Industrial upswing – The foreign press has been busy pointing out the positive signals emanating from Italy’s industrial sector. On January 6, there was a “well done” from the Financial Times in a piece that highlighted the growth in the country’s manufacturing index that ended 2015 on a high note – Italian service sector ends 2015 on a high* having previously reported, on December 23, on the sector’s positive end of year figures regarding turnover and new orders received in October – Italian industry enjoys strong October*.
Large groups received individual mentions. The news published by Les Echos on January 12 about Enel, for example, was about the merger with its own renewable subsidiary company – L’italien Enel va absorber sa filiale dans les énergies vertes, the same subsidiary to feature in articles in Bloomberg covering its various investments in Latin America, on December 22 – Enel Green Power to Invest $215 Million in a Wind Farm in Chile and again on December 28- Enel Green Power Building 254-Megawatt Solar Farm in Brazil. Enel’s renewables also featured, on January 13, in Germany’s Die Welt that had travelled to Tuscany to find out about its geothermal power stations – Der klügste Ökostrom entsteht durch Wärme aus der Erde.
On December 22, Reuters featured the automotive sector in a piece about a British group specializing in car parts happy to pay 1 billion Euros for Rhiag – LKQ to buy Italy’s Rhiag to boost Europe auto spares business.
With Italy’s financial market registering “the best performance in Europe in 2015”, making its Stock Market the most vibrant in the Eurozone, on January 6, the Financial Times reported – Robust euro zone IPOs in the pipeline* and despite the somewhat turbulent situation at the beginning of the year, there are new listings on the horizon. First off the blocks in 2016 was Ferrari, on the Milan Stock Exchange, as reported on January 4 in the Washington Post – Ferrari completes spinoff with stock listing in Milan and in L’Orient le Jour – Ferrari fait son entrée à la bourse de Milan, deux mois et demi après Wall Street. Next up, according to both the Financial Times and Reuters in articles published on January 10 and 11 respectively, are two groups in the property sector, Colima and Idea – Italian Reits look to test investors’ property appetite with IPOs* and – Italian real estate groups looking for right IPO moment.
Reuters, on January 6, and Les Echos on January 7, have also run pieces highlighting the fact that foreign companies now hold half of Italy’s stock market, a sign, they say, that the third largest economy in the Eurozone can indeed attract investments from abroad – Half of Italy’s stock market now in foreign hands – study and – Les étrangers détiennent plus de 50 % des sociétés cotées italiennes.
Fashion – Reports in the foreign media on this sector confirm that it continues to be a mainstay of the Italian economy. On the eve of Pitti Uomo, Les Echos, on January 12, explained how the industry has managed to compensate for the down turn in the Russian market by increasing sales in the US – La mode masculine italienne portée par les Etats-Unis. Other news on the sector had already appeared in December, with the Spanish daily, El Pais, focusing, in a piece on the 19th, on the technological and design aspects of footwear produced by Stonefly – Zapatos italianos y tecnológicos, whilst another, on the 26th, featured an interview with Enrico Bracalente, head of NeroGiardini, leading component of the “made in Italy” brand – El imperio NeroGiardini.
Financial aspects of the sector also made the news, with Reuters reporting on December 23 on the announcement of a joint-venture in the cosmetics field – Italy’s Intercos seals cosmetics JV with S.Korea’s Shinsegae and on January 11, on a successful 2015 for Italian fashion designer Brunello Cucinelli – Brunello Cucinelli 2015 revenues up 16 pct, boosted by forex
Italy’s Leading Figures featured in several articles printed during the period in question. On December 18, the Financial Times published a long interview with Lorenzo Bini Smaghi carried out in his home in Tuscany, in which the president of Société Générale, explained his ideas on how best to manage Italy’s cultural heritage – Economist Lorenzo Bini Smaghi on managing Italy’s legacy. On January 4, the New York Times directed its attention to the nomination of Filippo Grandi as head of the UNHCR – Filippo Grandi of Italy Takes Helm at UN Refugee Agency.
Exponents of Italy’s cultural scene also featured, with The Times, on January 8, talking about the soprano, Rosa Feola – Rosa Feola: Musica e Poesia whilst in Le Monde, on January 6, the focus was on writer Giancarlo De Cataldo – Giancarlo De Cataldo, juge à part and two days later, in the same paper, it was the turn of Marco Nassivera, New Chief for the Franco-German TV network, Artè – Marco Nassivera, une fidélité européenne.
On January 14, the book supplement of the same French daily featured the “mysterious” Italian writer, Elena Ferrante – Elena Ferrante, obstinément sous le masque whilst it was on December 30, that Babelia, the culture supplement of Spain’s El Pais, ran its interview with pianist Stefano Bollani – Stefano Bollani: “Al jazz le falta conectar con la electrónica”, and in another article, on January 9, marked the passing of actress Silvana Pampanini, star of popular Italian cinema- Muere Silvana Pampanini, diva del cine popular italiano. She also featured in a profile published by Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung on January 6 – Filmdiva Silvana Pampanini gestorben.
The death of the first ever woman to compete on the Formula 1 circuit, Maria Teresa de Filippis, nicknamed “la Pilotina”, also prompted a string of articles in the foreign press. On January 9, L’Orient le Jour spoke of the Décès de Maria de Filippis, première femme pilote de F1, The Times, on January 10 wrote – Maria Teresa De Filippis – a pioneer for women in Formula One and on 12th, the title in Le Monde read – Mort de Maria Teresa de Filipis, la « Pilotina », pionnière de la F1.
Food & Wine never fails to put in an appearance, and this time around, on December 18, the Financial Times explained that the country known for its wines could also boast about its craft beers – Five of the best: Italian craft beers), but it was Italy’s classic Christmas cake, panettone, and how it is titillating taste buds across Europe that was celebrated in Le Monde on December 23 – Le panettone, brioche de Noël sans frontières.
Bloomberg, on the other hand, chose to publish an article on January 5 detailing what Francesco Mazzei, one of London’s celebrated Italian chefs, has to say about the best of southern Italian cuisine – How to Cook the Best Food Southern Italy Has to Offer,whilst it was the “futuristic cocktails” sampled in Milan that featured in the New York Times on January 6 – In Milan, a New Spin on a Century-Old Cocktail.
Tourism, another perennial favorite of the international press was the focus of various articles, including one in The Times on January 10 with plenty of suggestions as to where people might like to vacation in “il bel paese” – The 50 best holidays in Italy, although on December 31, BloombergBusiness had already recommended that visitors should head for Lake Iseo, where the artist Christo has a project planned for this spring – Christo’s Latest Big Project: Floating Piers in Italy. A few days later, on January 4, the same paper published a photo gallery of a foundry in Agnone, in Molise, the Fonderia Marinelli, which has been casting bells since the 14th century – The Marinelli Bell Foundry). It was New Year’s Eve however, when Milan was the focus of Spain’s El Pais, and specifically, on one of the city’s newest symbols, the so-called Pirellone, the “audacious” skyscraper designed by Gio Ponti – El Pirellone, un símbolo de Milán.
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