Monti compared to Cincinnatus and Italian bond spread falls below the 300-point mark – This week’s foreign press coverage of Italy saw the Italian Prime Minister likened to Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who was called out of retirement to save his homeland. In Charlemagne, the commentary section of The Economist dedicated to European politics, the British weekly gave an appraisal of the first few months of the government led by Mario Monti, drawing a parallel with the Roman consul and describing the professor’s diplomatic agility in his dealings with Europe as a “pleasant surprise” (March 8 – Mario, put on your toga). It would seem that the honeymoon period between the foreign press and the caretaker prime minister continues unabated: the German weekly Die Zeit carried an extensive profile on Monti (on March 5 – Der heilige Professor), whilst according to a lengthy report in the Swiss paper Le Matin, “Italy is intent on believing in the reforms” of the government (on March 4 – L’italie veut croire aux réformes de Mario Monti*). For the Financial Times, more so than embodying the virtues of ancient Rome, Monti was seen as replicating the magical qualities of Mary Poppins: Beppe Severgnini contributed a half serious-half tongue-in-cheek article to the London-based newspaper, in which he gave a rundown of the results of the first 100 days of Monti’s prime ministership (March 8 – A spoonful of sugar will help Mario’s medicine go down*). The achievements of the government, especially the fall in the Italian bond spread, were also the subject of an item in Expansión, which examined the question of why Italian treasury bonds are proving more popular than Spanish ones (on March 8 – Cinco razones por las que el bono italiano gusta más que el español).
Major Italian corporate groups: results and investments – Several articles in the international press this week looked at the annual reports and industrial strategies of Italian corporate groups. The media spotlight was trained on Autogrill’s growth in profits (in Les Echos on March 8 – Autogrill tire profit de son activitédans les aéroports*), on Ferrero, which has shored up its leading position in the French market, and on the investments in Brazil of Fiat’s subsidiary CNH (in Valor Econômico on March 6 – CNH investe em Minas*). Fiat also received a number of mentions in the press in connection with the Geneva Motor Show. Attracting the most interest in this regard were its new Panda and 500L models (in Les Echos of March 5 – Avec la Panda 3, Fiat fait les yeux doux aux femmes, and in The Wall Street Journal on March 7 – Fiat Rolls Out 500L at Geneva Motor Show).
Fellini films and recommended Italian holiday attractions – Making a comeback this week in the culture pages of the foreign press was Federico Fellini, who was the focus of items that appeared in two Brazilian newspapers marking the opening of an exhibition in Rio de Janeiro dedicated to the filmmaker’s work (in Folha de S. Paulo on March 9 – Mostra no Rio mapeia universo criativo de Fellini, and in Valor Econômico on March 8 – A delirante doce vida de Fellini), whilst Argentina’s La Nación reviewed a stage adaptation of Fellini’s La Strada, currently being performed in Buenos Aires (on March 8 – Podolsky y Da Passano exploran el mundo Fellini).
Finally, in terms of coverage of Italian tourist attractions, La Vanguardia carried a report on a Dalí exhibition in Rome (on March 9 – Roma redescubre a Dalí*), and India Today ran a feature on the Amalfi Coast in the southern Italian region of Campania (March 5 – Amalfi is the perfect family vacation).
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