Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano on Vacation in Stromboli

Italy’s president Giorgio Napolitano and his wife Clio Bittoni just arrived in Stromboli – one of the seven Aeolian Islands north of Messina – to spend their summer vacation. Italy’s financial situation has made Europe tremble and the president postponed his vacation for a few days. Here is a slideshow of their departure. The photo below was shot on a previous visit in 2008. The presidential couple has been spending their summer vacation in Stromboli for 30 years now.

Mount Etna Erupts with Incredible Views of Light and Fire (Video & Photos)

On July 30, Mount Etna erupted treating residents and travelers to a spectacular show of tectonic fireworks. Mount Etna (also known locally as Mongibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello in Italian) is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the largest volcano in Europe, currently standing about 10,991 ft (3,350 m) high, though it should be noted that this varies with summit eruptions (the mountain is 71 ft (21,6 m) lower now than it was in 1865). It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 460 square miles (1190 km²). This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being nearly three times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. [Wikipedia]

 

Spectacular Video (3:26)

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Cala Palermo – Slideshow

The Cala di Palermo is the oldest port of the city, situated in a cove between Via Francesco Crispi  and Foro Italico. Recently, it has been restored and about 50,000 cubic miles of illegal constructions have been demolished. The new cala was inaugurated on July 29, 2011 and represents a first, but important step for Palermo to recuperate its green space.

Slideshow

 

 

Map

 

Two New Earthquakes Have Shaken Sicily

According to AgiNews.com, two earthquakes have shaken Sicily after the four which were registered near Messina on Thursday July 28.

The earth shook again at 12:11PM in the Piana di Catania, with the epicenter located between Adrano, Biancavialla, Paterno, Santa Maria di Licodia and Ragalna. The earthquake was magnitude 2 on the Richter scale. At 12:23PM the national geophysics and volcanology institute registered another earthquake, this time in the province of Siracusa, again magnitude 2 and with its epicenter between Augusta, Melilli and Priolo Gargallo.

No damages have been reported.

Source: AgiNews.com

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Birgi Airport in Trapani Awarded the AGC by the UK Border Agency

Halfway between Marsala and Trapani, Birgi Trapani Airport is the main gate of access to western Sicily, and in particular to the whole province of Trapani. The airport has been awarded for its second time with the AGC (Approved Gate Check), the international certification given by the UK Border Agency for its high security standards.

 

 

Salvatore Giuliano

Part of the BAMcinématek series Citizen Rosi: The Films of Francesco Rosi

Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm

(1962) 107min

Directed by Francesco Rosi
With Salvo Randone, Frank Wolff

The film that brought Rosi international prominence, Salvatore Giuliano is the first of his signature mosaic-style exposés of real characters and incidents. Salvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian bandit turned Mafia boss who, after the war, became an important player in Sicily’s guerilla independence movement. (Interestingly, Rosi’s script collaborator was Franco Solinas, who later wrote The Battle of Algiers and State of Siege.) The film opens on Giuliano’s corpse and unfolds back to his life and times and forward to the events following his death. Giuliano himself is barely glimpsed, but this portrait of betrayal and compromises with authority—Mafia and state in collusion to keep the peasants and urban poor in their place, set against the scarred landscape of Sicily—explains much about the life that produced this illustrious corpse. Rosi’s elliptical style is not concerned with the “truth” of historical events, but with the act of seeking the truth, which is crucial and unending.

Synopsis courtesy of Judy Bloch

In Italian with English subtitles

BAM Rose Cinemas
General admission: $12
BAM Cinema Club Members: $7
Movie Moguls: Free

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Mount Etna Eruption July 19, 2011

Mount Etna erupts again. This is a video taken from Ragalna (CT)

min 3:25

The XXIV SNAI Open – Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo

July 11, 2011 11:00 am

to

July 17, 2011 11:00 am

The XXIV SNAI Open – Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo runs from July 11 to 17 on red clay at the Country Time Club.

Kaia Kanepi became Estonia’s first WTA titlist with her victory at the International event in 2010. Anabel Medina Garrigues has the tournament record with four titles here.

Official Web site

Taormina Film Festival 2011

The 57th Taormina Film Fest, Italy’s principal summer film event, took place from June 11 to 18, 2011 in a moment of great tension for the Mediterranean. Since it assumed a Mediterranean identity in 2007, the festival has become a focal point for film culture in the region. This year, it turned the spotlight on three North African countries – Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco – in the midst of enormous social change, whose filmmakers have been quick to respond on the cultural front.

‘Plank’ nabbed the Golden Tauro for best film plus best director for helmer Leila Kilani and a joint prize for the four lead actresses: Soufia Issami, Mouna Bahmad, Nouzha Akel and Sara Betioui, Variety reported on Monday.

The special jury prize went to the animated French pic “The Rabbi’s Cat,” directed by Joann Sfar, from the jury consisting of director Patrice Leconte, Egyptian actress Yousra and Italian actress Maya Sansa.

In the Beyond the Mediterranean section, judged by a public jury, the award went to the Dutch film “Black Butterfly” directed by Paula van der Oest.

Source: Taormina Film Festival

Angelina Jolie in Lampedusa

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie on Sunday made a surprise visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa, thanking residents for hosting thousands of refugees who have fled unrest in north Africa in recent months.

The US actress travelled from Malta with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres to the Mediterranean island that has been flooded with more than 40,000 asylum-seekers since the start of 2011, the UN refugee agency said.

Source: AFP

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