ItalyUpdate

A new sightť for visitors to Venice. According to reports received by the Natural History Museum and the City of Venice Observatory of the Lagoon, flying fish have now taken up residence in the surrounding waters, including the unlikely habitat of the industrial canals of Marghera and the Canal Salso at Mestre.

Lake Nemi near Rome and the ruins of the Roman Temple of Diana were the unusual setting for a Canadian Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday, 20^th October 2013.

The city of Trento (Trentino-Alto Adige) has been voted the best regional capital for quality of life by the Milan-based  ASSIRM (Association of Market Research Study Centre) with the cooperation of the Milanese Bicocca University. The study is part of an initiative to analyse the standards of life and levels of satisfaction in the various Italian regional capitals in preparation for Expo 2015, scheduled to be held in Milan.

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The small town of Genzano, near Rome, celebrated for its annual Corpus Domini Flower Festival, is to set up a programme of cultural exchanges with the German town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, inspired by the writings of Michael Ende, author of Momo and The Never-Ending Story.

Trekking Urbano, National Walkers' Day, celebrates its tenth anniversary on the 31^st October 2013 in 34 Italian cities, with a series of itineraries on foot, with something for everyone at different levels of difficulty.

Archaeologists from the University of Perugia in collaboration with the Superintendent of Archaeological Heritage of Lazio have published the results of a recent excavation campaign in the volcanic crater of Lake Nemi, in the Alban hills near Rome.  

One of Rome's most important ancient monuments, the 1st century AD Villa dei Quintili on the Appian Way, has made an important contribution to conservation by planting a wood of very special trees in its vast surrounding park. The Garden of the Patriarchs of the Unity of Italy contains offshoots from some of Italy's most venerable old trees, called, in fact, Patriarchs.

Archaeologists report an exciting find of two bronze female statuettes at the Etruscan archeological site of Gravisca (the crumbling ancient harbour of Porto Clementino) near the town of Tarquinia. According to the dig director, archaeologist Lucio Fiorini of the University of Perugia, only about ten similar bronze figurines exist in museum collections in the world.

Rome was the most visited Italian city in the first six months of 2013, according to Hotel Price Index, an online organization that analyses the prices paid by travelers all over the world. Venice and Milan came in second, followed by Florence and Sorrento, and then Bologna, Naples, Pisa, Palermo and Verona.

The Cincinnato wine cooperative at Cori (Lazio) has launched into tourism with the restoration of an imposing two hundred-year old farm house, with 15 rooms, a gourmet restaurant, conference room and sports facilities, set on a hill surrounded by vineyards, olive groves and woodlands. The winery, founded 76 years ago, intends to promote the area as a relaxing cultural and farm holiday destination.