ItalyUpdate

Italian researchers have announced the identification of a cache of fossilized bones discovered at Saltrio, near Varese (Lombardia) in 1996 by an amateur paleontologist, Angelo Zanella. Tests have confirmed that they belong to a ceratosauro that lived some two hundred million years ago.

The unique collection of Roman Baroque art from Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia (Rome) will be the starring cultural event celebrating the centenary of the foundation of the First Republic of Armenia on the 18 February 2019. The exhibition will be held in the National Gallery of Yerevan as part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

A warm sunny day on Epiphany sent Romans in their droves to the nearby beaches of Ostia and Torvaianica to enjoy the almost summer-like conditions. Epiphany is celebrated all over Italy with the arrival of "La Befana", an old witch who leaves gifts and sweets inside the children's stockings.

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The Under Water Team Italy and the Nettuno Diving Centre, coordinated by local subs Jos Amici and Cristian Mandici, celebrated Christmas with a dive down into the cold waters of Lake Nemi (Lazio) where they brought up bottles of local wine which they had planted on the lake bed a week earlier for the Christmas toast.

The medieval city of Siena has transformed the Fortezza Medicea (Medici Fortress) into a Christmas wonderland presided over by Santa Claus, enthroned in his palace, with his study, his bedroom, his kitchen and his workshop where the elves are busy sorting out the Christmas post.

For most Italians the traditional crib wins over the Christmas Tree as the true symbol of Christmas and the exhibition of Nativity scenes at Govone, half way between Asti and Alba (Piedmont) is already drawing the crowds.

The Art that Protects, Contemporary and Sacred Painting" is the title of an exhibition currently showing at Ascoli Piceno (Marche) until the 13 January 2019 at the Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo.

The city of Rome's 2018 Christmas Tree has duly arrived and been set up in the usual place in Piazza Venezia in front of the Victor Emanuel Memorial. After last year's flop with the drooping  pine which arrived in poor condition, earning the nickname of "Spelacchio" ("Scruffy"), the city council was determined to take no risks.

The bones of a young sperm whale, washed up at Cape Milazzo in June 2017 will be the focal point of a new "Museum of the Sea" set up in the bastions of Santa Maria nel Castello of the town of Milazzo (Messina, Sicily).