h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Italy is culturally home of opera since the Florentine Intermedi of the late 15OO's. The history of bel canto or beautiful singing has coexisted with the development of Italian Opera until the beginning of the twentieth century, finding its peak in the Operatic Masterpieces of Giacomo Puccini. Other Italian masters of the genre include Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, who is regarded by the Italians as the master of the idiom. Many other Italian Operas have been written by Austro/German composers such as Handel,Haydn,and Mozart. As we end the twentieth century Opera is in crisis as it has become a Museum Art, with arrid contemporary works holding little pleasure for the wider public. On the one hand, the greatest Operatic repertoire can be a revelation and a soul enhancing experience. However, with a bad conductor, director and the wrong cast, it can be one of the most disastrous experiences ever to be witnessed.

Italy eternally springs images of beautiful people, music and food. However, some of the rest of Earth people remember it as producing Olive Oil, Tomatoes, unintelligible speaking plus the strange Wellington Boot they have to fly over to get to the original civilisation on the other side of the Mediterranean. Libya, on the other hand........