ItalyUpdate

Despite the recession, 2015 came in with its usual bang. Strangers hugged and embraced in the piazzas, restaurants and homes. Tables groaned once more with food, with little time to recover from the Christmas binge.

 WITH EVERY GOOD WISH FOR

 A SERENE CHRISTMAS

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

From Italyupdate  

The town of Ariccia, in the Castelli hills near Rome, has produced some of this season's most unusual Christmas trees. The three trees, erected in the main piazza, are entirely composed of recycled materials, such as plastic bottles, old tyres, tin cans and even an old propeller that serves as a cross on the top and whirls around in the wind, catching the rays of the sun.

 The Umbria city of Orvieto, famed for its splendid Cathedral and Etruscan tuffo rock galleries, is set to welcome in the coming New Year with a lively six-day Winter Festival between the 27^th December 2014 - 1^st January 2015.

Tourists to Italy will rejoice to hear that Italian railways have inaugurated the long-awaited rail service between Fiumicino Airport, Rome, and Venice, with stops at Florence, Bologna and Padua. Operated by the fast train Frecciargento (Silver Arrow), the new line offers air passengers direct connections with the above five major Italian cities. Hitherto, travellers had to change trains at Rome Termini station in order to proceed to any of the other destinations.

The famous winter sports resort of Merano (Trentino-Alto Adige) has commissioned twenty world-famous creatives to design the Christmas trees that embellish its most important and attractive squares and streets. Entitled Merano Christmas Trees Collection 2014

Italy abounds in imaginative and tasteful conversions of historic buildings and the Palazzo del Gusto (Palace of Taste) of Orvieto (Umbria) is an outstanding example of a renaissance convent transformed into a modern temple of wine, food and culture. The building has a long history. Formerly the Monastery of St. John, it was a Roman sanctuary dedicated to Jove prior to that and also a Roman theatre.

Work to connect Rome's third Metro C line to the Basilica of St. John Lateran has uncovered a vast ancient Roman reservoir 21 metres below the modern city. Archaeologists claim that this is the biggest water deposit from the Imperial Roman period ever found, with a capacity of four million litres of water. The basin measures 70 m long by 35 m wide and covers a quarter of a hectare.

Up till the 14^th December 2014, the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena Consortium offers tastings and samples at the 39^th edition of the Modena Motorshow. With an expected influx of some 500,000 visitors, including over a thousand international members of the press, the consortium showcases its celebrated gastronomic IGP product, exported to 120 countries worldwide.

The La-Vis Trentino Wine Producers' Cooperative, in collaboration with the SIMEST organization has launched the Canaletto project to promote quality Italian wines in North America, the Far East and Russia. SIMEST is controlled by the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti banking organization that assists and sustains Italian companies in the global market,