Economy recovery and investments – The Italian economy is recovering and the number of foreign companies investing in Italy, as well as Italian investments abroad, are growing. Last week, the foreign press reported on the improved estimates for economic growth from the OECD (Handelsblatt, 22 OECD erhöht Wachstumsprognose für Italien;Sueddeutsche Zeitung, February 24 Italien ist zurück) as well as the investments of the large foreign groups in Italy, like that of Hitachi, which is pouring over 800 million euro into Ansaldo STS and Ansaldo Breda (Wall Street Journal, February 23 – Hitachi to Buy Train Division from Italy’s Finmeccanica*; Financial Times, February 24 – Hitachi snaps up Finmeccanica’s rail business in € 809 m deal*, Valor Economico, 24 – Hitachi compra ativos ferroviários da italiana Finmeccanica*). Other stories covered foreign interest in World Duty Free of the Benetton family (Financial Times, February 24 – Benetton family receives bids for World Duty Free*; Bloomberg Businessweek, February 24 – Benettons Open to Sale of Entire Stake in World Duty Free), and expansion plans of Italian groups. Telecom is planning to invest 4 billion dollars in the Brazilian market (Valor Economico, February 20 – Telecom Italia pretende investir R$ 14 bilhões no Brasil*), Enel Green Power is planning to build new solar plants in Brazil (Bloomberg, February 20 – Enel Green to Build Two Solar Projects in Brazil) and Lavazza is negotiating an exclusive agreement with the American firm Mondelez for Carte Noire coffee (Reuters, February 24 – Italy’s Lavazza has exclusive rights to consider Carte Noire buy).
Business was also the subject of the interview with Marina Natale, Italy’s most important banker, and the head of finance for UniCredit (Bloomberg, February 23 – Italy’s Top Female Banker Sets Sights on Becoming a CEO).
Culture and Tourism – The spotlight on the cultural pages highlighted the career of Luca Ronconi, the director who was a myth in Italian theater ( El Pais, February 22 – Muere Luca Ronconi, actor y director mítico del teatro italiano del siglo XX). He was also called a visionary who changed our way of seeing and living the theater (Publico, February 22 – Com Luca Ronconi o teatro era primeiro palavra).And there was a review of the less serious “Ciao Bella”, a double CD presented in Spain and that covers the great successes of the female voices of Italian pop (El Pais, February 20 – Pop femenino en italiano).
For tourism, the Sunday Times journeyed along the Via Emilia to visit Food Valley (February 22 – Italy’s ultimate food trail*), while La Jornada ran an article on the exhibition “Dress Dreans: a century of history of Italian cinema through the art of the great Italian costume designers”, from January 17 to March 22 at Palazzo Braschi, Museum of Roma at Piazza Navona (February 20 – Exposición en Roma recorre el gran cine mundial por medio del vestuario). Finally, the New York Times, wrote about the discrete fascination of Milan on the occasion of Fashion Week (February 25 – Cheerleading for Milan*).
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