ItalyUpdate

Beyond Rome, in the Alban and Prenestini Hills at the Time of the Grand Tour is the title of an extensive and ambitious exhibition running until the 25 March 2012, and involving some of the most popular places on the Grand Tour route in the Province of Rome.

 CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

Italyupdate.travel closes for the holidays. Well be back early January 2012.

Every good wish for a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year  

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.