Italian businesses growing abroad – Italian investments in International markets once again attracted the attention of the foreign press, very interested in their economic impact. In Brazil in particular, Italian car manufacturers are an important presence. On October 2, Brasil Economico wrote about the expansion of Iveco in the production of buses (Iveco agora tem ônibus para o mercado brasileiro*), while the following day Valor Economico discussed Pirelli’s strategies for growth thanks to a new organizational structure (October 3 – Pirelli muda para crescer no varejo). But clear rules for investing are needed, something that was underlined in an interview by the Argentinean paper La Nacion of Italian Under-Secretary Marta Dassù during her visit to Buenos Aires (October 4, “Es importante tener certezas sobre las reglas de juego en la Argentina”).
Italian groups are not concentrating only on Latin American. The fashion industry has been active in Asia, and reaching excellent results. Proof lies in the trend for Moncler, which is weathering the crisis well and looking towards the East. (Les Echos – Moncler défie la crise malgré sa forte présence en Italie*). And Prada is the most important example: Miuccia Prada, the “person who transformed a Milanese boutique into an international business” was the subject of a long interview-profile in Le Monde (October 3 – La Prada).
Art and culture – As usual, the foreign press also took at look at Italian cultural offerings. Le Figaro reported on the new foundation of architecture and design created by Bisazza, the glass mosaic manufacturer (October 4, Bisazza, une mosïque de talents), while the Washington Post ran an article on the efforts to restore the frescoes of the church Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome (October 1 – Italian experts bringing medieval frescoes back to their ancient glory ). And, as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung explained, the Italian capital has been the center of world culture for centuries, the reason why Germany decided to turn Goethe’s house in Rome into a center for the promotion of German culture ( September 30 – Mehr Platz für deutsche Sehnsucht). Finally, of note is the El Pais review of the latest work of Dario Fo: his new play in which the Nobel Prize winner interprets Pablo Picasso (October 1, Dario Fo desviste a Pablo Picasso).
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