ItalyUpdate

Bari's Karol Wojtyla Airport, named after the late Pope John Paul II, has been voted Italy's best for facilities, accessibility and internal mobility by Altroconsumo, Italy's leading consumers' association, as well as the online tourism marketing portal PaesiOnLine.

 Rigoni di Asiago, Italy's leading organic jams and honey manufacturers, have joined the list of Italian entrepreneurs who are supporting Italy's vast cultural heritage.

The company's latest project is the restoration of the allegorical fountain Venice Weds the Sea set in the gardens of the Palazzo Venezia Museum in the heart of Rome.

What's the ideal wine for St. Valentine's Day? The traditional Sicilian wine cellar of Duca di Salaparuta at Casteldaccia, near Palermo, proposes its dessert wine ALA, Antica Liquorvino Amarascata (Ancient Fortified Dry Wine), ideally to be savoured along with chocolate.

Ivreas Carnival celebrations culminate with the spectacular Battle of the Oranges (10^th-13^th February 2018). The unique experience of being pelted with ripe oranges is open to everyone, simply by putting your name down to join the six thousand members of the nine teams of street launchers, or latching onto one of the fifty horse-drawn floats loaded with juicy citrus fruits.

 Velia Seithiti and Ravnthu Aprthnai are only two of the beautiful women immortalized on the walls of the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia and Cerveteri. There are others without names, who dance seductively, recline at banqueting tables, play musical instruments and carry out sacred rituals.

 Italy's prize oyster, the Golden Oyster of Goro is on its way to receiving official recognition as another exclusive Italian gastronomic product. Goro, a fishermen's village on the River Po delta, is celebrated for its production of mussels and clams.

The Vertical Winter Tour, a fun event involving many of Italy's most celebrated ski resorts, is in full fling. The eight stages in the programme, which began at the Milky Way ski runs of Sestriere (Turin) just before New Year 2017 and end at Canazei and Val di Fassa (Trentino) on March 3-4  2018, involve winter playgrounds stretching from the Dolomites to the Alps.

The ten-day Douja d'Or wine and food show at Asti (Piedmont) runs between the 9^th - 18^th September 2016. The Douja d'Or award (the name refers to the traditional terracotta jug used locally to serve wine) is one of the most prestigious in Italy for DOC and DOCG wines.

The Benedictine monks of the earthquake-shattered Umbria archidiocese of Spoleto-Norcia have set up a blog with information and updates on the situation in the area round Amatrice  Norcia, the  birthplace of St. Benedict, is well-known to the US Catholic communities as a group of American Benedictines re-founded the monastic community, which is also linked both to St. Francis of Assisi, in 2000.