Fashion Entertainment

(ANSA) - Rome, November 6 - A film allegedly slandering the granddaughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini will be the subject of a Rome court hearing on Monday in an attempt to block its release in late November.

Alessandro Mussolini, an MP with Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, has asked judges to keep "Francesca" from coming out unless the producers cut dialogue in which she is referred to as "a whore".

(ANSA) - Rome, November 6 - Italian pop star Laura Pausini said she was thrilled with her fourth Latin Grammy award.

''I already felt I'd won by being chosen to kick off the night,'' she said.

The award itself left her ''stunned, more than ever,'' she said.

''No words can describe what I'm feeling''.

Pausini won the prestigious prize for her smash hit album 'Primavera anticipada' (Early Spring).

(ANSA) - Rome, November 6 - A new exhibition in Rome aims to whisk visitors on a dazzling voyage through 20th-century Italian design icons.

The event at the Ara Pacis museum looks at the design process in detail, from the first drawings, through the copyrighting, through to the manufacturing and marketing of the finished product.

''This initiative aims to educate people about the everyday objects they use,'' explained Massimo Arlechino, head of the Valore Italia Foundation that organized the exhibit.

(ANSA) - Rome, November 6 - Italian pop star Laura Pausini has picked up her fourth Latin Grammy award, winning the prestigious prize for her smash hit album 'Primavera anticipada' (Early Spring).

The 35-year-old singer, who has a huge following in Latin America, received her 'best pop vocal album by a female artist' award at a glittering ceremony in Las Vegas on Thursday night.

She last scooped the award in 2007, for Yo Canto (I Sing).

(updates previous). (ANSA) - Milan, November 2 - Italian poet Alda Merini is to receive a state funeral in her native Milan, Mayor Letizia Moratti said Monday.

Wednesday's funeral in the Duomo would pay tribute to a writer whose importance was both local and national, the mayor said.

''Alda Merini charted a course through the history and culture of our city, providing important reflections for the rest of the country,'' Moratti said.

(ANSA) - Milan, November 2 - Italian poet Alda Merini is to get a state funeral in her native Milan, Mayor Letizia Moratti said Monday.

Wednesday's funeral in the Duomo would pay tribute to a writer whose importance was both local and national, the mayor said.

''Alda Merini charted a course through the history and culture of our city, providing important reflections for the rest of the country,'' Moratti said.

Merini, 78, died in Milan Sunday at the age of 78.

(ANSA) - Paris, October 30 - An Italian publishing company wants to put Premier Silvio Berlusconi into the Italian version of a new French book on the world's greatest-ever outlaws, a French weekly reported Friday.

The centre-right leader and media magnate would join the ranks of Robin Hood, Calamity Jane and French underworld icon Jacques Mesrine, l'Express said.

According to the report, the unidentified publisher is eager to make an Italian edition of Laurent Marechaux's 'Hors La Loi' provided the author adds a chapter on Berlusconi.

(ANSA) - New York, October 30 - More than 40 landmarks in Italian neorealist cinema from Rossellini, De Sica and Visconti to Fellini and Pasolini are set to be be shown in New York in the biggest-ever spotlight on Italy's famous postwar film movement.

The October 30-November 25 showcase at the Walter Reade Theater, set up by Cinecitta' Luce and Italy's National Film Archives with the help of the Lincoln Center's Film Society, is entitled Italian Neorealism And The Birth of Modern Cinema.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 28 - American director Sidney Lumet will be the recipient of this year's Fellini Prize, a lifetime achievement award given by Italy's prestigious Federico Fellini Foundation.

The prize - a gold-leaf statue bearing a dream-like drawing by the Italian maestro - will be awarded on November 7 at the end of two days of events organised in Rimini by the foundation in the memory of the Oscar-winning Italian director.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 27 - Giorgio Armani may not be retiring yet, but he has begun laying the groundwork for his successors, the fashion mogul said on Tuesday.

In Moscow for a show celebrating a banner year for the newly opened Emporio Armani on Red Square, the 75-year-old designer snapped at reporters who asked if he was mulling retirement.

''That's an impertinent question,'' he said, before joking ''look at me, I don't look so bad''.

(ANSA) - Paris, October 22 - The French capital is paying tribute to Italian cinema legend Federico Fellini with a series of initiatives marking the 50th anniversary of 'La Dolce Vita'.

Three months of events are planned, including exhibitions, conferences, debates, a DVD collection and a film fair.

The centrepiece of the celebrations is an exhibition entitled 'Fellini: La Grande Parade' at the Jeu de Paume which brings together over 400 items.

Film reel, photographs, set stills, posters, magazine covers, sketches and caricatures commemorate the life and work of the director.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 21 - US actress Meryl Streep arrived in Rome on Wednesday to present her culinary smash Julie & Julia at the city's International Film Festival.

Streep, who turned 60 in June, was seen at the airport donning her trademark scarf and glasses and stopped to bid her fans ''buongiorno''.

In addition to the out-of-competition screening of her new film, the two-time Academy award winner will be picking up a Marc'Aurelio lifetime achievement award for her more than 30 years on the silver screen

(Corrects Staller's age, 2nd 'graf).

(ANSA) - Rome, October 20 - Ex-porn star Ilona Staller is suing Sky Italia for breach of copyright in allegedly using her memoirs in its new TV film on the late porno diva Moana Pozzi.

Staller's lawyer and companion Luca Di Carlo claimed Tuesday Sky had used details from two autobiographical books by the Hungarian-born Staller, 57.

''What's more, they never contacted us to verify the parts of the film involving Cicciolina,'' Di Carlo said.

The suit also argues that Staller's stage name and 'cuddly doll' persona is protected by copyright at the Italian patents office.

(ANSA) - Rome, October 20 - Ex-porn star Ilona Staller is suing Sky Italia for breach of copyright in allegedly using her memoirs in its new TV film on the late porno diva Moana Pozzi.

Staller's lawyer and companion Luca Di Carlo claimed Tuesday Sky had used details from two autobiographical books by the Hungarian-born Staller, 47.

''What's more, they never contacted us to verify the parts of the film involving Cicciolina,'' Di Carlo said.

(ANSA) - Lecco, October 20 - Charity fundraisers in northern Italy have asked Hollywood superstar George Clooney for his wedding tie if he marries Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis, the group said Tuesday.

The Polisportiva di Monte Marenzo, a sports club in the Lake Como town of Lecco, active in raising money for Italy's charity Telethon said they want to auction the tie to raise money for genetic disease research.

A letter addressed to Clooney's villa, which neighbors the town on the shores of Lake Como, asked for ''an object or item of clothing, preferably a tie, worn during the wedding that we can auction during this year's telethon in December''.