Style and luxury – Style and luxury were well covered by the foreign press this week. Reuters focused on Prada’s growing financial prospects (March 12 – Prada shares jump 13 pct on growth outlook), and Tod’s *(March 13 – Italy’s Tod’s says new strategy to yield results in “near future”). But the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung featured an interview with Furla’s CEO, Alberto Camerlengo, commenting that the brand’s quality and design is what appeals to Germans (March 14 – All’italiana). Meantime Les Echos traced the story of the success Italian designed jewelry has enjoyed and its “aura of creativity” (March 8 – L’eterna creativita*) and then its Série Limitée supplement called in on Lapo Elkann’s Garage Italia, “a place in which Italian passions – for cars, design and cooking – come together (March 12 – Garage Italia, passions italiennes). At the same time El Mundo was all about the exclusive new Fiat 124 Spider (March 9 – Fiat 124 Spider S-Design: apuntala su identidad).
Culture – This week, leading figures in the world of Italian culture featured in several articles in the world’s press, including one in Libération all about the Tintoretto exhibition being held at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, describing the artist as “ambitious and gifted” (March 11 – Tintoret, la sensation de Venise*), whilst the Guardian ran a piece dedicated to the memory of photo-journalist, Romano Cagnoni and his “memorable images of war” (March 8 – Romano Cagnoni obituary). Meanwhile, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was in Crema to interview the director, Luca Guadagnino (March 12 – „Ich habe in meinem Traumhaus gedreht“).
Tourism – There were many tourism-related articles this week. The Washington Post was in Apulia to explore the beauty and modern appeal of stone, an increasingly popular material used to build residential properties there and in the US (March 7 – Build locally? Ancient stone structures have modern appeal), whereas the Wall Street Journal paid a visit to the Stradivarius Foundation in Cremona, a heaven for makers and lovers of stringed instruments (March 7 – The Violin Museum Is a Luthier’s Paradise). The New York Times wrote about the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, “an anti-mafia symbol” that makes opera accessible to all (March 12 – Not Just a Pretty Facade, Palermo’s Opera Is an Anti-Mafia Symbol*) whilst the “Expat” section of the Financial Times talked about Irene Khan’s Rome, describing how the human rights lawyer loves living in a “benevolent city that is not as commercialized as other western capitals” (March 9 – Rome and away: the human-rights lawyer battling global injustice*). It was Vercelli, “the city where everything happens in slow-motion” however, that featured in an article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the paper explains how it sees the town as being “synonymous with a better life” (March 13 – Die Stadt, die immer schläft).
Food and Drink – The Wall Street Journal reviewed the best proseccos on sale in the US (March 9 – How Italy’s Favorite Bubbly Beguiled Us*) while El País took the opportunity provided by talking to a few Italian chefs to correct the most common mistakes made when cooking pasta and pizza (March 10 – Comer mal la pizza y otras 8 cosas con las que los españoles desatamos la ira de los chefs italianos). Pizza – and the somewhat crazy ways it is sometimes made across southern Italy – was a subject explored in Bloomberg (March 15 – The Wild Pizzas of Southern Italy Have to Be Seen to Be Believed). Finally der Standard, provided readers with one of the most simple recipes of all – for pasta with garlic, oil and chili peppers (March 13 – Pasta Aglio Olio e Peperoncino: Die Nudeln, die der Gabel zum Durchbruch verhalfen).
*Article available for pay / at registration