ItalyUpdate

Three separate exhibitions are dedicated this spring to the fascinating and mysterious Etruscan people who inhabited a large part of the Italian peninsula from the Iron Age till they were conquered and absorbed by the Romans. They left extensive evidence of their civilization, their rituals, their art, their engineering feats and their burial customs in the hundreds of tombs distributed in world famous necropoli such as those at Cerveteri, near Rome, and Tarquinia in northern Lazio  

The historic Cathedral of Pozzuoli (Campania) will open its doors once more on the 11^th May 2014, The Feast of the Saints Procolo and Gennara, patrons of the diocese. The church, built on the ruins of a Roman Temple of Augustus, has a long and tormented history. It rises on a rock which collapsed in 1538, causing serious damage to the structure. 

The competition launched by the Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron (Monumental Parks Foundation) to design a new brand image on the theme A Logo for Beauty attracted around 3000 designs, of which 300 from 62 foreign countries.

The 17^th century church of the Cappuccini monks on Rome's Via Veneto has re-opened after two years of restoration. The church has always been a favourite with tourists  especially those with children  because of its macabre crypt decorated with  the skulls and bones of four thousand brothers who died between 1528 and 1870.

Alto Adige is one of Italy's most popular regions for agriturismo (farm holidays), with 1,600 members belonging to the Unione Agricoltori e Coltivatori Diretti Sudtirolesi (Farmers' Union of the South Tirol/Alto Adige) grouped under the Red Rooster logo.

Rome's Sapienza University is to reopen its historic Science Museum collections to the public one Saturday every month.

Italian coffee giant Kimbo is branching into a new gastronomic venture that should prove a hit this summer of the Kimbo Icecream Cup, the first expresso coffee ice-cream flavoured with 100% top quality arabica beans, in cooperation with Italian icecream manufacturers Algida.

Where better to celebrate the Easter holiday than in one or other of the thousand most beautiful Parchi e Giardini Italiani (Italian Parks and Gardens)? Most of them are at their most splendid at this time of year and organize events for the whole family, such as egg hunts, entertainment or simply strolls among blossom trees, floral displays and landscaped woodland.

The enterprising Franciscan Brothers of the Roman church of San Francesco a Ripa in Trastevere have managed in little over a month to raise $128.500 to restore the cell where St. Francis of Assisi stayed when he came to visit Pope Innocent III between 1209 and 1223.

Following the success of the exhibition in the Scuderie del Quirinali, Rome, dedicated to the great Roman Emperor Augustus, Rome continues the celebration of his bi-millenium throughout the rest of this year with a full programme of exhibitions and special events, to be held in the Ara Pacis museum and Trajan's Market.