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The Battle of Ortona was a small but brutal battle fought between Canadian forces and German troops in December 1943. It has become a legendary battle in Canadian military history.

The Allied campaign to capture mainland Italy had pushed the Germans back to the picturesque Italian seaside town of Ortona. Artillery from both sides rained down on the town, quickly reducing it to rubble. As the Canadians advanced through the narrow streets, they were met by German snipers, firing from nearby hills.

But the brave Canadians would not retreat.

Finally, after eight days of fighting, the Canadian attack had depleted the German troops. Small groups of Canadian soldiers cleared Ortona one street at a time until the Germans, who lacked reinforcements, withdrew from the town.

The Canadians had emerged victorious, but this was clouded by a heavy cost to the Canadian forces: almost one quarter of the 5,900 Canadians killed during the Italian Campaign died in the fighting in and around Ortona, making it bloodiest battle of the Italian Campaign.

Ortona is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants.

Ortona was the site of fierce fighting between German and Canadian forces during the Italian campaign in World War II. The ferocity of the battle led it to be known as the "Little Stalingrad" as Winston Churchill called this city, (See Battle of Ortona).

Montecristo, the island made famous by 19th century French author Alexandre Dumas in his book The Count of Montecristo, is to be opened to the public.

The 10 km sq island, in the Tyrrhenian Sea off Tuscany, is an uninhabitated, state-protected nature reserve.

Currently, its only visitors are academics and researchers, no private boats can moor at the island and swimming in its waters is banned. The Tuscan Archipelago Parks Commission plans to allow 1000 visitors a year to join visits guided by forestry warders to montecristo and the neightbouring islands of Pianosa and Giannutri.

Visitors, who can apply to join those kind of tours, will have to attend a day-long environmental education course.

La Chiesa del "Domine quo vadis", o Santa Maria in Palmis, è una piccola chiesa che si trova a Roma, al bivio tra l'Appia Antica e la via Ardeatina, nel quartiere Appio Latino.

La chiesa odierna è il rifacimento seicentesco di una piccola cappella eretta nel IX secolo sul luogo dove, secondo un episodio narrato nel libro apocrifo degli Atti di Pietro, San Pietro che fuggiva da Roma per sottrarsi alle persecuzioni di Nerone, avrebbe avuto la visione di Gesù Cristo. Secondo questo racconto, Pietro pose a Gesù Cristo questa domanda: "Domine, quo vadis?", ovvero "Signore, dove vai?". Alla risposta di Gesù "Venio Romam iterum crucifigi", "Vengo a Roma a farmi crocifiggere di nuovo", San Pietro capì che doveva tornare indietro per affrontare il martirio.

Su una piccola lastra di marmo al centro della chiesa si trovano, infatti, due impronte di piedi (copia di un rilievo conservato nella vicina Basilica di San Sebastiano), che sarebbero le impronte lasciate dal Signore; si tratta, in realtà, di un ex voto pagano per il dio Redicolo, offerte da un viaggiatore prima di partire per garantirsi il buon esito di un viaggio (o al ritorno, in ringraziamento).

La leggenda risale a fonti apocrife del II secolo, e si diffuse nella tradizione popolare grazie alla scoperta delle due impronte.

La Chiesa è oggi gestita dai religiosi della Congregazione di San Michele Arcangelo.