ItalyUpdate

THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS PROMOTES RURAL RETREATS

The 17^th January, Feast Day of Sant'Antonio Abate (not to be confused with the better known St. Anthony of Padua), sees a different kind of pilgrim flocking to the churches of big and small towns in Italy. Sant'Antonio Abate is the patron saint of animals, the special protector of rural communities, and following a long tradition, farmers and pet owners bring their animals to church for the annual blessing. A popular tradition claims that on the night of the 17^th January, the animals acquire the faculty of (human) speech.

For practical reasons, the festival is now held on the nearest Sunday, so the colourful event took place on the 19^th January 2025. This year, the Feast has a special significance. The rally in St. Peter's Square was organized by the Coldiretti (the national Italian Farmers' Association) and the Italian Breeders Association (AIA), under the theme “Seeds of Inclusion. The new welfare of the Italian Farm”. The aim was to highlight the vital role animals play in helping people with physical and mental difficulties through techniques like pet therapy, hippo therapy and plant cultivation, but in addition the concept of agriospizio was included. While the Agriasilo which offers day care for preschool children in country settings is now well established, the agriospizio is still limited. It aims to offer acquired an alternative to traditional retirement homes, with elderly guests accommodated in rural settings attached to farms where they could take part in local activities and cultivate their own garden plots.

Tel. +39.06. 4682414 https://caa.coldiretti.it

PESARO REPORTS TRIUMPHANT CULTURE YEAR

As the art town of Pesaro (Marche) passes the baton on to Agrigento (Sicily), elected the new 2025 Italian Capital of Culture, Pesaro administrative council presented a positive balance of the initiatives organized last year, asserting that the initiative had not only stimulated the town to create new cultural attractions, but had boosted tourism.

Pesaro, the birthplace of the father of Italian opera Gioacchino Rossini, has staged a popular annual Rossini Festival since 1980, but its many other attractions were little known to the general public. The Year of Italian Capital of Culture, however, provided a stimulus to include Pesaro on the tourist map and involved the entire surrounding territory with 50 provincial towns participating actively.

The town organized over a thousand events, bringing visitor figures up by 30% in low season and doubling the number of museum visitors, thanks also to a series of stimulating art exhibitions and installations, the promotion of existing but little known treasures, such as Villa Americi, an 18^th century architectural jewel and seat of the Rossini conservatory, with the botanical Garden of Santa Maria in Fiori e Pianti and the historic Oliveiano Library, which contains the only known signed drawing by Raphael.

The image chosen to represent the Pesaro Cultural Year was the Ginkgo Biloba tree, which survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945 and has since become known as the Tree of Peace. In 2021 a Ginkgo seedling obtained from the Green Legacy Hiroshima group was planted as a symbol of peace and hope in the Pesaro Mirafiori public park.

1000. STENHOUSE

Info: Tel. 0039.0721387655 www.comune.pesaro.pu.it www.rossinioperafestival.it

SPOTLIGHT ON ABRUZZO'S GRAND TOUR HISTORY

“Mondo Grand Tour”, an exhibition in the State Archives of the Aurum Museum of Pescara gives a fascinating overview of the impressions recorded by foreign explorers who ventured into what was considered the unknown wilds of Abruzzo in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

In the years when visitors from Northern Europe and America undertook the Grand Tour of Rome, Tuscany and Venice, Abruzzo was viewed as a potentially wild and dangerous place, full of impenetrable mountains, wolves, bandits and inhospitable villages.

This image, however, captured the imagination of the more adventurous and curious travellers, who ventured into the little known reaches of this 18^th century “far west”, leaving records of their impressions and experiences.

The exhibition “Mondo Grand Tour”, curated by writer and historian Antonio Bini, documents the experiences recorded by those early tourists, with a collection of rare documents, first editions, copies of articles from newspapers and magazines of the period, as well as sketches and drawings, and the first guide books and tourist information pamphlets of the region. On view are copies of rare books, such as Edward Lear's “Illustrated Excursions in Italy” (1846) and “The Shepherds of the Abruzzi” by Charles MacFarlane (1833), as well as references to the Scandinavian artists' colony, set up by the Danish Impressionist Kristian Zhartmann in the village of Civita d'Antino in 1883.

The visit can be coordinated with a tour of the Imago Museum, also in Pescara, which contains an important collection of 130 works by the group of Scandinavian artists in Italy who gravitated around Zhartmann, living and working in harmony together until their pleasant dream was shattered by the tragic Marsica earthquake of 1915.

“Mondo Gran Tour” closes on the 15^th January 2025 but the Imago Museum collection is on permanent display.

Info: Museo Imago Tel.+39.85.2059056 Museo Aurum Tel, +39.085.454.9508

CITTA DI CASTELLO REVEALS “NEW” SIGNORELLI

Year-long restoration work carried out on an obscure altarpiece at the Umbria town of Città di Castello has revealed that it is an authentic masterpiece by the great Renaissance artist Luca Signorelli, defined as “artist of light and poetry” at the recent exhibition in Cortona celebrating the 500^th anniversary of his death.

Stored in the 16^th century Palazzo Vitelli alla Canonica at Città di Castello with other art works considered of minor interest, the painting has now been definitely identified as an authentic Signorello, after a routine cleaning and restoration operation, which included peeling off subsequent “improvements” and modifications.

The neglected masterpiece has had a chequered history. Napoleon intended to carry it off to Paris to be part of the Louvre collection, but it was considered too big for transportation. It also escaped being sequestered by Hitler for his planned museum of art in Berlin. After the war, the Altarpiece, dedicated to St. Cecilia, languished among a store of what were considered minor works by studio apprentices.

The painting, which is striking for its use of brilliant colours, joins other works by Signorelli at Città di Castello, including his celebrated masterpiece “The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian.”

Info: Tel. +39.07554202 www.cittadicastelloturismo.it

THE PARADE OF THE 100 + BEFANAS!

An Italian expression says: “Epifania tutte le feste le porta via” (Epiphany takes all the parties away) as the Feast of the 6^th January officially ends the Italian Christmas holiday season. According to tradition, Italian children received their presents from an old witch (La Befana) at Epiphany. That was before Santa Claus with his red coat and reindeer hit the scene and established a new custom.

La Befana, however, was not supplanted. Instead she has flourished and in some cases she has become a popular tourist attraction. The small town of Urbania in the Marches region (7000 population), organizes a four-day event every year, with the help of an army of local “Befanas” who parade through the streets, carrying a gigantic knitted stocking and distributing sweets to all the children present.

Highlight is the twice daily descent of a Befana from the local belfry, when a more athletic Befana descends down a rope with a sack of goodies over her shoulder.

The spectacle of the Befana's daring descent from a tower is also staged, however, in a few other spots....notably at Ariccia, one of the Roman Castelli towns some 30 kms from the capital. The popular events draws crowds from Rome, who combine the show with a hearty meal of porchetta (whole roast pig), the town's gastronomic speciality, served in local shops and in the many local small eateries, known as the “fraschette”.

1000. STENHOUSE

Info: Urbania Tourist Info: Tel. +39.0722.317211 www.visitlazio.com

A “NEW” ROME FOR JUBILEE YEAR

The city centre of Rome has been subjected to a much needed facelift in honour of the current Catholic Church Jubilee 2025.

Many of the most iconic fountains, including the mythical Trevi, have been restored to their original gleaming white and pristine condition, while some revolutionary restyling has redefined several key areas, such as the space between St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo, the busy shopping streets linking the Vatican with the Tiber and the vast piazza in front of the Basilica of St. John (San Giovanni). The aim has been to turn these key areas into people-friendly pedestrianized areas, not only for the benefit of the millions of pilgrims who are expected to visit during the Holy Jubilee year, but also for the residents in the future.

Two crucial projects did not meet the deadline of 24^th December 2024, when Pope Francis ritually opened the Holy Door leading into St. Peter's, and still have to be completed. Those are the area in front of the main railway station, Termini, and the city's epicentre at Piazza Venezia, that groups the Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill), Rome's municipal offices, the Victor Emanuel Memorial and the entry into Ancient Rome, with the Forums and the Colosseum. Work in those two areas has proved particularly complex, but planners are hopeful to overcome the hurdles and that they will be able to consign a completed renewed Eternal City before the Jubilee doors close again at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, blessings for 2025 and sincere hopes for peace from

With Every Good Wish

from

All of Us to All of You - Everywhere

THE FABULOUS NATIVITY ATTRACTS VISITORS TO NAPLES °BORGATA°

The previously snubbed Rione Sanità area of Naples is guaranteed to draw the crowds with its special Christmas attraction – the Presepio Favoloso (Fabulous Nativity Scene), a stunning presentation of over a hundred realistic figurines in a classic Christmas Crib presentation, set up in the Sacristy of the 17^th century Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità in the heart of what was formerly a notorious Neapolitan slum area.

The Fabulous Nativity is the exclusive work of the Scuotto family, with the collaboration of restorer and scenographer Biagio Roscigno. The three brothers and two sisters of the Scuotto family run the celebrated Scarabattola artistic workshop and have carried the traditional Neapolitan art of handmade Nativity figurines to a new level of international appreciation.

The Fabulous Nativity will be opened to visitors on the 24^th December 2024 and can be viewed every day until the 9^th January 2025.

Info: Tel. +39.081.7443714 https://catacombedinapoli.it

TOP GRAPPA PRODUCER NONINO AWARDS FOR PEACE

Fifty years ago, in 1973, the historic distillery of Benito and Giannola Nonino a Ronchi di Percoto (Fruili) revolutionized the process for making grappa, a local pomace brandy-style liqueur, transforming it from a rough and potent spirit mostly quaffed by workmen and farmers in the colder northern Italian regions, into a refined and gourmet product appreciated worldwide.

Instead of using the vinaccia, the residual pomace left after the juice of the grapes had been extracted for wine processing, they concentrated on distilling only the residuals of the local Picolit vine, creating an exclusive “monovitigno” or single vine-based liqueur.

The process was an instant success and launched grappa worldwide, as a sophisticated after-dinner drink.

Subsequently, the Nonino family, who descended from a long tradition of distillers, instituted an annual award, originally to encourage the cultivation of original grape stocks that were in danger of extinction. This prize has now developed into a major award with worldwide scope, nominating peace promoters, humanitarian organizations and international conservationists.

This year's 51^st edition took place in the Castle of Udine, and was open to the public. Awards went to the academic and pacifist Elo Floramo and the Cooperative INSIEME “Fruiti di Pace” (Fruits of Peace), the French doctor Rony Brauman, former President of Medicins Sans Frontiers, the Argentinian-born Canadian-naturalized writer and translator Alberto Manguel and Professor Naomi Oreskes for her studies of the role of science in our present society and the reality of climate change.

Sadly, the head of the family, Benito Nonino, passed away this year in July at the age of 90. He is succeeded by his wife and three daughters, all active in carrying on the business.

1000. STENHOUSE

      Info: Tel. +39.0432.675242        www.grappanonino.it       premiononino@nonino.it

GUBBIO LIGHTS UP WORLD'S GREATEST XMAS TREE

One of Italy's most evocative Christmas rituals is the lighting up ceremony of the gigantic Christmas Tree that stretches 800m up the side of Mt. Ingino at the historic town of Gubbio (Umbria).

This ritual takes place every 7^th December on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in front of crowds of people who have flocked from all over to admire the sight of “The World's Biggest Christmas Tree “ (according to the Guinness Book of Records 1991). The tree form is outlined by eight hundred lights that sparkle on the flank of the nearby Mt. Ingino, which is crowned with the shrine of St. Ubaldo, a peace-loving 12^th century holy man and the town's patron saint and protector. Every year, a leading figure from the Church, or a representative of a charity organization, the civil defence corps, a sports or cinema personality or a local political figure is invited to turn on the lights, which will illuminate the hillside every night until the second Sunday of January of the New Year.

1000. STENHOUSE

Info: Tel. +39.075.9229693 turismo@comune.gubbio.pg.it