1. Celebrating the National Day of Italy, Ambassador Daniele Mancini welcomed senior Romanian politicians, such as president of the PSD Mircea Geoana and Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and foreign diplomats to dance the Tarantella.

2. Works in progress: Classic Romanian paintings showing artists, their workshops and their muses in various stages of undress are on display at the National Museum of Arts throughout this month, including oils by Alexandru Satmari (pictured), Nicolae Tonitza, Nicolae Grigorescu and Theodor Adam.

3. Bucharest’s Plaza Romania owner the Anchor Grup has won an International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) award for its in-store sand sculpture park, “Orasul de Nisip” campaign, which included bringing the beach to Bucharest in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. Marketing director Lucian Georgescu accepted the award from jury chairman Frank Poestges.

4. Romania is still a country with a lot of catching up to do when it comes to exploiting its green energy potential, especially in wind and biomass. A high level conference organised by ‘The Diplomat - Bucharest’ magazine at the Howard Johnson Hotel gathered together senior Government figures, energy producers, lawyers and financiers to discuss methods of state incentives, the easiest way to close legal loopholes and the the best way to create a more cohesive renewable energy market.

5. Romania has a chance to build on its solid reputation for welcoming refugees fleeing persecution this year, if the Government chooses to allow the establishment of a resettlement centre in Timisoara, in an initiative assisted by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Top politicians, diplomats, ex-pats and exiles joined together to listen to Romanian reggae-influenced refugee band Gloria in the salon of the George Enescu Museum.

6. Top business people, dignitaries and descendents of the British and Romanian royal families attended a charity dinner dance at the Intercontinental Hotel in support of the foundation of Princess Margareta of Romania which aims to improve dialogue between the elderly and the young through community-based projects. The event was hosted by Radu Florescu of Saatchi & Saatchi and Anne-Marie Martin, CEO of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, the organiser of the event.