Monthly Archives: November 2001

Truffle Price Index

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Lovers of the fragrant tuber might get something of a price break this year thanks to abundant rains bringing in a larger crop. Truffles will go on the auction block Nov. 10 as part of celebrating the famed tartufo bianco d’Alba in Piedmont.Prices nearly doubled in 2001 due to lack of rain. These prized white truffles from Alba don’t go cheap to begin with, starting at about $100 for an etto (about 3.5 ounces).
The same handful of the pungent-smelling mushroom may run slightly less than previously steep prices which ranged from $175-250.
This year’s biggest truffle, weighing in at a kilo, went for 34,000 euro, bought by two daughters of a Hollywood producer. As always, proceeds go to charity, this year 120,000 euro total will go to earthquake victims in Molise.
Fortunately, a little truffle goes a long way to seasoning everyday dishes–otherwise the $2,000 price tag per kilo would make it an unattainable luxury for most.

Related resources:

Piedmont: Traditional Cuisine from the Piedmontese Provinces

http://www.mangiarebene.net/aphrodisiacs/egg_truffle.html
An inexpensive & simple recipie for a white truffle omelet

Managers Pray to St. Expedite

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by Nicole Martinelli

Italians say a confused person doesn’t know which saint to pray to, but busy managers have little doubt: Saint Expedite is the right one. In the heart of the business district, there’s an uninterrupted flow to Milan’s Santa Maria del Carmine for a quick prayer.

“It’s one of the least known but most efficient saints,” remarked Bernardino Visconti, who pops in every day before heading to work in an insurance company. “I acknowledge the other ones, but I always pray to Sant’Espedito.”
The plaster statue in faded fluorescent colors is placed (for speed?) right near the door. It’s the only chapel in the church with a waiting line to recite the prayer posted on the wall. Surrounded by candles and votive offerings, Sant’Espedito (also known as St. Expeditus) has clearly won favor over the 107 saints in Milan, including city patron Saint Ambrose, according to author Rino Cammilleri, who just completed a work on the holy figures who lived or were born in the city. The popularity surge follows changes in modern life — while Saint Expedite has been burdened with looking after quick solutions, procrastinators, computer programmers and e-commerce, St. Ambrose is keeping an eye on beekeepers, candle makers and domestic animals.

Like many early saints, it’s uncertain whether the quick-fix saint ever existed. The name “Expeditus” was attributed to two different martyrs on two different days in the Roman Martyrology, though celebrations are now held on April 19. Historians once asserted the Saint’s name derives from a package of remains from Roman catacombs — marked ‘spedito’ (sent)– to a Paris convent, but this appears to be another religious legend. Although Saint Expedite has become increasingly popular in recent years, in Turin he was dubbed the patron saint of merchants in Medieval times. Dressed as a soldier (the name expeditus appears to refer to a foot soldier) he has a cross with the word “hodie” (today) and a crow underfoot (symbolizing tomorrow).

Related resources:
www.gahp.org/espedito.htm
Also claimed by Milan’s Futurist art movement, here’s a print & cut St. Expedite prayer card…

Italy by Numbers: Hidden Business Costs

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13.8 billion (USD) yearly cost of criminal activity to business owners
40% of that directly or indirectly funds the Mafia
120,000 shop owners deal with loan sharks
160,000 shop owners pay Mafia ‘protection’ money
80% of these are in Catania and Palermo
Some Mafia stereotypes are better suited to movies but a recent survey shows the “pizzo,” or protection money is still business as usual in Italy. Threatened business owners shell out 8 billion USD a year in “special surveillance” alone, keeping the coffers of the criminal world healthy. The remaining five billion can be totaled up to loan sharks and usurious debt-servicing charges. The numbers come from Confesercenti, the national retailers’ association, in a report released from its “SOS Business” unit. The special unit, formed in Palermo in 1991, offers a free-phone service to help business owners break the Mafia grip.?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Web wise: Nov.12-Nov. 19

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The Cell-Phone Pocket Protector • New Sobriety: The Pirelli Calendar 2002l • The Georgofili Academy–online • Lucio Dalla discovers a "Luna Matana"

The Cell-Phone Pocket Protector
Unlike its low-tech cousin the plastic pocket protector, an Italian clothing manufacturer has designed a mobile phone protector for suit jackets, marketing it as "the intelligent look.” The ‘City Time with Cellular Protector’ jacket, modeled by sheepish-looking soccer player Angelo Di Livio, has an inside pocket with three layers, one with a “special fiber containing silver threads” which supposedly protects the wearer against harmful emissions…Seeing is believing
www.textura.it/cellularcity.htm

New Sobriety: The Pirelli Calendar 2002
Call it pulse, call it luck but one of the world’s most famous girlie calendars got dressed this year. Photog Peter Lindbergh shot 12 fiercely young and Armani-garbed actresses including "American Beauty" Mena Suvari and Charlie Chaplin’s great-granddaughter Kiera…The auto shop will never be the same…If you’re in Milan, check out the "Making Of" exhibit in the new Armani/Teatro space: via Bergognone, 59.
www.pirelli.it

The Georgofili Academy–online
Heavily damaged in the 1993 bombing of the Uffizi, the Georgofili Academy has come back to life–with a new web presence.
Founded in 1753, the academy houses a highly-specialized collection of agrarian texts–but there are frequent exhibits open to the general public…Online, take a look at the "fototeca" for historical photographic exhibits on women in agriculture, machinery and rural Italian life.
www.georgofili.it
In Italian & English.

Lucio Dalla discovers a "Luna Matana"
The somewhat melancholy singer-songwriter is back–take a listen to hit "Siciliano" and sample tracks from his new record which takes its name after the Tremiti Islands.
Lyrics & MP3 downloads–free from his official site…..
www.pressingline.it/dalla/luna_matana/testi_mp3.htm

Battle over ”Dead” Holidays

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Many Italians see the import of Halloween celebrations as harmless excuse to party before the Nov. 1 holiday, but at least one public official is battling the friendly invasion–with cash incentives. Rosario Crocetta, head of public schools in Gela, Sicily offered about $500 as a bonus to schools in his district that don’t throw Halloween parties for elementary and middle school students. Crocetta says the fanfare and candy of the American import overshadow local traditions for the day of the dead, Nov. 2–in which children await traditional marzipan sweets and toys, left the night before ostensibly as gifts from dead relatives. Crocetta’s anti-Halloween plan met with consensus from other local officials. “We must hand down the values and history of our people,” sentenced county council member Alessandro Pagano. “We can’t let ourselves be influenced by trends. In America, this holiday has historical reasons, but not in Sicily. It’s time to put a stop to this exasperated globalization.” It may be harder to convince the kids, though. “I like Halloween better,” said one Sicilian youngster interviewed on RadioRai2. “Terror is much cooler and anyway we get candy for both.”

Related resources:
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/9369/festedeimorti.html
History of Sicily’s day of the dead traditions, in Italian with rocky English translation…

Theft Alarms for Archeology Sites

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Italy’s vast, unexcavated treasure troves may finally get some protection from theft. The art-alarm idea comes from the National Research Council (CNR), which unveiled the new system at a conference on cultural conservation. “It’s a basic alarm system, good for art in general,” explained Marco Malavasi. “But it was designed to protect sites, like necropoleis, which are underground. Anytime someone starts digging or moving things around, the sensor transmits a signal to notify the authorities.” The would-be theives hear nothing and if the police can’t get there in time, experts at least have a more precise record of where and when the theft happened. For at least a hundred years, tomb raiders “tombaroli” have been ferreting out artifacts and selling them, mostly unhindered, on the international market. Roberto Conforti, who heads the special art-theft patrol of the Carabinieri, says the black market for artifacts rivals Italy’s drug and arms trade. In the last 30 years over 300,000 objects stolen from tombs have been recovered, according to Minister of Culture statistics. The alarm system may also help bring serendipitous findings into the hands of the government–current law pays accidental archeologists a maximum 25% of the value of findings, a pittance compared to what priceless objects fetch on the market.

Related resources:

www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=4890
day in the life of a tomb-raider, in English. Read it & weep..

Italy by Numbers: The New Waistline

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48% Italian women, age 20-64, overweight
36% Italian men, age 20-64, overweight
15% Italian men, obese
21% Italian women, obese
$22 million USD spent by Italians yearly on surgery for obesity
Better to undergo surgery than fulfill the stereotype of the fat, jolly Italian. A recent congress of the Italian Society of Surgeons issued a warning against the flood of Italians requesting stomach stapling or intestinal bypasses for mere love handles. Although about half of Italians can be considered overweight, they still boast trimmer waistlines than many Spanish, Greek, German and Belgian counterparts. Surgeons cited sedentary lifestyles and “American-style” fast food as plumping up the national girth, warning that in a few years Italian rates may catch up with U.S. obese averages, currently about twice as high.

Psst: Want to buy a University Degree?

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Selling theses was such a common practice that a tutor thought nothing of offering one to a campus policeman at the University of Urbino. The bold offer sparked an investigation of Italy’s most famous tutoring service, CEPU, credited with miraculously pushing students through the labyrinth of Italy’s university system.
For a quarter of a century, the company flourished thanks to Italy’s army of repeat university students, known as "fuori corso." According to statistics from Ministry of Public Education, only 9% of Italian undergrads get a degree before they turn 25 and 750,000 students are currently behind with exams. The government estimates this late entry into the work force costs Italy approximately $7.5 billion USD yearly.
Prosecutors in Urbino have charged 12 CEPU tutoring consultants with compiling and selling at least 23 theses, which are necessary to obtain an Italian undergraduate degree. Investigators say a thesis could be had for $5,000-7,000 USD. The company has denied involvement in the scam.
CEPU marketed heavily to frustrated students and their exasperated parents using controversial testimonials like Juventus soccer star Alex Del Piero, currently fuori corso himself, and 22-year old motorcycle ace Valentino Rossi, who does not have a high-school diploma.
www.fuoricorso.it
The virtual community for repeat students….

Italy by Numbers: Pasta, amore mio

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61 lbs. per year (circa), per Italian pasta consumption
38% Italians abroad miss pasta
8% Italians abroad miss partner
7% Italians abroad miss mother

It’s a question of priority: globetrotting Italians pine more for a good plate of spaghetti than a lover or even La Mamma. Horror film director Dario Argento recounts his culinary “survival” plan during a six-year sojourn in the USA: “Each member of the crew was responsible for having a ration of spaghetti, rigatoni, peeled tomatoes and parmesan sent and we all ate together in the evenings. It was definitely better than eating in a restaurant.” Some of the dreamed-about dishes from the 350 Italians surveyed included: fettuccine with mushrooms, spaghetti all’amatriciana and maccheroncini with cacio cheese and pepper.
A reason behind this gnocchi-nostaglia may be that while many Italians experiment with local cuisine and suffer the never-quite-right cappuccino, they stay away from pasta dishes abroad. Experts have long claimed that part of the desired taste comes from Italy’s water–high in calcium, it gives the noodles a unique flavor.

Related resources:
www.alice.tv
slick Italian satellite cooking channel–homesick fare?

City ”Hires” Owls to Solve Pigeon Problem

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An Italian castle just got a different kind of reinforcement: a “shield” of four tawny owls to keep the pigeon population down. Mayor Maurizio Tornielli, of Bereguardo (Pavia), obtained the backing of Italian bird protection society LIPU, which determined the best place for a nest along the ancient castle walls. These guard owls hunt the much-maligned pigeons as they sleep. Tornielli maintains the back-to-nature method is a last resort: “We’ve tried everything from contraception to nets–but we couldn’t keep the population down. This seemed a natural next step.”