Smokeless Cigarettes: La Dolce Vita?

Nic SticMILAN, Italy — The NicStic is a cigarette-size plastic tube with a rechargeable heating coil that vaporizes tobacco instead of burning it.

Pop a filter on the end of the tube, and in seconds it is warmed up enough for a nicotine fix without the smoke. Because it has no smoke, it also has none of the tar, arsenic, cadmium and formaldehyde of regular cigarettes; it also passes muster with local anti-smoking laws here.

“I actually don’t mind doing a bit of vogueing with this,” said Victor Chambers, a former model and steady smoker, who tried the device at a reporter’s request inside a crowded local bar. “Shivering in the rain for a smoke is just so last season.” More from zoomata editor Nicole Martinelli over at Wired.com.

Salute! Italian fridge with beer spout

Beer fridgeForget the water dispenser and ice cube maker: a new fridge made in Italy has a front-door beer tap.

Called HomePub this chic, stainless steel fridge holds a five-liter keg and can keep the beer bubbly for up to three weeks. Price not listed.

You’d think Italians would be more interested in a vino dispenser, but Bel Paese residents have developed a taste for beer in recent years.

Italian Fashion in Second Life

Second LifeItalian multimedia designer Diana (aka Bianca Foulon) is launching her first collection of virtual togs in Second Life for media agency Interzone March 8.

Timed to coincide with celebrations for International Women’s Day, models hit the catwalk on the Interzone Island at 1p.m. SL time or from 10:00 p.m. GMT.

Diana/Bianca hopes the fashion line, called Gina’s, will encourage indie designers from the Bel Paese to create more moda for this new world.

Zoomata editor Nicole Martinelli has been tapped to model and is furiously practicing graceful turns with the keyboard in hopes of not falling off the runway.

Healthy Indulgence: Chocolate Vitamins

Choco-pillThe best giveaway at Milan’s recent tourism fair: dark chocolate enriched with Vitamin A & C for the guilty.

Called “Chocopirin-A,” (a play on “aspirina,” aspirin) the tabs were handed out to hungry visitors to promote the Eurochocolate fest in Perugia next fall. Meant to underline how chocolate has become more a part of our daily lives, hopefully some marketing genius will copy the idea and make them for real.

Milan’s Chinese New Year Mash-up

Chinese New Year

Carnival + Chinese New Year + Italian military band: this unruly cultural mash-up took place in Milan to bring in the year of the pig recently.

Celebrations of capodanno cinese were a bit toned down in size and scale compared to last year, there was little about it in the papers probably because it fell during carnival.

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New Italy Logo: Not Bello

Here’s the thing: Italy is one of the most easily recognizable countries on the planet.
It is shaped like a boot.

Italy is also known for lots of big, easily recognizable monuments (the Coliseum, the leaning tower, Milan’s Duomo) so you’d think creative types would have it easy when it comes to creating a new logo.

But no: the image meant to promote Italian tourism in the world is a lowercase “i” with a sickly-looking green blob next to it. Continue reading

Free Trains to Italian hotels

Eco-friendly Italian hotels are offering free train transport until September 2007.

Hotel owners will reimburse guests round trip fare (second class but including fast Eurostar trains) from anywhere in Italy thanks to an agreement between environmental group Legambiente and Trenitalia.

Some 30 establishments throughout the Bel Paese Continue reading

Italy’s Love Park Closed

There were no good vibes at Italy’s latest parking lot of love on Valentine’s day. Police shut the park down before the Fiats could pull into the 73 spots available.

Called the “Lovely Park” in grammatically-challenged English, the structure in southern city of Bari would have been open for action 24 hours a day, charging the amorous €3 ($3.80 circa) an hour for privacy and safety. Continue reading

Italians Launch RFID Smartbuoys

A new electronic mooring system billed as a boon for pampered boaters is also good for the environment since it eliminates the need for dropping a coral-killing anchor.

The Italian-engineered MarPark system, launched on an experimental basis last summer in a few protected areas in Liguria and Sardinia, lets boaters cruise into idyllic bays and hook a rope with a rubber ring to a smartbuoy. Simple as that, they’re safely harbored, no anchor necessary. Full story by zoomata editor Nicole Martinelli on Wired.

Rome Restaurant Gets Grannies to Cook

If you happen to eat at Primo al Pigneto in Rome on the right day, you may be treated to a home-cooked meal from a neighborhood grandma.

At age 30 — when many Italian men are still living at home feasting on la nonna’s cooking — chef Marco Gallotta had the brainwave of recruiting local women to “guest star” in his kitchen for one week a month. Continue reading