ItalyUpdate

The cold winds of the economic crisis may blow but for the festive season at least Italian town councils seem determined to put on a brave show. Rome has been illuminated for Christmas as never before.

Visitors looking for a Christmas with a difference can head for the unique cavern city of Matera in Basilicata to see the worlds biggest living crib, with over 600 live characters representing the birth of Christ.

A not-to-be-missed exhibition at Romes Villa Borghese Gallery will give visitors, for the next four months, the unique opportunity to see exclusive pieces of antiquities and sculpture in their original setting, on loan from the Louvre, Paris.

A Rome restaurant is offering a special Christmas deal for dog owners and their pets, so that they can celebrate the festive season together. 

The town of Alessandria (Piedmont) is the centre of an important exhibition on the work of the great Italian sculptor Gi Pomodoro, inaugurated on the 7 December 2011 and running until the 29 April 2012.

A full immersion in a Santa Grotto that will thrill the whole family has been set up by the town of Ornavasso, Verbania, Lake Garda.

The first December 2011 marks the launch of Turin festive season extravaganza which will last till the 15 January. The city illuminations include a series of 18 light installations by famous international artists, while the official city presepio  (Nativity scene), which takes the form of a gigantic to enjoy a free viewing of Michaelangelo drawing of a Madonna and Child, dated 1525, on loan from Florence and on show at Palazzo Madama until the 11 January.

Celebrated fashion designer Giorgio Armani recently inaugurated his second hotel after Dubai, this time in his home town of Milan.

The famous Etruscan Banditaccio Necropolis at Cerveteri, near Rome, has been equipped to suit the requirements of twenty-first century tourism. 

The 2011 award for Italys most beautiful garden goes to Villa Lante at Bagnaia, Lazio. The Villa, situated 4 kms from Viterbo, is one of the finest examples of a cinquecento Italian garden, with splendid pavilions, terraces and fountains.

The Villa was created by the powerful renaissance Cardinal Gambara as his country retreat, complete with hunting reserve. It is especially admired for its series of magnificent fountains and cascading waterways that start at the top of the hill with the Fountain of the Flood (also known as the Mountain of Rain) and flow down to feed the Fountain of the Chain, the Fountain of the Giants, featuring the statues of the rivers Arno and Tiber, the Fountain of the Cardinal Table, the Fountain of Lights and ending with the Fountain of the Moors, that rises in the middle of four pools containing boats with cherubs.

The National Competition of Parks and Gardens was set up in 2003 in order to bring the publics attention to Italys vast heritage of historic parks and gardens. The first winner was the Garden of Valsanzibio of Galzignano Terme, followed by La Mortella, Ischia in 2004, Castello Trauttmansdorff in Merano in 2005, Villa d'Este, Tivoli, in 2006, the Gardens of Isola Bella in 2007, Villa Pisani at Stra in 2008, the Royal Palace of Caserta in 2009 and the Castle of Racconigi in 2010.

For information: www.ilparcopiubello.it