The Grand hotel Rimini has a glorious and dramatic past; built in 1908 by Paolo Somazzi, a famous architect from South America, the luxury hotel was heavily damaged during the course of its long history; first by a fire (and this only two years after its inauguration) and then during World War II when a few bombs were dropped on it. Italian movie director Federico Fellini who was born in Rimini loved to reminisce on the old days, lingering on the period when the hotel was the hangout of the rich and famous (if you what to find out more about the subject, see Fellini’s Amarcord).

Continue reading: Grand Hotel Rimini: Federico Fellini's favourite hotel

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Only Italy could organise an exhibition entirely dedicated to counterfeit money; joking apart, it’ s a really interesting exhibition which aims to explore the history of counterfeit money from ancient times to the present day; at the Museo archeologico Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia, visitors will have the unique opportunity to see how counterfeiters and hackers work nowadays - how they can clone our credit cards and steal money from cash dispensers. Curators of the exhibition “Vero o Falso” or True or Fake have also set up a counterfeit cash printing machine which every days cranks out thousands of dollars!! Don’t miss it, it will be quite an enjoyable and useful experience!

The exhibition will run until May 16

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The beautiful Villa d’Este in Tivoli is hosting a photographic exhibition celebrating Italy’s treasures included on the UNESCO world heritage list. It makes a fantastic day trip from Rome to escape the city and see both a wonderful photo exhibition and the Villa d’Este itself.

There are 44 Italian sites on the world heritage list, and all are presented in a kind of grand tour of photographs, called: “Il paesaggio descritto”, or the “the landscape described”. Luca Capuano is the photographer in question, and he travelled Italy for nine months to collect 450 photos for the exhibition.

From the Dolomites to Sicily, you can see them all in the rooms of the Villa d’Este, Tivoli, from March 13 to April 18, from Tuesdays to Sundays. It costs euros 6.50 for admission. For more information, see the Beni culturali site.

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Moschino has just inaugurated a luxury hotel in Milan entirely inspired by the fairy tales we used to read (and dream about) in our childhood. To be there will be like stepping into a fantastic world and it won‘t surprise me at all if one of its guests should come upon the Mad Hatter or Cheshire Cat. Situated in an old palazzo in Via Monte Grappa 12, the hotel has 54 rooms and 15 suites; but what I love most about this rather “artistic” hotel is that the singular creative spirit and talent of the Late Moschino can really be felt everywhere.

So you maybe interested to know that the hotel offers a package deal which includes two nights’ accommodation in a double room, a tour of Milan (including visits to the Duomo, one of Milan’s most famous landmarks, and the prestigious theatre Alla Scala) and free admission to see Leonardo’s Last Supper. All this will set you back 550 euros

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Dan Brown’s book, the Da Vinci Code, has got nothing on Dr. Stephen Haliczer’s game, Vatican: The Board Game. In a game that will test your theological and doctrincal knowledge, players attempt to reach the top of the Vatican to be ordained as Pope. The game takes events from the previous papal term, with strange and bizarre circumstances, and tests the players currently at cardinal level, who aspire to the top job.

Moral and theological issues are tackled, including contraception, celibacy, stem cell research, theological censorship, and the politics of beatification. Jucier aspects like the sin of gluttony and temptation, represented by a banquet dinner with cannelloni, also appear. The website for the game describes it thus:

Vatican is a fascinating way for all to understand a central point of Catholic identity, and will appeal to a wide variety of audiences, whatever their religious preferences… It is sophisticated, filled with nuance that makes replays as enjoyable as the first time you play it. For teachers, it’s a powerful educational tool – for a gathering of friends, it’s a stimulating experience. Vatican, historically accurate, is more compelling than the depictions of the Catholic Church in popular culture. Reality and truth are always more interesting than fiction.

For more information, you can also go to the dedicated Facebook Vatican game page.

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Mariotti shipyard, a holding company founded by T. Mariotti and San Giorgio del Porto in 2008, has just launched a new luxury yacht brand called Mariotti Yachts; a € 9 million investment which will make the Italian ship builder far more competitive (especially when it comes to luxury details) in the global yacht market which, as many of you know, is a rather tough market. The launch of the first luxury yacht, a drop-dead yacht 54 metres long and designed by Luca Dini, took place yesterday. This megayacht has been bought by a Lebanese shipping magnate.

Via | Lloydslist.com

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The Pirelli skyscraper which is one of the oldest and most famous skyscrapers in Italy will play host to an exhibition dedicated to the great Italian painter Tiziano Vecellio; from 21 March onwards, visitors will have the unique opportunity to see Titian’s portrait of Giulio Romano, one of his favourite pupils. Co-owned by the province of Mantua and Lombardy, the painting, which is usually on display at the Palazzo Tè in Mantua (Museo Civico) will now replace Antonello da Messina‘s St Benedict at the Grattacielo Pirelli. Due to the small space available, new visitors will only be admitted when existing visitors leave i.e. on pro-rata basis

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From 24 February to 30 May, a great restrospective dedicated to an important Italian singer and poet Fabrizio De André will take place at the Ara Pacis in Rome. The exhibition, set in one of the most central (and beautiful) area of Rome will give the public the unique opportunity to get a closer look at Fabrizio De André ‘s extraordinary work: multimedia installation will take visitors through the most important stages of his career; making them explore the ever -expanding universe of this talented artist from Genoa. Organised by the Colettivo Studio Azzurro which has collected all his works, the exhibition ” Fabrizio De André. La mostra” starts 24 February in Rome, a week after what would have been De André ’s 70th birthday.

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See the skyline of Milan in this video taken at the top of Italy’s tallest skyscraper, the “Altra Sede” of the Lombardy regional government. While not tall by world standards, the tower is 39 stories high and 161 metres tall. It’s 32 metres taller than Italy’s second highest building, the Telecom tower in Naples.

Milan will soon have a new building that will lay claim to Italy’s tallest skyscraper, when building of the “Dritto”, for the 2015 Expo in Milan, will be completed. It will measure 220 metres tall and will be something for native Milanese to be proud of in a city famous for its commerce, and symbolic of northern Italian history.

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50 years have passed since Federico Fellini’s movie La Dolce Vita was released in 1960. The word paparazzo became instantaneously popular with audiences and readers all around the world and in order to celebrate that world - now vanished for ever - the famous Carlo Riccardi back then also known as “ The Paparazzo in a topolino (that’s the name of his car) has now organised a photographic exhibition, putting on display thousands of pictures of celebs, Popes and the most famous politicians of the day.

50 anni della Dolce Vita con “Il paparazzo in topolino” Carlo Riccardi

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