ItalyUpdate

Despite the present unfavourable economic climate, the Italian cruise company, Costa Crociere, has achieved a highly successful 2008 and announces that it expects to continue on the crest of the wave during 2009.

 FORGOTTEN RAILWAYS DAY

Forgotten Railways Day on the 1 st March will be marked by over 60 events dedicated to Italys historic railway tracks. Stretches of railway lines, no longer in use, will be rediscovered during a series of excursions on foot and by bicycle, or by trips on special trains running over many highly scenic routes.

For information: www-ferroviedimenticate.it  

The Carnival season in Italy doesnt just mean Venice and Viareggio. Carnival revels are in full swing in every town, big and small, in the Italian peninsula.

The exhibition Love, Art and Grace featuring the newly restored Raphael masterpiece entitled The Madonna of the Goldfinch has attracted record numbers of visitors since it opened in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, on the 23 rd November 2008.

St. Valentines Day, the annual Festival for Lovers, is one of the best known celebrations in the western world, but how many people know that St. Valentine was an early Christian martyr and that his tomb can still be visited here in Italy?

ST.VALENTINE IN MILAN 

A giant screen in Milans Piazza Duomo is busy recording the thousands of love messages being sent via mobile phone from all over Italy. The sender of the most touching and significant message  to be judged by Italian bestselling author of romantic fiction, Federico Moccia  will be nominated Kiss Writer for a Day, with reference to the famous Perugino Bacio (Kiss) chocolate manufacturer, which is partner in the event.

Anyone who wants to join in can send a message through the website www.baciperugina.it  

Since the 1 st February 2009, booking a holiday in Venice has become easier, thanks to Venice Connection, the new on-line reservation service set up by the City of Venice.

The exhibition Art, Genius & Madness, the Artists Day and Night, which opened on the 31 st January in the Complesso Museale Santa Maria della Scala in Siena.....

World-famous Italian conductor Claudio Abbado has come out on the side of conservationists by requesting that the city of Milan should plant 90,000 trees on its territory in lieu of his fee for returning to direct the orchestra of La Scala, Milan after a long absence.

An American biochemist believes that he has solved the mystery of the magical sound of Stradivari violins.