ItalyUpdate

How many of us have dreamed of having some illustrious ancestor? Some thirty-five Italians were astonished to get the news that they may be descendents of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci. Historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato revealed the results of their genealogy studies recently in Florence, where they had traced the maestro's bloodline through the centuries to the present day.

Italy's prestigious annual wine fair VINITALY 2016 chalked up record figures on its 50^th birthday confirming Italy's position as the leading country of wine production and wine exportation in the world. A packed four days of events and tastings drew record crowds to the Verona Fair, which hosted a record number of exhibitors (4,100, including 147 from abroad).

The Cinema Centrale of Milan has taken up a charming old Neapolitan custom and given it a new twist. In Naples, people often leave a caffè sospeso when they have their morning coffee: that is, they leave the price of an extra coffee at the cash desk for anyone who is too poor to be able to buy a coffee of his own.

According to a report published earlier this year during the XII edition of International Day of Landscape Study, Italian woodlands have expanded by 600,000 hectares since 2005 and now coveri 10.9 million hectares of the total area of the country.

Megabus, the fast-growing low-cost coach company, which started operations in Italy less than a year ago, is offering its passengers a discount ticket for the Hard Rock Cafes of Rome, Florence and Venice to enhance the travelling experience.

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.