New opportunities to invest in Italy. Investment opportunities in France and in Italy are growing, and the explanation for this was given by Rodolfo De Benedetti of CIR in an interview by the Financial Times (December 24 – Investing in France and Italy). Moreover, the foreign press continued to report on Italian companies, such as hotel UNA, which has attracted the interest of international investors headed up by Starwood (Wall Street Journal, December 30 – Investor Groups Make Offers for Italian Hotel Chain UNA*), and the joint-venture in helicopters of Finmeccanica and the Russian firm Rosneft (Bloomberg, December 31 – Rosneft Agrees Helicopter Venture With Italy’s Finmeccanica).
There were other articles on large groups like Enel with an interview to Patrizia Greco, its first woman CEO and protagonist of change in the country’s culture of management (Financial Times, December 28 – Patrizia Grieco: agent for change in Italy*) and the Italian-Argentinian Techint belonging to the Rocca family, the Latin American country’s largest multinational (El Pais, January 4 – Techint, una ‘multilatina’ de acero).
Food is the new frontier of Italian luxury goods – The international press also took a look at the recent operations that have led luxury brands such as Prada and Lvmh to purchase historical Milan pastry shops Marchesi and Cova, like the recent attraction of fashion names (Renzo Rosso and Brunello Cucinelli) to production of organic foods. It was not only the Financial Times that wrote about food as the new frontier of luxury made in Italy (December 23 – Food the new frontier for Italian luxury*), but also the Braziliano Valor Economico (December 29 – Grifes italianas investem em comida*) and the Spanish Expansion (December 29 – La Italia ‘gourmet’ abre el apetito inversor).
And if El Pais underlined that the growth of exports has turned prosecco into the real enemy of Spanish made bubbly (December 27 – El enemigo del cava viene de Italia), Italian food processing is also growing in France, where Lavazza just made an offer of 600 million euro to acquire two local brands (Les Echos, January 6 – L’italien Lavazza s’offre les cafés L’Or et Grand’Mère).
Art and cinema. From the middle ages to Italy’s 18th century. there were numerous articles in the foreign press about current exhibitions in Italy. The British Financial Times ran three pieces, the first on a journey to Venice on the eternal power of religious art through the centuries (December 19 – The eternal power of religious art*). The other two articles are on exhibitions in Rome, one dedicated to the Flemish Renaissance (December 29 – Memling: Flemish Renaissance, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome — review*), and the other on Mario Sironi, an artist who is unjustifiably ignored (December 30 – Mario Sironi 1885-1961, Il Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome — review*)
And while the Spanish ABC wrote about the new anti-seismic pedestal for Michelangelo’s David (December 21 – El «David» de Miguel Ángel tendrá un pedestal antisísmico), other papers concentrated on cinema. Le Monde reviewed “Pasolini” by Abel Ferrara (December 30 – « Pasolini » : un jeu de miroirs entre Abel Ferrara et son sujet) and went to Matera, a city that is once again an ideal location for Italian and full length feature films (December 31 – Matera refait son cinéma). And El País reported on the art of the famous screen writer Suso Cecchi d’Amico (El Pais, December 29 – La guionista).
Tourism. The International press also ran a number of pieces on tourist destinations for 2015. Milan, which is hosting the Expo, is under the reflectors (Washington Post, December 26 – Destinations for 2015: Milan, Cuba, Queens and more) and it is a city to discover mentioned by Le Monde (December 24 – La face cachée de Milan) and the New York Times (January 7 – What to Do in Milan*).
In addition, El Pais ran an original itinerary to discover Rome, starting from the psycholodilic drawing of Escher being exhibited at the Chiostro del Bramante (December 26 – No basta una vida), while the Brazilian O Globo advises its readers on the best sky slopes in Italy ” (December 29 – Confira as melhores pistas para esquiar na Itália). Finally, New York Timeswent to Naples to discover the tradition of “suspended coffee” (December 24 – In Naples, Gift of Coffee to Strangers Never Seen*).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration