Orvieto’s Underground Nativity Scene

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Nativity scenes have been a part of Italian Christmas celebrations since medieval times, but Orvieto’s reenactment is the first to put the Holy family underground. For 14 years running, speleologists have ventured 30 meters (circa 98 feet) down below to set up a nativity scene in the Pozzo della Cava, located in the medieval quarter of the Umbrian city.

Visitors find themselves in historically accurate scene where where life-size figures, costumes and music take them back 20 centuries in time. Special tours of the complex offered during the holidays offer a look a Orvieto underground–an Etruscan cistern, “butti” medieval garbage disposals, a Renaissance kiln and wine cellar–and a kosher menu from the excellent restaurant. Festivities kick off Sunday Dec. 23 and run until Jan. 13.
www.pozzodellacava.it/presepe

Italy by Numbers: Superstition Profits

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9 million Italians visit fortunetellers, yearly
6 billion lire, estimated yearly profits
7,500 professional soothsayers
45, average age for those who seek advice
58% of clients are women*

Scaring the bejesus out of superstitious Italians is big business. One of the country’s most infamous TV charlatans, screechy Wanna Marchi and her sidekick daughter Stefania recently found out it also, eventually, leads to problems with the law.
The mother and daughter duo allegedly bilked one housewife in Treviso out of half a million dollars–by convincing her she had fallen victim to the evil eye. The scheme was a simple one–viewers drawn in by Marchi’s relentless bellowing on paid TV programs phoned up for lucky lottery numbers. When the numbers didn’t win millions, customers were told they were hexed. Naturally, the hex could be removed–for around $2,000.
An investigation from leading satire program “Striscia la Notizia,” sparked a closer look into Marchi’s financial hocus-pocus by Milan’s tax police. This isn’t the first time the 71-year old, famous for ending every sentence by yelling "all right?" (d’accordo?), has been in trouble with the law. Marchi went to jail for 9 days in 1990 for delcaring false bankruptcy. The slick saleswoman had this to say to her accusers: “almost all the people who’ve done me wrong in the past have died. By 2003, in any case, they’ll all be buried.”

For a closer look:
Mal’Uocchiu : Ambiguity, Evil Eye and the Language of Distress

*Statistics from the 2001 report from the anti-scam hotline…

Cats in Rome: a License to Meow

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The Eternal City’s famous feral cats are the latest thing to get “legitimized” by Italian bureaucracy. Once thought of as a nuisance, these abandoned animals were recently declared part of the city’s “bio-cultural patrimony.”

Felines who make their homes in the Coliseum, Cestia pyramid and?Largo di Torre Argentina areas will get individual ‘licenses’ in February 2002 and special cat colonies will be created to care for them.Purring rights for this change of heart go largely to foreigners and tourists who have worked to raise public consciousness to the plight of these animals. “The idea came to us after we saw how popular they were with tourists,” explained Claudio Caterisano of the Civic List. “They stop to pet them and often end up volunteering to take them.” The Cat Sanctuary of Torre Argentina has undoubtedly helped the cause–founded in 1994, the shelter is home to 250 cats and about 8,000 visitors a year make it a stop on their tour of Rome. Locals are hardly without heart–Oscar-winning actress Anna Magnani was among the first to become a cat lady, called colloquially “gattare,” in Rome.

www.romancats.com
A virtual visit to the Torre Argentina shelter

Lining up for the Leaning Tower

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The leaning tower of Pisa just opened to visitors after over a decade of closed doors. According to the custodian we’ve badgered for months, currently the only way to visit the tower is to stand in line. Calculating 30 people can take the tour every 40 minutes, only 360 people per day can visit. Once the logistics are in place (officials now say the beginning of March) reservations will be obligatory. We’ll let you know…

Related resources:
Read more about how the Tower got that tilt…

Web wise: Dec. 17-Dec. 24

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Test your cultural knowledge: new quiz portal• Tricolore=ebusiness?•Juventus takes Stock • E-auguri

E-auguri: Italian Christmas & New Year Greetings
Here’s where to go for free e-cards in Italian:

http://cartoline.iol.it
Flash & animated cards.

www.casentinonline.it
Send a bit of Casentino, Tuscany…

http://it.greetings.yahoo.com
Scroll down for historic photos from the Alinari collection.

http://cartoline.b24.it
If you really want to sent Pokemon, the Mona Lisa or Garfield this is the place.

New Quiz Portal
Check up on your general knowledge with this quiz site–categories include sports, entertainment, history –not all the info is about Italy, but all questions are in Italian..Quick & fun–these short tests change daily…See if you’re on the same wavelength with other players with "segui la scia" poll section…Requires free registration.
www.formichina.it

Tricolore=ebusiness?
These folks got the idea that recent efforts to boost typically lax patriotism might be cause to sell Italian flags online..But if the government efforts promised to give them away–because presumably Italians won’t buy them– it doesn’t seem slated for success…
www.bandieraitaliana.com

Taking stock in Juventus
Investing in a soccer team, even if it is a star of the Italian league, may not seem like a sure thing but fans may prove skeptics wrong. The team from Turin debuts on the Italian stock market Dec. 20–and so far demand is twice the amount of shares available, likely due to enthusiasm from the 17 million aficionados. Management has decided to sell 35 per cent, three percent more than planned, of its stock in the initial share sale. Getting a piece of the company, which plans to branch out into entertainment, will set you back about $4 a share. Worth taking a look at the media campaign–"who’re you calling old lady"–on the official site…
www.juventus.com

 

The Pharmacy Revolution

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No more leaning over the counter and whispering what ails you: in early 2002, Italian pharmacies will put over the counter medications, well, over the counter.
Currently, clients suffering mild discomforts like heartburn, hay fever or menstrual cramps are handed a remedy by the pharmacist and not given a choice of products. More than just a clerk in a lab coat, the man or woman behind the counter is required to hold a university degree in pharmacology, which may mean an awkward change for Italians accustomed to asking advice of the trusted corner pharmacist. The do-it-yourself approach to medicine is expected to save Italian households around $75 per year. Health minister Girolamo Sirchia announced the change as part of the “pharmacy revolution,” which began with the introduction of generic drugs in September 2001.

Related resources:
www.mega.it/ita/gui/monu/smnfar.htm
One pharmacy worth taking a browse in–for outstanding pampering: the Antica Farmacia Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

Venice Calls on Moses to Stop Floods

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After more than 30 years of deliberation, the Italian government approved a controversial project to prevent Venice from being devastated by floods.
Named after Moses the biblical figure, the project consists of 79 moveable floodgates weighing 300 tons each which rise to part the sea surrounding Venice when high tides arrive. According to proponents, these dykes will protect La Serenissima from flooding which is now four times more frequent than it was 100 years ago.
The design of the $2.3 billion project, whose name is also an acronym for “experimental electromechanical module” in Italian, was first presented in 1989 and has since been the object of lively debate. Environmentalists have opposed the project as costly and harmful but the proposal gained momentum last year after a team of independent scientists decided it was the best way to keep Venice afloat. Moses won’t be a quick fix: Venice be plagued by flooding ("acqua alta") for at least another 8-10 years while the gates are under construction.

Related resources:
www.salve.it/uk/index.html
More on Moses and the Venetian Lagoon…

Web wise: Dec. 10-Dec. 17

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Pannettone business cards• Monastery for Sale• Italian practice: send audio emails• Ponte Vecchio Golf Challenge

Panettone Calling Card
Make your presentations more memorable–by handing out these CDroms treated with "profume paint." Aside from the italianissimo panettone, aromas include: hay, lavender, prune, gas station and something called Himalaya Morning….Smelling is probably believing…
www2.card21.it/htmlit/businessduft_d.php

Monastery for Sale
If you’re in the market for a 9,000 square meter complex, have we got a unique idea. The monastery of St. Francesco in Bobbio, about halfway inland between Genoa and Piacenza, has put out a for sale sign. The church and the neighboring monastery, built in 1230, lie outside the city walls. Legend has it the name was granted when Saint Francis of Assisi passed through Bobbio during the dawn of the 13th century, on a quest for peace. Suppressed by Napoleonic order in 1803, the monastery was snapped up by the Marquis Malaspina, who have now decided to sell it. Any takers?
www.italiamultimedia.com/monastero
In Italian & English..

Italian Practice: send audio "magnets" via email
It works a bit like refrigerator magnets, where you use words to compose a sentence. Move the Italian words into a sentence & then send it via email to a friend. When the recipient clicks on the page, they hear your audio message, in Italian…A fun way to see how your syntax is going…
A starter set is available for guest users–free registration is required for the "specialized" vocab (sex, love, technology, sports, anniversaries).
www.seidentroseifuori.it/jsp/index.jsp
Click on "kalamite" then "standard" for the vocab

Golf Contest on the Ponte Vecchio
For the second year running Italy’s most famous bridge, where tanners and jewelers have plied their trades for centuries, will be transformed into a makeshift golf course. Experts and enthusiasts tee off on floating islands in the Arno river on Dec. 15-16. Can’t make it? Try the virtual game in Flash…
www.pontevecchiochallenge.it

Italy by Numbers: Italiani gente allegra?

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52% Italians feel ‘lost’ or ‘insecure’
14% feel depressed
9% feel happy

So much for the legendary sunny disposition of Italians. According to a poll of 938 inhabitants of the Bel Paese conducted by a psychology magazine, only one in ten are content. The survey, however, appears to confirm that Italians are happiest when at home with family. Sunday nights, with the school and work looming the next day, were deemed the low point of the week and only 10% said they felt unhappy or sad during the holidays. To combat the blues, 53% spend time on self improvement, including sports and meditation. The most ‘unhappy’ cities are business hubs in the North– Milan, Turin and Genoa.

Priest Holds Weekly Exorcism Mass For ”Bedeviled” Village

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"The devil is among us here, I have no doubt," said parish priest Father Sergio Bagliani. This man of the cloth is convinced that Satan has possessed at least two families…

Although the tranquil town of Gravellona Pavia (Lombardy), population 2,100, seems an unlikely place for breeding Beelzebub, Bagliani started a weekly “purification mass” against what he called an “infestation.” The service drew hundreds, enough to move from the parish church of S. Maria Assunta to nearby sanctuary Madonna delle Bozzole.
One of the presumably possessed members of the community, housewife and mother of four Giulia Davide, has a prosaic explanation for recent events. "I suffer from low blood pressure and had a spell while the priest was blessing our house," said Davide. "The priest got a bit spooked and nearly drowned me in Holy water. That’s it."
Father Bagliani could not be reached for comment, the sacristan said he is on a spiritual retreat. Newspapers reports claimed the priest was instead getting a good talking to by the Bishop of Novara.