Economy – The Italian economy is withstanding the pandemic. Financial Times recounts how foreign buyers are “pushing up” the prime real estate market in Milan, due to the attractiveness of the city’s “cosmopolitan feel” (November 27 – Foreign buyers push up prime sales in Milan*), while Reuters explains how mobile payment start-up Satispay is aiming to triple users in 2023 thanks to new financing and growth abroad (November 30 – Italy’s Satispay aims to triple users by 2023, grow abroad). The Morocco daily Le Matin, on the other hand, devotes coverage to the economic and financial cooperation agreement signed by the Municipality of Bologna with the city of Meknes (December 1 – Meknès et Bologne scellent une convention de partenariat).
Culture – In culture, Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on the discovery, in a private collection in Lecco, of drawings attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, depicting Salvator Mundi (December 1 – Neue Zeichnung wird Leonardo da Vinci zugeschrieben). And Le Monde proposes a series of articles dedicated to Maria Montessori, a “pioneer of education,” and her life and work (November 30 – « Maria Montessori, pionnière de l’éducation » : notre série en six épisodes*), while Financial Times makes a “pilgrimage to Italy” through the works of Gio Ponti, “architect, designer, artist and writer,” and a “polymathic powerhouse whose mind-blowing output spanned everything from spoons to skyscrapers” (December 3 – A Gio Ponti pilgrimage in Italy). The British daily also covers music, with an interview with composer Paola Prestini who talks about the “joy of exploring and combining styles” (November 26 – Paola Prestini on musical collaboration in isolation*). Lastly, Scuola italiana di Tunisi is also covered, extolled by the local daily La Presse as an “example of support for education and for a better future for the less fortunate populations” (November 29 – Mes odyssées en Méditerranée – Ecoles internationales et “discrimination positive”: Le cas de l’école italienne de Tunis “G.B.Hodierna”).
Tourism and wine & food – In tourism, Reuters visits Grottaferrata to recount the Byzantine rite of the monks at Abbey of Saint Nilus (November 30 – In ancient Italian monastery, monks defend a dying tradition), while El País reports on an adventure by jet-ski from Spain to Sapri (November 27 – A Italia en moto acuática), The New York Times Style Magazine, on the other hand, pays a visit to a fifteenth-century house in the Tuscan countryside, explaining that it has over the years become a “beloved family home” (December 1 – In the Tuscan Countryside, a 15th-Century Monastery Turned Beloved Family Home*). And while Der Standard travels to the Marche to discover the local tradition of the homemade fresh pasta called “pincinelle” (December 1 – Pincinelle marchigiane: Nudeln aus Brotteig), Bloomberg recommends the pizza recipe of Francesco Mazzei, “one of the finest Italian chefs abroad” (November 28 – Francesco Mazzei’s Beginners’ Recipe for Making Pizza Margherita*).
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