Monthly Archives: September 2002

Secret Restoration of the Holy Shroud

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The Shroud of Turin, one of the most sacred objects of the Catholic Church, has been liberated from centuries-old patches and backing cloth in a top-secret restoration.

Restoration efforts were carried out in secret by Mechthild Flury Lemberg and Irene Tomedi from June to July of this year with approval from the Vatican.

Custodians of the cloth said the restoration had to be carried out in secret to avoid security risks after Sept. 11. Patches had been tacked onto the cloth by nuns in 1534, after a fire had blackened parts of it.

The gauze, said to show the imprint of Christ’s face and body after he was taken down from the cross, has been called both a religious artifact and a medieval hoax. Housed in the Turin cathedral, the linen strip spans around 14 feet long and 3 1/2-feet wide. Remnants of the cloths removed have been catalogued and kept for future study.

"There is no mystery. The interventions and new tests on the Shroud have been carried out in agreement with the Holy See," Marco Bonatti, spokesperson for the Shroud’s custodian, cardinal Severino Poletto, told reporters.

To get a closer look at the shroud, which has been on display only five times in the past century, believers and skeptics are in for a long wait: it isn’t likely to be on public view again until 2025.

Related Resources:
For a closer look at the work — the photo gallery & video

http://sindone.torino.chiesacattolica.it/it/scient/restauro_gallery.htm

www.sindone.org/it/scient/restauro_filmati.htm

Boycotting the Pizza Strike

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Go ahead and protest — but hands off the sacred pizza. The latest consumer strike against price hikes touched Italy’s most famous dish met and sparked vehement protests from Naples, birthplace of the pizza Margherita. Consumer association Aduc declared Sept. 21 as a day of abstinence from pizza after calculating that the average pie swells 920% in price by the time it reaches the plate.

According to calculations made by Aduc, ingredients for a seven- ounce pizza Margherita – made from good-quality flour, tomato, mozzarella and basil – costs .49 euro but customers shell out at least 5 euro for the end product. The exhorbitant mark up was also due to the intrucdution of the euro in January — according to official statistics Italy’s inflation in August was 2.4 per cent, but consumer associations calculate the actual increase is at least 8%.

The association was inundated with email threats from angry pizzeria owners as well as a formal letter from Antonio Pace the president of FIPE (the Italian Federation of Bars and Catering) which accused them of "acting in bad faith to procure a moment of glory."

News of the strike recieved a ton of media coverage but didn’t stop tourists and residents alike from shovelling away the fare at the Naples Pizzafest — organizers said attendance was up by 6% over last year.

Related Resources:
Pizza Napoletana!
Make the true Italian pie in your home, with cookbook author and Italian resident Pamela Sheldon-Johns…

Italy by numbers: Women’s Work?

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91.5% Italian women do the laundry
72% women cook
68% women clean
89% women take out the trash

Keeping the home fires burning — and taking the trash out, doing the laundry etc.– is still largely women’s work in Italy. The survey of 700 women conducted by Whirlpool appliances showed that Italian men are like their European counterparts in only one activity — 63.8% do home maintenance work.

Otherwise Italian stallions were dismal in lending a helping hand at home — if 10% of men in the rest of Europe at least wash the dishes, only 5% in Italy do and if 30% of European men take out the trash only 11% of Italian men do. Some say the blame rests with women: "Delegating, women perhaps fear they will lose the amount of power that by tradition and culture belongs to them," says sociologist Franco Ferrarotti. "It takes time. In Italy especially because it’s a family-centric country but things are gradually changing."

Web Wise Sept. 24 -Oct.1

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The Mini Hits Catwalks in Milan • Runaway book hit "La Mennulara" • Secrets of Cooking with Coffee • Listen in to Salvatore Licitra

The Mini Hits Catwalks in Milan
The women’s clothes for Spring-Summer 2003 are definitely sexy — even bad girl actress Asia Argento asked for something a little more tame before strutting her stuff for Clips, refusing a see-through chiffon number. Meanwhile, that perennial hit the miniskirt takes hemlines to new hieghts..An eyeful with two photo galleries:

http://valeoggi.tiscali.it/immagini/200209/24/3d8ee59e07efe

www.corriere.it/av/galleria.html?moda_mi&1

Runaway book hit "La Mennulara"
The surprise of the fall literary season, this "Sicilian" book is the first effort by an Italian woman who has lived in England for the last 30 years..Listen to an interview with Simonetta Agnello Hornby and read an excerpt…
www.feltrinelli.it/SpecialiLibriInterna?id_spec=36

Secrets of Cooking with Coffee
Try this handy guide of using espresso in everyday dishes — including ragù as well as more traditional ways to enjoy the java…
www.mangiarebene.com/accademia/gusti/caffe/index.html

Listen in to Salvatore Licitra
The Italian tenor made a surprise debut substituting an ailing Pavarotti in America last may and the acclaims have been poring in ever since. The former graphic artist, who lost all the voice competitions he entered in Italy, is definitely on the right career track.

Salvatore Licitra – The Debut
Hear cuts from his first album

www.salvatorelicitra.com
More from the official site, with some of the most annoying navigation we’ve seen in a long time..

Protecting the ‘Postino’ House

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Hundreds of locals and tourists staged a sit-in at the house used in the film ‘Il Postino’ to save it from becoming a restaurant.

The pristine beauty of Salina, one of the Aeolian islands, was the setting for the Oscar-winning 1994 film about the friendship between exiled poet Pablo Neruda and his postman. The letter carrier with a romantic bent was played by comic actor Massimo Troisi, who postponed heart surgery to make the film and died of a heart attack the day after filming finished.

The island, also used in Nanni Moretti’s "Caro Diario," has become a place of pilgrimage for Troisi’s fans. The uproar after plans were unveiled to raze the humble house and use the surrounding areas for a restaurant/hotel complex mobilized efforts from national environmental groups Legambiente, WWF and Italia Nostra. For the moment, the protest seems to have convinced owner Pippo Cafarella not to sell the property.

Related resources:
Relive the magic of Il Postino with the DVD or with the trailer…

Profume to Save Ghost Town

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The few inhabitants left in Sant’Elena Sannita (Molise) are trying to save the town from extinction by turning it into a center for perfume production to supply former residents in the trade. Like many Italian towns, this one of 14 square kilometers in the province of Isernia has seen the population dwindle due to emigration.

Most residents, however, left not to seek fortune in America but in other parts of Italy. Hundreds of knife grinders, a trade which dates back in the area to Medieval times, were well known in Central-Southern Italy. As need for this expertise dwindled, Molisians started selling perfume instead — many had a steady client base from previous work with barber shops. Since emigrants from the area have met with the sweet smell of success — it’s estimated that in Rome alone they run some 70% of perfume shops — those who stayed behind plan to become a hub for perfume production.

"It’s an ambitious plan," said Giampiero Castellotti, author of a book on emigration in the region."But it’s not a pipe dream — a good part of the 3 million euro investment will come from companies created by emigrants from Sant’Elena Sannita." Plans include some 2,000 square meters of greenhouses and gardens for experimenting with scents and a museum on the history of fragrance.

www.netpoint.it/santelena
Take a virtual visit with the town’s site…

Italy by Numbers: Anxiety Attack

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3.3% Italians use tranquilizers/sedatives
40.5% of women use tranquilizers/sedatives
30% of men use tranquilizers/sedatives
39% of residents in Northern Italy use them

More statistics erode the myth of happy-go-lucky Italians: according to ISTAT data, 1.9 million residents of the Bel Paese currently use tranquilizers or sedatives to help cope with life. These figures put them ahead of American counterparts — according to NIH data, about 1.3 million Americans regularly use these prescription drugs. Not surprisingly, in Italy the harried pace of life in Northern cities increases anxiety-controlling drug use, about 10% higher than for those living in Southern areas.

Web Wise Sep. 10 -17

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Meet Actor Heartthrob Stefano Accorsi • Author Stefano Benni’s audio jukebox • Italian practice: Can you resist temptation? • Amnesty for Illegal Immigrant Worker Law

Author Stefano Benni’s audio jukebox
For the next two months, one of Italy’s most witty writers will publish an audio improvisation or reading weekly on the Feltrinelli site. Stop in for a sample:
www.feltrinelli.it/IntervistaInterna?id_int=146

Meet Actor Heartthrob Stefano Accorsi
He was adorable in the ice cream commercials (playing an would-be Casanova on the beach with a scarce command of English), but it would’ve been hard to predict thousands of women of all ages mobbing book stores just to see him. Accorsi was putting in an appearance for the book version of the epistolary between writers Sibilla  Aleramo
and Dino Campana, the subject of his latest film "Un Viaggio Chiamato Amore," which comes on the heels of box office smash "L’ultimo bacio." Hear him recite the “poem of the roses” and check out the trailer, backstage & slide show..
www.unviaggiochiamatoamore.it

Italian practice: Can you resist temptation?
Most of the answers seem to suggest "no!" but take this fun interactive quiz to find out…
http://news2000.libero.it/index_test.jhtml?id_test=981

Amnesty for Illegal Immigrant Workers
The Italian government has decided to extend to foreigners the amnesty for illegal workers. Here are the details:
www.minwelfare.it/normativa/2002/DECRETO+LEGGE+N°+195+DEL+9+SETTEMBRE+2002+.htm

Italy’s ”Certified” Picturesque Towns

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For many visitors to Italy, any small village may seem picturesque enough but some of the most quaint ones are now competing for special certification.
The national association of cities (ANCI) has awarded the title, compared to DOC certifications for wines, to the “most beautiful villages of Italy.”

Some, like Paciano, had to make some creative moves to meet strict standards. Inspectors visiting the town in the province of Perugia were horrified by antennas marring the otherwise perfect medieval views to lake Transimeno. City officials scrambled to find a solution and finally hit upon one which satisfied judges — painting the antennas pink to blend in with buildings. Over 50 villages applied, but about half were found to meet standards.

Sperlonga, sea side village south of Rome was thought to be a cinch for the "beautiful village" title but harsh inspectors criticized visible phone and power lines. After pleading with judges, the village was admitted on grounds that it will find a solution to the modern eyesore. The towns, all with 2,000 or fewer inhabitants, will be re-certified every two years.

The winners probably won’t ring a bell (yet) with most Italy lovers, but may well become popular destinations:
Apricale (IM), Compiano (PR), Vigoleno (Comune di Vernasca, PC), Dozza (BO), Montefiore Conca (RN), Orta San Giulio (NO), Vipiteno (BZ), Chiusa (BZ), Poffabro (Comune di Frisanco, PN), Asolo (TV), Arquà Petrarca (PD), Castellaro Lagusello (Comune di Monzambano, MN), Poppi (AR), Castiglione del Lago (PG), Paciano (PG), Bevagna (PG), Collalto Sabino (RI), Castel di Tora (RI), Sperlonga (LT), San Ginesio (MC), Visso (MC), Moresco (AP), Castelmezzano (PZ), Otranto (LE), Morano Calabro (CS), Scilla (RC), il Ricetto di Candelo (BL) and historical centers of Venosa (PZ), Acerenza (PZ) and Cisternino (BR).

The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany
Views guaranteed…

Mushroom Boom

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It’s a small consolation for wine lovers, but at least the summer rains were good for something: mushrooms. Wine producers are already predicting Italy’s lowest harvest in decades thanks to rain and hailstorms in what are usually the hottest months — but the same farmer’s group, Coldiretti, is predicting that it will be a record harvest for mushrooms.

This year’s extra dampness is likely to spawn some 30 thousand tons of mushrooms. Favorable weather conditions may help drive down somewhat the hefty price for truffles, which reached a reached a record last year of $100 for an etto (about 3.5 ounces). Experts are already warning Italians, the most numerous amateur mushroom gatherers in Europe, to have baskets checked by local health officials before eating.

www.mangiarebene.com/accademia/spuntini/toast/crostini_funghi.html
Quick recipe for a great way to eat them — crostini….