A turning point for the Italian economy – In the days surrounding the approval of Italy’s new austerity plan, the foreign press looked on with particular interest. Some fifty related items appeared in major international newspapers, explaining and commenting on the legislative package. Other articles focused instead on Italy’s contribution to resolving the difficulties being faced by Europe, and the “rigor” with which prime minister Mario Monti is tackling the crisis (Mario Monti impone su severo estilo en una Europa en crisis de identidad in ABC on December 8; and Signor Monti, sensazionale in the Financial Times of December 6).
Another game-changer for the Italian economy was without question the announcement by Fiat that a deal had been struck with trade unions extending to all its plants similar conditions to those in the labor agreement that workers voted to accept last year at its Pomigliano site, news which was the subject of seven newspaper reports on December 13. The Financial Times labeled the agreement as “historic” (Fiat reaches ‘historic’ deal with unions*), whilst The Washington Post chose to highlight the exchange of best practices between the Turin-based Fiat and Detroit carmaker Chrysler (Fiat-Chrysler CEO Marchionne heralds Pomigliano plant as best in Fiat-Chrysler system).
Change was also reported as being on the horizon for the Italian railways sector, with the unveiling of the country’s new high-speed NTV trains reported on December 13 by the Financial Times (Italy gets a look at new high-speed train*) and Les Echos (L’italien NTV dévoile avec Alstom son train du futur*). In business news, one noteworthy foreign press mention was the news of the internationalization of Bocconi University, which is opening a branch of its School of Business Management in Mumbai (SDA Bocconi to open business school in India* in the Financial Times of December 14).
Business and economics were again center stage in a couple of items focusing on two prominent Italians in these spheres: Die Zeit published an interview with Professor Franco Bruni on the monetary policy of central banks (Diese Geldpolitik ist verrückt on December 9), whilst Le Monde devoted an article to Giuliano Melani, the entrepreneur who launched a campaign encouraging Italians to buy government bonds (Giuliano Melani, un indigné d’un genre nouveau, adepte de Friedrich Hayek* on December 12).
Italian music and visual arts – The international print media spotlight was once again trained on Italian culture during the monitored period. The season opener at La Scala in Milan garnered the greatest press interest (and was reviewed in depth by ABC in an article headlined Doce minutos de aplausos a Don Giovanni que seduce la Scala). The Spanish newspaper also devoted a page-long feature to the return to Villa Borghese of precious marble sculptures sold to Napoleon two centuries ago (Las joyas vuelven a Roma on December 15), whilst two South American newspapers reported on exhibitions of Italian works in Porto Alegre and Buenos Aires (De Chirico cria monumento à ausencia* in the Folha de S. Paulo of December 8; and Con arte italiano, reabre una sala renovada en Bellas Artes in Clarín on December 6). Finally, Le Figaro carried a page-long article on the work of the Italian photographer Massimo Vitali (Plein soleil avec Massimo Vitali* on December 12).
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