Milan recently gave an extreme makeover to the permanent design collection at the Triennale Museum.
The Triennale Design Museum launched in 2007, but gets a complete over haul including a rotation of the 400 or so pieces on show every two years.

The somewhat murky, nocturnal feel of the inaugural exhibit designed by Peter Greenaway (“The Obsessions of Italian Design,”) was replaced in March by “Serie Fuori Serie” (lit. custom-built series) an airy, bright set-up curated by furniture and industrial designer Antonio Citterio.

The new exhibit, which again puts such humble objects as the stove top espresso maker and the Valentina typewriter alongside prototypes old and new, explores the ties between Italian industry and design innovation.

Pro: the to-scale prototypes and rarities (including a Ferrari, the Alca Volpe pictured above, folding bikes, several scooters and a Piaggio Ape) are definitely worth a look. And the more quotidian objects are still interesting, as you’re bound to recognize something you own — like the two Milanese sciure overheard discussing Plia fold-up chairs — or, in my case, realize the junk store finds may be knock offs of Joe Colombo glasses designed to help assist drinking while smoking.

Contro: It’s still just a small part of the full collection, so good to kill an hour or so (especially if you visit the excellent café or outdoor summer bar) but probably not much more.

Triennale Design Museum
Viale Alemagna 6 (metro stop Cadorna)
Tickets 8€
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 10:30 am- 8:30 pm
Thursdays 10.30 – 11:00 pm (entrance with an aperitif)

Emotions will run high during what may be the world’s first movie festival designed to make moviegoers blubber like babies debuts in Rome.

Inspired by Japan’s crying clubs, the Tearjerker Film Fest is a two-week weep-a-thon. Called literally “jerk my tears,” or Strappami Le Lacrime in Italian, ticket prices for the festival are just four euro (about $5) and include a packet of tissues for the inevitable sob.

Although Italian neo-realist flicks have been known make many moviegoers sniffle in sorrow, the tearjerkers on offer here are mostly Hollywood classics, including “Splendor In The Grass,” “Letter From an Unknown Woman,” and “The Yearling.” The only Italian film included is Luigi Comencini’s “Incompreso,” about a young boy dealing with his mother’s death.

Film buffs can have a bawl at Rome’s Palazzo delle Esposizioni until March 15.

There’s a lot of covert phone camera snapping at art exhibits. Cameras are almost never allowed (how could they sell postcards, otherwise?), but that doesn’t stop visitors from trying to get a picture of a work they want to look at again, later.

This is especially a problem in Italy, where there are more cellphones than people and text messages are used for everything from food price checks to flood alerts.

One solution?

A recently-launched Samurai exhibit in Milan features some text-enabled works.

For the cost of a text message, exhibit organizers send you a picture of the work, plus a detailed description of it. In this case (and yes, that’s my battered Nokia above), there was more information provided with the texted image about the Elk-horned warrior from the Edo period than in the exhibit.

It’s also a better pic than you’d be able to take on the sly. You can download it from your phone as a 60KB image — and then send it as a postcard if you fancy.

They may drive Fiats as if they were Ferraris and consider red lights a reason to accelerate, but most Italian drivers say they are “perfect” behind the wheel.

A survey of over 2,000 Italian drivers conducted by Italian motor club Aci and insurance company Sara found that 65.4% consider themselves perfect drivers.

When faced with a yellow traffic light, 66% say they slow down, just 22% say they slow down while the remaining 12% considers the situation a quandary. (Following Italian road rules, they should stop unless the car is already in the intersection.)

An even higher number of Italian drivers, 79.9%, say they have a perfect driving record, while just 14.5% say they’ve had a few points taken off for traffic violations.

Nearly 60% say they always wear seatbelts, 11% say they are too uncomfortable and 26% say they don’t bother to make passengers buckle up, too.

These angelic drivers also slow down for pedestrians (67%), while the rest say they slow down if the person is already in the crosswalk.

If you’ve spent any time on Italian roads, it’s a little hard to believe, especially the part about crosswalks.

Photo used with a Creative Commons license, thanks to cruelgargle on flickr.

Soccer fans can keep up with Champion’s League games and Italy’s Serie A games on their iPhones thanks to a free web app developed in cooperation with Sky.

Stats, line-ups, photos, and play-by-plays (for the moment, in Italian only) are available at http://i.sky.it/

The web app was developed by CEFRIEL, an ICT research hub for three Milan Universities, with a special eye to Apple-friendly design. One example: a list of team members can be rotated horizontally to a soccer field view which shows the positions they play.

A lot of men here in Italy used to carry transistor radios on Sundays listening to soccer games.

Of late, these have been replaced by videophone services that allow fans ignore wives and friends while having a stroll. The nice thing about this app is that you can keep on top of the score without ruining conversation over Sunday lunch.