The Italy of isolation and Phase 2 – The foreign press continues to recount how Italy is experiencing these days of social isolation, and how the country is preparing to reopen for business. Reuters and The New York Times tell the story of the young tennis players Vittoria Olivieri and Carola Pessina who, at Finale Ligure, played from rooftops of their neighbouring buildings, “showing the pros how to be truly innovative” (April 21 – What’s That Racket on the Roof?*; April 21 – Italian girls take to rooftop tennis amid coronavirus lockdown*), while The Washington Post offers a new episode in the quarantine diary kept by the illustrator Emiliano Ponzi, with images and anecdotes from Milan (April 21 – From a restricted Italy, an artist’s eye on the coronavirus*).
For stories of solidarity, the American daily recounts the “moral victory” of Davide Martinelli, a professional cyclist who is now using his bike to deliver medicine in the province of Brescia (April 17 – Pro cyclist in Italy uses his bike to deliver medicine). Another sports figure, Maurizio Arrivabene, “the top sport manager of Ferrari” between 2014 and 2018 – says El Mundo – is driving ambulances taking the elderly to hospital (April 21 – El ex jefe de Ferrari, al volante de las ambulancias en mitad de la pandemia). Ferrari is also garnering coverage as it continues to make respirator parts (Reuters, April 16 – Ferrari makes parts to turn snorkel masks into coronavirus kit) while preparing an “ambitious scheme” to reopen production lines with testing extended to all workers (April 21 in Reuters – Ferrari rolls out coronavirus testing to get staff ready for work and The New York Times –Ferrari Rolls Out Coronavirus Testing to Get Staff Ready for Work*).
But it’s fewer cars and more bikes in Milan, where the Municipality is readying a cycling mobility plan that will be looked to “for guidance from New York City” and other cities in the world, explains The Guardian (April 21 – Milan seeks to prevent post-crisis return of traffic pollution).
Culture – Culture is also getting ready for the reopening: The New York Times recounts the strategies put in place by the Uffizi (April 20 – Uffizi, Accustomed to Taming Crowds, Looks to Outbreak’s End*), while Financial Times is exploring the “world of Giorgio Morandi,” a painter who “embraced lockdown” during Fascism (April 17 – The interior world of Giorgio Morandi, an artist who embraced lockdown*). The New York Times also has more in-depth coverage of two educational approaches born in Italy: Reggio Children (April 19 – What Are Reggio Emilia Schools?*) and Montessori preschools (April 19 – What to Know About Montessori Preschools?*). Cinema is also in the spotlight, with actress Claudia Cardinale celebrated on the occasion of her birthday (April 21 – “Claudia Cardinale, la plus belle italienne de Tunis” de Mahomoud Ben Mahmoud et Mohamed Challouf: Une Tunisieene dans l’ âme!).
Agrifood and wine & food sectors – In the agrifood sector, the focus is on spirits: Reuters, in fact, explains that Italian industry leader Campari has launched an effort to “enter France’s Champagne club” with an offer to buy Lallier (April 17 – Italy’s Campari seeks to enter France’s Champagne club). And while Der Standard offers the Neapolitan recipe for “uova in purgatorio,” recounting the egg dish’s long history of “belief and superstition (April 21 – Uova in purgatorio: Eier im Fegefeuer), Italian cuisine is covered in English-language dailies, with an obituary celebrating the life of “legendary Italian restaurateur” Sirio Maccioni (The Wall Street Journal, April 20 – Legendary New York Restaurateur Sirio Maccioni Dies at 88*), owner of the restaurant that drew “Manhattan’s elite” during the 1980s and ’90s (Bloomberg, April 20 – Sirio Maccioni, Restaurant Ringmaster at Le Cirque, Dies at 88*), “a celebrity in New York City’s restaurant scene” (The New York Times, April 20 – Sirio Maccioni, Whose Le Cirque Drew Manhattan’s Elite, Dies at 88),). The New York paper also covers the passing of another leading figure on the city’s culinary landscape, Nina Balducci, founder of “the most important specialty food store in New York City”. (April 20 – Nina Balducci, Who Shaped a Famed Grocery Store, Dies at 91*).
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