Recovery as seen by industry and finance – The Italian economy is back on track and good news is coming in from the country’s industrial and financial groups. The macroeconomic scenario is helping of course, given that – as Expansion explained – low interest rates are an attracion of Italian bonds, and Spanish bonds as well (May 22 – La venta masiva de bonos impulsa el atractivo de Italia y España). However, something is also moving in the domestic market. For example, there is great interest in the stock market listings of Massimo Zanetti coffee, which is wagering on international expansion (Financial Times, May 21 – Massimo Zanetti brews up expansion plan with Milan listing*; Expansion, May 22 – Zanetti prepara un plan de expansión con la salida a Bolsa en Milán). The Brazilian Valor Economico was also interested in INWIT, the company that controls the towers of Telecom Italia, and is ready to launch on the Milan stock exchange. (May 22 – Telecom Italia quer IPO de 40 das acoes de unidade de torres*).
There is also good news from the large financial groups such as Generali , which will see an increase in cash flow generation and dividends over the upcoming years thanks to its wager on trade growth in Europe (Reuters, May 27 – Generali commits to boosting dividends, cash; Businessweek, May 27 – Generali CEO Greco Targets Higher Cash Flow, Dividends Wall Street Journal, May 27 – Italy’s Generali Promises Commercial Push, Richer Dividend*; Les Echos, May 27 – Generali veut devenir leader sur les particuliers en Europe*) and Intesa Sanpaolo, which is about to increase activity on the Brazilian market (Valor Economico, May 26 – Banco italiano Intesa Sanpaolo abre unidade no Brasil*)
The was also interest in the agreement between the Italian government and Volkswagen that will lead to the production of the new Lamborghini SUV in Italy (Bloomberg, May 25 – Lamborghini Said to Agree to Produce New SUV in Italy; Reuters, May 26 – Lamborghini set to agree to produce SUV in Italy -source; May 27 in the Financial Times – Lamborghini joins luxury brand push into SUVs; Wall Street Journal – Lamborghini Plans New SUV to Launch in 2018; New York Times – Lamborghini Confirms It Will Introduce S.U.V. ; El Mundo – Lamborghini fabricará su nuevo todocamino en Italia).
Travel in Italy – The foreign press made more suggestions about travel in Italy. Venice took pride of place this week. El Pais wondered about the city’s soul (May 22 – ¿Es Venecia una ciudad o una sensación?), while Businessweek showed its readers a video of the best of the traditional Vogalonga regatta (May 26 – Venice, Italy Celebrates 41st Annual Vogalonga Race) and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung examined the hand-made shoes produced there (May 23 – Die Leisten der Serenissima). There were also pieces about the city covered Luxottica’s sponsoring of the restoration of the Accademia bridge (Reuters, May 26 – Luxottica sets its sights on restoring Venice bridge; New York Times, May 26 – Luxottica Sets Its Sights on Restoring Venice Bridge*).
Die Welt didn’t stray much further, suggesting that its readers vacation at the Lido di Jesolo (24 – Lido di Jesolo, Italien). Other papers instead wrote about Milan and the World’s Fair, visited by Moroccan princess Lalla Hasnaa for her country’s official day (Le Matin, May 23 – Au Parc des expositions de la Foire de Milan de Rho en Italie) and where, in the American pavillion, there was a discussion about Food Security (New York Times, May 27 – US Pavilion Seeks to Be Catalyst in Food Security Discussion)
The Sunday Times suggested a trip to Amalfi (May 24 – One destination, two holidays: Amalfi, Italy), and the New York Times told its readers about a Sardinia with a wealth of discoveries (May 27 – A Tour of Sardinia, Full of Discoveries). Other papers concentrated on people moving to Italy. The Financial Times suggested buying a palazzo right on the Grand Canal (May 22 – For sale: five upmarket homes with quirky pasts*), while according to the Wall Street Journal , the strong dollar might be an occasion to invest in European real estate, possibly in Apulia (Wall Street Journal, May 22 – Thinking of Buying a Home Abroad?*).
Living in Italy has its advantages, at least according to Pulizer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, who left New York for Rome, and told the Financial Times about her new life Financial Times (May 22 – Why Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri quit the US for Italy*). And still in the capital Sueddeutsche Zeitung visited the garden surrounded dwelling of sculptor Janine von Thüngen (May 23 – So schön ländlich kann man am Rande Roms wohnen).
Culture –Italian culture is a strong attraction that, as always, was present on the pages of the foreign press. Last week, there was not only art, with the story about the 25 works of art that the United States returned to Italy (Washington Post, May 26 – US returns 25 looted artifacts to Italy: Vases, frescoes). There were also stories about music, with the harps of Victor Salvi, the Italian-American musician who recently passed and who had decided to create a harp factory in Piasco, his family’s home town in Cuneo (New York Times, May 22 – Victor Salvi, Who Played Harps and Made Them Too, Dies at 95; Washington Post, May 22 – Victor Salvi dies at 95; harp maker was called the ‘lord of the strings’).
For cinema, the New York Times reviewed the retrospective that Lincoln Center dedicated to Sophia Loren (May 22 – Sophia Loren in Titanus Film Retrospective at Lincoln Center*), and El Pais Semanal narrated the adventurous life of photographer and actress Tina Modotti (May 22 – El misterio de Tina Modotti).
Articles about literature included a review of Umberto Eco’s most recent novel (Les Echos, May 26 – L’Italie « zéro » d’Umberto Eco) and Dante, explained to German readers (Die Welt, May 25 – Endlich, Dante lesen und verstehen), as well as a visit to Rizzoli Galleria, the literati gathering place in Milan (El Mundo, May 25 – Rizzoli Galleria, el salón de lectura de Milán).
Italian cuisine could not be forgotten. The New York Times Magazine explained how the art of Massimo Bottura and forty other chefs will be at the service of the needy at the Ambrosian Refectory Dining Hall in Milan (May 25 – Massimo Bottura’s Pope Francis-Approved Refectory, and Recipe to Turn Stale Bread Into Gold*).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration