Style & architecture – Italian style, including lifestyle, was a popular subject in the foreign press at the tail end of 2016, providing welcome relief from the many other reports on the comings and goings of Italy’s major banks. Bloomberg for example, showcased 20 photographs that represented the best aspect of the year’s lifestyle news, including one of the Bay of Naples, the interior of a New York pizzeria and an exhibition of vintage Lamborghinis (December 19 – Bloomberg Pursuits’ Best Photography of 2016). Moroccco’s Le Matin helped celebrate the 70th anniversary of a true symbol of Italian lifestyle, namely Ferrero’s Nutella (December 21 – Ferrero fête ses 70 ans), whilst it was Italian architecture, in the shape of a villa in Fiesole with one particularly magnificent feature that was highlighted in an article in the Financial Times (December 15 – Five homes for sale with fantastic libraries*), starring again a Wall Street Journal article that described the transformation of an old, ruined property in Castel Rigone in Umbria into a designer home (December 19 – From Relic to Contemporary Umbrian Home*). Austria’s der Standard also showcased a property in Italy, this time in Venice, in a piece all about the sale of the 18th century Palazzo Berlendis, designed by Andrea Tirali and one time home to Nietzche (December 16 – Venedig: Kurzzeitresidenz von Nietzsche steht zum Verkauf). Spanish readers on the other hand, learned from El País all about the great Renzo Piano, in a tribute piece that focused on the architect’s new Botin Center due to open in 2017 when it will undoubtedly transform the heart of the city of Santander (December 15 – Santander, un ‘renzo piano’ en la bahía).
Tourism – Italy’s tourist attractions continued to feature in the international press, highlighting this week in the el Viajero supplement of el País, Venice, Trieste, Riviera del Brenta, Lecce and Ravenna, included in an article that described the 15 most beautiful cities on the Adriatic (December 22 – Las 15 ciudades más bellas del Adriático). The Wall Street Journal was out to explore the most beautiful parts of the Dolomites for a memorable tailor-made holiday (December 20 – A Customized Ski Holiday in the Dolomites, Italian-Style*), whilst the Guardian was in Naples to find out more about the reawakening of the sleeping volcano that is the Campi Flegrei (December 20 – Volcano near Naples showing signs of reawakening). Lebanon’s L’Orient le Jour took a look at one of the many cultural aspects of Rome in a visit to the Quirinale’s Stables to explore the exhibition of masterpieces stolen by Napoleon Bonaparte but later returned to Italy (December 22 – Ces chefs-d’œuvre que Napoléon avait rapportés d’Italie…), whereas both the Wall Street Journal and der Standard wrote about Barbara Jatta, the first woman to be put in charge of the Vatican Museums (December 20 – Pope Francis Names New Female Director of Vatican Museums*; Vatikanische Museen erstmals mit Frau an der Spitze).
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