Italy Liberation Day: April 25

April 25 is Italy liberation day, when in 1945 the partisans with the allies liberated Italy from the Nazis and fascists. Click below for video tributes set to the anti-fascist song Bella Ciao.

Happy Birthday Rome: 2,762 Year Anniversary

"Where can we begin the story of the universe that is Rome?...the story, the myth of Rome's origins, seems to contain a basic trait still recognizable after all of the city's adventures and misadventures; put simply, its destiny."

Corrado Augias, Secrets of Rome (2007)


April 21 Rome celebrated its 2,762 anniversary of its founding today. Not a bad run.

Who founded Rome? is a matter of some controversy. "Destiny," as Augias noted above, played a critical role.

It was in the time of Caesar Augustus, when the Roman poet Virgil wrote The Aeneid, the great epic of the Roman people, with the aim of elevating Caesar Augustus [nephew of the assassinated Julius Caesar] to being a descendant of both the gods and the founders of Rome. He did this by linking the Trojan hero Aeneas, son of Venus, with the founding of Rome. The Aeneid is the story of goddess-born Aeneas, who flees the burning Troy to embark upon a perilous journey that brings him to Italy to fulfill his grand destiny as founder of what will one day become the Roman Empire.

Virgil immediately sets forth in The Aeneid the heroic theme of "whence came the Latin race... and the lofty walls of Rome"-

"Of arms and a man I sing, who first from the coast of Troy, exiled by fate, came to Italy and Lavine shores; much buffeted on sea and land by violence from above, through cruel Juno's unforgiving wrath, and much enduring in war also, till he should build a city and bring his gods to Latium; whence came the Latin race, the lords of Alba, and the lofty walls of Rome."
(Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 1.)

But what of Romulus and Remus?

Romulus and Remus appear in Roman mythology as the twin sons of the priestess Rhea Silvia, fathered by the god of war, Mars.

Aeneas a son of Venus; Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars.

The Ancient Romans were quite a combination: of love and war.

Legend states that after their birth, Romulus and Remus were put in a cradle and laid on the banks of the Tiber river in order to escape being murdered. The river gently carried the cradle and the twins downstream. The boys were rescued by the river god Tiberinus who placed the twins upon the Palatine Hill. There, they were nursed by a she-wolf underneath a fig-tree and were fed by a woodpecker until a shepherd found them and took them into his home. Ancient Roman historians Plutarch and Livy state that Romulus served as the first King of Rome.

For more about the founding of Rome check out WebVisionItaly's April Italy Right Now show.

Divine National Maritime Museum - Greenwich London

greenwich london

Divine National Maritime Museum - Greenwich London

greenwich london

UEFA Rome Champions League Final 2009 - Rome

Rome will host the UEFA Champions League final May 27, which soccer fans and fanatics from all over the world will tune in to, making this the most popular annual sporting event in the world. The entire soccer world will watch Rome’s Olympic Stadium (Stadio Olimpico), which is the home of A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio, on 27 May 2009 for the UEFA Champions League tournament final event.

Rome's Olympic Stadium was built in 1936 and has a capacity of 82,307. It was the site of the 1960 Summer Olympics, but has also served as the location of the 1987 World Athletics Championships and the 1990 FIFA World Cup

UEFA Champions League has captured the hearts and the imaginations of soccer fans across the globe. The tournament awards the most prestigious trophy in all of European football and is the ultimate goal for any major football club within the continent. The actual event is comprised of a number of stages including knockout and qualifying rounds. The championship has been awarded to 21 different clubs in its history and Real Madrid has proven to be the most successful club, winning the tournament an unprecedented 9 times.

Altogether there are 76 teams that will or have been involved in the 2008-2009 UEFA Champions League in Rome, Italy.

The UEFA standings, as of April 17, 2009 6 weeks from the final:

Group A	Pld	Pts
Roma	6	12
Chelsea	6	11
Bordeaux	6	7
CFR Cluj	6	4
Group C	Pld	Pts
Barcelona	6	13
Sporting	6	12
Shakhtar	6	9
Basel	6	1
Group E	Pld	Pts
Man. United	6	10
Villarreal	6	9
AaB	6	6
Celtic	6	5
Group G	Pld	Pts
Porto	6	12
Arsenal	6	11
Dynamo Kyiv	6	8
Fenerbahçe	6	2

Group B	Pld	Pts
Panathinaikos	6	10
Internazionale	6	8
Bremen	6	7
Anorthosis	6	6
Group D	Pld	Pts
Liverpool	6	14
Atlético	6	12
Marseille	6	4
PSV	6	3
Group F	Pld	Pts
Bayern	6	14
Lyon	6	11
Fiorentina	6	6
Steaua	6	1
Group H	Pld	Pts
Juventus	6	12
Real Madrid	6	12
Zenit	6	5
BATE	6	3

UEFA Semi-Finals First Leg April 28 & April 29

UEFA Semi-Finals Second May 5 & May 6

Barcelona	-	Chelsea
Man. United	-	Arsenal

For more on Italy travel and life in Italy today visit WebVisionItaly.com.

Capucci "Fabric Sculptures" on Display Palazzo Fortuny, Venice

Roberto Capucci's legendary 'fabric sculptures' are on display in Venice at Palazzo Fortuny until May 5.

The Capucci show explores three decades of change in the fashion maestro's creations. The 30 works of art, created between 1978 and 2009, map the development in Capucci's work, starting with Ventaglio, the brilliant red creation that was the first in his series of 'fan' dresses. The exhibition then moves into his designs from the 1980s, replete with panel inserts, flower forms, boxes and tubular designs.

Donna Gioiello is from this period, a black, white and red taffeta created in 1984, inspired by the Doge and the Carnival of Venice.

Among his more recent creations, the exhibition features 'Sposa In Rosso', a two-tone wedding dress with golden embroidery on public display for the first time.

The exhibition also draws out Capucci's various sources of inspiration from the natural world.

His green, white and blue spiraling Onda dress with its flash of red, reflects his fascination with the water, while Foglie (Leaves), a brown velvet creation with a dazzling collar of sculpted red, yellow and orange leaves looks to the world of plants.

From the time of his earliest creations, Capucci's origami-like designs have been closer to elaborate works of sculpture than clothing.

He has dressed film stars, first ladies and royalty over the decades but the wearers have usually showcased his designs rather than the other way round.

Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy, Gloria Swanson and Italian scientist Rita Levi Montalcini have all worn his designs on important occasions, the latter when she collected her Nobel prize in medicine in 1986.

Capucci has cheerfully admitted that his works are not intended as everyday contributions to a woman's wardrobe.

''Frankly, I have never let myself be influenced by the idea of 'but when will I wear this, where will I go?','' he once remarked.

''There would be no history of fashion if people had thought like that in past centuries''.

Capucci was the Christian Siriano of his a day, breaking onto the international scene at the age of just 21.

He had already opened an atelier on Rome's Via Sistina the previous year, in 1950, when his work was spotted by fashion entrepreneur Giovan Battista Giorgini, who invited him to display five designs at a Florence show.

The other designers in the show demanded Capucci's elaborate creations be withdrawn, fearing their own work would be upstaged.

But when the press found out, they called for a separate showing of Capucci's designs, which were greeted with instant acclaim.

Since then, Capucci's creations have appeared in galleries in Munich, London, Vienna, New York and various Italian cities, and now have their own museum in Florence.

The Venice exhibition is open in Palazzo Fortuny until May 5. Fore more about Italy fashion click WebVisionItaly's Fashion channel.

Chrysler Fiat Deal - Merger D-Day 2 Weeks From Today

What does the coy Fiat management have to say about its taking a 35% stake in any future Chrysler profits in exchange for giving Chrysler Fiat's valuable green power technology.... Nothing.

Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said Thursday to the Wall Street Journal's Dow Jones he expects a 50% chance for the Italian car maker to reach a deal with Chrysler LCC, adding that in the 50% event the deal doesn't take place then Fiat has a "Plan B."

U.S. President Barack Obama has given Chrysler until April 30 to find a partner or face bankruptcy proceedings. If Chysler finds a partner then the congress and the president have guaranteed the combined management, Chrysler and its partner, $6 billion from the U.S. taxpayers.

Chrysler was already unsuccessful in getting concessions from debt holders. Now the President's "car czar", whatever that means, appears to be ethically challenged much like the many other super-rich "public servants" and "public company" CEOs, throwing into question Rattner's and the President's statist car industry plans. Enter Fiat.


For its part Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne told Toronto's Globe and Mail yesterday that Fiat will walk away from the proposed partnership with Chrysler if Canadian and U.S. auto workers don't agree to wage, salary, and pension concessions that align labor costs with foreign-owned "non-legacy" i.e. - no pension, low wage, non union etc. car factories such as Toyota's and Nissan's, which have plants in the less expensive southern states like Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama. The Canadian union has been seen as being even more resistant than its U.S. counterpart. Many U.S. taxpayers may be surprised to find out how much of Chrysler's factories are in Canada.

The U.S. government's stern warning to Chrysler is it won't be getting any more bailout money unless it completes the partnership deal by May 1. Chyrsler's action today on the stock markets signals that investors and traders, maybe speculators, believe a deal is coming soon. Let's hope so lest catching falling knives wipes the shareholders out 2 weeks from today. WebVisionItaly will continue to monitor the last two weeks of the courtship between Chrysler Fiat.