Italy’s “new phase” and the strategies of Fiat – During the Christmas period, foreign press attention was once again keenly focused on Italian economic affairs. There were more than 80 newspaper reports devoted to Italy’s economic policies, with the good results of the latest auction of BOTs [Italian Treasury bills with maturities of up to one year] forming the subject of 10 international press items alone, including the article Italian Bond Yields Tumbling Again in The Wall Street Journal of January 12. Particular interest was shown in Italy’s role within Europe, as evidenced by the two interviews with Prime Minister Mario Monti published in France and Germany (Warum Italien mehr wie Deutschland sein sollte in Die Welt on January 11, and Mario Monti : “L’Europe n’a plus à avoir peur de l’Italie”* in Le Figaro on January 4). This interest extended beyond the confines of the Old Continent, with Asia’s China Daily, for example, examining Italy’s economic outlook (Italy’s boot ready to kick the crisis back – a piece penned by Attilio Massimo Iannucci, the Italian Ambassador to China, on January 13), as well as the country’s trade and industrial strategies (Prime Minister to renew Libya ties, on December 30).
Among the big names in Italian industry, Fiat received the most foreign press coverage during the period. The Turin-based group was the focus of around twenty articles in newspapers around the world dealing with the increase of its shareholding in Chrysler and the future merger of the two groups (Fiat boosts stake in Chrysler to 58%* in the Financial Times of January 5; Fiat amplia participação na Chrysler após atingir metas* in Valor Econômico; Fiat fait un pas de plus sur la route de sa fusion avec Chrysler* in Les Echos; and Fiat raises Chrysler stake in step toward merger* in The Pak Banker, all on January 6), as well as other possible new alliances (Fiat draguerait à nouveau PSA* in La Tribune, and Sergio Marchionne fait resurgir l’hypothèse d’une grande alliance Fiat-PSA in Les Echos, both on January 11). During the Detroit Auto Show, reports also appeared looking at Fiat’s new models (Fiat Panda, le bon sens à l’italienne* in Le Monde of December 30, and Fiat ressuscita o Dodge Dart* in Valor Econômico on January10). A further article worthy of mention dealing with another Italian player in the automotive industry was published in France’s Le Figaro; the piece looked at the strategies of Pirelli, which is focusing on top-of-the-range products to beat the competition (Pirelli veut distancer Michelin sur le pneu haut de gamme on December 29).
In addition to the column inches dedicated to Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne (Marchionne Considers Plans for Succession in The Wall Street Journal of January 10), there was also foreign press coverage devoted to other key Italian figures in the worlds of business and economics. The Financial Times, for instance, interviewed two economists, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi (Bini Smaghi urges bold decisions on December 24) and Giovanni Peri (Immigration economics and “dirty jobs”, plus a Q&A with Giovanni Peri on December 24), whilst Le Figaro ran a profile on the new chairman of Finmeccanica Giuseppe Orsi (Giuseppe Orsi, un ingénieur aux commandes du groupe Finmeccanica on January 4)
Italian cultural personalities and tourist destinations – Foreign press coverage of Italian culture picked up again during the monitored period: marking the 80th birthday of Umberto Eco, dedicated profiles and interviews with the author appeared both in the Spanish press (Umberto Eco: “Debo ser un escritor para masoquistas” in ABC on January 5) and especially in German newspapers (Umberto Eco Superstar – denn Alleswissen ist Pop in Die Welt; Der Zeichenmeister aus Alessandria in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; and Meister der raffinasse in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, all on January 5), whilst the Argentine daily La Nación devoted an article to the Italian writer and archaeologist Valerio Manfredi (Manfredi, el best-seller de la historia on December 30).
Italian art, on the other hand, garnered two reports during the period, one on the Sistine Madonna by Raphael, on exhibition in Dresden (Ich seh ihr Bild. Sie war’s in Die Zeit on December 24), and another dealing with works by Maurizio Cattelan on show in New York in a retrospective (Cattelan und die Rente mit 51 in Die Welt on January 8). With the festive season in full swing, Italian travel destinations also featured in the pages of the international press: in addition to the ever well-regarded Rome (Roma en dos semanas, con guía de lujo in La Nación on January 8; and That cliché about all roads leading to Rome – it’s true in The Globe and Mail on January 6), also showcased were the delights of Naples (‘Aperitivi’ en la Nápoles ardente in El País of January 6) and Milan (Japaner kommen nur zum Shoppen – und es lohnt sich in Die Welt on January 7). Finally, there were also several press items given over to exploring Italian cuisine: The New York Times devoted a report to organic farming in the Lazio countryside (Growing Beyond the Fields on January 3), whilst the Catalan daily La Vanguardia dedicated a page-long feature to Ligurian cuisine (Liguria en la mesa* on January 12).
* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration