Berlusconi press pushes Italians to skip licence fee

A Berlusconi family newspaper has advised Italians to stop paying their television licence fee to punish Italy's public television service for broadcasting an interview with an escort who allegedly spent the night with the prime minister.

Patrizia D'Addario's first appearance on Italian television, broadcast last Thursday by the current events show Annozero, drew 5.6 million viewers, but triggered the ire of the economic development minister, Claudio Scajola, who threatened sanctions against the RAI network for broadcasting "trash, shame, infamy and dirt".

On Sunday Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Berlusconi's brother, Paolo, launched a front-page campaign against the licence fee, as did Libero, a pro-Berlusconi newspaper.

The newspaper printed a sample letter to send to the tax office to request removal from the register of licence payers. The consequence, the paper stated, could be a visit from tax inspectors to see if a television was on.

"Reading between the lines, it appears Il Giornale does not think anyone will actually show up to check," said Gianluca Di Ascenzo, vice-president of the consumer group Codacons. Licence fee evasion already runs at 30% in Italy.

Italian scientists discover rare black coral habitat

Italian researchers said on Thursday they had found one of the largest forests of rare black coral in the world off southern Italy and a related coral species never before studied in its natural habitat.

Investigators said they used a remote-controlled submarine to film the forest of Antipathes subpinnata coral, spanning an area the size of two soccer pitches, submerged at a depth of 50-100 meters between mainland Italy and the island of Sicily.

Italian officials said they were not disclosing the exact location of the discovery for fear that treasure hunters could plunder the rare coral, used to make jewelry.

"The coral we found has a great value, primarily because of its rarity," said Silvestro Greco, head of the environment agency for the southern Italian region of Calabria.

"If somebody with no conscience knew exactly where they were, I think there would be risks. That's why we have not really disclosed where they are."

Black coral's living tissue is brightly colored, but it takes its name from the distinctive black or dark brown color of its skeleton, highly prized as an adornment. It is listed as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Simone Canese, chief researcher of the 1 million euro exploration project which has been running since 2005, said progress in underwater technology was permitting breakthroughs in the filming and study of new marine habitats.

"We found an extremely rare species of black coral, 'Antipathes dicotoma', that had never been observed alive in its environment. There were only 5 fragments of it kept in museums," Canese told Reuters.

"With the recent increase in underwater exploration, more of them may be discovered but we have provided the first images of them, alive, in their environment."

The discoveries were made in the Strait of Messina, which separates Sicily from mainland Italy, close to the town of Scilla. The waterway was held to be the home in Greek mythology of sea monster Scylla, which together with Charybdis menaced ships in the channel.

Farewell Italian TV legend Mike Bongiorno

Mike Bongiorno, 85, a TV host who popularized quiz shows for generations of Italians and became a symbol of national television, died Tuesday of a heart attack at his home in Monte Carlo.

Nicknamed "the Quiz King," Mr. Bongiorno was one of Italy's most enduring and beloved TV personalities. His gaffes were legendary and his greeting to viewers - "Allegria!" or "Cheers!" - a trademark.

He appeared on RAI state TV on its first day of programming in the early 1950s and went on to host a series of successful quiz shows - many of them adaptations of U.S. shows. Millions of Italians watched as he asked sometimes impossible questions of his contestants.

Born in New York, Mr. Bongiorno moved to his mother's hometown of Turin Italy as a young boy. During World War II, he took part in the Italian resistance. He was captured by the Gestapo and then deported to a German concentration camp before being freed thanks to a prisoner-of-war exchange.

Swine flu stops kisses for Italian saint

The archbishop of Naples has stopped pilgrims kissing two vials said to contain the blood of the Italian Saint Januarius because of growing fears over the spread of swine flu.

The decision came only days after a 51-year-old Italian man became Italy's first swine flu fatality.

Each year thousands of Roman Catholic faithful go to special services at Naples Cathedral where the dried blood of the fourth century bishop is said to turn to liquid, though the church does not officially recognise it as a miracle.

"For health reasons, it will not be possible to kiss the relic," a spokesman for the Saint Januarius chapel said, "However it will be possible to touch it with the forehead."

Saint Januarius is one of the most popular Italian saints. Three services a year are held when the vials are displayed. Some people say the blood turns liquid and even increases in mass during the displays.

Faithful believe that if the blood liquifies quickly, Naples will be blessed with good luck and if it changes slowly, the southern city faces a disaster.

Venice film festival begins with an Italian epic

Italy hogged the limelight at the Venice film festival as "Cinema Paradiso" director Giuseppe Tornatore took to the red carpet Wednesday with the leading lights of his Italian epic Sicilian drama "Baaria."

Fellow Sicilians Francesco Scianna and Margareth Made, the stars in a cast of thousands that included some 35,000 extras, accompanied Tornatore into the gala opening-night screening.

The first Italian opener in two decades at the grande dame of international film festivals is a love saga set in the town where the Oscar-winning "Cinema Paradiso" director grew up.

Also attending the gala was Pier Silvio Berlusconi, son of the Italian prime minister and vice president of the family media empire Mediaset.

In all more than 80 films will be presented at the prestigious festival, which has a strong American presence both in and out of competition. Venice rolled out the red carpet on Wednesday for a gala evening to open its annual film festival, a 10-day extravaganza in which a record 24 feature films are vying for the coveted Golden Lion award.

Italian Villager Wins Record $210 Million Lottery Jackpot

A resident of the castle-topped Tuscan village of Bagnone won more than 147 million euros ($210.6 million) in Europe’s biggest lottery jackpot, and seemed intent on trying to stay unknown.

The winner bought the ticket for 2 euros at a bar in the central Italian town of 2,000, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Florence. The lucky inhabitant, who has yet to come forward, can choose to remain anonymous and has 90 days to claim the cash. Local residents popped bottles of sparkling wine at the bar on Aug. 22 to celebrate the fortune of the winner in their midst. That person may be a 47 year-old local man, the ANSA news agency reported yesterday.

“I hope the winner knows how lucky he is and knows how to handle such an event,” said the town’s mayor, Gianfranco Lazzeroni, in an interview with SkyTG24 television. “This is an opportunity to raise the visibility of this small corner of Italy.”

The draw, broadcast live on RAI state television two days ago, showed the winning numbers to be 10-11-27-45-79-88. It was the first time since Jan. 31 that someone had picked the right combination from the 90 possible numbers in play. The odds of selecting the numbers were 622 million to one, Agence France- Presse reported. The jackpot is tax-free.

Lottery fever has been on the rise in Italy, with more than 400 million euros spent on tickets in July and 300 million euros so far in August, according to Sisal SpA, the lottery company.

The biggest winner may be the Italian government, which takes about half the revenue from ticket sales, though not everyone is excited about the lottery frenzy. Roman Catholic Church officials have denounced the game, with Bishop Domenico Sigalini saying it was “immoral” for the government to encourage it.

Italy’s SuperEnalotto debuted in 1997. Its previous biggest jackpot was 100 million euros, won last year by the unidentified holder of a ticket purchased in the Sicilian city of Catania. The new jackpot will start at 38 million euros.

Salute! Raise a Glass to Italian Wines

When many people think of Italian wine they think of Chianti Classico, but truth is, there are about 1,500 grape varieties in Italy--more than any other wine growing area in the world. Some, like Sangiovese (the grape grown in Chianti, which is a region and not a grape), Nebbiolo or Primitivo, are widespread and well known. Others are grown in small batches and produced by mom-and-pop growers who may only make enough wine for themselves and their friends and family.

Learning about Italian wines can be a heady undertaking, but if you grasp the basics, much of what you need to know falls into place. Many of the wines are named for regions or towns where they are produced, like Brunello di Montalcino (which is made of Sangiovese Grosso and grown in Montalcino in Tuscany) or Barbaresco (which comes from the Nebbiolo grape but is produced in the town or Barbaresco in the Piemonte region).

Italian town invests in lottery tickets

The town of Ficarra, Italy, is praying to hit it big with tickets for a SuperEnalotto jackpot worth at least $165 million, the town's mayor said Monday.

Town councilors took a total of $164 from their salaries to buy tickets for Tuesday's drawing, Mayor Basilio Ridolfo told the Italian news agency ANSA.

"Right now we think we have a better chance of winning SuperEnalotto than getting funds owed to us from the state," Ridolfo said.

The $165 million jackpot is the biggest ever for SuperEnalotto and for weeks has been the biggest of any lottery in the world.

''We chose numbers which were connected with the town's patron saint, the Virgin Mary of the Assumption," Ridolfo said. "It is our hope that, with her blessing, we will hit the jackpot."

If the town does win, half of the money will go into municipal projects and the other half will be divided evenly between Ficarra's 2,000 or so residents, Ridolfo said.

Polenta: Italian Comfort Food

Polenta was not always prepared from ground corn. Italians came to know polenta in its present form only in the late 1700s, with introduction of maize to Italy from the New World. In the interim, since the 1550s polenta meant simply “crushed legumes or grain,” particularly barley. There are delicious modern polenta versions made from chickpea flour, native to the Italian Leguria Region.

The mashed grains or legumes were peasant food, and more often than not the grains, the only subsistence food impoverished people had, were moldy from lack of proper drying. When they had it, the peasants would add poor quality cheese or an onion to the mixture. This monotonous diet often led to sickness. Their food was filling, but not nutritious, because the human digestive system cannot extract the nutrients from the way the corn is processed, in contrast to the Amerindians who lived on corn [maize] but processed it differently. Italian peasants consuming nothing but polenta often contracted pellagra, caused by a nutritional deficiency in niacin and protein. The peasants had nothing else to eat, so they stuck with it.

Polenta has come a long way since then. As access to inexpensive protein and vegetables augment our modern, superbly tasty versions of polenta, the varieties of polenta preparations are astonishing, as are the ways it is served. Now it is usually attractive, with meat or fish on the side, sauced or simply with melted butter and or grated cheese, decorated with a colorful array of vegetables. Well-prepared polenta should be slightly creamy, with just a touch of “bite” left to the grain.

Each Italian housewife has her own favorite way of cooking polenta. The traditional way calls for stirring the dry grain into boiling water and keep stirring until the cooking process is finished. For those who want to try polenta but are daunted by the cooking process, ready-cooked polenta, often in the shape of a sausage, is available in larger grocery stores. It keeps well in the refrigerator until ready to be used. Simply follow the instructions on the package. Instant polenta that comes in a box is another option.

British Museum announces Italian Renaissance drawings exhibition

Delicate works by artists from Fra Angelico to Leonardo to include loans from the Uffizi in Florence.

The British Museum’s collection of Italian Renaissance drawings is so fragile that its masterpieces are exhibited only once in a generation.

Next summer a chance to see these delicate objects will finally come around, as the museum launches an exhibition, in partnership with the Uffizi in Florence, of works on paper by artists from Fra Angelico to Leonardo.

The 100 or so works will span the period 1400-1510 and artists including Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo and Raphael.

About half of the works will come from Florence, and some have never been shown in the UK before. Bringing the drawings from Florence together with those from London, said British Museum director Neil MacGregor, will “together allow a different reading of draughtsmanship from the period. It will allow a new engagement with this part of the Italian Renaissance.”

In typical British Museum style, the message is “only connect”; for the museum will at the same time mount an exhibition of West African sculpture of the same period. Works from the kingdom of Ife – a powerful, cosmopolitan city state in what is now Nigeria that flourished from the 12th to the 15th centuries – will form the focus of an exhibition for the first time outside Africa.

South Tyrol - Italian German Culture Clash

The close ties the region of the South Tyrol had with Germany was not something that went un-noticed by Mussolini and certainly did not meet his approval. Yet despite efforts by Mussolini to remove any trace of German origin, the Germanic traditions, culture and language have remained a part of this region to this day.

The lengths Mussolini went to to prevent this were extensive. The dictator Italianised not only the names of the towns, mountains and rivers but even went as far as to force the South Tyrolean people to adopt Italian family names. Schools were forbidden to teach in German and huge numbers of Italians were sent into the region to run both the government and industries as well as to tip the ethnic balance within the population.

The South Tyroleans, however insisted on clinging steadfastly to their cultural heritage, turning in the 1960’s to acts of terrorism in an attempt to gain more autonomy for the province. Today the atmosphere is once again peaceful as Italians and Germans live side by side accepting and even appreciating each other’s differences in a region which is now officially bilingual.

Italy - Places to see before you die - Vatican City

Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome.

At approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and with a population of around 900, it is the smallest country in the world by both population and area.

The Vatican City is a city-state that came into existence in 1929 and is thus clearly distinct from the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Holy See, which existed long before 1929. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian. Official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities even have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, only issues diplomatic and service passports; the state of Vatican City issues normal passports. In both cases the passports issued are very few.

The Lateran Treaty in 1929, which brought the city-state into existence, spoke of it as a new creation not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756-1870) that had previously encompassed central Italy. Most of this territory was absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, and the final portion, namely the city of Rome with a small area close to it, ten years later, in 1870.

Vatican City is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state, ruled by the Bishop of Rome — the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all clergymen of the Catholic Church. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See (Sancta Sedes) and the location of the Pope’s residence, referred to as the Apostolic Palace.

The Popes have resided in the area that in 1929 became the Vatican City since the return from Avignon in 1377. Previously, they resided in the Lateran Palace on the Caelian Hill on the opposite side of Rome, which was out of repair in 1377. The signing of the agreements that established the new state took place in the latter building, giving rise to the name of Lateran Pacts, by which they are known.