ItalyUpdate

 

A must for John Lennon fans: the Palazzo Margherita Civic Gallery of Modena is staging a tribute to the Beatles' musician and composer, which includes Big One, the series of 14 lithographs created by Lennon and exhibited in 1970.

Where to take a relaxing autumn break? The little-known Lake Trasimeno Nature Reserve in Umbria offers a perfect relaxing destination to travellers looking for authenticity and full immersion in Nature.  

 

 

  

Welcome back to our readers after the August holiday. We'll be making a few changes to Italyupdate, which will now be known as www.italyupdate.it, in order to give a fuller picture of the lesser known aspects of this multi-faceted and fascinating world that is ITALY.

From time to time, we shall be focussing on certain areas that we feel our readers would like to know better, with longer and more informative articles. In addition to the regional gastronomic specialities that we already highlight, we also plan to explore local Italian hand crafts and products that are still produced in the traditional way, and not on an industrial scale.

We hope you will enjoy our new initiatives,

Best wishes,

the editorial staff of our new www.italyupdate.it

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR READERS

 We'll be back in September 

                      

  

 

Until September 23, 2013, the Baptistery of the church of San Giovanni Battista in Florence will be open to visitors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings until 11pm. On the other days of the week it will close as usual at 7 pm.

 

<p class="Standard" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" mangal;&#39;="" 11pt;="" "arial","sans-serif";=""><o:p><span lang="EN-GB" mangal;&#39;="" 11pt;="" "arial","sans-serif";=""><o:p><img style="height: 155px;" src="http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4912344200250085&pid=1.7&w=131&h=155&c=7&rs=1"></o:p></span></o:p></span></p><p class="Standard" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" mangal;&#39;="" 11pt;="" "arial","sans-serif";=""><o:p></o:p></span> </p> <p class="Standard" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" mangal;&#39;="" 11pt;="" "arial","sans-serif";=""><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span> <span lang="EN-GB" mangal;&#39;="" 11pt;="" "arial","sans-serif";="">A plan to transform the 300 kms of waterways traversing the Agro Pontina (the plain south of Rome<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>which was malaria-ridden swamp-land until it was drained by Mussolini in the 1930s) into a tourist </span></p>

 

 

Wine with a difference! The new white, Gorgona, produced by detainees on the old prison island of Gorgona off the coast of Tuscany and sponsored by the famous wine cellar, the Marchesi dďż˝ Frescobaldi, is now available in selected wine shops.

The penal colony, dating from 1869, is the last island prison left in Italy. It holds 47 prisoners, who have been condemned to long prison sentences for serious crimes. However, they have been selected, thanks to good conduct and positive psychological evaluation, to serve the last few years of their imprisonment on the island, where they can undertake outdoor agricultural work in relative freedom.

The wine project was born a couple of years ago, thanks to a Sicilian prisoner who recognized the potential of the neglected and withering vines on the island and suggested restoring them to the prison governor, Maria Grazia Giampiccolo.

The necessary funding and equipment was provided by Lamberto Frescobaldi, vice-president of the Marchesi  Frescobaldi winery.

This year's first harvest has produced some 2,700 bottles of Gorgona, produced from native Italian ansonica and vermentino grapes.

 

Info: www.frescobaldi.it/mondofrescobaldi

 

 

 

 

On the 10 August 2013 glasses will be raised all over Italy to toast the bicentenary of the birth of the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.  Organized by the Movimento Turismo Vino and the Città del Vino (Cities of Wine) movements, the poetically named Calici di Stelle (Wine Glasses of Stars) event involves hundreds of piazzas and wine cellars all over Italy.

 

 

In Italy, you never have to go very far to find wine or music, but on the 3-4 August 2013 you can enjoy them together at Grottaglie (Taranto, Puglia). Via Crispi, the historic street where the famous ceramic workshops of Grottaglie are clustered, will be the hub of the two-day event where visitors can taste the native wines made from autochthonous grape vines primitivo and negroamaro.

 

 

The resorts of the Adriatic coast are famous for whooping it up in the summer and Senigallia (Marche) is no exception. This year's Summer Jamboree (now in its 14 th edition) highlights the Music and Culture of the USA in the '40s and '50s. Guest star, and for the first time in Italy, is the king of the rock n' roll twang guitar, Duane Eddy, who will perform on the 3 August 2013.