The economic success of Made in Italy – Two weeks ago, the Financial Times wrote about Italy’s success on the stock exchange and international luxury markets (October 24 – Look beyond the crisis to find Italy’s new success stories*). And those names were again mentioned last week in the foreign press. There were reports of the turnover and profits of Brunello Cucinelli that rose by 10% during the first nine months of the year (Wall Street Journal, November 12 – Brunello Cucinelli Earnings: Profit, Sales Rise at Cashmere Specialist*). And, as Moncler prepares its launch on the stock exchange, the performance of the “king of cashmere” was cited as a model for the sector (Bloomberg, November 10 – Moncler Looks Beyond Slopes to Repeat Cucinelli IPO Success).
On the other hand, luxury items are a strong point of Italian production, the center of attention and admiration abroad. Last week, the English language daily of the Arab Emirates, Gulf News, writing about the exhibition of Italian interior design companies in Dubai, reported that – in the first six months of 2013 – Italian exports of furniture to the Emirates grew by 40% (November 11 – Italian interiors exhibition begins in UAE). At the same time, the New York Times offered its readers the dream of driving a Ferrari in the hills of Emilia Romagna with a test drive promoted by a local tour operator (November 12 – Italy at a High Speed).
In addition, the dynamics of Italy’s international debt seems to indicate that international investors have regained their faith in Italy (on November 12 and the success of sovereign bond sales were reported in Handelsblatt: Italien zahlt niedrigsten Zins seit Euro-Einführung; El Pais – Italia coloca 5.467 millones en deuda con una bajada en los tipos de interés; Expansion – Italia se financia a tres años al menor coste desde marzo de 2010). And success stories were not limited to the traditional Made in Italy sectors. Bloomberg published a story on Mossi & Ghisolfi, which opened Italy’s first refinery for non-food biofuels (November 11 – How These Bales of Hay Turn Into Biofuel).
Finally, Maurizio Brusadelli, the Italian manager is now President of the British market of Mondelez International. He was interviewed in the Sunday Times (November 10 – Leading edge: Maurizio Brusadelli).
Traveling from Umbria to Sicily – A boost to the success of Made in Italy comes from the appreciation of the Italian countryside in the foreign press. One example is the article published in El Mundo. During its culinary journey through the peninsula, the Spanish paper picked up a new trend in tourism, Made with Italians, taking cooking lessons in Palermo (November 6 – Clase de cocina con duquesa siciliana). El Pais was also in Sicily, discovering the “Baroque and hedonist” province of Ragusa (November 11 – Sicilia barroca y hedonista), while the Times – given the success of the Inspector Montalbano series on the BBC – visited the places where the TV series was shot (November 11 – In Sicily with the real Inspector Montalbano*).
The Washington Post took a long trip to Umbria, explaining that – though not the famous Tuscany – one could live like a king in the areas around Perugia and Castelluccio (Washington Post – Italy’s Umbria offers ‘agriturismo’ for visitors who want to get their hands dirty; In Poor’s man Tuscany, you can live like a king). The US paper also took a look at the gladiator training schools in Rome, a new tourist attraction (November 7 – Attending gladiator school in Rome). And while the German Die Zeit discovered the ascetic inns of the Tirolo, the French L’Express reported on the record auction price of white truffles in Alba (November 11 – Onze truffes blanches vendues aux enchères pour 274 200 euros).
Cinema, literature, art: Italian culture worldwide – Last week, there were also several cultural articles in the foreign press. El Pais reviewed the exhibition in Madrid of works by video artist Federico Solmi (November 8 – Magnates divertidos y despreciables) and – in its travel supplement – reported on the striking installation at the Centrale Termoelettrica Montemartini, Rome, where classical statues are exhibited against a background of industrial archeology (November 7 – Máquinas y dioses, en Roma). And Brazil’s Valor Economico wrote about the triumph of three Italian documents, “Stop the Pounding Heart,” “The Special Need”, and “Casa,” at the Festival of Leipzig (Valor Economico – Italianos triunfam em Leipzig). Finally, the American The New Republic, discovered Giocomo Leopardi’s Zibaldone, Europe’s least known literary masterpiece (November 8 – Giacomo Leopardi’s “Zibaldone,” the Least Known Masterpiece of European Literature).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration