Palla al centro: the World Cup 2010 is starting for Italy

Are you ready to enjoy the 2010 World Cup? The first steps have already been covered and tonight we surely will be all there in front of the screen (someone comfortably sitting on his own sofa, someone else in front of one of the numerous big screens put in squares, pubs and bars all around the country), to root for his own team and live the emotions arising from gameplay.

In the meantime, to increase the excitement and getting involved in the positive energy in order to help our team win, give a look to the video that collects all the goals that Italy scored during the last World Cup 2006!

Anyway, whoever the winner this year, we wish to all of them an intense and exciting World Cup….and may the best team win!!

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Holidays at the Elba island: sun, sea and culture!

Elba is the biggest and the most famous among the islands of the Archipelago of Tuscany. Dominated by the Mount Capanne, 1.018 mt. above sea level and called “roof of the Archipelago”,the Elba island was well known even in the past due to its beauty. It is for this reason as well that, between I° and II° century AD, luxurious noble villas were built there. Some rich - and gourmant, we add - Romans choose the isle for their otium.

Today, two thousand years away, it seems that history repeats.

In fact, the Elba island is the destination of many tourists who go there for enjoying its nature and blue waters.

You can find several Hotels spread all over the isle: Portoferraio, Porto Azzurro, Marina di Campo, Marciana, Marciana Marina, Capoliveri, Lacona, Rio Marina and Procchio, as well as last minute and holiday offers for the Elba Island as a destination. Just search for them! And looking at a survey published just before summer 2010, almost an Italian each two (43% exactly) goes online to look for information and to book a holiday resort.

But, what has to offer this small isle situated between Tuscany and Corsica, and who is choosing it as a destination for spending holidays there?

On land
Before leaving for the Elba island, just let’s go to a sport store to buy a pair of shoes and everything we need (water bottle, rackets, knapsack and k-way) to go trekking (or to nordik walking).
It is possible to find several itineraries all around Elba.
Passing through the mules dispossessed of their original function, you will visit a natural landscape made of heather plants and myrtle, arbutus and broom, among holms, chestnuts and corks. To find wild animals (boars, moufflons, fauns) is not rare in this area, as well as to look at the migratory birds that choose this landscape as a place for a rest on their fly from North Europe to Africa.
And the wild orchid, then, and the numerous butterflies spread in the air from Spring to Autumn, and the fields covered by thousands of aflutter colours.
Elba & trekking really seem to represent a successful combination!

At sea
Since we are talking about an island, we can not forget all those fun and leisure activities that one can do comfortably staying in the water.
From boating sailing (you can explore, for example, all the major isles of the Archipelago: Capraia, Giannutri, Giglio, Gorgona, Montecristo and Pianosa) to windsurf (Elba West Coast is well known in the sailboard field and among surfers).
And the snorkeling and diving activities in the Elba island’s waters. And even if you never tried the immersion experience in all your life (no, those done in your personal bath at home are not valid!) do not worry too much. The schools of diving on the Elba island offer courses at all levels, also for beginners.

At this step, you just have to look for your ideal accommodation. And if you are among the 43% of Italians looking on the net in order to find their ideal destination for next holiday, well, type “hotel Elba” on the keyboard and you will find at least 481.000 search results.
Have a good choice and…a good holiday

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The Sensa Festivity 2010: a new wedding between Venice and the sea

Among the numerous events organized in the city of Venice during all the year, the Sensa Feast is surely one of the most important and interesting since it represents, more than others, the union between the city, the sea and the practice of the rowing so called “Voga alla Veneta”.

The Sensa Feast came to life as a festivity celebrated by the Venetian Republic on the Christ’s Ascension day (the meaning of the word “sensa” in Venetian dialect means exactly ascension), to commemorate two important events linked to the Serenissima’s history: 9 of May 1000, when the Doge came to rescue of the Dalmatian people who were under the Slav menace, and the signing in 1177, of the peace treaty created to put an end to the long diatribe between the papacy and the empire.

The city of Venice began to celebrate Ascension Day again in 1965, to highlight the dominion of the Serenissima over the sea, their special union and the activities linked to it. The Sensa Feast presents a program that, more than re-evocation, includes several meetings and cultural events that started yesterday (more…)

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About Italy is on Facebook! Become our FAN!

Of course, also the original and up-to-date Blog about all the news & events in Italy and the main Italian cities is now on the most famous social network in the world: Facebook!

Now you can find all the information you need also on the page of About Italy on Facebook! It’s really easy, become our fan and you will receive real-time updating about events, exhibitions, performances, sport and cultural events in the most beautiful Italian cities: Florence, Milan, Pisa, Rome, Siena, Turin, Venice…and don’t forget about the valley of Mugello, the Versilia coast and the Region of Liguria!

Italy is full of wonderful places to discover and visit among mountains and the sea, from the North to the South…you will be spoilt for choice! In order to know the events of the week, you need just (more…)

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The History of Telescopes on display in Turin

This year is the fourth centenary since the first use of a telescope by Galileo Galilei and as many of you maybe already know, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy.

One of the most active Italian cities which celebrate and commemorate this extraordinary step of mankind toward the sky, is the city of Turin.

On 21^st March in fact, at the University department located in Via Verdi, a very very special exhibition will be set up: “La Storia dei Telescopi” (“The History of Telescopes”). This exhibition will show you in a very peculiar way the history of this invention, from the intuitions and discoveries which allowed to a great mind like Galileo Galilei, until the extraordinary telescopes of NASA which (more…)

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Viareggio’s Carnival 2009: the party starts again!

If we talk about emotions, Carnival means joy, fun out of control, lightness and laughs. But if we talk about cities, well…Carnival means Viareggio!

From February 8 on, in fact, Viareggio turns into the city of coloured floats, of the most bizarre costumes and of the funniest and the most entertaining parties.

The Carnival 2009 of Viareggio presents as absolute protagonist, the Burlamacco, the official mask of the Viareggio Carnival which appeared for the first time on the scene in 1930 thanks to Umberto Bonetti. For 78 years now, the Burlamacco is (more…)

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Genius and Madness create the real Artwork

An exhibition entirely dedicated to the greatest protagonists of the international scenery of modern and contemporary art will start on 31^st January. The exhibition, entitled “Art, Genius and Madness. Artist’s Day and Night” will be housed at Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex, in the wonderful city of Siena.

This event, just for its title, promises a really special exhibition path, with no doubt absolutely different from the others until now proposed in Italy. The heart of the exhibition will be represented by 300 beautiful works among sculptures and paintings, carefully chosen for their emotional intensity of colours and shapes. These artworks will have the duty to tell us about the suspected relationship, documented from time immemorial, between genius and madness, between inimitable artistic talent and mental uneasiness.

Divided into 8 sections, the exhibition intends to research and inquire into the artwork and the relationship with its creator from different points of view: artistic, scientific, anthropological or psychiatric. 300 artworks of (more…)

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After Ten Years “Madonna del Cardellino” by Raffaello on Exhibition in Florence

Some time ago, I was walking through the streets of Florence, precisely in via Cavour, when I suddenly saw a huge poster on which there was one of the most beautiful artworks that I ever seen in my life: it was just “Madonna del Cardellino” (1506) by Raffaello.

The “huge poster”, just as I said, was the manifest of an extraordinary exhibition housed until 1st March at Palazzo Medici Ricciardi in Florence: “L’Amore , l’Arte e la Grazia. Raffaello. La Madonna del Cardellino Restaurata” (”Love, Art and Grace - Raphael: the Madonna of the Goldfinch restored”).

The “Madonna del Cardellino” shows the Madonna sitting on a rock while she’s reading a book, from which turns away just for a while to take a look at Jesus and Saint John, still children, while they are playing with a goldfinch.

Therefore, this artwork has a religious background, but (more…)

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Chocolate Lessons in Florence!

Many people talk about it in many different ways: some people say that it causes addiction, or pimples on the face, or that eating it too much can be bad for our health. But not very often people say that it’s a great power source, that benefits to heart, to mood, and obviously to love! Who am I talking about? Chocolate!!!

And from 22nd to 25th January, in Florence people will not talk about anything else, seeing that the greatest Handmade Chocolate Fair in Italy is starting just right now.

Piazza Santa Croce during the next days will turn into a huge box of chocolate candies, bars and sculptures, thanks to the participation of the best Italian masters of chocolate. At Chocolate Fair, now on its 5th edition, you will find (more…)

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The Universe in Rome…Science Festival !

2009 will be the International Year of Astronomy, and to celebrate this important recurrence, the “Festival of Science”, every year special guest of the amazing city of Rome, dedicates its fourth edition just to Universe.

The festival, which will take place at Auditorium Parco della Musica from 15^th to 18^th January, will present to all the people keen on science and cosmos, a calendar filled with appointments and events which show as absolute protagonist the universe seen, revisited, studied and interpreted in all its facets.

The event will be at first open by a peculiar exhibition dedicated to works which represent the universe. Glass stellar domes, round skies, and (more…)

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