ItalyUpdate

The traditional torchlit Christmas celebrations at the winter ski resort of Abbadia San Salvatore on the slopes of Monte Amiato (Tuscany) start off early this year. The 4^th December 2015, the feast of the patron saint, St. Barbara, protectress of miners, will be marked by the inauguration of the new Multimedial Museum to complement the town's Mineral Park Museum, located partially in the former Monte Amiata cinnabar mercury mine.

In 2013, Lazio region passed legislation protecting its patrimony of monumental trees, declaring that every civic area should submit a censor within the end of this year 2015. this objective is unlikely to be reached by the deadline, due to scarcity of funds, however, the operation has been initiated by the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (State Forestry Corps) which has the task of documenting ancient trees both in the wilds and on private land, to guarantee their future protection.

Italy's 10 Geoparks received UNESCO recognition at the recent 38^th Plenary Session of the UNESCO meeting in Paris. The geoparks organization was launched some years ago in order to meet the need to recognize, at an international level, sites of geological interest.

A market-fair of the best of Tuscan organic produce takes place in Florence between the 17^th -28^th  November 2015. The show is the last in a series of initiatives linked to Expo 2015 promoted by the local Chamber of Commerce and various producers' associations.

^{The on-going restoration of Piero Della Francesca's majestic masterpiece The Resurrection of Christ continues to produce surprises as work continues. The Resurrection, thought to have been executed around the 1460s, when the artist was working in nearby Arezzo, is frescoed on the wall of the Civic Museum in the town of Sansepolcro (Tuscany) and continues to be visible throughout the restoration period.}

^{The annual competition to nominate the most beautiful Italian garden of the year saw dual wiunners in this edition: the laurels went to both the Villa Medici in Rome, seat of the historic French Academy, and the Ninfa Gardens in the countryside some 80 kms south of Rome.  The winners were chosen from over one thousand candidates.}

Italy came out tops as the country that best offers authentic experiences to visitors, according to a survey by TripBarometer conducted among 61,000 international travellers.

Italy's Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities (MIBAC) has requested that the Old Appian Way be listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The ancient Roman road, built over 2,300 years ago, runs through four Italian regions, linking Rome with Brindisi on the Adriatic coast.

Visitors who missed the first weekend of the annual truffle fair at San Giovanni d'Asso (Tuscany) can catch up on the busy programme of events during the second weekend - 14-15 November 2015.

The latest suggestion on how to control the booming wild boar population in rural Italy comes from Italian researcher Giovanna Massa, working at the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency. Contraceptives are to be introduced for a trial period into food supplies scattered round the Maremma National Park, Tuscany.