Italy News: 25 October 2009

Some news from Italy for your Sunday reading pleasure:

• Oh, no! The one airline that regularly had dirt-cheap fares from New York to Italy (especially during the fall and winter) says they’re cutting their US-Italy flights as of October 16th. They say they’ll be back with the same kind of bargains in the spring, but in the meantime you’ll have to look elsewhere for cheap flights.
• If you can handle the idea of flying on Alitalia, they are offering some extremely low fares to Italy right now - including accommodation and, in some cases, train travel.
• An Italian couple is suing a cruise line because it booked them - a heterosexual couple - onto a gay cruise. They aren’t suing because they were offended, but for something entirely reasonable: the all-gay cruise offered them nothing of interest in terms of activities, etc.
• This excerpt of a book on the subject is a great peek inside what it’s like to be pregnant in Italy and navigate the murky waters of the Italian healthcare system.
• Recent polls suggest that the Italian public agrees with the recent court decision stripping PM Silvio Berlusconi of immunity from prosecution while in office.
• Berlusconi’s latest effort is a taskforce to combat all the bad press he generates. Nevermind that if he just acted like a decent human being he wouldn’t get all the bad press. But I don’t imagine that’ll be one of the findings of said taskforce.
• Surprise, surprise. Berlusconi says he’s in favor of changing the Italian constitution to grant him immunity from prosecution.
• More not-so-shocking Berlusconi news - one of the TV stations he owns apparently secretly filmed a judge who ruled against him.
• We all know Silvio Berlusconi is a sexist pig, right? We don’t need reinforcement of this fact, right? So then why the heck does he keep giving us said reinforcement? (Incidentally, women all over Italy are protesting his latest comments.)
• Facebook pages called “Let’s Kill Berlusconi” are being investigated by Italian authorities.
• Oh, my word. Now Berlusconi says being the prime minister is such a difficult job that he’s doing it as a sacrifice for the country. Oy vey. First he claims he’s the most persecuted man in the country, and now he’s some kind of martyr? Blech.
• I loved reading about the discovery of an ancient Roman city 20 miles outside Rome, but I’m even more charmed by the ruins archaeologists keep finding as they attempt to build a new subway line right through central Rome. This time it’s a discovery within sight of the Vittoriano monument.
• Remember the test program in Naples that had ex-cons serving as tourist helpers? The test period is over, but it remains to be seen whether it will be continued. The local verdict seems to be quite positive, however.
• My favorite walking tour company, Context Travel, has started a new tour in Florence that leads you to the traditional artisans who still work their magic within a stone’s throw of the city’s famous Duomo. Most tourists will never know they’re there - but you will, if you sign up for the new tour.
• The results of a new survey of Italians over the age of 60 were just released, and they indicate (among other things) that more than 77% of those interviewed reject “the idea of using medication to improve sexual performance.”
• A Libyan man (who has lived legally in Italy for the past six years) attempted to bomb an army barracks in Milan last week in an attempt to force Italy to pull its troops out of Afghanistan. The bomb was defective, so he didn’t die in the attack, and only one Italian corporal was slightly injured.
• A tourist in Rome who recently protested the €20 “fee” demanded by one of the so-called centurions outside the Colosseum after having his picture taken ended up being hit over the head with a wooden sword before the police came over and charged the centurion with “bodily harm and extortion.” Please, people, if you must get your photo taken with one of these clowns, agree on a price beforehand, okay?
• Those of you going to Verona, James at Wandering Italy would like to remind you that there’s only one breast of the famous Juliet statue you’re supposed to rub for good luck. Rubbing the other one is just, well, untoward.
• Fans of the author Donna Leon, whose mysteries are set in Venice, will enjoy this interview with her at The Gypsy’s Guide. And, as is noted at the bottom of the interview, there’s a fun interactive map on Leon’s website where you can read excerpts from her books while pinpointing the location for the scene in Venice.
• A leaked report of the 2010 route for the Giro d’Italia says the race will visit Puglia, and that the final stage will be in Verona.
• The government in Italy is denying recent reports that they paid bribes to the Taliban in Afghanistan to keep an area the Italian military was responsible for safe.
• If you took money out of a bank machine in Milan anytime recently, you might want to check your account - customers at one ATM have apparently had their bank cards “cloned.”
• A new report says that some companies controlled by the Mafia are trying to illegally win bids to work on reconstruction projects in the earthquake-damaged areas of the Abruzzo region.
• And speaking of that L’Aquila earthquake, a dozen people are being investigated for the shoddy construction work that resulted in the collapse of a college dorm that killed eight students.
• Inga Kastrone wrote an article for BootsnAll recently about 8 small & beautiful Italian islands you’ve probably never heard of - and she’s right. I hadn’t heard of most of them.
• One of the sub-articles in this Conde Nast Traveler online article about etiquette lessons for different countries is about the Mediterranean, and it starts right off with etiquette lessons for Italy (they go midway through the 3rd page).
• If a trip to Las Vegas’ fake Italy - the Bellagio and Venetian - in order to gamble isn’t enough for you, then you’ll be pleased to know the tourism minister in the actual Italy is looking to build 10-15 new casinos in high-end hotels throughout the country.
• Nan at the Living Venice blog just started a series of posts on the different kinds of seafood you’ll find in Venice with an explanation of “canoce” - I hope she collects them all into one post later.
• I’m pleased that the city of Naples appeared in Jaunted’s series on cities that get a bad rap - but that you should visit anyway.
• The 24th edition of the Venice marathon was held today. I didn’t know the city had a marathon. I hate running, but if I was a runner I would absolutely love yet another excuse to zip around the city’s funny little streets.
• My blogging pal Cherrye did a guest post on the blog of another blogging pal, Michelle, about the “7 habits of highly effective expats in Italy.” It’s all good stuff.
• Cherrye’s also got a guest post on another blogging friend’s site, Joanne’s Frutto della Passione, about 5 Italian things you should definitely eat or drink when you’re in Italy. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of pistachio gelato, but I think I’m in the minority there.
• Le Marche isn’t as visited as nearby Umbria or Tuscany, but offers many of the same beautiful views. Italofile has the top 5 things to do in Le Marche.
• Italian authorities are still on the hunt for products purporting to be made in Italy when they’re really not.
• Italy’s minister of Economic Development has proposed the idea of creating a Cristoforo Colombo day in Italy - although the explorer was born in Italy and has a day dedicated to him in other countries, Italy doesn’t celebrate him in that way.
• An elderly driver in Rome lost control of his car and it crashed into and damaged part of the Vittorio Emanuele II bridge.