Tuscany - beautiful countryside, wonderful history, and the birthplace of the Renaissance...

Arezzo is a wonderful medieval and historic city located about 80 km southeast of Florence in the center of four valleys. Arezzo is the largest town in eastern Tuscany. A cathedral, town hall and Medici Fortress are located in the upper part of the town. Main streets lead from the upper part of the town towards the lower gates. The upper part of the town has maintained its medieval look. Shoppers will enjoy Arezzo's goldsmiths, jewelers, and antiques.

Arezzo has been an important city since Etruscan times and even today the medieval quarter is well-preserved. Piero della Francesca painted the fresco of the ‘Legend of the True Cross’ in the church of San Francesco. When you visit Arezzo be sure to admire this early Renaissance masterpiece. The sequence of paintings are displayed on the three vertical walls and arches of the chapel - it is the artist's largest project and considered one of his finest. It illustrates the triumph of the True Cross – the wood from the Garden of Eden that became the Cross on which Christ was crucified. The paintings demonstrate Piero's use of deep colours, his fascinating use of light and his advanced knowledge of perspective - the artist was also considered a great mathematician.

First Tod’s acquires the rights to the Colosseum’s image, now Prada is sponsoring the restoration of Ca’ Corner della Regina, a baroque palace overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. Italy is desperately trying to raise private funds to restore its historic properties.

Many Italians were leery when Tod’s paid 25 million Euros to support restoration work on the Colosseum in Rome. Initially, Tod’s was to be allowed to post their logo on construction sites, tickets, etc. and that was all. Now it appears that Italy has signed over usage rights of the Colosseum and its image to Tod’s.

Organizations and private companies now must rent the right to use the Colosseum in commercials from Tod’s. The deal extends to 15 years.

Now Prada, the huge fashion conglomerate, is going to sponsor the restoration of a baroque palace overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. Ca' Corner della Regina was built in 1724 and will be restored according to the strict constraints set by the city of Venice. The project will have three phases and will last six years, with the option for renewing for another six years.

Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, co-presidents of the Prada Foundation, declared: “We are happy to accept the exacting challenge of renovating the extraordinary palazzo, Ca’ Corner della Regina, while fully respecting its history, with the goal of offering to the city of Venice, and beyond, a stimulating program of important events in the realm of the Arts for the full duration of our mandate.”

It seems that Italy is contemplating petitioning Unesco to add Neapolitan pizza to Unesco’s cultural heritage list. I find this somewhat intriguing so I went out to the Unesco website and found a list of World Heritage Sites from around the world including a long list of sites in Italy. But these are all tangible sites – parks, historic buildings, etc. There is also an “intangible” cultural heritage list which generally includes things like traditional dance, music, arts and crafts and indeed Mexican Cuisine is on the list so food can be included.

Italy recently received Unesco status for the Mediterranean diet which has apparently prompted the country to consider petitioning the organization to place the Neapolitan pizza in the list of cultural icons from the United Nations.

In addition to Neapolitan Pizza Italy is also considering petitions for Sienna's Palio horse race, violin-making in Cremona, Viareggio's carnival procession and ancient festivals in towns such as Nola and Viterbo, where locals carry huge statues on their shoulders and walk around narrow streets. Also being considered are the small grapevines planted in depressions in the volcanic soil on the island of Pantelleria, where they are sheltered from the fierce sea wind and produce the nectar-like Passito dessert wine.

Only two candidates will make the final list that Italy will send to Unesco for consideration. The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera thinks Pizza and Cremona’s violin makers will end up being suggested. Cremona is where Stradivari had his workshop.

But the headlines in Italy have focused on pizza after it was this year voted by Italians as one of the dishes which best sums up their nation. It was narrowly outvoted by pasta with tomato sauce, but beat bruschetta with olive oil into a distant third.

The Unesco shortlist specifies pizza from Naples, where the dish was born in the 1700s, and where a pie topped with mozzarella, tomato and basil leaves – recreating the red, white and green of the Italian flag – was presented to Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1889 and named after her.