Italian News Snippets: 09.09.07
Some Italian news for your Sunday reading pleasure:
- A 66-year-old woman in northern Italy has apparently been beating the crap out of her 62-year-old neighbor, saying the neighbor is a witch. The supposed witch had to go to the police to try to get the beatings stopped.
- Romancing that ideal woman takes not just finesse but also cash, according to a poll released in Italy last week. Single men spent about €1,200 every year seducing women - the most money is spent in Milan (€2,400 per year), while in Bologna the men are apparently cheap - or the women are. Bolognese men spent only €380 per year on their dates.
- Italian researchers claim to have created the recipe for the “perfect” ice cream, which they say can be eaten every day, even in place of a meal. Said “perfect” recipe is 30% fat and 55% sugar, making me wonder what kind of meals the researchers normally eat.
- You think Google Earth is cool? Well, some Italian cows are now being monitored by satellite to make sure they keep to their own fields or safe in their barns. Look out, sheep and goats - you’re next.
- A Roam to Rome visited an abandoned Italian hill town not too long ago, and writes about it here. From the comments, it sounds like these Italian ghost towns are more common than one would think.
- A relic which was believed to be from St. Francis of Assisi has been shown to be a fake by Italian scientists using a form of carbon-dating.
- How to Italy is back with a few more things learned since living in Italy - this one is all about family.
- If you’ve only got 48 hours in Rome, is it possible to see it all? Well, of course not. But this guide is an attempt to help those with only a couple of days make the most of their visit to the Eternal City.
- That old tradition of grape-stomping is making a comeback, now that it’s become a children’s activity.
- Yet another older woman has been arrested for growing cannabis in her garden. In June, it was a 60-year-old woman near Venice. Now, it’s a 73-year-old woman near Naples. Not quite an epidemic.
- 40 people were arrested earlier this month in connection with the execution-style killings of six people in Germany in August.
- There is a new proposal to punish Sicilian businessmen who pay off the Mafia’s protection money, or the “pizzo,” rather than reporting it. Seems a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario to me.
- Calabria is about to become a film set - Robert Englund (yes, the Freddy Kruger guy) will be directing a movie to be shot in Calabria in the town of Pentedattilo.
- Valentino will retire from the fashion world after his final show in October, after 45 years in the business.
- Mona Lisa is always in the news… This time, it’s because a new book contends that it’s a self-portrait of the artist, Leonardo da Vinci.
- The world mourns the loss of Pavarotti, while the Vatican points out his faults. Classy.
- After 15 straight years of greenhouse gas emissions going up, Italy was able to cut emissions by 1.5% in 2006.
By Jessica | Permalink |
3 comments | September 9th, 2007 | Trackback
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Comments
Thanks for your comments, Joan, I always appreciate your comments! Yes, I did pull one small section of that article out to highlight, largely because it was so unexpected to me. I’d read several articles mourning the loss of Pavarotti (some of which I linked to when I noted his death here - http://www.italylogue.com/about-italy/luciano-pavarotti-1935-2007.html), so when I saw something that wasn’t in line with all of that, it struck me as strange. Certainly, everyone has faults - Pavarotti included - but is it really appropriate for anyone to bring them all up immediately following the great man’s death? It seemed to me a bit premature, and - as I said in the post - not very classy. I’m sorry if you disagree with me.
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I’ll start by saying I enjoy the news snippets as well as the other Italy Logue emails I receive. However, I must take issue with your “classy” remark after the sentence summary about the Vatican and Pavoraotti.
I clicked on the link expecting to read the majority of the article about the Vatican’s comments. And I was most certainly ready to disagree with the Vatican, which as a Catholic I sometimes do. Needless to say I did not find this type of article.
Instead from a fairly long article there were two three line paragraphs about what the Vatican newspaper said. I might add that the second paragraph about Pavorotti sometimes giving performances beneath his talent is something I have read or heard a time or two in years past.
I feel that your summary made far too much of a fairly insignificant part of the story. Maybe the headlines said that too; I can’t remember, but the story was overwhelmingly positive about the great singer. And I feel your comment wasn’t very “classy” in itself. I expect better.