The Italian Almanac

Italian News - April 30

Top British architect Sir Norman Foster has  won
Italy's  prestigious  Marble Architectural Award
for the most original use of Carrara marble, the
same stone that Michelangelo carved.

Italian News - April 30

Italian bank Banca Popolare di Vicenza on
Saturday opened its first  representative
office in India to provide financial  aid
to Italian firms.

Italian News - April 29

Enamoured couples have been going to the bridge
to  attach  padlocks to  a bronze bust  and the
railings around it.  The act is seen as showing
the 'unbreakable' bonds uniting them.

Italian News - April 29

Spring is in full swing and the Maori back
in Italy  for a season of shearing  sheep.
The  native New Zealanders are  considered
the best shearers in the world.

Italian News - April 28

Addressing  a conference of experts,  Chiara
Palestrini of Milan University's  veterinary
faculty said that the first weeks of a dog's
life are crucial in shaping its temperament.

Italian News - April 28

British secret agent James Bond has  chased
the world's most dangerous villains driving
cars and spaceships, but in his latest film
his vehicle of choice will be a bulldozer.

Italian News - April 27

It's official: Italians love ice cream. Only
the youngest members of the Bel Paese aren't
crazy about the stuff. Only the newborn, who
can't eat it, don't share ice-cream mania.

Italian News - April 27

Italian housewives are hard to please. They
want a different product for every job  and
shun multipurpose cleaners,  demanding  one
spray for windows and another for mirrors.

Italian Sport - April 27

Italian downhill skier  Kristian Ghedina  hung
up his skis on Wednesday after 13 wins in  his
15 years at the pinnacle of his sport. "I have
my fair share of aches and pains."

Italian News - April 26

He left as unwanted child and  returned  a
millionaire. Michael Mannella came home to
a hero’s welcome and was reunited with his
mother.

Italian News / Movies - April 26

Giovanna Mezzogiorno,  who starred in  Italian
foreign-language Oscar  nominee  "Don't Tell,"
will join Spanish actor Javier Bardem in "Love
in the Time of Cholera".

Italian News - April 26

Pisa,  Un Viaggio nel Mare  dell'Antichita'
(Pisa, A Journey Into The Sea Of Antiquity)
features the reconstruction of two  ancient
ships, testifying a long maritime history.

Italian News - April 25

Catholic authorities in Rome are outraged by
a decision to display a huge advert for  the
forthcoming  film  The Da Vinci Code  on the
facade of a church in the city's centre.

Italian News - April 25

As Michael Schumacher stood on the winner's
podium at Imola,  sharp-eyed fans may  have
noticed changes in his red suit during  the
long months away from the top spot.

Italian News - April 23

Italian actress Alida Valli,  who starred  in
films by Hitchcock and Visconti,  has died at
the age of 84.   She made her cinema debut at
the age of 15 and appeared in over 100 films.

Italian News - April 22

A new home for the Roman Empire's most known
peace symbol was unveiled on Friday  after a
turbulent seven years of building,  polemics
and alterations.

Italian News - April 22

In spite  of the  Catholic Church's  opposition
to the use of condoms, they may sometimes offer
an  acceptable way of fighting AIDS,  according
to a highly respected Italian cardinal.

Italian Science - April 22

A new Italian test for tuberculosis could be
set to replace the  traditional method  used
over the last 110 years.  The Italian  blood
test is more accurate than the old method.

Italian News - April 21

Fitness fans who manage to climb a historically
formidable Florence fortress can get in free to
the  fitness festival inside,  organisers  said
Thursday. 

Italian News - April 21

A selection of the epic Life magazine photos
that  helped form  our collective memory  of
the 20th century are shown at FORMA, Milan's
International Centre for Photography.

Italian News - April 20

Contrary  to Italy's  reputation  as a place
where image is everything,  the majority  of
single Italians claim they don't worry about
good looks when seeking romance.

Italian News - April 20

Sumptuous costumes worn on set by Italian 
cinema legends like Sophia Loren and Gina 
Lollobrigida are the stars of a new  show 
near the French capital.

Italian News - April 19

Audrey Hepburn and Jennifer Lopez were  pleased
to pose on one.  It has inspired pop songs  and
films, and Italians are eager to hail its sleek
design as a symbol of national pride.

Italian News / Science - April 19

A Columbia University  study has shown that,
as well  as fending off  problems like heart
trouble and cancer, the Italian diet slashes
the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Italian News - April 19

One  of  the new  schools offers  12 girls' middle
school  classes  and 12 boys' high-school classes.
The Italians sank a well to provide it with water.
The other facility is a girls' high school.

Italian News - April 18

Wine conjures up the image of drinkers sipping
their  way d elicately through  a  full-bodied
vintage. But northern Italy has the barbarians
to thank for its long wine-making tradition.

Italian News - April 18

Think that Bay Area companies like Fireman's
Fund that survived  the 1906 earthquake  are
old?  To find really old companies,  take  a
trip to Asia or Europe.

Italian News - April 15

A new exhibition opening at the  Galleria
Ferrari celebrates the many stars of  the
entertainment world who own or have owned
a model of the famed Italian sports car.

Italian Science - April 15


Italian  scientists are leading the  way  in
creating cypress trees whose sweet scent  no
longer poses health problems in spring time.

Italian News - April 14

Tourists were shunned by the resort island of
Capri on Thursday as workers and  inhabitants
held a day-long protest 'strike' against cuts
in the shuttle ferry service from Naples.

Italian News - April 14

A  couple of  nervous  bandits broke into a  Rome
post office Thursday,  pushed staff to the floor,
cleaned out the tills, forced the manager to open
the safe at gunpoint - and promptly ran out.

Italian News - April 13

Young Italians find it practically impossible
to respect politicians, according to a survey
published in the aftermath of  the  country's
general election.

Italian News / Europe - April 13

Costing  220 million euros  ($264 million),  the
satellite will fly in an elliptical orbit around
the planet's two poles, descending as low as 250
km altitude and as high as 66,000 km.

Italian News - April 12

Superboss Bernardo Provenzano, whose ghostly
aura fed the  Sicilian Mafia's mystique  for
half a century, was arrested Tuesday morning
in the biggest police coup in over a decade.

Italian News - April 12

Disegnare i Sogni (Drawing Dreams) features 60
works by Ferretti,  who last year won an Oscar
for  his work on  Martin Scorsese's  Hollywood
blockbuster The Aviator.

Italian News - April 11

Italy's general election has been enlived
by  some  bizarre  incidents,  and  those
incidents ranged from the predictable  to
the downright weird.

Italian News - April 11

Assistant Bishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher says
the Pope has confirmed his intention to  visit
Australia  for the  July  2008 World Youth Day
celebrations.

Italian News - April 9

Roy Disney was awarded a lifetime  achievement
award at the 10th Cartoons on the Bay Festival
in Positano,  which  also  featured the  world
premiere of the new Asterix and Obelix film.

Italian News - April 8

The Neolithic precursors of today's dental experts
"used tiny flint-tipped wooden drills they managed
to  whirl  around 20 times a second,  using little
bows." 

Italian News - April 8

For the first time, Italians living abroad are
able to vote in the election without having to
return to Italy to cast a ballot.  The Italian
vote  is shaping up as close run battle.

Italian News - April 7

An  exhibit of  Sophia Loren's  family  photos,
dresses, jewels,  awards and career memorabilia
opens Friday at the Vittoriano museum in Rome's
historic center.

Italian News - April 7

Florence's Uffizi Gallery plans to mend  the
wealth of magnificent tapestries around that
have fallen into  disrepair.  The new centre
will be located in the Boboli Gardens.

Italian Art - April 6

The  rampant  colours and  violent energy  of
Italian Futurists  are returning to the  city
where they threw down the gauntlet to the art
world - but this time in triumph.

Italian News - April 6

The show in  Civitella Museum combines ancient
archaeological finds with recent artefacts  to
create a journey through centuries  of  female
power, accompanied by haunting music.

Italian News - April 6

The 65-year-old was sure she was in the  right
place at the right time:  the health center at
14:00 on March 29.  Clerks couldn't figure out
why the appointment hadn't been logged.

Italian News - April 5

Italians in their thirties are an increasingly
unhappy bunch.  The most striking  development
recently had been the emergence of a new group
of oppressed souls.

Italian News - April 5

Keen to show that young people don't have a monopoly
on sporting achievement,  a retired mechanic  from a
village in northern Italy  is about  to walk  across
America from Miami to Portland.

Italian Science - April 5

An Italian surgeon has created a robot able  to
correct one of the heart's most common defects.
A software based on surgical experience enables
the robot to turn off atrial fibrillation.

Italian News - April 4

The imitation of Italy's prime food products is on
the rise despite efforts to  ban inferior  clones.
'Italian-sounding' products now rake in  some  six
billion dollars in sales.

Italian News - April 4

Italy's prime minister confessed yesterday that
he had called sex chat lines - to talk politics
not dirty.  Silvio Berlusconi  claimed to  have
been carrying out a bizarre opinion poll.

Italian News - April 4

Travellers at Milan's Malpensa Airport  will be  able
to  wait for their departing  flights on the  world's
longest couch. A 45-meter Bombay Sapphire Stretch has
been installed in the central departure lounge.

Italian News - April 2

A territory  that all the world  envies,  where
the  most refined  design  products  come from.
This is  Milan and  its province,  the  synonym
of design all over the world for over 50 years.

Italian News - April 2

Italian researchers have come up with software
able  to send  heart-beat,  blood-pressure and
blood sugar data via cellphone.  "All you need
is a wireless device".

Italian News - April 1

The hunt is back on for Leonardo's lost fresco.
Florence  has  asked the  world's top  Leonardo
experts to help solve the  riddle of a 'secret'
wall in Palazzo Vecchio.

Italian News - April 1

Legendary Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra is to
start  passing on his craft to a new generation of
film hopefuls.  Guerra is as spry at 86 as he  was
in his screenwriting heyday in the 1950 and '60.