Italian industry is banking on foreign markets – One of the leading Italian-interest stories appearing in the pages of the foreign press this week was how the country’s industry is staking its future on its foreign market presence: Valor Econômico devoted half a page to Pirelli’s investment in the growth of its business in Brazil (Pirelli irá investito no país R$ 1 bi até 2015* on November 30), as well as picking up news of the acquisition in Brazil of Tecnol by the eyewear multinational Luxottica (Luxottica compra grupo Tecnol, do Brasil, por 110 milhoes* in Valor Econômico on December 2).
Albeit in shorter articles, attention was also focused by the French business daily Les Echos on the record deal worth over 1 billion dollars signed by the Finmeccanica group, through its subsidiary Ansaldo STS, for the building of a new metro line in Honolulu, Hawaii, whilst The Wall Street Journal reported that Prada is proving resilient in the face of the euro zone’s debt crisis thanks to its strong presence in emerging markets (Prada’s Profit Surges 75%* on November 30). Finally, Les Echos looked at the new models Piaggio hopes will help it maintain its European leadership in the two-wheeler market (Piaggio conforte sa place de leader européen en jouant sur la tradition on November 29).
Leading Italian figures in fashion design and art – Of the various articles published in the week dealing with prominent Italians, worthy of particular mention are the profile in the German weekly paper Die Zeit of fashion designer Giorgio Armani (Armani und wie er die Welt sieh on December 1). There was also renewed interest in the foreign press in Italian art and culture, with The Moscow Times reviewing the Caravaggio exhibition being held at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow (Caravaggio on Show at Pushkin on December 2) and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung focusing on the works of Perugino on show in Munich (Ein Mann aus Umbrien on December 1).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment