Economy – Italian finance and industry are making news in the foreign business press. Reuters focuses on new listings, as the bourse is joined by Technogyms (Reuters, April 27 – Italy’s Technogym IPO order book covered in range 3.25-3.35 euros – note) and the banking sector IT firm SIA (Reuters, April 27 – Italy’s SIA targets IPO in the autumn – CEO). The Washington Post, on the other hand, reports on Alitalia’s interest in purchasing 49% of Air Malta (April 27 – Italian carrier Alitalia considers Air Malta purchase).
For industry, French newspapers are reliving 70 years of “a true Italian legend” – Vespa, the very symbol of Italian-made quality (Le Monde, April 22 – La Vespa, 70 ans d’amour à l’italienne; Les Echos, April 26 – Ça se passe en Europe : la mythique Vespa fête ses 70 ans*).
Culture – For cultural news, Reuters reports on a new archaeological find that could “unravel” the enigmas of Etruscan civilization (April 25 – Etruscan stone could help unravel enigma of one of Italy’s first civilizations), while El País devotes its reporting to literature, with an interview of author Claudio Magris on the occasion of the presentation of his latest book in Barcelona (April 21 – Claudio Magris: “Vivimos en un totalitarismo ‘soft’”). The Spanish daily also interviews another Italian, philosopher Giorgio Agamben, who explains how “philosophy is always politics” (April 21- Giorgio Agamben: “El ciudadano es para el Estado un terrorista virtual”). The Moroccan paper L’Economiste covers art, recounting the artistic output of Nicola Salvatore (April 22 – Nicola Salvatore, l’amoureux de la baleine).
The spotlight is also on Sicilian culture with the exhibition “Sicily: Culture and Conquest” that the British Museum has dedicated to the true “treasure island,” as reported by The Observer (April 24 – Sicily: Culture and Conquest review – the original treasure island) and El País (April 24 – Sicilia, la isla de las esencias multiculturales).
Tourism – Tourism has seen broad coverage, with many reports concentrated between Tuscany and Southern Italy. The New York Times proposes 36 hours in the “untrammelled charm” of the Amalfi Coast (April 22 – 36 Hours on the Amalfi Coast*) and visits Salerno for the inauguration of “starchitect” Zaha Hadid’s first posthumous project (April 26 – Zaha Hadid’s First Posthumous Project Is Inaugurated in Salerno). Staying in Campania, die Welt reports on growers’ “brilliant ideas” aimed at boosting lemon sales in the world (April 23 – Mit diesen Ideen will Italien Zitronen-Macht werden), while the Washington Post visits Puglia to discover the wealth of food and architecture in Italy’s “heel” (April 21 – Italy’s overlooked ‘heel’ has a wealth of food, wine and unique architecture).
Staying with Italian culinary tradition, the Guardian reports on “aglione”, a giant garlic originally from Tuscany that promises to provide a milder flavour for some traditional dishes (April 25 – Italian entrepreneurs hope diners will get their teeth into ‘kissing garlic’). Also in Tuscany, the Wall Street Journal, in its pages devoted to luxury real estate, recommends buying a villa in Forte dei Marmi (April 25 – A Seaside Villa in Tuscany*), while Financial Times covers the history and properties of scagliola, in a workshop held in Florence (April 22 – The rock that’s not: why scagliola is better than marble*). Lastly, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung visits Rome to see a restored Colosseum that has returned “almost to what it once was” (April 26 – “Fast wie in der Antike”).
* Article available for pay / at registration