Culture – Culture takes centre stage in the foreign press’s coverage of Italy, as the spotlight shines on the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale: Financial Times explains that organizers and participants are “finding new ways to document the event for future generations” (May 3 – The difficult business of archiving a Biennale*) while reviewing the exhibition dedicated to the history of Iran, in which Palazzo Pisani reverberates with “the city’s historic role as east-west meeting point” (May 3 – Iran’s past is reimagined at the Venice Biennale*). Another British daily, The Guardian, covers works representing Great Britain (May 7 – Mournful and melancholy: Britain at the Venice Biennale), while The New York Times and El Mundo report on Barca Nostra, the work by artist Christoph Bucherl made with the wreck of a fishing vessel that sank in the Mediterranean in 2015 with 800 migrants on board (May 6 – Wreck of Migrant Ship That Killed Hundreds Will Be Displayed at Venice Biennale*; May 7 – La Bienal de Arte de Venecia expone los restos del mayor naufragio en el Mediterráneo). Still in Venice, Libération visits the exhibition dedicated to Canaletto, to “(re)discover the paintings by the Master of vedute and his contemporaries” (May 3 – CANALETTO EN TÊTE DE GONDOLE À VENISE*). The French daily also covers architecture, with projects by the Italian Superstudio collective on show in Orléans (May 3 – LES SUPERSTRUCTURES RÊVÉES DE SUPERSTUDIO*).
Other articles return to themes that already emerged last week, such as the opening of the villa in Rivoli where Federico Cerruti amassed his “secret art collection” (The New York Times, May 6 – The Secret Art Collection of a Reclusive Italian Tycoon Is Unveiled*) and the show inaugurated at Maxxi in Rome and sponsored by Gucci, dedicated to the Paolo di Paolo, the “photography legend” who created a “demystified and intimate portrait” of Italy’s economic boom (El País, May 5 and 6 – La Dolce Vita que nunca existió; Paolo di Paolo, la otra cara de la Italia del ‘boom’), (El País-Icon, May 2 – Paolo di Paolo: “El declive siempre llega y debe ser amargo. Greta Garbo quiso ahorrárselo y yo quise imitarla”). El País also covers literature, with an interview/profile of Dacia Maraini, the writer considered “a moral authority,” on the occasion of the new Spanish edition of her L’età del malessere (May 5 – Dacia Maraini: “Antes las mujeres se callaban, no hacía falta matarlas”). And while the Spanish daily also devotes coverage of the popular culture connected to football, with this sport’s best stories collected in a book by journalist Enric Gonzales (May 5 – ¡Ay, aquel Calcio!), El Mundo writes about music, recounting the Spanish appointments in the latest tour by Ennio Morricone, the “Maestro” and author of “legendary soundtracks” (May 3 – El maestro Ennio Morricone se despide de su público español).
Tourism, wine, and food – In tourism news, The New York Times Style Magazine pays a visit to the Val di Noto region, where “architecture meets stunning beaches” (May 6 – In Southeastern Sicily, Old World Architecture Meets Stunning Beaches*); the American daily also covers food, marking the death of food writer Giuliano Bugialli, whose “authoritative cookbooks” taught Italian cuisine even “to the occasional celebrity” (May 3 – Giuliano Bugialli, Champion of Italian Cuisine, Dies at 88*). And while Germany’s Die Zeit, with certain recipes, reminds readers that Italian cuisine is “not just pasta and pizza (May 8 – Jenseits von Pizza und Pasta), Austria’s Der Standard reports on the new “Italicus”: the attempt by the “great bar tender” Giuseppe Gallo to spearhead a comeback for rosolio (May 2 – Rosenlikör: “Italicus” von Giuseppe Gallo).
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