Culture – Poetry, literature, and art, bringing Italy together in times of crisis. The foreign press continues to report on how culture is helping the country withstand the isolation imposed by the coronavirus. The Wall Street Journal explains how depictions of epidemics in literature and the figurative arts, from Boccaccio to Tiepolo to Manzoni, are being rediscovered by students and educators today (March 19 – In Italy, Contagion Has Its Own Canon*), while El País celebrates “World Poetry Day” and the 89th anniversary of the birth of the poet Alda Merini, marked by performances and “poetry marathons” that have now become “unifying moments for Italy” (March 21 – ‘Stand up’ y maratones poéticos en Italia). The Spanish daily dedicates an edition of its feature “A painting a day” to Piero della Francesca’s portrait of Federico da Montefeltro (March 23 – Piero della Francesca y el final de la mentira), while in Le Monde, Italian writers and publishers recount the quarantine (March 19 – Le « confinamento » des lettres italiennes*).
The French daily also publishes a brief essay by the writer Paolo Giordano (March 24 – Paolo Giordano : « Je ne veux pas passer à côté de ce que l’épidémie nous dévoile de nous-mêmes »), while El País outlines the future of our society after the coronavirus in an interview with Alessandro Baricco held for the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (March 18 – “Això ens llançarà al futur definitivament”).
The Spanish dailies also devote coverage to recalling the life of the recently deceased Lucia Bosé, a “visceral, liberal, and energetic woman,” “arbitrary and intelligent,” and an “actress of incalculable beauty (El País, March 23 – ‘Mia cara’ Lucia Bosé; El Mundo, March 24 – Lucía Bosé: la musa de Antonioni que siempre hizo lo que le dio la gana).
Economy and society – The international dailies also cover the economic “war” against the epidemic. Financial Times highlights an editorial by Mario Draghi calling for an “immediate” mobilization of financial resources against the virus (March 25 – Draghi: we face a war against coronavirus and must mobilise accordingly; on March 26, this item was quoted in Expansión – Mario Draghi llama a la movilización inmediata de los recursos financieros de Europa “en guerra” contra el coronavirus and El País – Draghi llama a la movilización inmediata de los recursos financieros de Europa en guerra contra la Covid-19). Expansión also devotes attention to Fiat-Chrysler, which is converting a portion of its plants to manufacturing face masks (Expansión, March 24 – Fiat Chrysler fabricará y donará un millón de mascarillas al mes para luchar contra el coronavirus), while Financial Times discusses the boost the digital shopping sector is seeing in Italy and other countries of Southern Europe, due to the coronavirus (March 18 – Coronavirus: Southern Europe discovers digital shopping*).
Cuisine – Lastly, cooking can bring “consolation” during the quarantine. Several German-language dailies propose Italian recipes for their readers: from the more classic ones (March 20 on Die Zeit – Vier Rezepte für Pasta ohne Tomaten*and Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung – Wer Trost sucht, braucht Nudeln) to gnocchi alla siciliana, made with ricotta and not potatoes (Der Standard, March 24 – Sizilianische Ricotta-Gnocchi).
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