Italians play prison game

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zoomata.com staff A new board game based on life at Milan’s San Vittore prison will help Italians find out what happens after you pull the ‘jail’ card.
Called “Criminal Mouse” in English, the game made by prisoners challenges players to get through the system.
A roll of the dice can mean rat-infested cells, repeat sentences or going to rehabilitation classes, visits from loved ones, time off for good behavior and, finally, freedom.The bewildered cartoon mice behind bars on game tokens can be replaced with player’s own “mug shots” for an added touch of realism.

Criminal Mouse is the latest effort from www.ildue.it, creative hub of the Milanese prison that has also given birth to an inmates’ recipe book, a collection of love poems and a successful sit-com. Volunteer Emilia Patruno told zoomata the game has no high-minded goal of acting as a deterrent but hopes to give those who are unlikely to wear prison grays some understanding of life behind bars.

Lately, San Vittore could use some understanding. Officials are still scratching their heads over the April 12 escape of an alleged drug dealer and gang member awaiting trial. Klodian Ndoi knotted sheets to shimmy four floors to the courtyard and then climbed temporary scaffolding put up for restoration of the 1879 jail. Guards saw him but didn’t manage to catch him, raising public concern about the running of the maximum-security prison. Ndoi still hasn’t been found.

Escaping from prison in the game can also be challenging. Lawyer Giuliano Spazzali, during a mock game in front of journalists, failed to correctly answer three questions that would have allowed him to escape and win the game. He was “in” for robbery.? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Italian city workers take ‘gay rights’ classes

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zoomata.com staff A stone’s throw from the Vatican, city employees in Rome are taking seminars to give them a better understanding of gay rights.
Called a preventative measure against homophobia, participants in the six-session course are workers from the office for relations with the public (URP).

The course is the brainchild of Mariella Gramaglia, city councilor responsible for communications and equal opportunities, who has over the years led a series of anti-discrimination measures in the Eternal City. Courses, led by a team of activists and academics, started June 15. Gramaglia hopes to export the program in the fall to another 19 towns in Italy.

“Rome isn’t just an city open to art, but it is a city with an open mind,” she said. “We targeted people who are on the front lines for dealing with the public, it is a first for Italy.”

Her words may have rattled the papal scepter just a few miles away in the Vatican.
Recently-appointed Pope Benedict XVI is seen by many as a foe of gay rights, as a cardinal he once called homosexuality a “tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil.”
The battle for separation between church and state in Italy is bound to be a long one. With the backing of the Pope, the church successfully mounted a boycott of the June referendum to ease Italy’s strict fertility laws. ? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Smelling sweet: Italians perfume city

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zoomata.com staff Clean streets are not enough for one Italian city, officials have decided they should smell good too.
Billed as a scent makeover for Genoa’s narrow medieval streets, called caruggi and maligned for centuries as havens for stale smells, the local trash company has decided to spruce up the city for summer visitors.

Streets will be cleaned and scented every day until September 15, according to this “decorum plan” laid out in a press release.

The real question is the perfume itself: this is a city by the sea and known for basil-laden pesto sauce but the streets will waft with a pine odor reminiscent of the mountains.

In recent years, the Italian concern for pleasing appearance, bella figura has been extended to city smells. Residents of San Giuliano Milanese, about 13 km (8 miles) from Milan, are treated to relaxing or invigorating scents as they wait in line in city offices. ? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Italian monuments: a bright future as billboards

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by Nicole Martinelli

Imagine the Coliseum sporting a McDonald’s billboard. Or maybe the Tower of Pisa draped in an ad for dirty denim. Or Michelangelo’s David perhaps hawking Calvin Klein underwear.

It’s not as far off as it sounds. Rome’s Pantheon will get a fix-up thanks to advertising sold on scaffolding and officials throughout the country are grappling with the ethical problem of financing much-needed restorations by using monuments as giant billboards.Italy is chock-a-block with monuments, UNESCO estimates the Bel Paese holds 60% of the world’s art treasures, but unfortunately does not have the budget to maintain them.

Case in point, Florence Renaissance jewel church Santissima Annunziata. Italian media recently reported that the roof has such a steady leak it is ‘raining’ inside but there is no money for repairs. The city government is responsible for 12 churches; fixing damage to this church would eat up 25% of the meager maintenance budget.

Yet the same Florentines protested when an ad featuring a sexy pouting model advertising a brand of watches went up on the scaffolding in front of the Bishop’s Residence in the religious center of the city, Piazza Duomo. The diocesan administration, somewhat embarrassed by the brouhaha, said they were just trying to find a way to finance the work.

Some see saving art through advertising as a question of practicality.

“Let’s face it, when they started charging tourists entrance fees churches became museums, not places of worship,” architect and Florence resident Dario Notari told zoomata. “Now they are splitting hairs. If only every art work could find a sponsor, Italy would be in good shape.”

Environmental protection group Italia Nostra is of the same opinion, having gathered up enough money to restore the Pantheon in Rome with an ad scheme. They recently criticized city officials for refusing to restore more monuments through ads and imposing size restrictions on those they did accept, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported. After a billboard selling cosmetics was plastered over the front of Trinit? dei monti church, city officials have decided to review the policy and handpick ‘appropriate’ ads.

Halfway measures don’t seem to please anyone. In Milan, the enormous gothic cathedral sports a somewhat discreet side billboard for a cell phone service. It’s not large enough to finance the restoration of the facade but its presence doesn’t go down well with the Milanese.

“What’s next? A church should not be a place for advertising,” passerby Luigi Mancini, 73, told zoomata. “What bothers me most is that we may come to accept it, to not see it any more.”

In fact, scandals broke out in both Milan and Florence last year when alert citizens noticed that restorations were finished, but the scaffolding stayed. The reason? There was still plenty of money to be made from giant ads on the facades.?photos + text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Plan to visit Sicily’s Aeolian Islands? Take a number

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zoomata.com staff Day-trippers beware: this summer the stunning Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily will admit only 500 visitors per day from June until September.
Former Greek colonies on the UNESCO world heritage list because of volcanic activity, these Italian islands have been suffering from their own popularity. The Aeolians are seven sister isles populated by fewer than 15,000 locals that attract 200,000 visitors every summer. Officials hope to avoid overcrowding and trash troubles caused by peaks of up to 8,000 people a day in hotspots like Panarea and Stromboli.
Those trying to circumvent the closed number by arriving with chartered boats on beaches would do well to think about the 206 euro ($260) fine and possible jail sentence for ‘trespassing.’

Although Capri, another well-trampled island destination off the coast of Naples has long threatened to limit tourism in the same manner, Lipari Mayor Mariano Bruno is the first to have actually done it, using mandate a the Italian government gave him to do something about the ‘tourism emergency’ facing the islands.

It is not clear how officials will regulate the flow of visitors from various companies doing the island hop from the coast and from Sicily. Hydrofoils may be the way to go, they cost twice as much but take half the time so visitors on slower boats may arrive to find quotas filled.

Restaurant owner Pina Cinotta worries about the logistics of this take-a-number tourism: “Who is going to act as a traffic light? The coast guard and the local police have other things to do,” she said in a public hearing. “Will the ‘reject’ tourists be piled on the pier like our trash waiting to be taken somewhere else?”
It is a strong measure that seems destined to have a domino effect. Even less-trod destinations, like Ginostra, regularly swell an estimated 2,400%, from 25 locals to 600 tourists per day during peak season. The overflow from visitors on hot spots is bound to glut the quieter areas. ? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Related resources:
http://www.netnet.it/aasteolie/Orari/come%20arrivare%20INGLESE.htm
List of ferry and hydrofoil companies. Reservations by phone only.

Lonely Planet Sicily

Italians outraged by Cicciolina’s Early Morning Sex Ed

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zoomata.com staff
It’s 8:45 a.m. on a Saturday morning and there’s a good chance the kiddies aren’t watching cartoons: adult actress Cicciolina, 52, is talking about contraception, faking orgasms and masturbation on a nationally-broadcast Italian morning talk show.

Thousand of parents called in to complain about the sex opines of Cicciolina, a.k.a. Ilona Staller, on the program “Omnibus” in a segment usually reserved for musings on the day’s events. The furore is likely a boon for Cicciolina, a former Italian parliament member trying to rekindle her political career as she runs for mayor of Milan in 2006 elections.

Despite almost universal presence of gyrating, bikini-clad dancing girls on Italian TV programs, broadcasters are bound to a 1997 law which requires they show kid-safe programming at certain times (“fascia protetta”) from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Though they face fines of up to 250,000 euro, broadcasters frequently blur into sexier themes causing Italians to joke about having a ‘pro-tit’ (pro-tetta) time instead of the protected one promised.

“Talking about sex on TV is important, but with experts and treated in a certain way,” said Antonio Marziale, president of the observatory for the rights of minors in a statement. “The law exists for a reason, without exceptions. We’ve notified broadcasting authorities about this latest breach.”? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Italian traffic ‘electrified’ by microcars

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zoomata.com staff

Tough new driving laws passed by the Italian government last year — including a points license and the introduction of a license for scooters — have left many in Italian cities without wheels. Public transportation, famously crowded and unreliable, simply isn’t a practical option.

The solution? Electric microcars. They require no license, are easy to park and are allowed to circulate in limited traffic areas — called ZTLs — practically the entire heart of the city.
Visitors are fast catching on to the fact that with these second cousins of the Smart car, thankfully blessed with automatic transmission, they can sidle up to the Pantheon or take spin around the Trevi fountain without the expense of a taxi. Prices range from 32 – 50 euro ($39-61USD) per day, comparable to compact rental car rates, but microcars can be rented by the day making them the choice for Italians on shopping jaunts. Electric cars can go 100 chilometers of in-town driving — they’re not allowed on the autostrada — before having to be recharged.

Golf carts, though they do require a driving license, are another option. Going golf in Rome for example costs more than a microcar – at 15 euro ($18 USD) an hour – but they are a valid option for those looking for a slower (they reach speeds of 25 kilometers/15 miles per hour) and wider means of transportation.
One caveat: electric cars are so popular it is worth making a reservation before arriving.?1999-2005 zoomata.com
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No TV? Baby boom in Italian town

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www.zoomata.com staff No television means more bambini. The equation seems that simple, at least in a tiny Italian hill town with poor television reception.

The 250 inhabitants of Torri, about 9 kilometers (5.7 miles) inland from Ventimiglia in the Liguria region, appear to have turned to procreation as recreation: the percentage of children in the total population, 32%, is more than twice that of the Italian national average.
Torri, or towers in Italian, takes its name from a fortified structure built there in 1173. The sheltered mountain position that once made for protection against outsiders now shields the town from TV reception. State broadcaster RAI’s signal doesn’t come through at all while only one channel from commercial broadcaster Mediaset gets through for a few hours if the weather is right.

Perhaps politicians and church officials, who have been trying to convince Italians to raise one of the world’s lowest birth rates, should take note. Towns throughout Italy now offer ‘social subsidies’ that grow with the family as incentives. A typical program offers cash for the first five years of a child’s life, doubling for every sibling added to the family.Some of the more whimsical initiatives honoring precious newborns include towns like Moretta, where the main square lights up for each new citizen or Monza, where each family is sent a personalized poem marking the event.

Torri’s baby boom may not last forever, though, some local residents have successfully petitioned to have a new antenna tower installed.? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Computer help desk prank makes Italian overnight star

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by Nicole Martinelli Retired factory worker Salvatore Zedda, 58, makes for an unlikely pop star. However unlikely, his “song,” a sampling of calls he made to the help desk of an Internet provider made without his consent, has become an underground hit in Italy.
It all started a few weeks ago when Zedda phoned Tiscali’s help desk for problems with his email account. Gruff, with a slight stutter and a strong regional accent, the customer made help desk gurus titter with his mangled English.
Zedda, who hails from the small town of Ortacesus on the isle of Sardinia, demanded the “passa-worrrld” (password) to his i-mayyl (email) account, threatening to change providers if they didn’t help him.

It never pays to be rude to the help desk: they recorded the calls including his full name and town and the file spread like wildfire, finding its way to P2P networks. From there it was a short leap to the dogshift techno remix, where samples of “passa-worrrld-passa-worrrld” run over a thumping club beat.

For a while, it seemed that Zedda was enjoying his 15 minutes of fame, even appearing on a local TV show. But when Italians from around the world (Canada, South America) started phoning up at all hours asking him whether he’d received his “passa-worrrld” he was less amused and subsequently hired a lawyer.

Tiscali has made formal apologies to Zedda and told newspapers that the help desk workers in question have been suspended.? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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Woman cheats with woman: twice as guilty, Italian court says

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zoomata.com staff

For Italian judges, if both spouses cheat the one who has an affair with a member of the same sex is the guilty one. In a case brought before the country’s Cassation court, because of her relationship with another woman a wife in Sicily was faulted with the breakup of her marriage.

Judges deemed her affair with a daughter’s former schoolmate as a deciding factor in the breakup of the home and harmful to her daughters. Husband Settimo, called only by his first name to protect privacy, will keep the family home and care for the daughters. His former wife of 21 years, Anna, was also ordered to pay 3,100 euro in court costs.

The recent sentence was brought an end to a dramatic eight-year-long case. Anna requested a divorce in 1997 on the grounds that her husband was known to all of Palermo as a very busy Latin lover.
She requested custody, the family home and 2,000 euro a month in alimony. Settimo found out about Anna’s gay relationship and had his daughters and a relative of Anna’s testify in court about it. His wife, however, was not able to provide such convincing evidence of his numerous affairs. Judges, faced with proof of only her infidelity, sided with the husband.

“I completely sympathize with her,” law professor and activist Francesco Bilotta told newspapers. “Not so much for having been unfaithful to an unfaithful husband but for having the courage to take it to the highest courts. If more people were so brave, gay and lesbian rights would gain considerable ground.” ? text 1999-2005 zoomata.com
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