Italy’s style and positive image – Newspapers around the world continued their scrutiny of happenings in Italy, especially vis-à-vis economic reform and the revision of budget goals. Still, in a week marked by news of economic trends, the positive image of Italy’s style and art was exalted by the foreign press. Le Monde reported on the role of Brunello Cucinelli “the king of upscale cashmere”, in Milan’s financial markets (April 17 – Brunello Cucinelli et ses cachemires haut de gamme entrent en Bourse*) and Gulf News revealed the growth plans of sports car manufacturer Maserati, planning to produce ten times as many cars by 2015 (April 16 – Maserati to make 10 times more cars by 2015). And while Ducati, another Italian carmaker, was bought by the German Audi, the International Herald Tribune recalls the Bologna-based manufacturer’s pull on emerging markets (April 18 – Audi bets on Ducati for emerging markets). Finally, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung used racing legened Ferrari to describe the new adventure of NTV, Italy’s high speed rail line on the eve of the inauguration of its first line (April 18 – Ein „Ferrari auf Schienen“).
Another appointment of Italian style, the Milan Furniture Fair, was showcased in the Wall Street Journal (April 18 – Making a mark in Milan). And the country’s culinary tradition was seen as an excellent representative of Italian life style: El Pais discussed chef Massimo Bottura (April 18 – Lecciones de vida y de cocina), and China Daily “tasted” Ornellaia, “the world’s best wine” (April 14 – China gets a taste of world’s best wine).
The arts in the foreign press – Painting, opera, piano music and cinema all took center stage this week. The Economist printed an article on the Paris exhibition of the paintings of Renaissance master Cima da Conegliano (April 19 – An Overlooked Master), Le Monde had a piece on productions of Italian operas in the French capital (April 19 – Amours et noires trahisons au menu de deux pièces fondatrices du vérisme italien*) and the Wall Street Journal ran a portrait of Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda (April 19 – Playing Heart, Soul and Feet). The seventh art, cinema, was the subject of an article in Brazilian Folha de S. Paulo about the restored edition of Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America” to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival (April 20 – Filme restaurado de Sergio Leone serà exibido em Cannes*)
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration