The Torino 2006 Olympics and Paralympics will be the most environmentally friendly major sporting events ever held. "The Turin 2006 Winter Olympics will be the first major European sports event that can rightfully call itself 'green'," said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas on 12 January 2006.

Environmental topics such as energy use, transportation, greenhouse gas emissions, waste management and landscape preservation are at the forefront of the Torino Winter Olympics Organizing Committee's (TOROC) approach to these Games. The goal of the Organizing Committee for the Torino 2006 Olympics is to protect the environment from being permanently changed by the Olympic Games.

Good news for lovers of Italy and readers of mysteries! Italian author Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano mysteries are now being translated into English by Stephen Sartarelli. Camilleri has a huge international following for his Sicilian mysteries featuring Inspector Montalbano a nonconformist policeman working in the fictional town of Vig� ta.

Detective Montalbano is as committed to finding the ultimate meal as he is to solving crime, though he tends to do both in spite of himself. These novels are peopled with eccentric characters who add life and often death to the mysteries to be solved. Andrea Camilleri’s humorous story-telling skills will keep you reading long after your bed-time.

The 2006 Olympic Torch re-entered Italy after a brief trip into Slovenia and Austria. The flame has crossed borders two other times in its trek across Italy. It made a stop in both Vatican City and the Republic of San Remo.

On January 21 the torch entered the area of the Vajont Dam tragedy. In recognition of the tragedy battalions of Alpini (Italian Alpine troops) carried the 2006 Olympic Torch through the area where the disaster occurred.

The Vajont Dam was one of the largest dams in the world when it was completed in 1961. On October 9, 1963 an enormous landslide consisting of forest, earth and rock occurred. The landslide hit the reservoir traveling at 68 mph (110 km per hour) causing a megatsunami that destroyed a number of villages including Longarone. The disaster killed almost 2,000 people. Among the torchbearers on this section was a survivor of the disaster and one of the rescuers.

The Italian government and the European Union are on a collision course over the definition of pure chocolate. Pure Italian chocolate is made with 100 per cent cocoa butter. Natural flavorings and soya lecithin can be included as long as none of the ingredients is genetically modified. In addition, non-milk fats are prohibited though added ingredients such as nuts are okay.

The EU says that Italy's definition discriminates against foreign imports. The EU definition allows chocolate makers to use up to five percent vegetable cocoa substitutes such as palm oil and shea butter. In an unusual show of unity Italian political parties united in rejecting the EU’s labeling of chocolate.

The Olympic flame took a speedy trip through the Ferrari plant in Maranello on January 14 where the flame was allowed to be escorted in a red F430 Spider. It was then on to a more literate setting, Verona, where the flame was handed over under what is claimed to be Juliet’s balcony.

The Olympic flame arrived in Venice on January 17, 2006. Like most tourists to Venice the flame only stayed for two days and therefore only had time for the main tourist attractions. The flame took a trip in a gondola across the Grand Canal and under the Rialto Bridge before visiting Piazza San Marco. Unfortunately the flame will miss Carnivale, one of the grandest parties in the world.

The Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games will be held from March 10 to March 19. The event announced at the Carignano Theatre of Torino was attended by leading figures from both business and sports.

There will be events in 5 disciplines over a period of 10 days. Paralympic disciplines include alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling. Host cities for the Paralympics will be Torino, Sestriere, Pragelato and Pinerolo. Paralympic villages for the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games will be set up in Sestriere and Torino.

Italy's best known and greatest female skier is pregnant and retiring from competition. Isolde Kostner will not compete at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games to be held next month. Although Kostner has not been as successful in recent years she was one of Italy's premier athletes and many hoped she would medal in Torino.

At 30 years of age Kostner is one of the best known female athletes in Italy. Kostner said "my skiing career ends here. I will not participate at the Olympics. My next challenge will not be winning a gold medal but becoming a mother.

Kostner's career of winning ski competitions began in 1994 when she won the Garmisch downhill as a 19-year old. She went on to win bronze medals in both downhill and Super G at the 1994 Olympic Games held in Lillehammer, Norway.

Located in the province of Turin, Pinerolo, Italy is an old walled city that lies near the Lemina and Chisone valleys.  The town of Pinerolo has a long history of occupation, primarily by the French.  Pinerolo was occupied by the French five times between the 15th and 18th centuries.  Among the political prisoners held there in the 17th century was the “Man in the Iron Mask”.

At the center of town is the Piazza del Duomo which contains the 9th century Cathedral of Saint Donato and its’ beautiful campanile.

The Via Principi d’Acaia goes up to a 14th century palace, the Palazzo dei Principi d’Acaia dating from 1318. The palace was once home to a branch of the Savoy family who were rulers of the city. 

Sweeping, hog line, button, curl, clean, pebble?  Are these really sports terms?  They may not provoke the same images as tackle, sack or throw a bomb but they are in fact terms used in the sport of curling.

At first glance curling looks like a sport where anyone could excel.  After all, we all have experience with a broom and anyone who has lived in a northern climate has learned to walk on ice.  But there is more to curling than just cleaning the ice. 

Curling has been around since the 16th century when it was played in Scotland during the winter on frozen ponds, marshes and lochs.  Because it is played on ice, curling is most popular in cold weather countries.  Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain all did well at the 2002 Winter Olympics.  Curling debuted in Nagano Japan at the 1998 winter games. 

Are you going to Torino for the winter Olympics?  If so, you will not want to miss seeing the Shroud of Turin.  Mystery has surrounded the Shroud of Turin for hundreds of years.  Is it really the image of the body of Christ?  Or is it a hoax?

The Shroud of Turin is one of the most famous medieval relics in the world.  It is said that the shroud is the winding sheet used to wrap Christ after his crucifixion.  According to one version of the story the shroud was taken from Jerusalem to Cyprus to France where the Savoy’s came into possession in 1453. The shroud was first displayed in the Torino cathedral in 1694.