ItalyUpdate

Men and women of the First Tuscania Regiment of the Carabinieri Forestry Corps make up the team of Italian tractor drivers heading across Africa on a 6,000 km 55-day journey which started in Cape Town, South Africa at the beginning of April 2018.

The life and secrets of Giacomo Casanova, the 18 century adventurer and libertine, are being revealed in his home town of Venice to mark the 220 anniversary of his death. The Casanova Museum and Experience exhibition is running currently at the historic Palazzo Pesaro Papafava in the Sestiere di Cannaregio district until the 22 November 2018, when it will take off for an international tour.

Michelangelo and the Secrets of the Sistine Chapel, Rome's newest and most spectacular visitor attraction, debuted shortly before Easter. Situated a short distance from St. Peter's, the former concert hall Auditorium della Conciliazione has been transformed into a multi-medial extravaganza of projected visions, lights, music, sounds and emotions that illustrates and recounts not only Michelangelo Buonarotti's masterpieces, but also the works of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino on the Sistine walls.

One of the most exciting archaeological finds of recent years in Umbria, the ancient Roman Villa of the Mosaics in Spello, is now open to the public. Discovered in 2005, during work to create a parking lot, 500 sqm of a luxurious imperial villa have subsequently been excavated, revealing a series of rooms decorated with polychrome mosaics and stuccoed walls.

You have time until April Fools' Day (April 1) to see the exhibition of cartoons by well-known comic artists illustrating twenty-two of Italy's most famous museums. The project, Fumetti nei Musei (Cartoons in Museums), launched by the Press and Communications Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MIBACT) and the Coconino Press-Fandango publishing house, aims to encourage children and young people to visit museums and become familiar with their contents.

Wildlife enthusiasts have been excited to hear about the return of the wolf to the Rome area. Rangers patrolling the Castelli Romani hills less than 30 kms south of the city reported finding wolf pack tracks during the snowfalls this month, March 2018.

The fortified town of Montone (Perugia, Umbria) classified among I Borghi Piů Belli d'Italia (Italy'sMost Beautiful Historic Towns),celebrates Easter Monday with a pageant in honour of The Holy Thorn.

 The historic walled town of Amelia (Umbria) is launching an original art festival on the 31 March 2018. Entitled Sentieri di Arte Contemporaneo (Pathways of Contemporary Art), the Festival is a vast open air exhibition of the works of 33 artists and poets, distributed around the streets of the historic centre, in the doorways of old palaces, inside deconsecrated churches, ancient Roman water cisterns and former store houses and work shops.

 Italy's Ministry of Agriculture has completed the first census of the nation's patrimony of monumental trees, counting a total of 2,047 distributed all over the country. Rather surprisingly, the island of Sardinia headed the list with 285 ancient trees, followed by Piedmonte (a total of 164) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (139)