making this blog great

The idea of this blog is to supply all the information anyone could possible want to know about Italy and well, anything related to Italy. I aim to include a variety of reading topics including; history, traditions, culture, language, tips for tourists, interviews and information about other sites that might be useful. Given the start of the new year I thought I'd give you, the reader, a chance to comment on what sort of information you'd like to read here. Do you have any questions about Italy that you'd like answered? Do you want to know what books are out there that have a connection to Italy? Are you planning a trip and want to have some tips? What ever your interest is, feel free to leave a comment on this post and I'll do my best to give you the information you're after.

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What happened in 2006- Torino

Italy was home to the winter Olympics in 2006. It was a successful event for the Italians who won several medals. Fabris, 24 years old, became the Italian to win most medals in 1 Olympics. He won Gold for the 1500 metres and Bronze in the 5000 metres.
The Italian Men's Team Pursuit made a new Olymipic record for Speed Skating with 03:43.640.
Italy's final medal ranking was 9th place with a total of 11 medals. They won 5 Gold, 0 Silver and 6 Bronze medals. The over-all winner was Germany with a total of 29 medals.

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What happened in 2006- Religion

Pope Benedict XVI (or in Italian Benedetto XVI) born Joseph Alios Ratzinger on 16th April 1927 in Bavaria, Germany is the 265th and reigning Pope of the Catholic Church and as such also Sovereign of the Vatican City State. Elected on April 19th 2005 he succeeded Pope John Paul II who died 2nd April 2005.

2006 was a busy year for the new Pope including Apostolic journeys to Poland, Spain, Bavaria (Germany) and Turkey. It also saw for the 1st time in 5 years an offical delegation visit China in June.

Unfortunately 2006 was also a problematic year for the Pope and his church. many issues arised during the year however the biggest followed a lecture delivered by the Pope in September at the University of Regansbury in Germany. During the lecture the Pope quoted the passage

"show me just what Muhammed brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, as as command to spread by the sword the faith that he preached"

which was written in 1391 as an expression of views of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus. This was not well recieved by Islamic politicians and religious leaders and led to numerous protests.

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What happened in 2006- Politics

There were big changes in Italian politics in 2006.

Prodi became the new President making the winning party the Centrosinistra (centre left). It was a close race between him and Belusconi and was decided by the votes of Italians living abroad. It has not been a smooth start however and there has been out-cry over his financial reform largely due to the rise in taxes.

Giorgio Napolitano, 81 years old, took over from Ciampi as the Presidente della Repubblica(President of the Republic). He won with 543 votes and was elected on the 10th may 2006. Born in Napoli (Naples) on 29/5/1925, Napolitano is the 2nd oldest Presidente della Repubblica. The oldest being Partini, who was 82. He is the 1st from the Partitio Comunista Italiano (Italian Comunist Party).

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What happened in 2006- Football

2006 was a big year for Italian football in both a positive and negative way.

On the 2nd May, a few days before the end of the Championship, it was reported that telephone conversations had been monitored between some of the biggest teams in Italian football. What followed was to be a scandal like no other. Calciopoli as it has become to be known, headed by Luciano Moggi is one of the most embarassing moments in Italian football history. Juventus, Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina, Reggina and Arezzo were all penalised for fixing match results, however research in still going on to understand exactly what happened and who was involved.

From the worst to the best. 2006 also saw Italy win the World Cup. Celebrations lasted for weeks following the victory against France in the final. This year was the 4th time Italy has been World Champions (1932, 1938, 1982 and 2006).

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