The growth of family businesses – Stories about the relaunching of Italy’s leading family businesses attracted much attention in the world’s papers this week: Financial Times interviewed Paolo Barilla, who talked about the “big changes” underway in his family’s food company and how it is tackling the challenges presented by sustainable food production (June 2 – Paolo Barilla: rethinking a traditional family business*). Handelslblatt, chose to focus on the Parisiotto family and its “Scarpa” brand that has a reputation for being the “Ferrari of mountaineering footwear” (June 4 – “Ferrari unter den Bergschuhen“: Scarpa feiert Erfolge in der Nische). An article in El País featured Margherita Maccapani Missoni’s return to the family business determined to maintain its current pattern of growth following the capital investment it received from FSI (Fondo Strategico Italiano) (May 31 – Missoni, la hija pródiga del icónico zigzag), whilst the women’s supplement, Madame le Figaro, interviewed Silvia Venturini Fendi who reminisced about the “longest love story in fashion” between the label created by her family and Karl Lagerfeld (June 4 – Silvia Venturini Fendi:”entre Karl Lagerfeld et Fendi, c’est la plus longue histoire d’amour de la mode”).
Design and culture also commanded some attention this week. The Financial Times was at Milan’s art fair, Miart, noting that between the historic and contemporary designs on show there was plenty to “stimulate” the imagination (June 4 – Miart: the best collectible designs from this year’s Milan fair*) whilst El Mundo chose to write about the packed program of events involving Italy’s best artists, writers and creative talents arranged by the Italian Institute for Culture in Barcelona (June 4 – El ‘efecto Italia’ en Barcelona).
Tourism, Food & Drink – There were also various articles on these subjects, including one Le Monde about the rebirth of the Hotel Mezzatorre in Ischia that has made this volcanic island, once the holiday destination of choice of Clark Gable, Liz Taylor, Alberto Moravia and Truman Capote, fashionable again (Le Monde, May 31 – A Ischia, dans la baie de Naples, la dolce vita reprend*). Also El País was writing about another volcano – this time the latest spectacular eruption of Sicily’s Mt. Etna (May 31 – El volcán Etna vuelve a entrar en erupción), whilst the New York Times was also in Sicily to write about an aristocratic estate located in the so-called Isola delle Femmine that has just come up for sale (June 5 – After 4 Centuries, Family Is Selling a Sicilian Island Retreat). The Sueddeutsche Zeitung was on a voyage of discovery in Liguria in search of alternatives to the region’s often overcrowded but popular Cinque Terre (June 3 – Bloß weg vom Meer), and on 4 June, Die Zeit chose to pay tribute to the city of Bologna, much loved by those who love to drink (May 30 – Wer nicht trinkt, möge bitte draußen bleiben*). The Italian food featured in Der Standard in an article all about a Tuscan classic bean dish, “Fagioli all’uccelletto” (June 4 – Fagioli all’uccelletto: Geschmorte Bohnen nach toskanischer Art), whilst the New York Times published a review of “Una Pizza Napoletana”, an Italian restaurant in New York’s Lower East Side (June 4 – A Stand-Up Example of Sit-Down Pizza*).
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