ItalyUpdate

The latest luxury liner to join the MSC fleet, the MSC Divina, baptized in Marseilles on the 26 May,  is dedicated to Italian film idol, Sofia Loren. The ship, which can accommodate 4,363 guests, has 16 decks named after Ancient Greek gods and goddesses.

The city of Bergamo is petitioning for the return of one of its most famous sons, the Italian sculptor, Giacomo Manzù. Manzù, whose works include the monument to the Partigiano (Partesan Fighter) at Bergamo and the Doors of Death in St. Peter's basilica, Rome, lived and worked for the last thirty years of his life at the historic town of Ardea, some 30 kms from Rome. He was buried in the park surrounding his studio in 1992, where there is also a museum dedicated to his work.

The second edition of Italian Slow Food Day will be celebrated on the 26 May 2012, with 300 piazzas, markets, streets and gardens all over Italy displaying and selling local seasonal produce.

Recent checkups by tree doctors have revealed the sad fact that 105 of the venerable umbrella pine trees in Rome's Villa Borghese park, celebrated in Italian composer Ottorino Respighi's symphonic Roman Trilogy, are fatally ill.

After a pause of 21 years, the Premio Murano (Murano Glass Prize) has been reintroduced in 2012 to encourage confrontation between contemporary art and traditional Murano Glass Masters, with the special addition of a Premio Murano Junior reserved for young artists.

The village of Pievasciata in the heart of Chiantishire has reinvented itself as a centre of contemporary art. Near Castelnuovo Berardegna, in an area where many foreigners have set up second homes, Pievasciata has given itself an original image with a series of contemporary art works distributed around its territory.

The 76 Edition of the Mostra Vini Trentino, (Trentino Wine Fair) will be held in the Castello di Buonconsiglio and Roccabruna Palace between the 18-21 May 2012. The event will be attended by 45 regional wine producers and the Institute for the Protection of Trentino Grappa.

The Park of the Treja Valley, which has some of the most spectacular scenery in Lazio, is organizing a series of weekend excursions this spring within its territory. Places are limited and advanced booking is obligatory.

A Bronze Age gold cup dating from between 2200-1600 BC discovered recently during excavations at the Spalletti quarries of Montecchio Emilia was presented in Florence at the Prehistoric and Proto-historic Italian Institute (Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria) on the 23 April 2012.

Urbino, one of the most important centres of the Italian Renaissance, is hosting an exhibition centred round the enigmatic work, La Città Ideale, painted by an unknown artist in the second half of the quattrocento.