ItalyUpdate

You have time until April Fools' Day (April 1) to see the exhibition of cartoons by well-known comic artists illustrating twenty-two of Italy's most famous museums. The project, Fumetti nei Musei (Cartoons in Museums), launched by the Press and Communications Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MIBACT) and the Coconino Press-Fandango publishing house, aims to encourage children and young people to visit museums and become familiar with their contents.

Wildlife enthusiasts have been excited to hear about the return of the wolf to the Rome area. Rangers patrolling the Castelli Romani hills less than 30 kms south of the city reported finding wolf pack tracks during the snowfalls this month, March 2018.

The fortified town of Montone (Perugia, Umbria) classified among I Borghi Piů Belli d'Italia (Italy'sMost Beautiful Historic Towns),celebrates Easter Monday with a pageant in honour of The Holy Thorn.

 The historic walled town of Amelia (Umbria) is launching an original art festival on the 31 March 2018. Entitled Sentieri di Arte Contemporaneo (Pathways of Contemporary Art), the Festival is a vast open air exhibition of the works of 33 artists and poets, distributed around the streets of the historic centre, in the doorways of old palaces, inside deconsecrated churches, ancient Roman water cisterns and former store houses and work shops.

 Italy's Ministry of Agriculture has completed the first census of the nation's patrimony of monumental trees, counting a total of 2,047 distributed all over the country. Rather surprisingly, the island of Sardinia headed the list with 285 ancient trees, followed by Piedmonte (a total of 164) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (139)

Bari's Karol Wojtyla Airport, named after the late Pope John Paul II, has been voted Italy's best for facilities, accessibility and internal mobility by Altroconsumo, Italy's leading consumers' association, as well as the online tourism marketing portal PaesiOnLine.

 Rigoni di Asiago, Italy's leading organic jams and honey manufacturers, have joined the list of Italian entrepreneurs who are supporting Italy's vast cultural heritage.

The company's latest project is the restoration of the allegorical fountain Venice Weds the Sea set in the gardens of the Palazzo Venezia Museum in the heart of Rome.

What's the ideal wine for St. Valentine's Day? The traditional Sicilian wine cellar of Duca di Salaparuta at Casteldaccia, near Palermo, proposes its dessert wine ALA, Antica Liquorvino Amarascata (Ancient Fortified Dry Wine), ideally to be savoured along with chocolate.

Ivreas Carnival celebrations culminate with the spectacular Battle of the Oranges (10^th-13^th February 2018). The unique experience of being pelted with ripe oranges is open to everyone, simply by putting your name down to join the six thousand members of the nine teams of street launchers, or latching onto one of the fifty horse-drawn floats loaded with juicy citrus fruits.

 Velia Seithiti and Ravnthu Aprthnai are only two of the beautiful women immortalized on the walls of the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia and Cerveteri. There are others without names, who dance seductively, recline at banqueting tables, play musical instruments and carry out sacred rituals.