Economy and culture: Italy is back in business – This week, the news in the international media concentrates on the signs of the restart of Italy’s culture and economy: while Financial Times reports on the record € 22 billion in BTP Italia sales thanks to investors’ “bolstered confidence” (May 21 – Italy raises record €22bn in bond sale as sentiment brightens*), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in a video, recounts how, in Rome, the “Dolce Vita” is back (May 22 – : “La dolce Vita” kehrt zurück). In culture, The Wall Street Journal visits, “without the usual tourist crowds,” the Italian museums that are home to “some of the world’s greatest treasures” (May 22 – Italy’s Museums Are Reopening, and Without the Usual Tourist Crowds*). Music festivals are also making their return: Financial Times, in a European overview, recounts the measures taken in Ravenna and in Pesaro, for the Rossini Opera Festival (May 26 – When will the music start again?*). And The Guardian reports that an Ancient Roman mosaic pavement, “an archaeological treasure” from the third century AD, has just been discovered in Negrar di Valpolicella (May 27 – Ancient Roman mosaic floor discovered under vines in Italy). Culinary culture is also covered, with the recipe for marinated olives alla siciliana, “perfect for an aperitif,” recommended by Der Standard (May 26 – Marinierte Oliven nach sizilianischer Art).
The new normal in fashion – The restart is also in view for fashion, albeit with new procedures. Gucci, The New York Times explains, is “reducing its runway schedule” and “has joined the chorus of brands and retailers calling for a permanent reset of the fashion system” (May 25 – Gucci Says Fashion Shows Should Never Be the Same*), while Armani, according to el País Semanal, sees the epidemic “as an opportunity to rewrite the present” (May 26 – Giorgio Armani: “Tenemos una oportunidad única de reescribir el presente, y es mejor que la cojamos”).
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