World Cup 2010: italy Defending Champion Takes Field Today

Italy's World Cup team, the World Cup 2010 defending champion and the four-time World Cup Soccer champions of the world come into the 2010 World Cup with a target on their back as defending champions, while simultaneously being viewed as weak by almost the entire world, including Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006) just one fewer than Brazil

Italy's World Cup 2010 team includes many of the same core players on the 2006 Italy World Cup champion team, returning for a second go at winning the ultimate World Cup 2010 trophy.

Italy's blue, azzurro, in Italian due to the "Azzurro Savoia" (Savoy Blue), the color traditionally linked to the royal dynasty which unified Italy in 1861, and maintained in the official standard of the President of the Italian Republic.

In 2006, Italy's Serie A was embroiled in scandal and Italy was expected to be dumped out of the competition quickly. The midfield were derided as having no creativity and the strikers were aging. Italy, of course, went on to top their group, beat a sensational Germany, and put on a defensive clinic against France to win the Cup on penalties.

Italy seems old and weak. They haven't impressed in warm-ups against Mexico or Switzerland, and play maker Andrea Pirlo (calf injury) could miss quite a few games. But, in the end, the Italians are the defending champions, and while they do have a penchant for giving lazy performances when the title isn't on the line, they also make it a habit of proving people wrong.

 

Italy 's first World Cup 2010 game is today 2:30 ET against Paraguay. For more on Soccer match travel to Italy click ItalianTourism.us. 

Meet the Italy 2010 World Cup Squad - VIDEO

Current squad

23 players called up for 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Caps and goals as of 5 June 2010.

No.	Name	Date of birth	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Goalkeepers
1	Gianluigi Buffon	28 January 1978 (age 32)(1978-01-28)	Juventus	101 (0)	v. Russia, 29 October 1997
12	Federico Marchetti	7 February 1983 (age 27)(1983-02-07)	Cagliari	5 (0)	v. Northern Ireland, 6 June 2009
14	Morgan De Sanctis	27 March 1977 (age 33)(1977-03-27)	Napoli	3 (0)	v. Iceland, 30 March 2005
Defenders
5	Fabio Cannavaro	13 September 1973 (age 36)(1973-09-13)	Al-Ahli	133 (2)	v. Northern Ireland, 22 January 1997
19	Gianluca Zambrotta	19 February 1977 (age 33)(1977-02-19)	Milan	94 (2)	v. Norway, 10 February 1999
4	Giorgio Chiellini	14 August 1984 (age 25)(1984-08-14)	Juventus	29 (2)	v. Finland, 17 November 2004
3	Domenico Criscito	30 December 1986 (age 23)(1986-12-30)	Genoa	7 (0)	v. Switzerland, 12 August 2009
2	Christian Maggio	11 February 1982 (age 28)(1982-02-11)	Napoli	5 (0)	v. Greece, 19 November 2008
13	Salvatore Bocchetti	30 November 1986 (age 23)(1986-11-30)	Genoa	5 (0)	v. Republic of Ireland, 10 October 2009
23	Leonardo Bonucci	1 May 1987 (age 23)(1987-05-01)	Bari	2 (1)	v. Cameroon, 3 March 2010
Midfielders
8	Gennaro Gattuso	9 January 1978 (age 32)(1978-01-09)	Milan	72 (1)	v. Sweden, 23 February 2000
21	Andrea Pirlo	19 May 1979 (age 31)(1979-05-19)	Milan	66 (8)	v. Azerbaijan, 7 September 2002
6	Daniele De Rossi	24 July 1983 (age 26)(1983-07-24)	Roma	54 (8)	v. Norway, 4 September 2004
16	Mauro Camoranesi	4 October 1976 (age 33)(1976-10-04)	Juventus	53 (5)	v. Portugal, 12 February 2003
17	Angelo Palombo	25 September 1981 (age 28)(1981-09-25)	Sampdoria	17 (0)	v. Croatia, 16 August 2006
7	Simone Pepe	30 August 1983 (age 26)(1983-08-30)	Juventus	15 (0)	v. Bulgaria, 11 October 2008
22	Riccardo Montolivo	18 January 1985 (age 25)(1985-01-18)	Fiorentina	13 (0)	v. South Africa, 17 October 2007
15	Claudio Marchisio	19 January 1986 (age 24)(1986-01-19)	Juventus	4 (0)	v. Switzerland, 12 August 2009
Strikers
11	Alberto Gilardino	5 July 1982 (age 27)(1982-07-05)	Fiorentina	41 (16)	v. Norway, 4 September 2004
9	Vincenzo Iaquinta	21 November 1979 (age 30)(1979-11-21)	Juventus	37 (5)	v. Iceland, 30 March 2005
10	Antonio Di Natale	13 October 1977 (age 32)(1977-10-13)	Udinese	33 (9)	v. Turkey, 20 November 2002
18	Fabio Quagliarella	31 January 1983 (age 27)(1983-01-31)	Napoli	20 (4)	v. Scotland, 29 March 2007
20	Giampaolo Pazzini	2 August 1984 (age 25)(1984-08-02)	Sampdoria	8 (1)	v. Montenegro, 28 March 2009

Italy Earthquake: Centuries-old buildings Collapse, People Trapped

ROME (Reuters) - The death toll in the earthquake that hit central Italy Monday has risen to 50, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said.

That would make this the most deadly earthquake to strike the country since 1980, when a quake of magnitude 6.5 killed about 2,735 people in the south of the country.

The earthquake center was in L'Aquila, and struck a huge swathe of central Italy as residents slept on Monday morning. Houses, churches and other buildings collapsed making the people fear more people may be trapped.

The dead were mainly in L'Aquila, a 13th century mountain city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome that has a population of 68,000, and surrounding villages.

The Civil Protection Department said the quake most likely killed "tens of people." Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi canceled a trip to Moscow and said he had declared a national emergency, which would free up funds for aid and rebuilding.

"I woke up hearing what sounded like a bomb," said Angela Palumbo, 87, as she walked on a street of L'Aquila.

"We managed to escape with things falling all around us. Everything was shaking, furniture falling. I don't remember ever seeing anything like this in my life," she said.

Rubble was strewn throughout the city and nearby towns, blocking roads and hampering rescue teams and residents who tried to lift debris with their bare hands in a search for survivors from the quake, which had a magnitude of at least 5.8.

"Thousands of people (could be left) homeless and thousands of buildings collapsed or damaged," said Agostino Miozzo, an official at the Civil Protection Department.

A resident in l'Aquila standing by an apartment block that had been reduced to the height of an adult said: "This building was four floors high." Some cars were buried by the rubble.

In another section of the city, residents tried to hush the wailing of grief to try to pinpoint the sound of a crying baby.

It was the worst earthquake in terms of deaths to hit Italy since 2002, when 30 children were killed in a school collapse in the south.

But officials said the death toll from this earthquake could be worse because more buildings were damaged over a wider area.

FOUR CHILDREN KILLED IN ONE BUILDING

Four children were reported killed in one building in l'Aquila, two people were dead in one outlying village and five in another. A number of people were reported to have been injured and still trapped under rubble, officials said.

There were numerous reports of some the area's centuries-old Romanesque and Renaissance churches collapsing.

Part of a university residence and a hotel collapsed in l'Aquila but it was not clear if anyone was inside. The quake brought down the bell tower of a church in the city center.

Some bridges and highways in the mountainous area were closed as a precaution.

The quake struck shortly after 3.30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EDT) and was centered in the mountainous Abruzzo region east of Rome south of Umbria.

People in many parts of central Italy felt the quake and some ran out into the streets. Residents of Rome, which is rarely hit by seismic activity, were woken by the quake. Furniture rattled, lights swayed and car alarms went off.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was believed to be about 60 miles from Rome and that its depth was 6.2 miles.

The agency initially put the scale of the quake at 6.7 but later lowered it to 6.3. Italian officials put the magnitude at about 5.8.

The quake was the latest and strongest in a series to hit the l'Aquila area on Sunday and Monday. Earthquakes can be particularly dangerous in parts of Italy because so many buildings are centuries-old.

Following is a list of major earthquakes in Italy over the past century:

Sept 8, 1905 - Some 5,000 people are killed when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake tore through the Calabria region, obliterating 25 villages.

Dec 28, 1908 - Over 82,000 people are killed in a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which reduced Messina, Sicily's second town, to rubble. A tidal wave followed causing more devastation.

Jan 13, 1915 - Some 32,600 are killed when an earthquake measuring 7.0 struck Avezzano in central Italy.

July 27, 1930 - A quake measuring 6.5 strikes the region of Irpinia in southern Italy, killing around 1,400 people.

May 6, 1976 - An earthquake measuring 6.5 rocks Friuli in Italy's northeast corner, killing 976 people and leaving 70,000 others homeless.

November 23, 1980 - Some 2,735 people are killed and more than 7,500 injured in an earthquake measuring 6.5. The epicenter was at Eboli but damage was reported over a huge area toward Naples.

December 13, 1990 - Earthquake centered in the sea off Sicily kills 13 people and injures 200.

September 26, 1997 - Two earthquakes measuring 6.4 kill 11 people and cause serious damage to the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, ruining priceless Mediaeval frescoes. A further quake measuring 5.1 hits Umbria days later causing damage.

July 17, 2001 - Earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale shakes the northern Italian region of Alto Adige, killing one woman.

September 6, 2002 - An earthquake measuring 6.0 strikes Sicily. Two people died from heart attacks triggered by the earthquake which also damaged artistic treasures.

October 31, 2002 - A violent earthquake measuring 5.9 hits Campobasso, south-central Italy, killing 30 people, most of them children, in San Giuliano di Puglia.

April 11, 2003 - An earthquake measuring 4.6 rocks northern Italy, rattling buildings from Milan to Turin and prompting officials to evacuate some schools.

April 6, 2009 - A powerful earthquake strikes a huge swath of central Italy, killing at least 27 people as houses, churches and other buildings collapse. The quake was centered in the mountainous Abruzzo region east of Rome. The dead were mainly in L'Aquila, a 13th century city about 100 km (60 miles) east of Rome with a population of 68,000.

For more about Italy visit WebVisionItaly.com.

New treasure joins Herculaneum show - Major exhibition explores life in ancient Roman town

(ANSA) - Naples, March 17 - A new treasure from Herculaneum was unveiled in Naples on Tuesday, where it will join a major exhibition exploring life in the Ancient Roman town buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD. The show, running until April 13, already features over 150 artefacts and human remains uncovered over the last three centuries but the new relief, uncovered by accident last month, is stirring fresh interest. The marble sculpture, dating back to the 1st century AD, apparently depicts two separate scenes centred on Dionysius, the Greek counterpart of Ancient Rome's god of wine and merrymaking, Bacchus.

''The relief is particularly fascinating for scholars as we are not yet certain exactly the tale that is being reproduced on the work,'' explained Herculaneum's excavation chief Maria Paola Guidobaldi.

''It almost certainly shows Dionysius and what appears to be one of his female followers, a Maenad, dancing. However, there are also two other figures, one with men's hair and the other wearing female clothes that aren't yet clear.

''Nor are we certain what gift is being offered to Dionysius. It was very probably some kind of offering, perhaps a thanksgiving, much as people make today to patron saints''. The Greek marble relief was uncovered by accident in Herculaneum on February 18, during regular maintenance work.

It was located in a luxurious residential building on the northwest block of the town, which has only been partly excavated so far. The relief was fixed in the eastern wall of a large room, at about two metres above the ground. It appears to have been designed as a partner for another relief, located at the same level on the southern wall of the room, which was removed in 1997. ''The find is particularly important owing to the interpretation of the scene it shows, which is still an open question,'' said Pompeii Superintendent Pietro Giovanni Guzzo. ''So far no one has been able to find a connection between the two separate scenes dividing the relief, the dancer and the homage to Dionysius''.

The show is already hosting dozens of statues, skeletons, artefacts and textiles from the small seaside town south of Naples, which was destroyed in the same Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii on August 24, 79 AD.

While Pompeii was covered by hot ash and lava, its less famous neighbour disappeared under an avalanche of molten rock. This mingled with mud and earth and solidified, allowing fragile organic matter like wood, fabrics, wax tablets and papyrus rolls to survive.

Archaeologists began digging at the sites around Vesuvius like Stabiae and Herculaneum at the start of the 1700s and continue to make discoveries today.

The exhibition is divided into three sections, focusing first on the magnificent statues of gods, heroes and emperors found among the ruins. The second section is dedicated to noble Herculaneum families such as that of the proconsul Marcus Nonius Balbus, one of the town's main benefactors, and also showcases many statues found at Herculaneum's largest residence, the Villa of the Papyri.

In the third section, the skeletons of fleeing townspeople are on show alongside everyday objects giving visitors an insight into the daily life of common people.

While bodies in Pompeii decomposed in the ash, Herculaneum's solidified mud preserved the skeletons intact, providing researchers with an extremely rare opportunity to examine remains of Ancient Romans, who usually cremated their dead.

The exhibition also includes an additional section at the end devoted entirely to Herculaneum's fabrics, which, like the townspeople, have been preserved in astonishing condition thanks to the sudden avalanche of molten rock at extremely high temperatures. Herculaneum: Three Centuries of Discoveries runs at the Naples Archaeological Museum until April 13.

For more video about Italy visit WebVisionItaly.com, the only Internet television network about Italy life today.

photo: the Villa of the Papyri.