by | April 12th, 2009
Some news from Italy for your Sunday reading pleasure:
Obviously, most of the news out of Italy this week has been about the L’Aquila earthquake. In case you missed it, you can read about the earthquake and the aftermath in this post – I’ve been updating it since I first heard the news of the quake, so it’s full of links to news, stories, photos, video, and blog posts, as well as information about how you can help.
- Italy’s prime minister is known for his public missteps, including a couple recent ones at the G20 summit (one of which, where he misses important meetings and photo-ops because he’s on his mobile phone, he defends here). So, the folks at the Telegraph have put together a list of their 10 favorite Berlusconi gaffes and the Guardian listed a few of their favorites, too.
- The title of this article about Berlusconi kind of says it all – “The Prime Minister of WTF.”
- And in response to the press having so much fun at his expense, Berlusconi says he wants to tell the press to “go to hell.” Which could, one might argue, be seen as yet another gaffe. He’s like the gift that keeps on giving!
- Oh, thank heavens. Venice looks like it’s putting an end to the deal it had been negotiating with Coca Cola to put vending machines all over the city.
- Thousands of people filled the Circus Maximus in Rome last week to protest government inaction in the face of the economic slowdown.
- Police in Rome have found more than 20 Afghan teens living in the city’s train stations, “including in the crawl space under sidewalk grates.”
- These photos of Sicily in Spring are too beautiful not to share. And they’re by one of my favorite photographer/writers, too – Karen Landes. While you’re at it, be sure to check out her (also) exceptional photos of the Cristo alla Colonna procession for Holy Wednesday.
- Italy got its first UNESCO World Heritage site 30 years ago, and that anniversary is being marked in Brescia – but I’ll bet you’ll never guess the site is.
- You may know I’m a big fan of Twitter (you can follow me here!), but as it turns out there are some pretty prominent Italians who like it, too. I’m talking, of course, about Julius Caesar and Dante.
- In a country that seems equally attached to its soccer as it does to its scantily-clad TV dancing girls, the reaction of Inter coach Jose Mourinho to the half-naked woman giving him a lapdance on Italian TV is hilarious. Not to spoil it for you, but he really couldn’t care less.
- Upon returning to Italy, James Martin thinks this might be the best time to travel to the boot price-wise.
- Ever wonder why cologne is called cologne? It’s because the first scent was believed to have been created in the German city. But new documents show that scent was actually created to mimic “an Italian spring morning” – which is infinitely more poetic (and probably more pleasant-smelling) than a bustling German city, if you ask me.
- The markets of Italy made it into this great article of photos from the markets of Europe with a shot of artichokes in Florence.
- LA Times writer Susan Spano reports on a side of Rome that most tourists don’t see – the homeless.
- This is a very cool little set of images – you choose one of the locations in Italy and then spin the arrow around a 24-hour period of pictures taken at that spot. A day in the life, so to speak.
- I’m not sure I’d like to drive in Italy, but I think I wouldn’t mind zipping through the streets on a Vespa. They’re just so quintessentially Italian. In the meantime, I might have to visit the Vespa museum.
- Fossilized footprints of creatures older than dinosaurs – footprints that are more than 200 million years old – have been found in Italy.
- In a time when the Italian economy could really use a boost, the news that constructing the bridge across the Messina Strait (connecting Sicily with the mainland) will employ roughly 40,000 people is welcome, indeed. Now, we’ll see if this years-old project actually gets off the ground anytime soon.
- I’m always interested in other foodie itineraries, so I thought you might also want to see where fellow Italophile Robin will be headed for dining purposes on her upcoming trip to Rome.
