+2.9 million more cell phone numbers than Italians (est. 2005)
2,320 mobile phone lines active (1985)
265,902 mobile phone lines active (1990)
3.923 million mobile phone lines active (1995)

A recent study confirmed that Italy’s love for the mobile phone shows no sign of slowing down: by 2005 the number of mobile phone lines will outnumber Italians by almost three million. The explanation given by the national observatory for mobile phones is simple: many Italians have more than one SIM card for the same phone. About half of Italians consider cell phones essential for keeping in touch with friends and family, some 40% use them every day, while less than 20% use them for work. This element of family ties to the ‘cellulare’ or ‘telefonino’ has led to exponential growth in the mobile phone sector — in 2001 there were 33 million cell phone numbers and, if expert predictions hold true, that number will almost double in the next three years. And, in any case, outnumber Italians…

Related resources:
Our Guide to Italian for Cell Phone Messages

70% Italians feel unified currency = price increases
+21.4% meal for two
+21% taxi ride to airport
+16.8% coffee in café
+10.8% CD

Statistics have finally confirmed the price pinch Italians have been feeling since the unified currency was introduced in 2002. Italians, for the most part enthusiastic about the arrival of the euro, have been complaining about a series of unjustified price hikes due to the changeover. Treasury officials have tried to calm the waters by confirming that inflation remains stable — but that doesn’t ease what newspapers are calling the “euro sting.” An independent study by AC Nielsen instead showed that price increases are almost across the board (a few exceptions: decaffeinated coffee, rubber gloves, Kleenex and some parking, all down slightly) and hover between 10-20.% Ouch…

Many Italians can’t remember when fireflies brightened summer nights, but scientists say the luminous insects are making a comeback this season.
“We must thank biologically-friendly agriculture, which has exploded recently,” said professor Francesco Petretti of the University of Camerino, who studied the phenomenon. “Farmers are using fewer pesticides.”

Italy is the top producer in Europe of organic food (54,000 companies) with the most extensive amount of land organically cultivated at 2,965,620 acres. Organic produce, generically called ‘bio’ in Italian, makes up 2.4% of the national diet.
Scientists consider fireflies — called ‘lucciole,’ also slang for prostitutes — a sign of a healthy ecosystem. The insects, whose yellow glow is a product of protein intake and used as a mating call, live in unpolluted grass, bushes and hedges. The first fireflies were spotted in coastal regions in May, by scientists predict by July they’ll light up the rest of the Bel Paese countryside.

Late film director PierPaolo Pasolini decried the disappearance of fireflies, provoked by the industrial boom in the 1950-60s, in a well-known essay. "At the beginning of the sixties, the fireflies began to disappear in our nation, due to pollution of the air, and the azure rivers and limpid canals, above all in the countryside.." Pasolini wrote. "Today this is a somewhat poignant recollection of the past—a man of that time with such a souvenir cannot be young among the young of today and can therefore not have the wonderful regrets of those times."

www.prodottibiologici.net
Map of bio-friendly products throughout Italy

For the fourth year running hundreds of would-be gladiators from all parts of Italy met in Alessandria (Piedmont) for a three-day “Roman Fest ” held the last weekend of May.
In addition to parades, feasts and didactic programs for children, the
reenactment featured a slave market with Roman currency.
"It will be possible to see, but also participate in the classic slave
market, particularly fashionable in the Roman Empire," recites the program. Slave owners, it points out, are only entitled to an "unusual chat" at the Roman inn on fairgrounds.
Officials also softened up the bloodthirsty nature of the gladiator bouts, by emphasizing that contestants- winners or losers -are expected to leave the ring on their own legs and not on a stretcher, as "times – in good or bad – have changed. "

www.forumfulvii.com
The official site, in English & Italian

Animal rights proponents are starting to become a stable part of Orvieto’s Palombella Festival. Thousands will converge on the Umbrian town to protest the centuries-old ritual for Pentecost, which takes place this year on May 19.
The bone of contention: a live dove, symbolizing the holy spirit, which is tied to the center of a wheel of fireworks and placed on a steel cable.

The short, albeit not very peaceful trip for the dove involves gliding down 300 meters with fireworks exploding all around. End of the line is the sacristy of the 13th-century cathedral — if fallout from the fireworks lights flames on the heads of the Virgin and Apostles it’s a good omen for the coming year. The dove, shaken but usually still alive and unharmed, is removed from the contraption.
This is the latest in a series of scuffles between Italian traditions and modern sensibilities. Florence, for example, has replaced live animals in both the Cricket Festival and the Scoppio del Carro, a similar ritual which takes place as during Easter celebrations. For years, protesters have unsuccessfully lobbied to substitute the live animal with a decoy.
Local bishop Lucio Decio Grandoni, main opponent of the animal rights groups, maintains the dove doesn’t suffer. Following tradition, after the wild ride, the bird is given to a bride and groom to keep — and at least doesn’t risk ending up dinner. As a concession, the dove won’t be tied to the wheel but placed in a glass box. For now, it looks like the Palombella Festival will continue as it has since the early 1400s: the local court archived an official complaint by protesters after last year’s celebrations.
"It’s not a celebration any more but a battlefield," said journalist Daniele Di Loreto. "I have the suspicion that more people show up for the fighting than the Palombella — like car races, it’s much more exciting if there’s an accident."

Celebrating Italy — Food & Traditions
Recipes and folklore from the Bel Paese

64% Italians suffer from lack of sleep
69% avoid medical cures for sleep loss
44% feel effects the following day

Grumpy, irascible Italians would appear to have a good excuse: most suffer from lack of sleep. According to researchers from the Italian Association for Sleep Disorders, which polled 3,284 patients throughout Italy, scare sleep in the Bel Paese is cause for alarm.
"Lack of sleep should be considered a social malady," said Fabio Cirignotta, president of the Association."It’s responsible for 50% of work-related accidents and 10-20% of car accidents."
The study also revealed that not only 64% of Italians suffer from sleeplessness, but of those over 50% are workers. Worth keeping in mind for the next encounter with irritable taxi driver.

www.morfeodormiresano.it/pecora_game/game.htm
Counting sheep? Try this flash game…

St. Domenico, protector from snake bites and toothaches, will be marched through town crowned with snakes to celebrate one of the most pagan of Christian rituals.
The centuries-old rite is a holdover from when all Italians feared serpents — in current times they’re more likely to have one around the house.

Some 60,000 Italians keep snakes as pets, according to think-tank Eurispes, and the first “reptile beauty contest” was the highlight of a three-day fair held recently in Rome.

In Cocullo (Abruzzo), however, the behavior of the snakes (none are poisonous) placed on the statue of the saint during the midday procession on the first Thursday in May is read as a sign of things to come. If the snakes wind around St. Domenico’s head, the coming harvest will be a good one, if they head towards the arms and leave the head free local prophecies of gloom and doom abound. The procession dates back to pre-Roman times when the goddess Angizia was said to protect local farmers from snake bites.

Though somewhat overshadowed by the reptile aspect, dental protection is also part of celebrations. A bell is rung — the string must be pulled by teeth for good tooth health — and the faithful line up to kiss the holy molar. St. Domenico, who previously kept away fevers and storms, became the patron of teeth and snake bites in the 16th century. Legend has it the saint transformed poisonous snakes into fragrant bread — so women follow the procession with circles of bread shaped like snakes biting their own tails.

Celebrating Italy — Food & Traditions
Recipes and folklore from the Bel Paese

24.5% Italians smoke
14.7 Average number of cigarettes smoked daily
19.6 Smokers quit (1999)
2 offbeat initiatives to quit

Spa detox treatments and an exotic vacation are two new incentives to stop smoking. “We’ll do our part to make sure people who want to quit have access to spa treatments,” said Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia speaking about reforms to Italy’s health care system. A typical anti-smoking cure at the thermal baths, which runs about $500 USD, might consist of a week of respiratory treatments, massages and special gymnastics. Other would-be former smokers can quit for the month of May to participate in a drawing for a vacation to the Seychelles — Italy’s participation in the World Health Organization’s “Quit & Win” program. These inititatives are especially aimed at Italian women to combat the increase in female smokers — up from 16.4% to 17.1% since 1993 according to ISTAT statistics.

"Learn and free your mind," was the introductory note from Santino Spinelli, the first Rom professor to teach gypsy culture in Europe.
The new course at the University of Trieste will give a closer look at a misunderstood segment of the Italian population.
Spinelli, born in Pietrasanta di Lucca (Abruzzo), grew up asking for alms then studied at Language and Letters at the University of Bologna.

"There are 120,000 Italian Roms," said Spinelli, a poet and accordion player who also heads up the band Alexian Group. "Previously they had two options — either be assimilated or emarginated. My choice is a third option: to remain profoundly Rom, without losing the cultural characteristics, but take an active role in society."
The course, part of the intercultural studies department, is divided into two sections: the history of gypsies and the history of the serenade in Abruzzi Rom. The Rom group in Abruzzo, in Italy since the 1300s, is the oldest in the country.

http://web.tiscali.it/themromano
Music sample "Echi d’oriente" & poetry by Spinelli.

Italy by Numbers: Snapshot of the Country

27 million: Italians in 1870
56 million: Italians 2001
45.5% live in North
24.2% South
18.9% Central Italy
11.4% Islands
for every 1,000 Italians = 17.5 resident foreigners

Initial results for Italy’s 14th census are almost two months late — and arrived amid claims that entire towns either never received or never returned the 11-page poll. The results show a steady, if shrinking population at about 56.8 million people. Families also decreased to 2.6 members — down slightly from 2.8 in the 1991 census — but almost half the size of postwar families composed of 4.2 members.
The number of families is increasing (from around 19 million to 21 million since 1991) as more one-person families or single-parent families are created. As a result there are also considerably more houses, more telephones and television sets.
While the immigrant population is growing (tripled since the last census), Italy still has one of the lowest ratio of nationals to foreigners: 1.7% compared to Germany’s 9%. National statistics agency ISTAT plans to release final figures in 2003.

www.censimenti.it
Wade through the preliminary results.