{"id":71553,"date":"2012-02-06T14:41:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-06T13:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/pin\/week-january-28-february-3\/"},"modified":"2012-02-06T14:41:10","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T13:41:10","slug":"week-january-28-february-3","status":"publish","type":"pin","link":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/pin\/week-january-28-february-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The week of January 28 – February 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The narrowing bond spread and the \u201cMonti revolution\u201d <\/strong>\u2013 The story involving Italy that attracted the most interest this week in the foreign press, whose attentions continued to be focused on the economic situation in the country, was undoubtedly the performance of Italian government bonds and the narrowing of the yield gap (the so-called \u201cspread\u201d) between Italian BTPs and German Bunds.<\/p>\n

Among the papers that carried related items were Les Echos<\/em> of 31 January – Dette : le climat se d\u00e9tend tr\u00e8s nettement en Italie<\/a>*, and the Handelsblatt<\/em> of January 30 – Rendite f\u00fcr zehnj\u00e4hrige Italien-Anleihe f\u00e4llt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The good news on the debt front was accompanied by further analysis of the work of the caretaker government led by Mario Monti: the Argentine newspaper La Naci\u00f3n<\/em> spoke of the \u201crevolution\u201d being waged in Italy against entrenched privilege (January 28 – La \u201crevoluci\u00f3n Monti\u201d: una Italia con menos privilegios y m\u00e1s competencia<\/a>), whilst El Pa\u00eds <\/em>trumpeted Italy\u2019s \u201ccomeback\u201d on the European stage (January 30 – El regreso de Italia<\/a>). The German daily Die Welt<\/em>, in a piece analyzing the responses to the crisis across the continent, proclaimed that \u201cEurope has a new star\u201d (January 29 – Monti singt den Schulden-Blues der Staatsverschulder<\/a>). Meanwhile, the spotlight was also trained on the other \u201cSuper Mario\u201d \u2013 the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi \u2013 by The Washington Post<\/em>, which applauded the decisions taken by the banker in Frankfurt (February 2 – Two cheers for \u2018Super Mario\u2019 Draghi<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Benetton, Made in <\/strong>Italy<\/strong> and Fiat\u2019s latest results<\/strong> \u2013 <\/strong>Coverage of Italy in the international press this week was not, however, confined to macroeconomic analysis. Among the Italian conglomerates that aroused particular interest was the well known Made-in-Italy brand Benetton: the group\u2019s proposed offer to buy all outstanding shares, a course which the family has decided on in order to remove its stock from trading in Milan and prepare to meet the new challenges ahead, was covered by Expansi\u00f3n<\/em> on January 31 – La familia Benetton estudia una opa sobre su grupo para excluirlo de bolsa<\/a>, and Les Echos<\/em> – La famille Benetton va retirer le groupe de textile de la Bourse de Milan<\/a>*. The expansion plans in Brazil of the highway operator Atlantia (part of the Benetton stable) were also the subject of a report in Valor Econ\u00f4mico<\/em> (January 30 – Italiana Atlantia se une a Bertin em rodovias<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Other Italian fashion brands making news in the foreign press this week were: Ferragamo, to which the Hong Kong-based newspaper the South China Morning Post<\/em> devoted an article looking at its strategies for the Chinese market (January 30 – Business on a handshake fits Ferragamo just fine<\/a>*), and Prada, which according to Le Monde<\/em> has taken \u201cfull advantage of globalization\u201d (February 1 – Prada, l\u2019ic\u00f4ne du chic italien, profite \u00e0 plein de la mondialisation<\/a>). Meanwhile, Armani\u2019s foray into the furniture industry in India was the focus of a piece that appeared in The Times of India<\/em> (February 1 – Armani to enter desi homeware market<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Finally, also under the spotlight this week were Fiat\u2019s latest results, which were lifted by the performance of Chrysler (the Financial Times<\/em>, February 1 – Fiat ahead despite difficult Europe market<\/a>*; and The<\/em> New York Times<\/em>, February 2 – Chrysler Ends Quarter With a $225 Million Profit<\/a>), as well as the doubling of Fiat Industrial\u2019s profits (Expansi\u00f3n<\/em>, February 1 – Fiat Industrial duplica el beneficio en 2011 y prev\u00e9 elevarlo otro 28% este a\u00f1o<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Italian culture abroad<\/strong> \u2013 Italian cultural coverage in the overseas press this week was almost exclusively concerned with exhibitions of Italian art abroad. Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo<\/em> devoted an article to the works of Amedeo Modigliani and Leonardo Da Vinci on show in Rio de Janeiro to commemorate the 75th<\/sup> anniversary of the Brazilian national museum of fine arts (January 29 – Museu exp\u00f5e Modigliani e Da Vinci<\/a>), whilst The Washington Post<\/em> carried a review of an exhibition of works by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione at Washington DC\u2019s National Gallery of Art (January 30 – Art Review: \u2018The Baroque Genius of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione\u2019<\/a>*). Lastly, the German daily Die Zeit<\/em> drew its readers\u2019 attention to an initiative of the Fondazione Prada which transformed the Palais d\u2019Iena in Paris into a museum for 24 hours (January 29 – Unverk\u00e4ufliches bei Prada<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In memory of Scalfaro<\/strong> \u2013<\/strong> Rounding off this week\u2019s coverage of Italy in the world\u2019s press were a dozen or so items honoring  the memory of the distinguished former President of Italy Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, \u201cone of the greatest figures of Italian political life\u201d according to the Argentine newspaper Clar\u00edn<\/em> (January 30 – Pesar en Italia por la muerte del ex presidente Scalfaro<\/a>), a view shared by The New York Times<\/em>, which recalled the leadership he demonstrated in the \u201cturbulent\u201d 1990s and his achievements in the fight against organized crime and terrorism as Italy\u2019s Minister of the Interior (January 29 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Ex-President of Italy, Dies at 93<\/a>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* marked articles viewable online upon payment or registration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The narrowing bond spread and the \u201cMonti revolution\u201d <\/strong>\u2013 The story involving Italy that attracted the most interest this week in the foreign press, whose attentions continued to be focused on the economic situation in the country, was undoubtedly the performance of Italian government bonds and the narrowing of the yield gap (the so-called \u201cspread\u201d) between Italian BTPs and German Bunds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2357,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"freetags":[],"tipologiapin":[2375],"tag_tecnica":[],"temi_aspen":[],"attivita_internaz_in_essere":[],"attivita_internaz_concluse":[],"studi_e_ricerche":[],"class_list":["post-71553","pin","type-pin","status-publish","hentry","tipologiapin-foreign-press-italys-success-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pin\/71553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pin"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pin\/71553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"freetags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/freetags?post=71553"},{"taxonomy":"tipologiapin","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipologiapin?post=71553"},{"taxonomy":"tag_tecnica","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_tecnica?post=71553"},{"taxonomy":"temi_aspen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temi_aspen?post=71553"},{"taxonomy":"attivita_internaz_in_essere","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita_internaz_in_essere?post=71553"},{"taxonomy":"attivita_internaz_concluse","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attivita_internaz_concluse?post=71553"},{"taxonomy":"studi_e_ricerche","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspeninstitute.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/studi_e_ricerche?post=71553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}