World capital is betting on Italy – Both private companies and institutional investors are showing even more interest in italy. According to the Wall Street Journal, last year Italian asset managers brought in a flow of 48 million euros, the record for the last 14 years (April 15 – Italian Funds Attract Record Cash), while the paper’s Money Beat blog explained that everyone is eyeing the new issue of the Italian Treasury inflation-linked bonds after the record of the previous year (April 11 – Italian Bonds: This Time for Retail Investors). And the offering was indeed successful. As Bloomberg reported on April 13, demand exceeded 6.7 million euros on the first day (Italy Tests Retail Investors’ Interest for Inflation-Linked Bond).
However, the foreign press did not only concentrate on capital market investments. Bloomberg also wrote about one of the great European investments funds, Partners Group, which has just invested in photovoltaic plants in Italy, with the idea of acquiring others in the future (April 14 – Partners Group Acquires Solar Plants in Italy, Plans to Buy More). Instead, The Times ran an article on real estate, telling readers that Venice is one of the markets with the best performance in the purchase of second homes by the wealthier British (April 11 – Palazzo living in the heart of Venice).
Women at the head of Italia Spa – Things are apparently changing at the head of the Italian Treasury holding. Government appointments to the boards of directors (Bloomberg –Descalzi, Starace Nominated to Eni, Enel Posts in Italy Shakeup; El Pais – El Gobierno italiano nombra a Francesco Starace como sustituto de Conti en Enel) were the subject of several articles in the foreign press which – on April 15 – welcomed three women managers (Emma Marcegaglia, Patrizia Grieco and Luisa Todini) to the head of the large public group. Special attention was paid to these events by the two major international financial papers: the Financial Times (Women to the fore as corporate Italy embraces change) and the Wall Street Journal (Italy SpA Welcomes Three New Chairwomen of the Board), as well as the German papers (Die Welt: Frauen übernehmen die Macht in Staatskonzernen; Faznet: Italien wechselt Manager von Staatskonzernen aus).
Fashion and design – Brunelle Cucinelli declared to Bloomberg that he was full of optimism, not only for his own group, but the high end market in general. The manager reported that he saw a rosy future for Italian luxury goods for 2014 (April 14 – Cucinelli Sees Rosy 2014 Amid Strong Demand for Exclusivity). Of course, as the CEO of Pomellato – Andrea Morante – declared in a video interview, again to Bloomberg, the sector will have to face the challenges of internationalization and size (April 14 –Luxury Companies Will Face Problem of Size: Morante). Still, as always, there was interest in fashion, seen in the success of “Italian Glamor,” the exhibit in Rio dei Janeiro of 120 creations by the great Italian designers (O Globo, April 11 – Exposição ‘Italian glamour’ encanta leitores do ELA ). And while the Washington Post, the New York Times and Die Welt reported on the trends seen at the Milan Salone del Mobile, the world’s largest – according to the papers – which can capitalize on Italian excellent in interior design and craftsmanship (April 14 – Invention loves collaboration at Milan show, April 16 In Milan, Putting a Pretty Face on It; 17 – Die Neuheiten des Mailänder “Salone”) , other papers ran articles about industrial design and the automotive industry. The Washington Post told the story of the return of Alfa Romeo on the US market with the 4C sports car, a small supercar ” (April 16 – Alfa heads to US in June with sporty $54,000 4C) and Bloomberg Businessweek reported on the success of the concept Maserati Alfieri (April 15 – Maserati Weighs New Alfieri Sports Car After Orders Triple). Bloombergy also visited the headquarters of Pininfarina, designing luxury cars for 80 years (Bloomberg Businessweek, April 15 – Inside the Design Studio Where Ferraris Are Born) and the Spanish Expansion gave a test run to the California, the motorcycle that expresses the Guzzi way of life (April 15 – California 1400 Touring, verdadero Moto Guzzi ‘way of life’).
Culture, tourism, and cuisine – The spotlights were again trained on Italian culture. The Daily Beast reported recent archeological discoveries that trace the birth of Rome to one hundred years before the famous 753 BC (April 14 – Rome 100 Years Older Than Thought), and El Pais discovered that the gates of Ostia Antica were larger than previously believed (April 16 – El puerto de Ostia Antica era tan grande como Pompeya). El Mundo stayed in the Eternal City to talk about Pier Paolo Pasolini not long before the 40th anniversary of his death (April 15 – Pasolini: la conciencia maldita). And as far as tourism is concerned, the Financial Times published a piece about the UK TV show “The Trip”, focused on Italy, with a six episode journey in Italy, from Piedmont to Capri (April 11 – On location: ‘The Trip to Italy’ with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon). Finally, Bloomberg Businessweek wrote about reasoning behind the world championship of pizza, including a video on the contest for the world’s best pizza maker just held in Parma (April 11 – Why Pizza Has Its Own World Championship).
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