ItalyUpdate

Rome's Villa Borghese Museum hopes to raise funds to purchase a bust of Pope Urban VIII by Gian Lorenzo Bernini to add to its collection.

Italian museums saw a rise in visitor figures in 2019, with the exception of some outdoor sites, which suffered from the frequent spells of bad weather.

Brescia (Lombardia) is not very well known as an international tourist destination. The organization Visit Brescia is seeking to remedy this lack by publishing a series of initiatives and excursions highlighting the many attractions of the area.

The city of Parma (Emilia Romagna) is the place to visit this year, with a packed programme of events to celebrate its nomination as Italian Capital of Culture 2020. 

Italian tea grown in Verbania (Piedmont) scooped the Gold Award for international black tea at the International Black Tea Tasting Competition (December 2019).

One of Italy's most traditional and spectacular Carnivals sparks off on the 17 January, the Feast Day of St. Antonio the Abbot at the historic town of Offida (Marche) and carries on till the Grand Finale on Shrove Tuesday, 25th February 2020.

Visitors to Rome can look out for the red rose laid on Raphael's tomb in the Pantheon during 2020, the 500th anniversary of the death of the great Renaissance artist.

As we move gradually into the 2020 celebrations for Raphael's quincentenary, Leonardo da Vinci fans can still catch the exhibition Leonardo e I suoi Libri (Leonardo and his Books), held in the historic Biblioteca dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Linceie e Corsiniana situated in the grounds of the Villa Farnesina, Rome.

WARMEST GOOD WISHES TO ALL OUR READERS!  

We'll be back in January 2020!  

The Marche regional capital, Ascoli Piceno, is hosting an exhibition of the first restored works of art recovered from the earthquake that devastated central Italy in 2016.