Project no. 1 ASSISI (Poverty)

St. Francis founded his order of "poor friars"; in this hillside town nearly 800 years ago,dedicating himself to a life of poverty that was defined by the plain brown robe he chose to wear.

Today, Franciscan monks are recognizable around the world for similar outfits. But one branch has decided to buy some fancy new frocks, and not everyone is pleased.

The Third Order Regular in Assisi, a small order compared to the three main branches of Franciscan monks, have commissioned new habits from a Milan fashion designer to update their look.

"We needed a new gown, in style with the principles of our founding father, but more practical to face our everyday needs," said the Rev. Lino Temperini, head of the 50-member Third Order Regular.

He turned to Elisabetta Bianchetti, a 39-year-old designer of religious garments, who after months of research and trial fittings, produced two prototypes for the monks made of fine, gray wool that cost 300,000 lire ($140) apiece.

The lightweight, 100 percent wool habits come with two front pockets - for cell phones or anything else - as well as the traditional rope belt tied at the waist and knotted three times to symbolize the three vocational rules of the order: poverty, obedience and chastity.

The purchase has struck a nerve with some Italians, as well as some members of the order who feel the new look betrays the simple aesthetic envisioned by St. Francis.

"Many don't agree with the experiment to change the habit,"the Rev. Waldemar Barszcz, a top official of the order, told the newspaper Il Giornale. "That's why the order to Miss Bianchetti will be 30, not 3,000!"

The Vatican hasn't commented, but the Italian media have weighed in. "Even the Franciscans have given in to the fascination with ready-to-wear,"the Milan daily Corriere della Sera wrote.

Temperini argues the designs are perfectly in line with what St. Francis intended for his followers and he has published a booklet to make his case. It documents the varied dress of Franciscans through the ages, including sketches, diagrams, photos and footnotes. It quotes St. Francis himself as having said monks could dress as circumstances and climate require.

Temperini hopes that once the order's 50 or so monks in Assisi are outfitted, the look will catch on with its few hundred members elsewhere in Italy and other countries.

There's no indication the 25,000 monks in other Franciscan orders around the world are about to change.

Project no. 2 LOMBARDY (Environment)

Four million people swapped cars for alternative transport in Italy's Lombardy region on Sunday January 12th 2002 during a 12-hour ban on private vehicles to ease pollution levels.

The streets of Italy's financial hub of Milan were deserted during the first ban of 2002 as residents crammed into the metro and train systems and in some cases hit the streets on foot and by bicycle. More bans are planned.

More than a month of blue skies in often rainy and foggy northern Italy has pushed pollution to a critical level. In some areas, no rain has fallen in 80 days.

In Milan, the ban did little to reduce the thick grey-brown pollution haze which stretched all the way to the mountains in the north, but the metro was as busy as rush-hour on a work day.

High pollution levels across Italy due to the unseasonably dry weather also prompted shorter car bans in other big cities like Turin and Florence.