Italy and art: from Caravaggio to the Metropolitan Museum – This week, art was Italy’s representative on the pages of the foreign press. Specifically, numerous papers around the world reported on the discovery of 100 unknown drawings by the young Michelangelo Merisi, commonly known as Caravaggio (July 6, Washington Post – Italian art historians claim to find dozens of works by Caravaggio in collection of master: Diario de Noticias – Desenhos de Caravaggio encontrados em Milão; Le Figaro – Découverte de dessins attribués au Caravage; The Guardian – Cache of ‘Caravaggio sketches’ Found hidden in Milan castle; Süddeutsche Zeitung – Hundert Zeichnungen von Caravaggio in Italien gefunden), underlining that the “treasure” might be worth up to 700 million euros.
But interest was not only generated by recent discoveries. There was a great deal of enthusiasm in Argentina over the arrival of works from the Pinacoteca of Ancona to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Buenos Aires. Articles about the exhibit “Six Hundred Years of Italian Art” were run in Clarins (“Seiscientos años de arte italiano” abre el sábado en el Museo de Arte Decorativo) and La Nacion (Un paseo por lo mejor del arte italiano, de Rafael a Tiziano). Then, there was the show at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of paintings by Bellini, Titan and others from the ‘Accademia Carrara in Bergamo (New York Times, Jluy 5 – ‘Bellini, Titian and Lotto’ at the Metropolitan Museum ). For those who prefer to enjoy Italian art and culture on their home ground, the Spanish newspaper El Pais proposes two itineraries: a steamer journey starting in Venice that connects eight city museums (July 5 – El vaporetto del arte), and a tour of the walls and treasures of Lucca (July 1 – De Boccherini a Puccini).
Economic leaders – The week after the summit on the future of the euro, there was no lack of articles on economic policy. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published an analysis of relations between Italy and Germany with an interview of Mario Monti, in which the Italian Prime Minister reiterated Italy’s commitment to reform and stated that Rome will not need bailouts from Europe (July 3 – Italien verlangt keine Rettung und keine Eurobonds).
The New York Times dedicated space to another Italian on the economic stage, , Mario Draghi, and explaining that after the decisions made by European leaders, the president of the European Central Bank will have more powers to address the crisis (July 2 – Europe’s Banking Chief Wields New Power in Crisis).
Fiat’s plans and Pininfarina’s cars – The spotlight also shone on Italy’s automotive sector. On one hand, there was great interest, especially in the United States, in Fiat’s determination to increase its shares in Chrysler (July 3, Wall Street Journal – Fiat to Raise Stake in Chrysler and Washington Post – Fiat looking to boost Chrysler stake with 3.3 percent purchase from trust fund). The strategies of the Turin-based carmaker also caught the attention of the Brazilian Valor Economico, which describes its plan to invest $400 million in green technology (July 5 – Fiat investirá US$ 440 milhões em tecnologias verdes).
There were numerous articles remembering Sergio Pininfarina, the “genius of Italian automotive design.” In the days after his death, there were profiles and articles published in papers all over the world, from Europe (El Pais – Sergio Pininfarina, polifacético icono del diseño de automóviles; Süddeutsche Zeitung – Der Formvollender) and the Americas (Wall Street Journal – Design Firm Boss Sergio Pininfarina, Dead at 85; La Nacion – El genio del estilo italiano) passando per il Medio Oriente (Gulf News – Italy mourns Ferrari genius) to the Middle East (Gulf News – Italy mourns Ferrari genius).
Finally, The Hindu Business Line also reported on car manufacturing, with an article about the auto parts group Sogefi (July 5 – Italy car parts maker Sogefi adds capacity in India)
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