ItalyUpdate

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).

The mythical Italian Vespa (Wasp), immortalized in the 1960s film Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck as the scooter-riding roving reporter with Princess Audrey Hepburn perched behind him, is to have a special exhibition at its birthplace, the Piaggio Museum at Pontedera (Tuscany).

A performance of Gustav Mahler's Titanâ symphony at Venice's historic opera house, La Fenice, will mark the date of the foundation of Europe's first Jewish Ghetto on the 29^th March 1516 and launch a programme of events that will continue for most of the year.

The Tuscany Region is putting on a special programme for children over the Easter weekend. The Campus Pasquali (Easter Campus), involving 12 museums of the Musei Senesi Foundation, is aimed at primary and middle school-age children with the proviso:Boredom is forbidden during the school holidays.

For the next two months, the wines of southern Italy will be available at a series of nine different venues for tastings and entertainment. With the slogan the wines that have made the South great, the annual Radici del Sud (Roots of the South) event kicked off in the Bari area at the Bistrot Aromi, Sannicandro, on the 15^th March 2016.

The Rocca di Arona, a spectacular park in the ruins of the ancient fortress overlooking Lake Maggiore, announces an exciting series of international events for the summer season., including opera in the amphitheatre among the rocks.

 The prestigious American travel guide, Forbes has allotted Italian hotels the biggest number of stars in its European classification. The 31 leading Italian hotels chosen number: eight 5-stars, fifteen 4-stars, seven recommended and one 4-star spa hotel.

Chianti, probably Italy's most famous wine, proudly announced its three hundredth birthday this year. The actual date will fall on the 24^th September when Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici back in 1716 fixed the standards of the local wine that he was exporting to Britain and other northern European countries.

A special performance of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's choral works was the highlight of a celebration held in his birthplace, the town of Palestrina (Lazio), on the 5^th March 2016. Organized by the Foundation G.P da Palestrina, the event focussed on the presentation of the volume The Papal Choir During the Pontificates of Julius II to Sixtus V (1503-1590) by American researcher, professor Richard Sherr.