ItalyUpdate

The Società Geografica Italiana has launched a new website entitled Percorsi d'Abruzzo (Abruzzo Ways) to encourage tourism to Abruzzo region. The area is well-known for its natural beauty and wildlife protection projects, but it also has much to offer as far as culture is concerned.

The Alpine tourist resort of Merano (Bolzano, Alto Adige) is staging a major event totally focused on women for the 2013 edition of International Womens Day on the 8 March 2013, which will star local women entrepreneurs.

Umbrias most prestigious gastronomic product abounds this weekend (1-3 March 2013) at Norcia during the Nero Norcia Festival 

The Spiaggia dei Conigli (Rabbits Beach) on the Island of Lampedusa has been voted the worlds most beautiful beach by the travellers website Tripadvisor.

A group of researchers from the Universities of Florence and Ferrara have discovered traces of Etruscan DNA in modern inhabitants of Volterra and the Casentino area of Tuscany.

The celebrated fashion house, Maison Fendi, has offered to finance a much needed face lift for one of Romes most famous landmarks - the Trevi fountain.

One of Venices most famous and venerable hotels, the deluxe 5 star Gritti Palace, has reopened after 15 months renovation, which included the installation of a spa.

The prestigious Enoteca Italia of Siena combines wine, Etruscan lore and romance for a unique St. Valentine celebration while the Wine Gallery hosts the exhibition: Vino tra Mito e Storia (Wine between Myth and History) with some 100 Etruscan antiquities displayed.

Visitors can once more admire the celebrated cycles of frescoes by Raphael in the Heliodorus Room of the Vatican Museum, curator Antonio Paolucci announced recently as the last scaffolding came down to reveal the depiction of the meeting of Pope Leo the Great with Attila, restored to its original glory.