Madonna in Italy for 51st birthday bash

ROME: Pop diva Madonna arrived Sunday in the Italian Riviera resort of Portofino for a star-studded 51st birthday celebration, the ANSA news agency reported.

The American singer booked an entire floor of the town's Splendido Hotel for her stay, ANSA said.

Meanwhile a flotilla of yachts was noted heading for the nearby Gulf of Tigullio near the villa of top Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who are expected to host Madonna's birthday party, the report said.

The singer made waves on Saturday when her "Sticky and Sweet" tour concert in Poland coincided with the Feast of the Assumption, a high point of the Catholic calendar marking the traditional belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus also known as the Madonna, was taken up into heaven.