2009 Mediterranean Games presented to the victims of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, occurred in the region of Abruzzo on 6 April 2009; Italian flag was carried by the Italian Special Forces, "who were the first to arrive in L’Aquila". The ceremony featured a special performance by the Italian Air Force. Italian musician and singer-songwriter Eros Ramazzotti sang "L'orizzonte" from his 2009 studio album "Ali e radici". The main attraction of the ceremony was the "Water Ceremony". The "water journey" took place through the villages most stricken by the earthquake and ended at the stadium. The programme for the Pescara Games included 24 sports
Financial centre used type of security, were invented by the Italian city-states (such as Venice and Genoa) of the late medieval and early Renaissance periods. In the sixteenth century, the overall economic supremacy of the Italian city-states gradually came to an end, and the centre of financial activities in Europe shifted to the Low Countries, first to Bruges, and later to Antwerp and Amsterdam. They also became important centres of financial innovation. In the 17th century, Amsterdam became the leading commercial and financial centre. It held this position for more than a century, and was the first modern model of an international