ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 26

Here is my pick of last week's Italy Magazine articles:

The week began with the sad news of Mario Monicelli's death and all here were upset by the manner of it.  But, as Michele Placido said, we should respect the great director's wishes.  

In art news the original model for Michelangelo's Pietà was found and UNESCO inspectors headed to Pompeii to find out more about the recent collapse of buildings on the ancient site.

There were plenty of smiles too, as this was the week in which Julia Roberts became the smile of Lavazza , mythological smiles appeared on the Pirelli calendar and pets all over Italy, including my Simi, smiled at this news.

Preparations for Christmas are now in full swing in Italy and, if you thought bagpipes were a purely Scottish tradition, you may be surprised to read this.

For my Patti Chiari column I wrote about Christmas cards - or the lack of them in Italy - and seasonal confusion.

Happy reading.

XV CENTURY PORTAL CRUMBLES IN GELA

The city of Gela found itself in the news again at the weekend following the crumbling on Friday night of part of a fifteenth century portal leading to the Santuario Maria SS d'Alemanna.  At one time the portal was the entrance to the Sanctuary but the area around it, already deemed dangerous two years ago, had been sealed off.

The Salesian brothers who care for the Sanctuary, which is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, are brushing aside comparisons with Pompeii, saying that only a few stones and pieces of plaster fell from a disused structure.

You can judge for yourselves from the pictures in this video:

This incident comes at a time when Italy's Culture Minister is facing a vote of no confidence over the crumbling of the House of Gladiators at Pompeii and amid concerns about the stability of the Greek and Roman amphitheatres at Siracusa, among other ancient monuments in Italy.