Monthly Archives: May 2004

Italy opens archeology sites to night crawlers

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Stunning, not-to-be missed but unfortunately impossible to air condition: two famous Italian archaeological sites are trying to convince tourists to visit during hot summer months by opening at night.

Nocturnal tours of Pompeii, arguably one of the most decadent cities of Roman times, start at the ‘pleasure baths’ (terme suburbane) to the accompaniment of music written for the tours by spaghetti-western soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone.
These 2,000 year-old thermal baths feature a series of frescoes with graphic scenes of various sex acts, thought to be a kind of sex menu for visitors.

Officials reckon that visitors to Pompeii doubled last summer due to nighttime visitors; neighboring site Paestum hopes to bring tourists to its dusty ruins featuring some of the best-preserved Doric temples in existence by staying open after sunset.
It may bring new life to the often deserted site, previously closed one hour before sunset, where the temple of fertility goddess Hera was said to be a fortunate spot for would-be parents to make love at night.

*image courtesy Soprintendeza archeologica di Pompei

@1999-2008 zoomata.com This is an original news story. Please use contact form for reprint info.

Related resources:

Pompeii: the Inside Story

Reservations are suggested for Pompeii visits. Tickets can be purchased in Pompeii, at the Porta Marina ticket office from 7 – 9 p.m., at least 20 minutes before the tour.
Or get them online:
www.arethusa.net

Details for Paestum visits are available at the tourist office: Via Magna Grecia 887 (tel. 0828-811016)

Parking lot of love for Italians opens

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by Nicole Martinelli It’s tough being a young Italian in love: there’s just no privacy. Ask the 90 percent of Italians between the ages of 20 and 24 who still live at home. As a result, Italians will do it anywhere, especially in the car.

But while surveys say 88 percent of Italians have car-copulated at least once, back-seat sex has continued to come under fire from officials.

In 1999, one Italian court even ruled that unless the car windows are covered up it can be considered an obscene act. (Italy’s sexier streets and parking lots have since seen a huge rise in ad hoc entrepreneurs selling newspapers to drape over the windshield.)
Finally, it seems some local governments are coming around, too. The town of Vinci in Tuscany has just become home to Italy’s first “Love Park.” The town’s mayor, Giancarlo Faenzi, appropriately announced the plans on Valentine’s Day 2003 but in true Italian fashion only managed to get things ready for the summer lovin’ season.

“There’s nothing revolutionary here,” mayor Faenzi told zoomata. “It’s a practical consideration, we’re simply trying to keep in mind the way the space is used. This is the city of Leonardo da Vinci’s birthplace, after all. We are very rational — there’s no point moralizing or trying to discourage people simply looking for privacy.”

Whether Italians will flock to the park is another question. Call it the Love Park, but it’s basically a re-furbed sports-center parking lot on the outskirts of town. That’s 172 (compact) parking spaces for the amorous, with soft lighting, extra trash cans within easy reach, flower pots and condom dispensers for a love haven away from home.

Still, Italians may come to appreciate their new getaway when they remember the alternatives: either the local polizia looking over their shoulder as they sneak their lover a kiss, or Mama watching every move as she makes more manicotti.

Vinci isn’t the first Italian city where proposals to legitimize these alcoves for lovers have been bandied about, but this is the first time local government has given it the green light. Making official this basic necessity may also help improve safety — smooching couples are regularly prey to robberies or worse, as in the still unsolved murders of nine young couples parked in lover’s lanes in the Monster of Florence case. This story first appeared in Newsweek.

”WOP” power: Italian musician takes back the slur

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Monday May 24 14:45 p.m. zoomata staff

Maybe it had to happen, like when blacks re-appropriated the word “nigger,” but WOP as a term of pride may not go down well with everyone of Italian descent.
Italian singer Gennaro Della Volpe, stage name Raiz, calls his new solo effort “WOP,” after the disparaging term used for Italians.

“I’m 100% WOP,” Della Volpe, who sings in a mix of Neapolitan dialect and English, told Italian media. “It’s all about being a global citizen.”

Origins of the slang term are unclear, it is said to come from dialectal “guappo” (or thug) or to mean “without papers” referring to illegal Italian immigrants. Della Volpe evidently prefers to use it as a spin-off from this last meaning.

Interesting to see what the Italian American cousins will have to say about his declaration of WOPishness, since organizations have been lobbying so hard to remove offensive Italian stereotypes from everything from the Sopranos to spaghetti sauce commercials.
Time for a WOP Power movement??1999-2004 zoomata.com
This is an original news story. Please use contact form for reprint info.

Environmental group names Italy’s top beaches

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Wed. May 19 13:19 p.m. zoomata

Tourists looking for pristine beaches in Italy would be wise to head south this year.
Italian environmental group Legambiente’s beach guide, which uses 128 parameters to comb 243 coastal spots in a yearly quality test, again gave Southern Italy or the Mezzogiorno top marks. Not all of Italy’s extensive coastline — 1,850 kilometers or circa 1,150 miles — makes the grade, but figures are improving.

The list can be used to decide where to go, but also where to expect crowds — in a recent poll 41% of Italians said they plan to vacation by sunning on Bel Paese beaches.There has been some jostling over the previous years’ top ten, but Southern Italian beaches continue to dominate better-known locales in Liguria and Tuscany. Famous beach spots Rimini and Riccione on the Adriatic coast were towards the bottom of these ratings, scoring two and three out of a possible five respectively.

These 10 spots received a perfect five out of five “sails” rating: Otranto (Puglia), Buoso (Sardinia), Cinque Terre (Liguria), Orosei (Sardinia) , Pollica Acciaroli e Pioppi (Campania), Tropea (Calabria), Castiglione della Pescaia (Tuscany), Arbus (Sardinia) and Tremiti Islands (Puglia).

Ratings also take into account natural beauty, contamination but also tourist structures, noise levels and environment-friendly waste systems. Sandy spots with a “four-sail” rating (30 total) include: Sirolo (Marches), Isola del Giglio (Tuscany), Positano and Anacapri.

This is an original news story. Please play nice. Contact for reprint info.

Related resources:
www.legambiente.com
Here’s the online free searchable guide to Italian beaches, in Italian only. Can be searched by ‘rating’ (‘punteggio’), province or region. Among the other symbols rating beaches are stars for environmental soundness and petals for tourist amenities.

The Rough Guide to Italy

www.multimania.com/natur/ita/#en
Map of Italy’s nudist camps & beaches (with terse descriptions in in English, Italian & French) in collaboration with FENAIT, Italy’s largest ‘naturist’ association. Keep in mind these are places where nudity is tolerated — associations are still awaiting a law to make nude bathing legal.

Italian creates ‘mismatched shoes’ for singles

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Thu. May 13 17:25 pm
by Nicole Martinelli

Sole mates no more: an Italian entrepreneur has created a line of ‘single’ shoes aiming to break down one of the last bastions of coupledom, matching shoes.

“Breaking up the couple, addicted to freedom” is the slogan for Add’s shoes, currently available in Milan, Turin and Rome.
The flat, round-toed shoes come in five colors and two models — no coupling allowed, they are only sold in odd numbers. Buy two of your color choice and get a third shoe free. Or you can buy just one, or up to five at a time.

Creator Simone Cassola, 38, himself “nearly single” (and sporting a pair of matching leather shoes) told zoomata he came up with the idea while window shopping.

“Why not break things up a bit? The same models look good in different colors on display, there’s no reason people shouldn’t wear them that way,” said Cassola, a former accountant and manager in Italy and South America, now based in Milan. “Pairs, matching pairs are really boring.”

It’s an idea whose time has come: national statistics center ISTAT said that singles in Italy are increasing at “breakneck speed,” gathering steam after 1974 law made divorce legal.

Marketing to singletons in Italy is relatively new, in a country where just about everything was sold only ‘family size’ and lifesavers for the unmarried like self-service laundromats were unheard of until recently.

The supermarket is where the revolution is most evidently taking place — sales of pre-cooked and frozen foods, many with names that evoke home-cooking, have increased exponentially over the last 20 years, according to data from the national association for frozen foods. Not surprisingly, Italians who chose to live away from the famiglia told ISTAT they did so “seeking freedom.” ?1999-2004 zoomata.com
This is an original news story, not wire service rehash. Please use contact form for reprint info.

Related resources:
www.addproject.com

Italians Patent ‘Diet’ Bean, Politics as Usual

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updated Thu. May 13 16:47 pm
zoomata staff

Proving once again that politics touch everything in Italy, scientists patented a genetically-modified bean containing a substance commonly used in diet pills naming it “Silvio” after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Scientists at the National Research Center in Milan genetically modified a kidney bean to remove phytohemagglutinin, a toxic substance, from phaseolamin a common ingredient in starch blockers made from bean extract.
Diet pills made with the recently-patented bean won’t be hitting the shelves anytime soon but the controversy is bound to linger.

Italian media had a field day with implications of the name, speculating on whether it referred to the leader’s somewhat portly appearance or his height. Berlusconi went into hiding for a month around Christmas while on a drastic diet and after reportedly having a face lift. The Premier, who claims to stand five foot seven, is also said to be conscious about his stature and has been satirized as a dwarf. His legume namesake is technically a ‘dwarf’ variety.

“Everyone’s been asking about the name,” researcher Roberto Bollini told zoomata by email. “It was meant simply to thank the government for an innovative law on patents, but there have been a lot of jokes made. Especially about the dwarf part.”

The homage to Berlusconi comes at a time when Italy’s scientific community is increasingly at odds with the government — including strikes and researchers threatening to leave the country.

Low salaries, nepotism and cuts in spending have all been credited with creating a brain drain of Italy’s scientific community.
Efforts to lure them back have not met with much success. Highly-esteemed oncologist Lucio Luzzatto came back to his home town to work at the Institute for Tumor research in Genoa only to be fired earlier this month, ostensibly for moonlighting at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York.
A petition signed by colleagues in seven countries couldn’t get Luzzatto reinstated; leading daily Corriere della Sera reported that the real problem was old-world politics in the form of friction between Luzzatto and the managing director. ?1999-2004 zoomata.com
This is an original news story, not wire service rehash. Please use contact form for reprint info.

RJ Aguila (Naples)

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First Person: Real Life In Italy

Each month we introduce you to someone who has made the dream of picking up and moving to the Bel Paese a reality. In their own words they share the good parts, the bad parts and the just plain absurd moments of day-to-day life in Italy.

Looking to move to Italy? Try the reader-recommended Survivor Package
For more on expat life in Italy, First Person Interview Archive

If you live in Italy, we would love to hear your story–Contact form

ID Card: R.J. Aguila, university student, five months in Italy, 21 years old, nationality
Filipino-American.

Currently living in:
A military base in Aversa, about a 20-minute drive
from Naples.

By way of:
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii=>Putuxet River, Maryland=>Gulfport,
Mississippi=>Okinawa, Japan=>Beaufort, South Carolina=>Okinawa, Japan=>Santa
Cruz, California (whew!)

How (or why) did you get here from there?
I’m a military brat (an affectionate term for children brought up by
parents that happen to work in the military). While I was in college in
Santa Cruz, CA my family moved from Japan to Italy. I decided to move with them to have a chance at experiencing Italy while I finish a degree.

What role did language skills play in your experience?
Language skills were one of my primary reasons for me wanting to come to
Italy. I’d lived in Japan for many years, yet I could only speak very little
Japanese. I didn’t see the value or importance and was a little lazy. I
didn’t make the effort. I really regretted that once I went to college in
Santa Cruz because I met lots of students that adore Japan and try really
hard just so they can live there for a year. So in a way I’m trying to make
up for not taking advantage of improving my language skills in Japan by
coming to Italy. Right now I know basic phrases and can carry a VERY limited
conversation.

Your biggest challenge:
I really want to improve my ability in Italian. Speaking, writing, listening.
One day I would like to be able to read Italian literature. Right now my
main hurdle is just getting out there and putting myself into social
situations where I must speak Italian. It’s very easy just to stay on base,
which is in effect a little American bubble. Many people here do just that —
stay on base most of their time in Italy. I’m planning to volunteer at a
nearby orphanage and also am looking for tutoring opportunities for
students that want to practice or learn English.

What did you do to feel at home or adapt here?
Actually since I spent a lot of time growing up on bases, I feel home on overseas bases much more than I feel at home in the States. I adapted to the Neapolitan driving pretty quickly, even learned stickshift here. Like I mentioned, the bases are in a way small American bubbles, so it’s not hard to feel at “home.” The challenge for me is to step out of the bubble and adapt to that.

What do you still have to get used to/learn?
I still want to keep progressing in my Italian. One thing I noticed is that if I want to do something with a friend, it helps to plan it out. Lots of times an ATM might not be working, or we’ll drive around forever looking for a tabbachi (ed. note: caf?s that sell cigarettes). Not too many 24-hr services.

Compare an aspect of your home town (or other place you’ve lived) to current town.
I love how European cities generally have much better public transport systems than most American cities. One thing I hated about California is the car culture. Having to drive five minutes to get some food. I love how some main streets are blocked off from cars, and you can get around most of the city easily without a car. One of the things I dread is living in my car, in the sense that it’s normal for some people in California to have 1-2 hour commutes. Which I think is crazy! Less hippies here than in Santa Cruz. 😉 I love the idea of everyone going for a Saturday or Sunday night walk.

Latest pursuits:
Finishing a degree in English, practicing Italian with a language buddy I met online, and looking for work as an English language tutor. If I can get the money I’d like to take an immersion course too.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is true:
The pizza is the best, especially Naples. I love the fashion — we Americans tend to be pretty casual and I think it’s cool how you won’t see too many Italians walking around in a T-shirt and some sweats. Also the constant beauty that surrounds you. From the weather, art and architecture — and especially the women.

Your response to the following question: “I really want to live here, but I don’t speak Italian or have a job. What do you think?”
I would say go for it, but remember that visiting and living in a place are two very different things. Try and find a local that you can email/interview before you make the plunge. Do your homework!

How would you sum up your Italian. experience in a word (and why)?
Invigorating, it’s a challenge for me to get the most out of my time here and I enjoy discovering the pleasant (and sometimes unpleasant) nuances of another culture. To have your first real shot of espresso or to haggle at the local market is something that I’d probably never do if I lived my whole life in a typical American suburb. (Sorry all you suburbanites, I hate the suburbs!!)

Italy’s best kept secret (music, culture, food, way to get round things)
I’m not sure if it’s a secret, but the mozzarella di bufala of
Naples is the best cheese in the world. Insalata caprese is great too.

Cicciolina, undaunted by angry wives, plans Italian comeback

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updated June 8 15:59 p.m. zoomata staff

There is no stopping a true diva. After a group of angry wives in Italy had a strip club where porn star Cicciolina planned her return on the scene shut down, the actress found another club. And plans to up the stakes by appearing completely nude, at age 52.

Manager and X-rated film producer Riccardo Schicchi announced that Cicciolina will be the opening-night attraction in a lap-dance club in Pavia, about 25 miles south of Milan on June 12. There have been no protests so far about Cicciolina’s comeback at the new locale, scheduled to take place during EU elections.

Last month, things were looking glum for the blonde star.
Instead of confronting husbands they thought might go see the protagonist of films like “Private Vices, Public Pleasures,” angry wives went to police with suspicions that the night club was violating the fire code.
Police investigated and then shut down the hot spot for 15 days after finding various infractions. They also discovered that the return of Cicciolina, hailed by posters around of the topless star around town, hadn’t been approved by the city government.

It’s the latest in a series of ‘not-with-my-husband’ protests by Italian wives, who have evidently decided the old rule of turning a blind eye is no longer the way to go. Last month another band of wives in the Tuscan town of Arezzo turned a local priest into detective and had three ‘sex dens’ frequented by their husbands at lunch time closed down.

Italian women have traditionally ignored philandering and still ignore nearly pornographic displays by scantily-clad dancing girls on TV shows. A recent poll of 1,000 Italians, however, showed that women are just as jealous as men — and less likely than male counterparts to ignore a straying eye.

Cicciolina, a.k.a. Ilona Staller, Hungarian, served in Italian parliament from 1987 – 2002. Staller since disappeared from the Italian scene but has made numerous TV and magazine appearances in Europe.?text 1999-2004 zoomata.com
This is an original news story. Play nice. Please use contact form for reprint/reuse info.

Italian politician Prodi offers bubbly for votes

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zoomata staff: Saturday May 8 12:37 a.m.
Romano Prodi, currently European Union Commission President, is drumming up party support by offering bottles of mineral water.

“A sip of optimism,” promises the orange label promoting the Ulivo party, available in still or sparkling water. Gadgets are rare in Italian political campaigns — the revolving door of 59 governments put together since 1946 hasn’t allowed for much more than a few quickly printed posters and buttons.

Things have changed now that Prodi’s rival current Premier Silvio Berlusconi, with 1,060 days in office, broke the record May 5 for the longest time in office. It’s a strong statement since Prodi is merely the poster boy in June elections — he is not expected to return to the Italian political scene until October when his term is up Brussels.

It is a reassuringly quirky note in what has so far been a tame electoral season — instead of off-the-wall candidates like porn-star Cicciolina, a gaggle of TV presenters are lining up to become politicians.

This isn’t the first time that Prodi’s center-left coalition makes an appeal to health-conscious voters. In 1996 the economist campaigned by bus instead of the usual glam Italian motorcade and is known to bicycle around his native Bologna.

And the idea of water isn’t all wet — Italy is third world wide in consumption of bottled water and, according to ISTAT statistics, about half the population prefers to drink bottled water over tap for safety concerns.@1999-2007 zoomata.com