The Italian Almanac

Italian News - May 31

The exhibition, which runs until September 3, aims
to show how the increasingly inter-cultural nature
of the comics business has helped it progress into
the realm of serious art.

Italian News - May 31

Italian archaeologists  digging in the  Roman Forum
have found a well-preserved skeleton of a woman who
lived 3,000 years ago,  at least 300  years  before
the traditional date of the founding of Rome.

Italian News - May 30

One of Italy's oldest producers of sugared almonds,
a delicacy traditionally given  to  wedding guests,
is moving with the times  by putting a  'Gay Bride'
product on the market.

Italian News - May 30

The brown bear disappeared after authorities gave
a green light for the animal to be killed, saying
it was a threat because it seemed to have  gained
a taste for fresh meat.

Italian News - May 29

Tony Blair was facing fresh controversy  over his
holidays after he jetted off to Italy for another
luxury 'freebie' break whith his wife  and  their
children, courtesy of Prince Girolamo Strozzi.

Italian Art - May 29

The Portland Art Museum engages in a international
cultural exchange with  the  museums  of  Brescia,
Italy,  and the international  exhibition  company
Linea d'ombra.

Italian Science - May 29

Italian researchers have engineered mice able to  heal
their  own hearts thanks to a   genetically i mplanted
growth factor. "The mice's recovery was extraordinary,
something I've never seen before."

Italian News - May 27

The United States are ready to discuss  with  new
Italian Defence Minister  a timeframe for leaving
the Santo Stefano base on  the  small  island  of
La Maddalena.

Italian News / Art - May 27

About 6,000 documents including diaries, manuscripts,
family memoirs and photographs  of  Amedeo Modigliani
will  be  moved  permanently  from  France to  Italy,
archive officials said.

Italian News - May 26

Italy vowed on Wednesday to save a brown bear  which
has strayed over the national border coming from the
Adamello-Brenta park in northern Italy and now risks
being shot dead by German hunters.

Italian Art - May 26

One of the Uffizi Gallery's finest rooms and its most
striking sculptoral group have been  restored  thanks
to an American foundation whose donors include  Sting
and Mel Gibson.

Italian News - May 26

Fun fairs in the Italian region  of  Lombardy  will
soon have to do without the goldfish that have long
been the reward for success at all sorts  of  skill
and shooting games.

Italian News - May 24

There are only 63 people in the medieval village  of
Bergolo eligible to vote in Italy's local  elections
on Sunday. But they will not be stuck for choice: 40
candidates are running for office.

Italian News - May 24

Livia Turco  directed her first thoughts  as health
minister to women,  making a  commitment to  ensure
pain-free childbirth was always an option in public
hospitals.

Italian News - May 23

A fascinating and fittingly colourful show in the
northern Italian  town of Rovereto looks  at  the
influence comic books and cinema have had  on one
another.

Italian News - May 23

Colorado College stressed the "great impact"  of
Strada and his private humanitarian organization
Emergency and his "crucial work"  to  treat  the
civilian victims of war.

Italian Art - May 21

Rome is set to celebrate  Raphael in its  first-ever
major exhibition on the Renaissance great. The show,
which opened  at  the  Galleria Borghese,  has  been
insured for more than one billion euro.

Italian News / Sport - May 21

The Illinois women's basketball team leaves Monday
for a ten-day trip to Italy.  The Illini will play
four  games  against  Italian teams  beginning  on
Wednesday in Rome.

Italian News - May 20

Every week, hundreds of letters pour into the office
of the Club di Giulietta, in Verona, Italy, the city
that  is the  setting  for Shakespeare's  "Romeo and
Juliet."

Italian News - May 20

Italy's musical-string makers are fighting a mad
cow ban on the use of their raw material, animal
guts.  "This ban makes no sense. You can't eat a
violin string."

Italian News - May 20

The first ever FutureFashionEvent will take  place
in Pisa, Italy. The FutureFashionEvent is focussed
on wearable technology and smart textiles  and  is
divided into a Conference, a Show and an Exhibit.

Italian News - May 19

The Tuscans' proud claim to be the descendants  of
the ancient Etruscans has taken  a  knock  after a
DNA comparison of Etruscan skeletons and a  sample
of living Tuscans.

Italian News - May 19

Celiac disease is an intestinal disorder caused  by
an inability to digest gluten and top Italian chefs
are  leading  the fight  on  discrimination against
sufferers of the disease.

Italian News / Fashion - May 18

Italian modelling agencies held the country's first
'fashion' strike on Wednesday  to  protest  against
what they say is a growing tendency to  push  Italy
out of the industry.

Italian News - May 18

What's the difference between pancetta and prosciutto?
Are  they interchangeable in recipes?  The  difference
between  prosciutto and  pancetta  is  the  difference
between ham and bacon.

Italian Cars - May 18

Maserati has announced it will participate  in  the
24 Hours of Nürburgring on June 17 with a GranSport
Laboratorio and a GranSport Trofeo.  The cars  will
compete in the DMSB E1XP and the 24-Hour Special.

Italian News - May 17

Barbie dolls wearing a Valentino gown in which star
Julia Roberts  won an Oscar  are set to raise money
for AIDS. "The dress is a real jewel, one of my all
time favourites," said the Italian style icon.

Italian News - May 17

An anonymous buyer shelled out 3.5 million dollars
for a Stradivarius violin known as  the  "Hammer",
smashing the previous world record for  a  musical
instrument sold at auction.

Italian News - May 16

An Italian company is  releasing  a  revolutionary
'smog eating' cement product capable  of  reducing
urban pollution by over 40%.  It can be applied to
road surfaces or building exteriors.

Italian Movies - May 16

According  to  Italian cinema  monitoring  company
Cinetel, Italian films, for years maligned even in
their  own  country,  are enjoying  a  renaissance
with box office booming.

Italian News - May 14

Many Americans stationed at Aviano are used to get
medical  care  from local  Italian  professionals.
That’s shown by the 3,300 appointments  made  with
doctors outside the base in 2005.

Italian News - May 14

An ancient king's war chariot found in a tomb near
Rome has helped rewrite the history of the  Romans
and their Sabine rivals.  "An  exceptional  find,"
said archaeologist Paola Santoro.

Italian News - May 13

Italy's supreme court kept up a reputation for dodgy
sex  rulings on  Friday by  giving the thumbs up  to
estranged husbands who try to cajole unwilling wives
into having sex.

Italian News - May 13

A group of 150 juvenile delinquents will  soon  be
sent out to sea to learn a seafaring trade as part
of a justice ministry rehabilitation project.  The
youths will ship out on fishing boats.

Italian News - May 12

Writers, painters, journalists, clerics and school
children  will be among the citizens  of  Florence
taking to the  streets  today to read out  Dante's
Divine Comedy.

Italian News / Science - May 12

An Italian researcher working in the United States
has  isolated the body's energy sensor that  tells
the brain when it is time to stop eating,  sending
out a signal that the body doesn't need any more.

Italian News / Art - May 11

One  of the most famous paintings by Titian  is  back
in Italy for the first time in nearly four centuries.
Supper At Emmaus,  usually on display at the  Louvre,
is on loan to Milan's Ambrosiana Library.

Italian News - May 11

The father of Italy's musical theater died in Rome
Tuesday  at at age 87. At the time of  his  death,
Garinei was working on a stage musical inspired by
Capra's 1961 film, "A Pocketful of Miracles".

Italian News - May 10

First-time MP and proud new mother  Donatella Poretti
is flying the flag for working moms throughout Italy,
claiming  the right to  breast-feed her  daughter  in
parliament.

Italian News - May 10

Florence is paying tribute to English  playwright
William Shakespeare with a new exhibition at  the
city's Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale library. The
show focuses on Hamlet.

Italian News - May 10

Distinguished Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi is
looking to his Italian roots for his latest  film,
Il Sole Nero (The Black Sun). The movie, is set in
Sicily.

Italian News - May 9

Five chicks that are being flown into Italy  next
month have only just hatched but they are already
carrying a weighty responsibility. The birds will
have to restore the country's osprey population.

Italian News - May 9

Scholars agree that Lucrezia Borgia's reputation
as  a deadly,  a  golden-haired  temptress,  the
embodiment of female evil and prolific  poisoner
is more myth than reality.

Italian News - May 8

Gardening is a growing passion among Italians.
A  poll of nearly 1000  Italian  city-dwellers
found that  a  third were passionate gardeners
who devoted time to their plants.

Italian News - May 8

The Italian Unabomber,  the  elusive  psychopath
who has terrorised the Venice area for 12 years,
struck again at the weekend when a man picked up
what he thought was a message in a bottle.

Italian News - May 6

An award winning Italian chef has  become a
chum  of  pampered dogs by devising  cordon
bleu “canine recipes”. Recipes so good that
you could share them with your dog.

Italian News - May 6

A major  anti-prostitution  operation by
Italian police has smashed an  extensive
and  well-organised  network of  Chinese
brothels in the northern city of Novara.

Italian News - May 6

A new Italian documentary tells the  tale
of a fourteenth-century galley resting at
the bottom of Venice lagoon.  The  unique
discovery was made in 2001.

Italian News - May 5

Among the most pressing orders of business
for Europe's first "transgender"  lawmaker
may be fighting over which bathroom to use
in the Italian parliament.

Italian News / Music - May 5

Umbria Jazz has unveiled a glittering line
up  for  this year's edition  of  Europe's
biggest jazz festival. The spotlight  will
be on jazz and blues guitarists.

Italian News - May 4

Biologists  here have said the sighting of
a huge,  rare species of shark in the  sea
near the toe of Italy is both good and bad
news for the environment.

Italian News - May 4

The 111th birthday of silent screen legend
Rudolph Valentino will be marked with  the
presentation of this  year's  Magna Grecia
Awards.

Italian News - May 3

A team from the Natural History Museum at
Lerici have discovered Titanosaurus bones
that could change the accepted picture of
the huge leaf-eating beast.

Italian News - May 3

A huge Roman villa has been unveiled  just
outside Florence  -  the first ever in the
tourist area and one of the biggest  Roman
farms ever discovered.

Italian News - May 2

Italian cars are winning  prestigious  roles
in blockbuster movies. Niche sports carmaker
Lamborghini is the  company that is  leading
the Italian charge on Hollywood.

Italian News - May 2

Italy's Nobel-prizewinning leftwing Dario
Fo is to follow theatre greats Pirandello
and  Eduardo De Filippo  in receiving  an
honorary degree from Rome's La Sapienza.