Archive for August, 2009

Italian extra virgin olive oil Olive Harvest – The cult of (extra virgin) olive oil. Depending on who you ask – Greeks, French, Spaniards or Italians – each will say they make the best olive oil. These disagreements even exist between Italians, though the hills stretching from Florence to Lucca are usually considered the finest region... »

Istat (National Statistics Bureau of Italy) recently announced that Italy has the oldest population in Europe and the second oldest in the world after Japan. For every ten people aged 15 and under, there are 14 aged over 65, or in other words one person in four is aged over 60. The reasons for this... »

Lecce »

Are you a doctor, a lawyer or a knight? Italy is one of the few Western countries that has strange titles in front of people’s names. To be a Doctor in Italy, it does not only mean to have a degree in medicine. Whoever has a degree, achieved after long years of University (at least five... »

Two Italies Browsing the forums of Italy Mag I was surprised to see postings from what seems like hordes of Anglo Saxon visitors swapping comments about buying or relocating to the south of Italy, an area that for at least 100 years the indigenous inhabitants have been fleeing in search of a better life.... »

Italian Fever As we head out of winter along comes the season of spring colds. Now while in the UK or the US you may soldier on, we Italians reach for the thermometer in order to quantify our illness. Every Italian family has at least one thermometer, more usually one for children and another for... »

The Scooter: an Italian phenomenon The Italian police have declared war on the 10 million motor scooters of Italy. The town of Naples is leading the anti-illegal-scooters campaign using 200 officers and 80 checkpoints all-over town. Targets: First to stop the Camorra – the local Mafia – that use the two-wheelers for bag-snatching and (even) killing;... »

The Italian Court of Cassation is defining what is permissible touching at work through a number of lawsuits being brought by female employees against their managers with wandering hands. But while cafés and bars buzzed with the latest court ruling on which parts of women’s’ bodies are fair game, two prominent female politicians slugged... »

The Italian Art of the Gesture Do you know what most amuses me about foreigners in Italy? How they try to communicate with the locals by imitating Italian hand gestures – effectively the second official language of Italy. While I salute the spirit of communication, I often see gestures being used out of context, or... »

The Italian Job Defining difference between art and craft is beyond the scope of this column but I have a quick observation to make; that the line between art and craft is blurred and that this distinction, in the eyes of an Italian, is completely artificial. Many of the great works of “art” realised during... »