Economy– In economic news, the international media’s casts the spotlight on luxury. Daily papers in the English-speaking world cover the Wall Street listing of Zegna thanks to an investment vehicle launched by the Investindustrial fund bringing the group’s valuation over the $ 3 billion mark (Financial Times, December 20 – Italy’s Zegna fashions New York listing in $3bn spac deal*). Meanwhile, The New York Times wonders whether the Italian group’s listing might start a “new trend” for reviving the entire fashion industry (December 19 – Zegna’s I.P.O. Path Raises Question: Is This the Next Big Fashion Trend?*). Bloomberg covers another luxury brand, Ferretti yachts, which is seeking to raise more than $ 100 million with a Hong Kong IPO (December 20 – Superyacht Maker Ferretti Considering Hong Kong IPO*), while Les Echos dedicates a report to Prada, recounting how “the smartest label in Italian fashion” is preparing for the succession of its founder Miuccia, focusing on “ecological transition” (December 16 – Mode : comment Prada prépare l’après Miuccia*).
Sustainability also takes centre stage in the plans of the industrial cable group Prysmian, which has won a $ 900 million contract for wind farms in the United States (Reuters, December 18 – Prysmian wins $900 mln of U.S. wind farm contracts), and in the agreement between Eni and Enel, “using the two companies’ infrastructure” to allow electric car drivers to recharge vehicles in Italy (Reuters, December 22 – Enel, Eni join forces on electric car charging in Italy).
Lastly, foreign investment is covered with the British Flutter making a € 1.9 billion bid for the gaming group Sisal (December 23 in Financial Times – Flutter buys Italian online gaming group Sisal for €1.9bn; Bloomberg – Flutter Buys Italian Gaming Operator Sisal for $2.2 Billion; Reuters – Online betting group Flutter to buy Italy’s Sisal for $2.2 bln).
Culture and tourism – Several cultural reports are in the news. The New York Times recounts how Verdi’s Shakespearian trio– Macbeth, Falstaff, and Otello – is resonating in all of Italy’s leading opera houses this season (December 17 – Verdi’s Shakespeare Resonates Across Italian Opera Houses*). The United States daily also covers an exhibition that the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut has dedicated to the female figures of the Renaissance, from Artemisia Gentileschi to Lavinia Fontana (December 16 – The Renaissance Women Who Painted Against the Odds*) and reports on cinema: first with an artistic trajectory of Paolo Sorrentino on the occasion of his autobiographical work The Hand of God (December 16 – Paolo Sorrentino Turns the Camera on His Own Life*) and then, in Sorrentino’s footsteps, with a visit to Naples, a “city of contradictions” that is “once again a home for cinema” (December 17 – Naples, a City of Contradictions, Is Once Again a Home for Cinema*). Cinema is also the focus in Rome, with the revival and the “new golden season” of the Cinecittà studios (L’Orient le Jour, December 22 – À Rome, les studios de Cinecittà rêvent d’un nouvel âge d’or).
And while El País covers the “extraordinary life of Raffaella Carrà” which will become a documentary (December 21 – La extraordinaria vida de Raffaella Carrà se convertirá en un documental), Financial Times recounts Roman tradition with a “cult shop”: Gammarelli, the workshop for liturgical vestments that offers accessories for “secular tastemakers” as well (December 18 – Cult Shop: for socks fit for a pope*).
Wine & Food – In wine & food reporting, Les Echos recommends an “exceptional wine,” Masseto, born on the “Tuscan hills facing the sea” (December 17 – Vin : Masseto massimo*). Christmas tradition is also covered, with Giotto panettone, “one of Italy’s best,” made in the Due Palazzi prison in Padua (The New York Times, December 20 – A Panettone Baked in Prison, and It’s One of Italy’s Best*).
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