Monthly Archives: May 2007

Italy’s Pilgrim Route on Foot: The Via Francigena

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Via Francigena Pilgrim routeFellow reporter and friend Eric Sylvers is on a one-man trek to rehabilitate Italy’s forgotten
Via Francigena.

Unlike Spain’s Camino de Santiago, this major pilgrimage route to Rome during Medieval times has been all but abandoned by walking enthusiasts.

Hard to blame them: unlike the Spanish trail, this one is often unmarked and not set up for bare-bones pilgrim travels.

Eric hopes to change some of that.

Follow his progress in the blog account of the 560-mile walk from Switzerland to the Eternal city — blisters, swollen tendons and memorable meals included — it’s an addictive read.

Italian Porn Star Hands Scepter to Geek

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Rocco Siffredi, the Italian Stallion of porn, recently handed his legacy over to a bespectacled, overweight crossword expert.

Well, sort of.

Omar Monti, who came in second on the Italian version of “Beauty and the Geek,” now fills Siffredi’s considerable shoes in some potato chip ads.
Geek Power
It’s one way to drum up publicity after equivocal ads for Amica Chips — with Siffredi peacocking around a pool Hugh Hefner style making references to women’s genitalia that even the bambini got — were censored last year.

For weeks, Siffredi stared down billboards in a dressing gown asking who would be man enough to take his place.

Thanks to an online contest, it’s an unlikely 31-year-old self-proclaimed virgin who wades through throngs of hot women to the tune of “Daddy Cool” in the refurbed spots.

Proving, once and for all, that geeks are sexy.

More Body-Conscious Art in Milan

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A giant naked man floats face down in Milan’s Sempione Park. Looking a little like Mr. Bean and slightly deflated in the privates, “Balloon” is a work by Polish artist Pawel Althamer. The 21-meter long work is a self-portrait.

No competition for the enormous memento mori lying next to the Duomo, it’s part of an exhibit called “One of Many” on in the park until June 5.

The show is sponsored by the Fondazione Trussardi, where someone has a thing for hovering art: namely the infamous hanging children installation by Maurizio Cattelan which were “freed” by an upset construction worker.

The current suspended work is unlikely to cause such controversy, though it would be kind of fun to take a pin to it.

Update: Daily Corriere della Sera reported on Saturday that an unnamed 40-year-old man (“perhaps a foreigner?” the journalist wonders) took a pair of scissors to the “nude doll.” No harm was done and organizers minimized the episode.