ItalyUpdate

The Marisa Cuomo Gran Furor Wine Cellar from the town of Furore on the Amalfi Coast scooped up a prestigious special diploma at this year's edition of the Enologico Internazionale Selezione del Sindaco 2012, held at Lamezia Terme (Calabria) on the 25-27 May.

Gioacchino Rossini is honoured every year in Pesaro (Marche), his place of birth, with an international opera festival entirely dedicated to the works of the great Italian composer. The Festival not only features the maestro's well-known works, but also sets out to recuperate little-known or forgotten operas.

Mountain lovers can enjoy a special open air exhibition in the spectacular gorges of the Rio Sass and the River Novello Park in Trentino's Val di Non. .

The town of Montecchio Maggiore, 14 km from Vicenza, has opened a new museum dedicated to contemporary design and architecture. With special emphasis on mosaic tecnique, the Bisazza Foundation also contains an important collection of sculpture, furniture and design objects by international designers such as Marcel Wanders, Patricia Urquiola, Aldo Cibic and Jaime Hayon.

Count and Countess von Holstein Pallavicino are to open their splendid Castello di Scipione to host a special event on the 2 July 2012 that involves a feast of the five senses. The manor house, near Salso Maggiore spa, crowns the Colle del Sale (Salt Hill) above the valley of the Stirone Park, which is traversed by the ancient Salt Route that once brought the precious commodity to Rome.

Visitors to Isola Madre, Stresa, on Lake Maggiore may be startled this summer to find a few transformations in the form of installations and sculptures by the artist Velasco Vitali, including a golden skeletral tree jutting out from the water and a pack of stylized hounds on the steps of Palazzo Borromeo. .

According to data issued by the Italian Ministry of Health, the number of clean seas and beaches continues to grow year by year. Coastal controls and water analyses this year have promoted 7.3% more beaches compared with two summers ago.

Rome has finally revived the Ostiense Station, built for the World Cup in Rome in 1990 and intended as a brand new terminal connecting Rome's metro system with Leonardo da Vinci airport. 

 

After an extensive ten-year restoration, the monumental Porta della Mandorla ( the Almond Door) of Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, can now be admired in its original glory. The masterpiece of Nanni di Banco and last of the seven Cathedral doors to be decorated, the entrance owes its name to the Gothic almond-shaped halo, held up by angels, enclosing the Assumption of the Virgin Maria and St. Thomas.

A list of Italy's 60 âlberghi Diffusi (village hotels) is now available for consultation online. The formula, created by tourism consultant Giancarlo Dall'Ara 14 years ago, aims to revitalize historic villages and borghi at risk of depopulation. The hotel is not grouped in one building, but makes use of typical local houses situated near each other, so that visitors can participate in village life and mix with the local population.