ItalyUpdate

Italy's Federation of Sommeliers, Hoteliers and Restauranteurs (FISAR) converge the weekend 7-8^th May 2016 in the strawberry town of Nemi in the Castelli Romani near Rome to demonstrate the best of Italy's wines. The wine lovers' event Borgo DiVino/ Wines of Italy: the best of..... is organized by the Town of Nemi and the tourism promotional organization CastelliExperience.

The National Museum of Magna Graecia in Reggio Calabria, considered to be one of Italy's most important museum of ancient classical art, re-opens its doors on the 30^th April 2016 with a splendid new look. The luminous new atrium, designed by architect Alfredo Pirri,  adds a whole new dimension onto the monumental Palazzo Piacentini, built 1932-1941 to house the antiquites from the Italian colonies of ancient Greece, such as Sibari, Crotone, Caulonia and Locri.

According to a recent report issued by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to mark World Earth Day 2016, Italy leads the world in use of solar power, with 8% of its entire energy production coming from the sun. With solar panels becoming progressively cheaper over the last 10 years, more and more households have installed panels on their roofs and unused grazing land has been converted into sun farms that feed the national grid.

How many of us have dreamed of having some illustrious ancestor? Some thirty-five Italians were astonished to get the news that they may be descendents of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci. Historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato revealed the results of their genealogy studies recently in Florence, where they had traced the maestro's bloodline through the centuries to the present day.

Italy's prestigious annual wine fair VINITALY 2016 chalked up record figures on its 50^th birthday confirming Italy's position as the leading country of wine production and wine exportation in the world. A packed four days of events and tastings drew record crowds to the Verona Fair, which hosted a record number of exhibitors (4,100, including 147 from abroad).

The Cinema Centrale of Milan has taken up a charming old Neapolitan custom and given it a new twist. In Naples, people often leave a caffè sospeso when they have their morning coffee: that is, they leave the price of an extra coffee at the cash desk for anyone who is too poor to be able to buy a coffee of his own.

According to a report published earlier this year during the XII edition of International Day of Landscape Study, Italian woodlands have expanded by 600,000 hectares since 2005 and now coveri 10.9 million hectares of the total area of the country.

Megabus, the fast-growing low-cost coach company, which started operations in Italy less than a year ago, is offering its passengers a discount ticket for the Hard Rock Cafes of Rome, Florence and Venice to enhance the travelling experience.

The Caravaggio Experience,  an exciting new exhibition just opened at Rome's Palazzo delle Esposizioni, gives a novel presentation of the works of one of Italy's most famous and popular 17^th century artists. Fifty-seven works by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio fill the walls of the exhibition hall in floating images, projected by 33 Canon Xeed high definition cameras, in a constant dreamlike sequence, accompanied by music written by maestro Stefano Saletti especially for the event.

Italy's geologists gathered at the city of L'Aquila on the 5^th April 2016 to examine new projects to help safeguard the country from future earthquakes like the one that devastated the historic Abruzzo capital and several surrounding villages in 2009.

Statistically, Italy has a major earthquake every fifteen years, commented Fabio Tortorici, President of the Foundation Study Centre of the Consiglio Nazionale dei Geologi (National Council of Geologists).