slip on the opening
night of  Italy's top  TV show of the year,  the
Sanremo Song Fest.

Italian News - March 1

The makers of Brunello di Montalcino, considered
by many to be Italy's best wine,  have turned to
high technology to protect the  authenticity  of
their product.