Culture – Italian culture has attracted the most interest in the foreign press this week. For El País it was the figurative arts and the exhibition in Conegliano (Veneto) dedicated to Giovanni Bellini and his disciples that highlights the Renaissance Master’s “sensual revolution” (March 29 – La sensual revolución de Giovanni Bellini). For the New York Times, however, it was all about the Uffizi and the exhibition of treasures saved from last year’s earthquake in central Italy (April 1 – Uffizi Gallery Shows Treasures Saved From Last Year’s Quakes*).
Literature also occupied a few column inches, with a piece, in the New York Times about the American TV series based on the novels of Elena Ferrante (March 30 – Elena Ferrante Series Coming to HBO*), whilst Austria’s Der Standard opted to write about the latest runaway success to be published by Luca D’Andreas, the writer from South Tyrol (April 4 – Luca D’Andreas “Der Tod so kalt”: Die Schrecken der Berge).
Le Monde focused on the theater with an article about Italian choreographer Alessandro Sciarroni’s latest show now entertaining Paris (April 5 – Alessandro Sciarroni dans le tourbillon de la vie*). Meanwhile, El País ran a piece remembering Italian political expert, Giovanni Sartori, who “gave us the tools we need to assimilate all the complexities” (April 4 – Sartori, el otro florentino.)
Tourism – As always a popular subject in the international press, this week Milan found itself in the spotlight in several articles prompted by the International Furniture Show it is hosting. The Financial Times wrote about the various design installations that have appeared in the city as a result of the show (March 31 – Milan Design: Sense and spirituality*) and the New York Times Style Magazine featured 144 of the city’s spectacular” entryways to some of its buildings, commenting that anyone who thinks the city is a cement jungle has obviously never looked behind its closed doors (April 4 – Milan’s Most Beautiful Entryways). Die Zeit was keen to point out that Italy’s financial capital has been reborn thanks to the arrival of artists, designers and architects from all over the world(April 7 – Aufsteiger*). The Washington Post on the other hand told its readers all about Italy’s first tulip field where people can pick their own flowers, just as they do in Holland (March 30 – Dutch tulips spring to life in Italy at ‘pick your own’ farm*).
Sicily also got a mention, with Morocco’s financial paper, L’Economiste offering the view, that it can happily compete with other tourist destinations in the Mediterranean area as it combines sea, culture and enjoyment (April 4 – La Sicile, un concurrent sérieux pour la Costa d’El Sol). Meantime the New York Times was in Valenza Po, a city known for its goldsmithing tradition, to visit one of the world’s largest jewelry studios, recently opened there by Bulgari (March 30 – Bulgari Creates a New Jewelry-Making Center*).
El Mundo, on the other hand was in Rome to find out about how work on the new metro line led to the discovery of the world’s oldest aqueduct (April 5 – Discubren en Roma el acueducto más antiguo del mundo). Ancient Rome is also the setting of the latest book about the adventures of French cartoon heroes, Asterix and Obelix, reviewed by various foreign papers who reveal, this time, the dynamic duo set off on a long journey across Italy. (April 5 in Le Nouvel Observateur – Adieu les sangliers, bonjour les pizzas : Astérix et Obélix vont explorer l’Italie; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – Asterix reist nach Italien; Sueddeutsche Zeitung – Obelix steigt zum Helden auf).
Food & Drink– With Easter just around the corner, food related articles are an inevitability. The Guardian provided its readers with a recipe for a “magnificent”, traditional Easter pie (April 4 – Recipe for an Italian Easter: egg, spinach and ricotta pie), and Frankfurter Allegmeine Zeitung wrote about Faenza’s traditional “passatelli” type pasta (April 1 – Nudeln aus Faenza). Meantime Der Standard set about describing the original recipe for traditional Genoese pesto (April 4 – Pesto alla Genovese mit Bärlauch: Pesto perfetto).
Lambrusco, one of Italy’s ever popular wines was described as “joyous and delicious” in an article in the New York Times (March 30 – Your Next Lesson: Lambrusco*) and then the same paper went on to explain how mortadella with truffles is about to take the US by storm (April 3 – How Do You Improve Upon Mortadella? Add Truffles). Die Welt described how the US market is one of the reasons for the success currently enjoyed by Segafredo-Zanetti, the brand of coffee that Donald Trump chooses to serve in all his hotels (April 4 – Trumps Kaffeeröster hat keine Angst vor Starbucks).
*Article available for pay / at registration