Italy through the eyes of the world: design, industry and tourism – After almost two months of uninterrupted coverage of Italian economic policy affairs, the foreign press chose to turn the spotlight this week on Italian industry-related news. The bulk of the reports published focused on some of the more vibrant names in Italian fashion and design and their internationalization strategies. The articles were on topics ranging from the opening of a new showroom in Hong Kong by the Fiat group (in the South China Morning Post of February 13 – Car showroom’s cafe offers a taste of Italy*) and the deal signed in India by fine tailoring and clothing brand Canali (in The Wall Street Journal of February 13 – Canali Group, Genesis Luxury Fashion to Set Up India Venture), through to the marketing strategies of Cavalli (the subject of analysis in the February 11 edition of the Saudi daily Arab News: Cavalli trades pleats for tweets*). The Florentine fashion house was also the focus of an article that appeared in India’s Economic Times, which looked at the firm’s plans to open Cafè Cavalli stores in this promising Asian market (February 17 – Roberto Cavalli teams up with Manav Gangwani’s Infinite Luxury for Indian stores).
Alongside fashion and design, there were a number of news stories published dealing with Italian industrial and financial groups: UniCredit was described as having good growth prospects due to the presence of Italian firms in the Chinese market (in the China Daily on February 16 – UniCredit sees corporate expansion driving its Chinese mainland growth), whilst Prysmian was reported as having been awarded an 800 million euro contract to lay an underwater electrical cable between Scotland and England (in the Financial Times of February 17 – Scotland-England subsea power link planned*).
As usual, tourism-related coverage also contributed to positive foreign press exposure for Italy this week: of note in this regard was a report from Carnival in Venice, which appeared in the Spanish paper ABC (February 17 – Venecia por fuera y por dentro), and a piece offering some tips for a budget-priced cultural holiday to Milan (in The Independent on February 15 – Milan for £300). The Lombard capital also featured in an item published in El Mundo, which drew the attention of Spanish readers to the Bosco Verticale (or Vertical Forest) project involving two new eco-friendly apartment tower blocks being built in the district of Porta Nuova (February 11 – Un bosque vertical para combatir la polución de la ciudad).
Prominent Italians in politics, business & culture – Whilst there was less international press coverage of Italian economic policy developments this week, interest in Mario Monti remained high, particularly in the wake of the speech delivered by the Italian prime minister to the European Parliament (The New York Times on February 17 – Italy’s Prime Minister Offers Praise for Greece and Optimism About Euro Zone; and The Wall Street Journal on February 16 – Italy’s Leader Warns EU Needs Better Democracy*).
The print media spotlight was also trained on other Italian personalities: the Brazilian paper Valor Econômico devoted a page to Francesco Abruzzesi, the new president of Citroën in Brazil (14 February – Um italiano no comanda da Citroën*), whilst the Spanish press focused on the composer Salvatore Sciarrino, who received an award from the Fundación BBVA for his contribution to reinvigorating vocal and instrumental music (ABC – Sciarrino premiado por su renovación de la música vocal e instrumental; and La Vanguardia – Sciarrino, premio BBVA Fronteras del Conocimiento en Música Contemporánea* – both on February 15).
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