Italy

Royal Palace of Turin or Palazzo Reale, is a palace in Turin, northern Italy. It was the royal palace of the House of Savoy. It was modernised... greatly by the French born Madama Reale Christine Marie of France in the seventeenth century. The palace was worked on by Filippo Juvarra. It includes the Palazzo Chiablese. In the reign of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy , the site was once part of an old Bishops palace in the center of the new capital of Savoy, Turin. From this palace, the Duke was able to monitor the two entrances of the city - the Palatine and Pretoria gates. The old palace in Turin was thus abandoned and had previously been the residence of the French Viceroys of Savoy who were appointed by Francis I of France having captured Savoy 1536. Opposite the bishops palace was the Palazzo Vecchio or the Palazzo di San Giovanni. These would later be swallowed up by the grander Ducal Palace. The old Bishops Palace thus became the seat of power and was greatly expanded by Emmanuel Philibert in order to house his ever expanding collections of art, animals, marbles and furniture.
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Palazzo Madama is a palace in Rome that is currently the home of the Senate of the Italian Republic. It was built atop the ruins of the ancient baths... of Nero, next to Piazza Navona. The terrain had been acquired in the Middle Ages by the monks of the Abbey of Farfa, who later ceded it to France. The new building was begun at the end of the 15th century and completed in 1505, for the Medici family. It housed two Medici cardinals and cousins, Giovanni and Giuliano, who both later became popes as Leo X and Clement VII, respectively. Catherine de' Medici, Clement VII's niece, also lived here before she was married to Henry, son of King Francis I of France in 1533. As well as Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte, patron of the artist Caravaggio, who died here. The palace takes its name from Madama Margherita of Austria, illegitimate daughter of Emperor Charles V, who married another illegitimate son, Alessandro de' Medici and, after his death, Ottavio Farnese. Thus part of the art collection of the Florentine Medici family was inherited by the Farnese family. The current façade was built in the mid 1650s by both Cigoli and Paolo Maruccelli.
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Turin Cathedral is the major Roman Catholic church of Turin, northern Italy. Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist , it was built during 1491-1498 and... it is adjacent to an earlier campanile . The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, the current resting place of the Shroud of Turin, was added to the structure in 1668-1694. The church lies in the place where the theatre of the ancient Roman city was located. The original Christian sacred house included three churches, dedicated to the Holy Saviour, Saint Mary of Dompno and, the main of three, St. John the Baptist. According to some sources, the latter's consecration was carried on by Agilulf, the Lombard King of northern Italy from 591 to 613. Here, in 662, Garibald, Duke of Torino was assassinated in the church by a follower of Godepert, whose murder Garibald is believed to have had a part in. The three churches were demolished between 1490 and 1492. The new cathedral, again entitled to St. John the Baptist, was begun in 1491 under design of Amedeo de Francisco di Settignano, also known as Meo del Caprino, who finished it in seven years.
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The Palatine Towers is an ancient Roman-medieval structure in Turin, Italy. The structure served as one of four Roman city gates, which allowed... access from north to the cardus maximus, the typical second main street of a Roman town. They are located near the Duomo di Torino and Palazzo Reale. In its current appearance, the building comprise two polygonal towers, of sixteen sides each, and a central gate. Only the latter is an original Roman structure, the towers having been added in the following years. The merlons are from 1404. The name Porta Palazzo comes from the Latin Porta Palatii , referring to the connected Imperial Palace, which housed numerous historical figures, including the Lombard kings and Charlemagne, and was later the seat of the communal authorities. During the early eighteenth-century period of urban reconstruction in Turin, the gate was preserved only through the personal intervention of architect Antonio Bertola. It was one of the few ancient landmarks to be saved from destruction.
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The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted... from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999. The NATO bombing marked the second major combat operation in its history, following the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bombings led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, establishment of UNMIK, a UN mission in Kosovo and put an end to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. The bombing campaign was criticized, especially for the number of civilian casualties that resulted from the bombing. NATO's objectives in the Kosovo conflict were stated at the North Atlantic Council meeting held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on April 12, 1999: Michel Chossudovsky has argued that the real objective was economic colonialization of Serbia. Operation Allied Force predominantly used a large-scale air campaign to destroy Yugoslav military infrastructure from high altitudes.
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The Battle of Košare was fought during the Kosovo war between the military forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on one side and the KLA... on the other. The battle was fought around Rasa Koshares on the border between FR Yugoslavia and Albania from 9 April until 10 June during the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia. The point of the attack from the Albanian side was a land invasion of Kosovo and the cutting off of the communications of the Yugoslav Army between the forces in Prizren and Djakovica. Another goal was the taking of the region of Metohija. After days of heavy fighting, the Yugoslav Army kept the Kosovo Liberation Army from advancing into Kosovo. KLA insurgents managed to take the Košare outpost following a massive artillery barrage by the Albanian Army and NATO bombardardment of strategic sites held by the Yugoslavs, but they failed to complete any of their strategic objectives and failed to drive the Yugoslav forces out of the area.
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The Battle of Mogadishu or for Somalis: the Day of the Rangers was part of Operation Gothic Serpent and was fought on October 3 and 4, 1993, in... Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of the United States supported by UNOSOM II and Somali militia fighters loyal to the self-proclaimed president-to-be Mohamed Farrah Aidid who had support from armed civilian fighters. The battle is referred to as the First Battle of Mogadishu to distinguish it from the Second Battle of Mogadishu in 2006. Task Force Ranger—which consisted of an assault force made up of US Army Delta Force, Ranger teams, an air element provided by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, four Navy SEAL operators from SEAL Team Six and members of the Air Force Pararescue/Air Force Combat Controllers—under the command of Major General William F. Garrison executed an operation that involved traveling from their compound on the outskirts of the city to the center with the aim of capturing the leaders of the Habr Gidr clan, headed by warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
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Operation Gothic Serpent was a military operation conducted by special operations forces of the United States with the primary mission of capturing... warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The operation took place in Somalia, Africa from August to October 1993 and was supervised by the Joint Special Operations Command . As part of the operation, the soldiers were deployed in a mission to arrest two of Aidid's lieutenants. The result of that mission – executed under the command of Gothic Serpent – became known as the Battle of Mogadishu, or "The Battle of the Black Sea" to those who fought in it. In December 1992, President George H.W. Bush ordered the U.S. Armed Forces to join the UN in a joint operation known as Operation Restore Hope, with the primary mission of restoring order in Somalia. The country was wracked by civil war and a severe famine as it was ruled by a number of warlords. Over the next several months, the situation deteriorated In January 1993 newly elected President Bill Clinton took office. In May 1993, all the parties involved in the civil war agreed to a disarmament conference proposed by Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the leading Somali warlord.
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The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the... original 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU was established by seven Western European nations during the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, WEU tasks and institutions have been transferred to the Common Security and Defence Policy which is being framed for the geographically larger and more comprehensive European Union. This process was completed in 2009, when a solidarity clause between the member states of the European Union which was similar to the WEU's mutual defense clause, entered into force with the Treaty of Lisbon. The states party to the Modified Treaty of Brussels consequently decided to terminate that treaty on 31 March 2010, with all the remaining WEU's activities to be ceased within 15 months. On 30 June 2011 the WEU was officially declared defunct. The WEU was headquartered in Brussels, with a staff of 65 and an annual budget of €13.4 million.
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The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in... Africa. The Group comprises the African Development Bank , the African Development Fund , and the Nigeria Trust Fund . AfDB provides loans and grants to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries in Africa. It is owned and funded by member governments, and has a public-interest mandate to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. Following the end of colonial period in Africa, growing desire for more unity within the continent led to the establishment of two draft charters, one for the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity , and for a regional development bank. A draft accord was submitted to top African officials, then to African Ministers, before being cosigned by twenty-three African governments on August 4, 1963, in the form of an agreement establishing the African Development Bank.
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The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia. The... bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members - of which 48 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside. ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with member's capital subscriptions. At present, both the United States and Japan hold 552,210 shares, the largest proportion of shares at 12.756% each. China holds 228,000 shares , India holds 224,010 shares , the 2nd and 3rd largest proportion of shares respectively. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors composed of one representative from each member state. The Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the 12 members of the Board of Directors and their deputy.
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The Caribbean Development Bank is a financial institution which assists Caribbean nations in financing social and economic programs in its member... countries. Created on October 18, 1969, by a conference of eighteen countries and territories in Kingston, Jamaica, it has its headquarters located in Bridgetown, Barbados. In 2004 and 2010, Standard & Poor's gave the CDB a rating of Triple A, the firm's highest rating. According to Standard and Poor if the Caribbean Development bank "continues its prudent financial policies of the past, its rating should remain stable over the medium term." At the end of 2000, the bank had shareholders' equity of US$426 million. The United Nations launched Development Business in 1978 with the support of the Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank, and many other major development banks from around the world. Today, Development Business is the primary publication for all major multilateral development banks, United Nations agencies, and several national governments, many of whom have made the publication of their tenders and contracts in Development Business a mandatory requirement.
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The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La... Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy. It is the largest European university and the oldest of Rome's three state-funded universities; Sapienza was founded in 1303, more than six centuries before Tor Vergata and Roma Tre. In Italian, sapienza means "wisdom" or "knowledge". According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities published by the Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sapienza University of Rome ranks among the top 30 European universities. In 2010 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 190th overall in the world. Sapienza University of Rome was founded in 1303 with the bull In supremae praeminentia dignitatis issued on 20 April 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, as a Studium for ecclesiastical studies more under his control than the universities of Bologna and Padua.
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The University of Naples Federico II is a university located in Naples, Italy. It was founded in 1224 and is organized into 13 faculties. It is the... world's oldest state university and one of the oldest academic institutions in continuous operation. The university is named after its founder Frederick II. The University of Naples Federico II was founded by emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Frederick II on 5 June 1224. It is the most ancient institution state-supported of higher education and research in the world. One of the most famous students of this university was Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas.
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The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is a university located in Bologna, Italy. The date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by... most accounts to have been 1088.. The university received a charter from Frederick I Barbarossa in 1158, but in the 19th century, a committee of historians led by Giosuè Carducci traced the founding of the University back to 1088, which would make it the oldest university in the world, though this claim is disputed. The university is historically notable for its teaching of canon and civil law; indeed, it was set up in large part with the aim of studying the Digest, a central text in Roman law, which had been rediscovered in Italy in 1070, and the university was central in the development of medieval Roman law. Until modern times, the only degree granted at that university was the doctorate. Since 2000, the University's motto has been Alma mater studiorum The University counts about 100,000 students in its 23 faculties. It has branch centers in Imola, Ravenna, Forlì, Cesena and Rimini and a branch center abroad in Buenos Aires.
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Andrea Morassi is an Italian ski jumper who has competed since 2003. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he had his best finish of 11th in the team... large hill event at Turin in 2006 while earning his best individual finish of 36th in the individual normal hill event at those same games. Morassi's best finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was 11th in the team large hill event at Liberec in 2009 while his best individual finish was 22nd in the individual large hill event at Sapporo two years earlier. His best World Cup finish was third in an individual large hill event at Germany in 2007.
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Alessandro Stradella was an Italian composer of the middle baroque. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission,... collaborating with distinguished poets, producing over three hundred works in a variety of genres. Not much is known about his early life, but he was from a Tuscan aristocratic family, educated at Bologna, and was already making a name for himself as a composer at the age of 20. In 1667 he moved to Rome where he composed for Christina, Queen of Sweden, mostly sacred music. He was involved in performances of four operas, two by Francesco Cavalli and two by Antonio Cesti. Stradella began to live a dissolute life. With Carlo Ambrogio Lonati he attempted to embezzle money from the Roman Catholic Church, but was found out: he fled the city, only returning much later when he thought it was safe. His numerous incautious affairs with women began to make him enemies among the powerful men of the city, and he had to leave Rome for good. In 1677 he went to Venice, where he was hired by a powerful nobleman, Alvise Contarini, as the music tutor to his mistress, Agnese Van Uffele.
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Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of... the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of The Three Tenors and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. That same year, he made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He sang in opera houses in addition to Italy, in the Netherlands, Vienna, London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation of soprano Joan Sutherland in 1965. He made his United States debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's recommendation.
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Mirella Freni, birth name Mirella Fregni, is an Italian opera soprano whose repertoire includes Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Freni was... married for many years to the Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov, with whom she performed and recorded. Freni was born into a working class family; her mother and tenor Luciano Pavarotti's mother worked together and an aunt was the soprano Valentina Bartolomasi. She was a musically gifted child, and when 10 years old sang "Un bel dì vedremo" in a radio competition; the tenor Beniamino Gigli warned her, however, that she risked ruining her voice and advised her to give up singing until she was older. She resumed singing at the age of 17. Freni made her operatic debut in Modena in 1955, when 19 years old, as Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen. She later married her teacher, the piano player and director Leone Magiera, resuming her career in 1958 when she performed Mimì in Puccini's La bohème at the Teatro Regio in Turin, and sang in The Netherlands Opera 1959-60 season.
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Switzerland ]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzviːtːsɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or... [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ], in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Central Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 7.9 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva. The Swiss Confederation has a long history of neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002.
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Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the... Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres , and its highest point is 3,798 metres . The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
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Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders... Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea. It covers an area of 20,273 square kilometres and has a population of 2.05 million. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana. Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the internationally unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, Hungary and Croatia only to emerge afterwards reunified with its western part as a founding member of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, Slovenia declared full sovereignty.
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