Manfacturing pushes ahead and recipes for growth – The foreign press continued to observe Italian politics closely, but didn’t lose track of the economic trends. And they were focused on the January “surprise” manufacturing reports that showed a 0.8% rise from December. On March 26, the Brazilian Valor Economico (Indústria da Itália surpreende e avança em janeiro) and the German tedsco Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Italiens Industrie schafft stärkstes Wachstum seit Sommer 2011) underlined how growth in different sectors (including food processing, electronics and textiles) showed the first upward trend since the summer of 2011.
In a video interview with the Bloomberg new agency, Enel’s CEO, Fulvio Conti spoke about growth and how to simulate it. In Conti’s opinion, Italy can used the forecast budget surplus to shake up the economic (March 19 – Italy Must Use Surplus for Growth, Enel CEO Says).
Fashion and culture – As usual, there was no lack of article on Italian art and culture. The Financial Times of Laure Prouvost, winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, ran a profilo f the fashion house’s CEO, Luigi Maramotti, and his low profile style. (March – Profile: Luigi Maramotti, Max Mara chairman).
The spotlights show on a major figure on the Italian musical scene: pianist Ludovico Einaudi, who presented his new CD in Bilbao. The concert was reported in the Spanish paper El Pais (March 19 – Ludovico Einaudi, ante el piano). Finally, halfway between tourism and life style, the Washington Post took its readers on a jaunt among the shops of Rome’s historic center, where even cardinals go shopping just a few steps from the Vatican (March 20 – From risotto to resoling, Rome’s old Borgo district is where up-and-coming cardinals go).