One of Italy’s largest cemeteries has installed computer information points to help relatives locate beloved ones. The initiative, unveiled in Milan last week, will be put to the test when Italians traditionally pay their respects on All Saints and All Soul’s days, Nov.1- 2. Milan’s main cemetery is, in fact, a city within a city: [...]
Ettore Sottsass designs for Cartier • "Interviews on Fascism": free ebook • View Etna’s Eruption • Singer Carmen Consoli’s "Exception" Interviews on Fascism: free ebook Released for the anniversary of Mussolini’s March on Rome Oct. 28 1922, this manuscript by Angelo Tasca had long been thought missing. Interviews with exiled antifascists, the crisis of Italian [...]
The male heirs of the House Savoy have been allowed back into Italy following a 56-year exile, but a small town named after the royal family is fighting to get its old name back. The town of Salvia (in the southern Italian province of Potenza) was forced to change its name to Savoia di Lucania [...]
Stars of Italy’s flourishing ‘Spaghetti Porn’ industry are ready to protest a new tax on adult materials. Jessica Rizzo, dubbed the woman most loved by Italians, called “unjust” a tax which she predicted could increase prices paid by consumers of videos and magazines by “30-50%.” "This government promised to simplify and reduce taxes. Instead, it [...]
1 hour, meal (Palermo) 45 min. (Naples) 35 min (Rome) 18 min. (Milan) Italy’s North-South divide starts at the table — only Sicilians are taking an hour for lunch at home with la mamma. According to this poll by a diet magazine of 600 Italians from ages 20 – 55 in ten major cities, there [...]
View the Versace Tribute • Italian practice: test your rage index • Virtual Tour for the Rome-sick • Read Dario Fo’s new autobiography View the Versace Tribute The Victoria & Albert’s stunning tribute to slain fashion designer Gianni Versace is well worth a look — here’s a slide show in case you can’t get to [...]
TV host Mike Bongiorno, in the running to be named senator for life, has truly found America in Italy. Born in New York to Italian parents, Bongiorno, famous for his involuntary language gaffes, holds the Guinness world record for consecutive years of TV hostmanship. A constant fixture on the Italian small screen since his debut [...]
A new advertising campaign is attempting to convince Italians that buying fakes isn’t ‘cool.’ The cartoons, a scheme invented by Universal records, feature bespectacled Rocco Tarocco who loses his girlfriend after giving her a pirate CD for her birthday, “You’re such a loser,” she whines. “We’re through!” Over the last 10 years, the market for [...]
For the first time, two men will be legally joined as a couple in Italy. On Oct. 21, Alessio De Giorgi and Christian Panicucci who describe themselves as “two husbands” will stand before the French consul in Rome to sign a Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS). The law, signed by French parliament in 1999, allows registered [...]
30 million (circa) soccer fans 35% are women 6% have a university degree 27 million (circa) "irritated/indifferent" to soccer Italians "swear loyalty" to a soccer team at around age 6 and by age 8 there’s little changing sides — they are faithful to the team for life. A revealing study of the national sport, conducted [...]
