ItalyUpdate

Director Matteo Garrone did not have to resort to elaborate constructed sets for his film Racconto dei Racconti (The Tale of Tales) inspired by the poem Del Cunto de li Cunti by  17^th century poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. The castles, caverns, precipices and gardens were all to be found in Italy, ready for use.

Naples is in full preparation for Italy's biggest street party at the Napoli Pizza Village. The mega-event involves fifty of Naples celebrated pizzerias spread all along the bay on the panoramic Lungomare Caracciolo. The Pizza Village was launched in 2011, with 20 pizzerias, during which a total 55,000 pizzas were consumed by visitors.

Josè Rallo, CEO of the Sicilian wine company Donnafugata, acted as official hostess for the Bio-Mediterranean Cluster pavilion at EXPO 2015 during the opening week of the mega-event.

The Italian Alpine Club (CAI) of Castellanza (Lombardy) is celebrating the 150^th anniversay of the conquest of Mt. Cervino, known in English as the Matterhorn, the pinnacle mountain that straddles the Alps between Italy and Switzerland.

The royal elephant Fritz has made a figurative return to life at the Royal Hunting Lodge at Stupinigi, Turin, for an exhibition on the zoo that the Savoy family kept in the park in the 19^th century, entitled: Fritz. An Elephant at Court.

The Rome we know today would not be the same without the century of Baroque art that remodelled and revolutionized the face of the city during the 17^th century.  This is the theme chosen by the Foundation Roma-Arte-Musei (Musarte), the cultural branch of the Foundation Rome, for its latest exciting exhibition on the art of the Eternal City, following the Quattrocento Romano in 2008, the Settecento (20109 and the Cinquecento (2011).

Italian dignitaries attending the opening ceremony for EXPO Milan were startled to hear the children's choir sing a different version of the Italian national anthem. In the last line of the chorus, written by 20 year old patriot Goffredo Mameli in 1847, the phrase we are ready for death was substituted for we are ready for life.

 

Hotel “Agli Scacchi”, Preci, Umbria

 

Set in the heart of Preci, one of Umbria's most charming villages, the “Agli Scacchi” hotel is a perfect base for nature lovers wishing to explore the unspoiled wilds of the Sibillini National Park. The hotel, a historic residence once belonging to the Scacchi family, a dynasty of doctors and surgeons celebrated all over Europe during the 16^th and 17^th centuries,

 

The annual CastigliondiPrimavera (Spring Festival) at Castiglione della Pescaia (Grosseto, Tuscany) - 7th-10^th May 2015 - could not but choose as its central theme: EXPO 2015 Feed the Planet. Considered to be one of Italy's most charming Mediterranean villages, Castiglione's spring event will be held along the sea front, under the shadow of the medieval castle.

Woody Allen revived the trend, popular with American movie directors in the Dolce Vita days, of using Rome as a film set when he filmed “To Rome With Love” in 2012. Earlier this year, James Bond, alias Daniel Craig, immortanized hair-raising car chases in Rome's historic centre for “Spectre”, the 24^th in the spy series.