Economy – New acquisitions, alliances and growth. The foreign press has written about several Italian businesses this week, starting with a Reuters piece about Enel’s expansion plans as announced by its CEO, Francesco Starace, who declared that it is looking to actively seek acquisitions outside Europe (April 12 – Enel actively eying M&A in regulated sphere: CEO). Another business, Open Fiber, which is part-owned by Enel, is also expanding thanks to an agreement made with banks that will fund 6.5 billion Euros of investments (New York Times, April 13 – Italy’s Open Fiber Enlists Banks for $8 Billion Broadband Rollout). More investments worth billions are also on the horizon of another energy giant, Eni, that is planning to invest 7 billion Euros on the Italian market over the next four years (April 18 in two US dailies – the New York Times – Eni Investing 7 Billion Euros in Italy Over 4 Years* and the Washington Post – Eni investing 7 billion euros in Italy over 4 years*).
Piedmont based Lavazza, on the other hand, intends to self-fund its growth. Founded 123 years ago, it has turned down offers by other major groups in the food sector in order to safeguard its independence and has already managed to significantly increase in size, an optimistic story carried by both New York Times and Reuters (April 12 – Lavazza Vows Independence, Says Turned Down JAB and Nestle*; Lavazza vows independence, says turned down JAB and Nestle). In the meantime, thanks to its collaboration with Spanish chef, Fernan Adriá, the coffee group has launched a new-style restaurant in Turin called Condividere by Lavazza (Expansión, April 13 – Lavazza se alía con Adrià para crear un restaurante).
Then, the Wall Street Journal was all about Italian innovation in an article about Pininfarina that, having designed many of the sports cars people dream about, is now planning to build something even more exciting (April 16 – Storied Ferrari Designer Wants to Build a $2.5 Million Electric Car*).
Culture also featured in this week’s foreign papers, many of which dedicated column inches to remembering Vittorio Taviani, describing him as “an emblematic brother in the Italian film world” and a “huge loss for Italian culture “ who became famous, along with his own brother, Paolo, thanks to the film “Cesare deve morire” that won a Palme D’Or in Cannes in 1977. (April 15, 16 and 18 in The Guardian – Italian film director Vittorio Taviani dies aged 88; Le Monde – Vittorio Taviani, moitié d’une fratrie emblématique du cinéma italien, est mort; El Mundo – Muere el cineasta italiano Vittorio Taviani, director de ‘César debe morir’, a los 88 años; Les Echos – Décès de Vittorio Taviani, indissociable de son frère Paolo; New York Times – Vittorio Taviani, 88, Dies; Made Acclaimed Films With Brother*).
Whilst El Pais was visiting the museum that Venice has dedicated to Casanova (April 15 – Venecia no olvida a Casanova, su libertino universal, El Mundo wrote about the ‘In Lapide Depictum. Pintura italiana sobre piedra’ exhibition that has just opened in Madrid’s Prada Museum featuring Titian’s “’Ecce Homo” (April 16 – Tiziano, eterno y sobre piedra). Architecture also got a mention, thanks to the Milan based Prada Foundation’s new tower, designed by Rem Khoolhass (Washington Post, April 18 – Koolhaas: Prada Tower explores effect of space on art and in a photographic gallery featuring the works of Carlo Scarpa (Le Monde, April 19 – Dans les pas de l’architecte Carlo Scarpa*).
Food & Drink also featured this week, with Die Zeit providing readers with a traditional Italian recipe based on spelt and fennel (April 17 – Ein Teller Urkraft) whilst Der Standard chose to delight its readers with a typical Ligurian “springtime” recipe for spinach and ricotta ravioli (April 17 – Spinat-Ricotta-Ravioli alla Genovese: Ligurische Frühlingspasta).
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