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Milan’s Ecopass Suspended from 2nd to 20th August

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:47:47 +0000

This year, as in each year since its introduction at the start of 2008, Milan’s Ecopass pollution charging system is taking a summer break. This means that visitors to Milan can drive into the city and not have to worry about having to purchase a pollution charge ticket between the 2nd and 20th August 2010. As Milan’s authorities point out, there really is no need for pollution levels to be controlled in the northern Italian city during August, seeing as the number of vehicles in circulation during this month falls by an average of 48%. Quite simply, few cars means virtually non-existent pollution. If only Milan were the same all year round, adds he wistfully. Anyway, no Ecopass to pay is good news for those who stay in Milan in August, and it may even encourage those touring Italy by car to make a detour so they can spend a day or two looking around the city

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Milan’s Ecopass Suspended from 2nd to 20th August

Italy’s Mafia Could become an Explosive Problem

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:12:40 +0000

Italian magazine Internazionale contains a section entitled ‘How others See Italy’, or words to that effect. It was in this section that I came across Alexander Stille’s pertinent and relevant article ‘Married to the Italian Mob’ . It was on the way back on the train from Genoa yesterday that I read our friend Cristina’s copy of the magazine Internazionale which contains articles from major media sources from around the world that have been translated into Italian.

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Italy’s Mafia Could become an Explosive Problem

Italy, One, P2, P3

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:50:08 +0000

Strange days in Italy. Whilst digging into illicit goings on surrounding the awarding of contracts for wind farms in Sardinia, Italy’s Carabinieri police appear to have uncovered the insidious sequel to a mysterious illegal masonic group known as Propaganda 2, or P2 for short. Italy’s press have wasted no time in labelling the sequel, Propaganda 3. Or P3 for short. P2, for those not familiar with one of the more insidious aspects of Italy’s past, was regarded by some as being a ‘state within a state’, or shadow government. Curiously, a title similar to the ‘state within a state’ moniker is also sometimes used to refer to the Sicilian mafia, which is known to some as the ‘state within the state’. Notice the ever-so-slightly different articles – ‘a’ and ‘the’. And yes, it is suspected that there was collusion between the ‘state within a state’ and the ‘state within the state’.

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Italy, One, P2, P3

Orange Cagli in Le Marche, Italy

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:35:25 +0000

Italy is a curious mix of dark and light, of good, bad and ugly. Cagli, a small town in the Le Marche region of Italy, looks good and light. Here is a photograph of one of Cagli’s buildings. Pastel colours are everywhere in Italy. Pinks, greens, rusty and sandy browns. Sometimes, though, the colours go beyond pastel, such as in this photograph in which the colour of this Cagli building is predominantly orange

Budget Hotels in Rome

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:56:26 +0000

Visitors of Rome usually fall in love with this spectacular city.

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Budget Hotels in Rome

Italian Design – Focus on the Memphis Design movement

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:27:14 +0000

In this week’s voyage into the world of Italian design, we will take a step back in time to the 1980s, and take a look at the radical Memphis design group which played a key role in the promotion of Italian design at a worldwide level. The Memphis group encapsulated post-modernist design in the 1980s, challenging perceptions of ‘good design’ through their gaudy ornamental and decorative products. The group produced memorable pieces of colourful, bright, and innovative furniture, lighting, and textiles

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Italian Design – Focus on the Memphis Design movement

Spicy Terre d’Italia Toma Piemontese Cheese

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:02:30 +0000

The other day my other half turned up with an unusual cheese product, a jar of Terre d’Italia Toma Piedmontese cheese in spicy oil. This slightly spicy Toma cheese was very good, so I bought another jar the other day. Really though, I don’t think it would be that difficult to have a go at making this yourself.

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Spicy Terre d’Italia Toma Piemontese Cheese

Italian News Fragments from July 2010

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:24:30 +0000

It’s hot here. Summer was a little late in coming this year, but it’s well and truly here now. I’m keeping busy, which is good, but I’m finding less time to blog about Italy, which is not so good. Here’s a little of what’s in the news in Italy at the moment.

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Italian News Fragments from July 2010

The Curious Case of Aldo Brancher

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:54:28 +0000

Aldo Brancher is Italy’s latest minister, and an old friend and associate of one Silvio Berlusconi. Supposedly, Brancher is the minister of ‘Decentralisation and Subsidiarity’, whatever that means. Anyway, approximately two seconds after being appointed, Minister Brancher has become embroiled in scandal. In a not so sparkling start to his ministerial career, Brancher wasted no time at all in invoking Italy’s ‘Legitimate Impediment’ laws to extricate himself from a legal wrangle involving a charge of handling stolen goods in connection with dodgy dealings surrounding the Banca Antonveneta case. Investigations are taking place into whether the Antonveneta Bank’s share price was artificially manipulated by the release of false news . The case involves quite serious allegations of doubtful business practices, the intention of which appeared to have been to keep the Antonveneta Bank out of foreign hands

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The Curious Case of Aldo Brancher

Italy Starts 2010 World Cup with Lackluster Performance

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:22:54 +0000

OK, I admit it, I don’t know a fat lot about football, but even I could tell Italy’s performance in its inaugural 2010 World Cup match against Paraguay was uninspiring, and uninspired. An ex-champion himself, Marcello Lippi , Italy’s coach, blamed his team’s less than sparkling performance on the rain soaked slippery terrain, but his excuse won’t hold much water with Italy’s hoards of football fans. After all, the pitch was slippery for both teams.

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Italy Starts 2010 World Cup with Lackluster Performance