Italy News

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - The Ara Pacis, an altar to peace built in the first century BC in honor of Emperor Augustus will show its true colors on Sunday thanks to a groundbreaking light projection system.

Though the stark-white monument has lost its color over the centuries, visitors next weekend will see its intricate array of friezes in dazzling technicolor.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - The following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy's art exhibitions:

BRESCIA - Museo di Santa Giulia: Inca, Origins and Mysteries of the Civilisation of Gold; 250 artefacts, December 4-June 27.

CATANIA - Palazzo Valle: Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana; until March 14.

FERRARA - Palazzo dei Diamanti: Boldini In The Paris Of The Impressionists; show on Ferrara-born artist's 'beau monde' portraiture years from 1871 to 1886; until January 10.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 20 - Twelve enormous pink snails have moved in to Milan city centre for a new outdoor art installation designed to encourage the fast-living residents of the Lombardy capital to slow down.

Three metres long and two metres high, the huge molluscs are currently circling Piazza Scala in front of Milan's famous opera house and the nearby square in front of the Church of San Fedele.

Passers-by have been unable to resist stopping to touch the bright pink snails made from recyclable plastic, whose tentacles are perkily extended to the sky.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - Italian prosecutors have opened a murder probe into the death Friday of a transsexual prostitute linked to disgraced Lazio ex-governor Piero Marrazzo.

Brenda was one of two prostitutes linked to Marrazzo, who resigned last month after it emerged he had been blackmailed over a video showing him with another transsexual sex worker, Natalie.

The dead prostitute's personal computer was found in her sink during a search of her fire-damaged apartment, police said.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 20 - An offer to sell parts of Mussolini's brain and blood was "immediately" taken down by eBay after it appeared Friday morning, the on-line auction site said.

The starting price set by the seller was 15,000 euros ($22,000), it said.

No one had a chance to bid, eBay said.

It stressed its regulations prohibited the sale of human parts.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - The life and work of seminal High Renaissance painter Giorgione is the focus of an upcoming exhibition showcasing rare masterpieces by mysterious 16th-century artist.

The exhibition in Giorgione's birth town of Castelfranco Veneto offers a unique chance to view the extant handful of confirmed works by the painter in one place.

Although Giorgione was a celebrated and influential artist in his day, only one signed work of his survived, fuelling years of heated scholarly debate.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - The Italian population is steadily growing older according to a report released Friday by national statistics bureau Istat.

According to the study, one in five Italians is now over the pensionable age of 65, outnumbering children under fifteen by 1.4 to one.

Istat said Italy's senior citizen index makes it the second oldest country in Europe behind Germany and followed by Greece and Bulgaria.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - A US student accused of the murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher, hated her ''snobby'' roommate and meant to punish her, prosecutors said Friday while delivering their final arguments.

Amanda Knox, 22, is on trial together with her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 26, for stabbing Kercher while forcing her to participate in what prosecutors described as a ''perverse sex game'' in November 2007.

The two then allegedly broke a window in an attempt to simulate a break in.

(ANSA) - Tokyo, November 20 - American actress Sharon Stone will help bring clean water to African villages with her designs for a jewels collection, Italian jewellery company Damiani said on Friday.

The star and Damiani chose Tokyo for the world unveiling of her Italian-made jewels-for-Africa collection.

(ANSA) - Tokyo, November 20 - American actress Sharon Stone will help bring clean water to African villages with her designs for a jewels collection, Italian jewellery company Damiani said on Friday.

The star and Damiani chose Tokyo for the world unveiling of her Italian-made jewels-for-Africa collection.

The Sharon Stone Collection will provide a "concrete contribution" to projects to bring water to a number of villages in Uganda because a percentage of the profits will be earmarked for the scheme, said company Deputy Chairman Giorgio Damiani.

"We are truly committed to the 'Clean Water Project' and the decision to choose Sharon as designer for the collection was an obvious one since we've worked so well with her in the past," said Damiani.

(ANSA) - Udine, November 20 - Italy captain Sergio Parisse is braced for a torrid first 20 minutes against world champions South Africa Saturday.

"The first 20 minutes will be the toughest our team has ever played at international level," the No.8 told a press conference Friday.

Parisse said Italy expected the Springbok pack to launch a massive attack in the hunt for South Africa's first win in its autumn tour.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 20 - A unique retrospective of work by Steve McCurry, one of the world's best known living photojournalists, has opened in Milan in a show specially designed to pack a punch.

Instead of being hung on the walls, the American photographer's powerful images have been illuminated and suspended in mid-air or set on free-standing screens in the darkened recesses of the Palazzo della Ragione.

(ANSA) - Brasilia, November 20 - Cesare Battisti, the ex- terrorist that the Brazil supreme court has ruled should be extradited to Italy, was also involved in terrorist activities while in Brazil, local police told the country's leading daily on Friday.

Folha de San Paulo quoted top police official Cleberson Almihana as saying that proof was uncovered during investigations on Battisti's activities before his arrest.

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(ANSA) - Venice, November 20 - An Italian mountaineer who conquered K2 in 1954 died on Friday, six months after the companion who stepped onto the world's second-highest peak for the first time with him.

Lino Lacedelli, who would have turned 84 on December 4, had a heart operation in the summer from which he never recovered, his family said.

His medical condition prevented him from attending the funeral of Achille Compagnoni, his fellow K2 hero, who died on May 13 aged 94.

The pair kept to their graves the secret of who actually stepped onto the top of K2 first.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 20 - A photocopy of a document recording the handover of Benito Mussolini's body to his family in 1957 is on sale on eBay's Italian site, sources said after his granddaughter claimed his brain was on sale.

The document registered the Italian State's consignment of the body to his widow Rachele at his birthplace Predappio where it was re-interred that year.

It also certified that the ex-dictator's brain was handed over separately.