The Italian Almanac

Italian News - November 30

A holidaymaker was killed by a bolt of lightning
from an almost clear blue sky. Michael Haffenden
died instantly when he was struck as he  relaxed
at a medieval castle near Siena.

Italian Movies - November 30

Massimo Boldi and  Christian De Sica  are  going
head-to-head at  the box office  this  Christmas
after 20 years of Yuletide hits  set  in  exotic
locations ended last year.

Italian News - November 28

Italy's and perhaps the world's most famous song,
'O Sole Mio', is the topic  of a new  book  which
traces its inspiration  and  looks  at  the  many
versions and covers the tune has seen.

Italian Sport - November 28

Azzurri captain  Fabio Cannavaro  was  named  the
European Footballer of the Year,  making  him the
fifth Italian to  claim soccer's most prestigious
individual award.

Italian News - November 27

A young Italian designer  is banking  on  Zinedine
Zidane's notorious World Cup headbutt to make  his
mark on the fashion world.  Alessandro Ferrari has
come up with the Xqua line.

Italian News - November 27

The growing interest  in  quality  olive oil  has
resulted in a boom for farm tourism with over two
million people a year now visiting oil  mills  to
buy their oil straight from the source.

Italian News - November 25

Italians are eager to see whether a TV comedian who
delights in impersonating the pope will dare to  go
on with his  tricks after ten days of polemics  and
put-downs from the Catholic world.

Italian News - November 25

When Egon Hofer,  an Austrian racing driver  and
classic-car collector, bought a sleek, shiny red
1960s Ferrari once  driven  by  Graham Hill,  he
thought that he had a unique racing car.

Italian Movies - November 24

Legendary Italian director Mario Monicelli returned 
to movie theatres  with  a  new  film.  Le Rose del 
Deserto (Desert Roses), a poignant  comedy  set  in 
Italian-occupied Libya.

Italian News - November 24

Spouses who have to plug their ears  because  of
their better halfs' snoring are to get  a  break
now that Italy has  opened  a  so-called  'night
hospital' for people with sleep disorders.

Italian News - November 23

Vatican preparations for Christmas started to get
under way this week as workmen began erecting the
traditional nativity scene in front of St Peter's
Basilica.

Italian News - November 23

The bronze statue of the wolf who suckled Romulus
and Remus has been displayed  on  the  Capitoline
hill for years, its vintage proudly advertised as
dating back to 753 BC.

Italian News - November 22

Unexpected cash brings out a difference  between
men and women, with men preferring to  save  and
women  more prone to spend,  according  to a new
study.

Italian News - November 22

Italy should follow the lead set  elsewhere  and
thrust  women  to  the  helm  of  the  country's
political  life,  President  Giorgio  Napolitano
said Tuesday.

Italian News - November 21

Members of a movement in favor  of the  rights  of
separated fathers staged an unusual protest Monday
morning,  wearing metal chastity belts as a way to
convince visiting males to abstain from sex.

Italian News - November 21

Castelnuovo Rangone in northern Italy has decided
to dedicate a  monument to  the  native  American
Indian to honor this people's history and respect
for the environment.

Italian News - November 20

“I don’t think I’ll be sent to perdition for  this
sort of satire."  Fiorello was responding  to  the
objections raised by Fr Georg Genswein, the Pope’s
personal secretary.

Italian News - November 20

Music can make a difference even in a world with
ethnic tensions,  war  and  terrorism,  musician
Peter Gabriel said after picking up  his  Man of
Peace award in Rome.

Italian News - November 17

The Korogocho shantytown  on the  outskirts  of
Nairobi is home to a million people,  who  live
around the planet's largest  trash dump,  a  30
metre-deep mountain of rubbish.

Italian News - November 17

The thing that Italian children hate the most is 
to see their parents  argue,  according  to  the 
Report on Infancy and Adolescence was  drawn  up 
by the Eurispes research group.

Italian News / Art - November 16

Milan is playing host to Europe's biggest  ever
exhibition devoted to American contemporary art
legend Jean-Michel Basquiat. The show is at the
city's Triennale Museum.

Italian News / Europe - November 16

The Maltese and the Greeks are the heavyweights
of Europe, figures from the European Commission
reveal.  The Italians and French the most trim,
while Britons are over weight.

Italian News - November 15

Italy's most popular footballer, Francesco Totti,
is to be a father for  the  second  time.  The AS
Roma star's  wife,  Ilary Blasi,  announced  that
she is four-months pregnant.

Italian News - November 15

Having a spouse means older people are 12% less
likely to die over a given period, whether they
are living in the  United States or Europe,  an
Italian study found.

Italian News - November 14

Small pieces of cloth being sold near the Vatican
as 'relics' of the ever popular John Paul II  are
bogus,  Catholic Church  authorities warned.  The
scraps of material are available in three sizes.

Italian News - November 14

Thousands of Neapolitans lined up on  Monday  to
pay their respects to the undisputed king of the
'sceneggiata',  Mario Merola,  who  died  Sunday
night from cardiorespiratory failure.

Italian News - November 13

Italian researchers have come up with a new way 
for cardiac rehabilitation patients to exercise 
their damaged hearts without having to squeeze 
into spandex or gyrate in a gym.

Italian News - November 13

Italy is experiencing an unprecedented rise in
marriage break-ups, according to a new report,
with interfering mothers-in-law bearing a high
proportion of the blame.

Italian News - November 11

Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni crossed  swords  with
horror and playstation addicts on Friday, vowing
to seek an Italian ban on a controversial  video
game called Rule of Rose.

Italian News - November 11

The first Europeans lived in southern Italy and
not Spain, according  to new  Italian  findings
predating the  oldest Spanish finds by almost a
million years.

Italian News - November 10

Italy is to honour Dorando Pietri,  the  runner
who became a symbol of athletic suffering after
a famous incident in the men's marathon  at the
London Olympics in 1908.

Italian News - November 10

Italy has the oldest population in the  European
Union and despite an influx of young  immigrants
it is getting older every year,  new  population
data confirm.

Italian News - November 9

A Como man wolfed down more than  half a kilo of 
fiery Italian  chilli peppers in half an hour to 
become Italy's latest  Mr Peperoncino  with  559 
grammes.

Italian News - November 9

A picturesque medieval castle north of  Rome  is
widely  believed to be the location  selected by
Hollywood star Tom Cruise  to  wed  his  fiancée
Katie Holmes later this month.

Italian News - November 7

A toilet which flushes to the musical accompaniment
of Italy's national anthem was  debated at a  court
hearing called to determine whether the device  was
an offense to the nation.

Italian News / Art - November 7

An Ancient Greek statue that blew Michelangelo's
mind 500 years ago is to be feted as the icon of
the Vatican Museum's celebration  of  its  first
half thousand years.

Italian News - November 6

Italian Catholics turn to  Padre Pio  more than any
other saint, according to a poll  of  church-goers.
The  monk  with  the  stigmata  beat St Anthony  of
Padua, patron saint of lost articles.

Italian News - November 6

A German electric  company  said  a  high-voltage
transmission line it shut down over a river could
have caused the chain-reaction power outages that
left about 10 million people in the dark.

Italian News - November 4

Italians continue to adore their mobile phones  but,
still shy of computers,  they lag behind the rest of
Europe on  Internet use, according to data presented
this week by research institute Censis.

Italian News - November 4

Italian movie legend Claudia Cardinale has called
on film directors to do their bit to bring  about
world peace. "The art of cinematography should be
used to promote respect and cooperation".

Italian News - November 3

Lucca is celebrating its status as Italy's comics
capital with the 40th  edition  of  its  renowned
graphic-art festival.  Lucca  Comics & Games 2006
is expected to  attract over 65,000 enthusiasts.

Italian News - November 3

The nuns at a convent school outside Genoa asked
a pair of business consultants what  they  could
do to generate some profits  for  charities  and
missionaries. 

Italian News - November 2

Four inmates of the  Vercelli  women's  prison  near
Milan have turned themselves into fashion designers,
creating a line of  garments  inspired  by  post-war
jail uniforms.

Italian News - November 2

At 5am on November 3, 1966 the skies over Tuscany
opened and poured non-stop for 18 hours,  causing
an  unprecedented artistic,  economic  and  human
disaster.