Archive for August, 2009

Living the Dolce Vita Italy’s oft-mentioned “Dolce Vita” is definitely a sound marketing concept. Fashion, cars, design, good food and wine, amazing art, mild weather, and beautiful landscapes all sell like hotcakes and it’s when I am abroad that I realise how much influence this has on modern cities around the world from Australia to... »

The Italian political Pantomime Passion, drama, mystery, plots, lies, injustice, betrayal and revenge. It’s not a 19th century opera, but everyday Italian politics – the ongoing soap opera that culminates in a frenzy of tricks during the elections when everything goes, from lists of imaginary candidates and made-up “ghost parties”, to making false accusations about... »

THE COUNTRY THAT STANDS FOR THE CRIMINALS Italians support criminals over the police forces. After several incidents in which officers were killed by the Italian-Albanian Mafia, Guardia di Finanza – the tax and border police who patrol the southern Italian coastline – threatened to open fire on the captains of small dinghies who smuggle immigrants... »

The Italian police paradox The competition amongst the Italian police corps is the main problem of the increasing criminality in Italy. Between 1998 and 1999 the number of crimes has increased of more than 500,000. Only 6% of the stolen items are recovered (28% in Germany, 24% in the UK and 15% in France). More... »

How unusual is to DIY in Italy? One of the most stressful and frustrating things I found in Italy is when I bought my “rudere” on the top of a little Tuscan hill was the amount of criticism I had from my family and my friends. Very disappointing and depressing. Even my neighbours feel the... »

It’s good to be old in Italy – retiring in Italy A few months ago Istat (National Statistics Bureau of Italy) announced that we have oldest population in Europe and the second oldest in the world after Japan. for every 10 people aged 15 and under, there are 14 aged over 65, or in other... »

H2 Ohh After this year’s record rainfall in the UK it might be hard to imagine that in the southern Mediterranean it has been a battle dealing with the siccita’ or drought that depleted water resources for city dwellers and rural folk alike. Every summer my parents loose water supply to the house from around 9am... »

Wild boar hunting in Italy – the call of the wild Italian law Wild boar hunting in Italy is generally allowed and ruled by regional laws that most of time put at risk people safety. Wild boar hunting in Italy reminds a little bit of fox hunting – dogs running in the bush searching and chasing... »

Water-ever Italy is a country of food snobs only we are quite unprentious about it, it is just that we like good food. We understand food as it is meant to be which is made with fresh ingredients, in the traditional way. We also know the importance of pairing the right wine with a dish,... »

I scream: “Gelati!!!” I still haven’t found a food product that we are not claiming as 100% Italian. Take pasta and Pizza for example, or the ice cream,. But even if we haven’t invented these products – nobody can deny we are very famous for our coni Gelato, sorbetti and semifreddi (the ice-cream cakes). Sorbets are... »