The Italian Almanac

Italian News - September 29

A worldwide hit penned by an Italian  songsmith 50
years ago,  containing the famous  'Volare...oh-oh
oh-oh!' refrain, is the song that Italian mums and
dads sing most often with their kids.

Italian Art - September 29

The central Italian region of Emilia has set up  a
prize for the most  nutritious  and  best-smelling
manure  to  help  its cows p roduce  that  Italian
culinary glory, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Italian News - September 28

The 2007  and  20th  edition  of  the  Italian Wine
catalogue will see a record number of wines receive
the  'three glasses'  insignia of top quality.  The
catalogue will be presented in Turin.

Italian Art - September 28

The art market is finally  giving  modern  Italian
art the respect it deserves, with prices for works
by leading artists hitting new highs, according to
Christies auction house.

Italian News - September 27

Producers and fans of Italian Prosecco are  up  in
arms over plans by an Austrian company  to  market
the sparkling white wine in a can.  The wine in  a
can is called Rich Prosecco.

Italian News - September 27

Monsignor  Emmanuel Milingo,  the  archbishop  who
shocked the Vatican in 2001 by defecting to a sect
and  marrying  a  Korean  acupuncturist,  has been
excommunicated.

Italian News - September 26

Crossing theology with cyberspace, Priests On-Line
answers parishioners' inquietudes  with  downloads
of advice and  Catholic  guidance.  The  Web  site
appears to be quite popular.

Italian News / Art - September 26

A new show in Ferrara on forgotten  French  modern
artist André Derain is set to stir  "indescribable
emotions" in visitors.  The exhibition features 90
works covering the whole career of Derain.

Italian News - September 25

Contrary  to  popular belief,  Italian  women  are
better drivers than men and cause fewer accidents,
according  to  a  new  report  from  the  national
association of insurance companies ANIA.

Italian News - September 25

For the second year in  a  row  a  drawing  by  an
Italian girl has been chosen by the United Nations
for one of its stamps marking  International Peace
Day 2006.

Italian News - September 22

Speaking recently  at an erotic  film festival  in
Abruzzo,  Erika Neri said her male counterparts no
longer live up to their traditional  reputation of
"Italian stallions".

Italian News - September 22

A roof garden overlooking central Rome where  book
lovers can while away a few hours  is  the  latest
initiative in the government's bid to use publicly
owned real estate in better ways.

Italian News - September 22

The watchword is “dissuasion”,  the declared purpose
of the CCTVs that Rome city council plans to install
in the streets  of  the  capital  most  affected  by
prostitution.

Italian News - September 21

Two copies of  Leonardo da Vinci's  greatest  lost
fresco The Battle of Anghiari are the  centrepiece
of an upcoming show in Florence capping the city's
Leonardo year.

Italian Science - September 21

Italian researchers have found a molecule that makes
the body burn more fat, paving the way for new drugs.
Injected into mice,  the molecule upped the  animals'
metabolism and stopped them becoming fat.

Italian News - September 20

Oscar-winning American actor Sean Penn  could  star
as Albert Einstein in a joint US-Italian television
production about the famous physicist.  Penn  is  a
fan of one of the screenplay's authors.

Italian News - September 20

A gold rush has begun in the hills a stone’s throw
from the villas of the  famous  at  Manciano,  and
among  the  farmhouses  and  fields  at  Civitella
Paganico.

Italian News - September 19

Jugglers,  acrobats,  fire breathers and scores  of
other performers have spent the last three weekends
helping residents on the outskirts of Milan  keep a
centuries-old tradition of open-air theatre alive.

Italian Sport - September 19

Italy were handed their first Fed Cup  title  when
Belgium's  Justine Henin-Hardenne  was  forced  to
withdraw through injury in  the  deciding  doubles
match on Sunday.

Italian News - September 18

A half eaten meal, charts of the Mediterranean and
piles of clothes were found on board an empty twin
masted sailing vessel discovered floating off  the
Italian coast.

Italian News - September 18

The deadline  for  closing  children's  institutes
would not be postponed.  All of Italy's orphanages
will close by the end of the year,  despite delays
in organizing alternatives.

Italian News - September 16

Mayor Letizia Moratti of Milan wants designers  to
do a little math before the coming  fashion  week:
calculate the body-mass of their catwalk models to
be sure they meet healthy standards.

Italian News - September 16

A major new show on Chinese calligraphy opened  on
Friday in Genoa, heralding an array of exhibitions
on China.  The show at Palazzo Ducale  illustrates
the beauty and history of Chinese writing.

Italian News - September 15

Italian men are now happily giving  a  hand  around
the house, according to a recent poll.  Some 66% of
Italians are “precise” and “accurate” in the chores
they do.

Italian News - September 15

A tug-of-war  involving a 10-year-old  Belarussian
child risked degenerating into  a  diplomatic spat
between Italy and Belarus.  The child  was due  to
return to Belarus a week ago.

Italian News - September 15

Controversial crusading journalist  Oriana Fallaci
died Thursday night in her native Florence after a
long battle with lung cancer. She was 77.  Fallaci
sparked a storm with anti-Islam books.

Italian News - September 14

Italian bosses mustn't rise to the bait  when  someone
tries to pick a fight. The Court of Cassation rejected
an appeal by a boss who was sacked because he flew off
the handle when one of his staff provoked him.

Italian News - September 14

Adriatic coast of Marche offer  seafood  lovers  a
very intense week. The city of Fano is hosting the
International Festival of Seafood Soup — which run
through September 17.

Italian News - September 13

A museum in northeast Italy was delighted  by  the
return of a rare, giant shell  that  was  recently
snatched by thieves.  It turned up again early  on
Tuesday morning, deposited outside the museum.

Italian News - September 13

The Mediterraneo Primo  from  Mazara del Vallo  in
western Sicily was seized overnight while  fishing
for  crayfish and is currently  impounded  at  the
Libyan port of Darna.

Italian News - September 12

A centuries-old giant oak which  featured  in  the 
adventures of Pinocchio is ailing. The famous oak, 
believed to be 600 years old,  stands  in  private 
grounds near the Tuscan town of Lucca. 

Italian Science - September 12

Italian scientists opened a new chapter in  modern
physics when a burst of  sub-atomic  particles was
sent hurtling from Switzerland  to  a  lab  buried
under Italy's biggest mountain.

Italian News - September 11

Nothing says  "I've been to Venice"  better than a
photo snapped with pigeons perched on arms,  head,
shoulders,  breast.  Multiply that by,  perhaps, a
million times a year.

Italian News - September 11

Head of State Giorgio Napolitano  will  officially
open the school year September 18 with a  ceremony
which this year will be staged in the courtyard of
the presidential Quirinale Palace in Rome.

Italian News - September 9

Telecom Italia,  Italy's main telephone  operator,
has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute  of
Technology on  a  real-time  mapping  system  that
tracks how people move in urban spaces.

Italian News - September 9

Genoa has rejected a US newspaper claim that it is
the picture of a bleak European future  where  the
elderly weigh hard and there are few  children  to
support or replace them.

Italian News - September 8

The Palio della Balestra is a 5 century tournament
old,  where the host city Sansepolcro compete with
the city of Gubbio in a medieval crossbow contest,
following parades in medieval costume.

Italian Science - September 8

Italian researchers have  identified  a  substance
they believe is responsible for the panic  attacks
and bouts of anxiety that  make  sufferers'  lives
miserable.

Italian News - September 8

A Mexican weighing 550 kilos,  and thought to be the
fattest man in the world,  is to have his bodyweight
surgically reduced in Italy. Manuel Uribe Garza, 40,
is to travel to Modena for his operation.

Italian Art - September 7

Paris's glittering high society at the turn of the
last century is the focus  of a  new exhibit  near
Livorno,  exploring the work of three artists that
came to typify the Belle Epoque.

Italian News - September 7

This year's wine harvest looks promising  in  terms
of both quality and quantity, according to Lamberto
Vallarino Gancia,  whose  family is famous for  its
sparking spumante wine.

Italian News - September 6

Film lovers will be able to relive the  golden age
of Italian cinema at a new photographic exhibition
opening in Rome next month.  The show is  entitled
'Facce di Cinema' (Faces of Cinema).

Italian News - September 6

Naples, the city that invented pizza, has lined up
the first edition of 'World Pizza Day'. Makers and
pizza lovers from all over the world  will  attend
the inaugural event on Thursday.

Italian News - September 5

Paparazzi are coming under  fire  in  Venice.  Ben
Affleck, who stars in  "Hollywoodland",  took  the
opportunity to lash out at the photographers eager
to snap his shot.

Italian News - September 5

Giancinto Facchetti, fondly remembered captain of  the
great Inter and Italy sides of the '60s and '70s, died
of cancer on Monday.  He was 64.  Facchetti played for
Italy 94 times, captaining the side 70 times.

Italian News - September 2

The 54-year-old star, who has penned a  string  of
pop anthems,  said  he had come to the  conclusion
that  letting  big companies use his work  in  ads
was like "selling my dreams".

Italian News - September 2

The man would stand for hours, camera at the ready,
under the Ponte della Paglia,  a  bridge  near  San
Marco.  But he wasn’t interested  in  photographing
the canals or the churches.

Italian News - September 2

Computers won a points victory over human crossword
puzzle enthusiasts  at a contest  organised  during
the  European Conference on Artificial Intelligence
in  Trento.