I’ve recently been reading Beppe Severgnini’s second book on the English language: L’inglese nuove lezioni semiserie. Many of his observations on how Italians use English are not only funny but also very accurate, one of them being the Italian language obsession with the acronym ‘VIP’ said as if it were a one-syllable word (vip). If I had only seen it in the book I might not have paid much attention, but yesterday I was reminded of the elevation of many Italian celebrities to ‘VIP’ status by the Italian press itself.

The gossip is the possible liaison between world champion golfer Tiger Woods and Italian showgirl and former Big Brother star, Cristina del Basso. The showgirl got herself where she is not by virtue of her own VIP status but that of her boobs, having the largest breasts on Italian television (until Francesca Cipriani turned up on telly). While del Basso has denied the Woods connection, the Italian television tabloid service Studio Aperto had already defined her a ‘VIP’.

We’re not sure if Cristina earned the status before for having revealed her love life with Fabrizio Politi, or if it’s directly linked to the rumours of the dalliance with an international sports star. If there’s nothing the Italians like better it’s a local girl in bed with someone famous, possibly American (take Elisabetta Canalis as an example). In any case, it seems del Basso should have her celebrity status on cheap television shows all wrapped up after this kind of rumour.

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News from the Vatican is that a book in interview form with Pope Benedict XVI will be published by the end of the year. The work is the fruit of conversations between the Pope and journalist Peter Seewald. The two spent a week together, from July 26 to 31 this year, and the interviews continue an acquaintance that started back when the Pope was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and when the journalist had interviewed him then.

The interviews, apparently on various themes, took place in German (as Seewald is a German journalist) and the book will be available in Italian and German, with other languages possibly following. The book will be published by the Vatican’s publisher, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, as reported by Vatican communications officer Father Federico Lombardi.

Source | ANSA

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As part of his world Never Ending Tour, Bob Dylan is in Italy but this time you get the chance to see the man as poet and not music star. Bob Dylan is appearing at the Parma poetry festival, ParmaPoesia, tonight for a small concert to the lucky few who will be there.

While Dylan is known for his fame in the 60’s and 70’s, and mostly as a musician, his long career is also famous for his writing. In fact his songs are very much in a literary, ballad style and with many albums behind him, he has also been a Nobel Prize nominee on more than one occasion.

The ParmaPoesia festival takes place today and tomorrow in various locations around the city of Parma, and includes many Italian writers such as Ennio Cavalli and Vittorino Andreoli. For more information, see the festivaldellapoesia website.

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AC Milan football player Marco Borriello has accused Italian writer Roberto Saviano of making money out of giving Naples a bad name. Saviano wrote the book “Gomorrah”, since becoming a world famous film, and is a particularly controversial figure in Italian intellectual and political circles at the moment.

Borriello himself grew up in Naples and knows what it means to pay the price of the Camorra: his father was killed by the organised crime group when Borriello was just 11 years old. In an interview with GQ magazine, Borriello said:

“Roberto Saviano has made money off my city. There was no need to write a book to know what the Camorra is. He has only said bad things and has forgotten the rest.”

Within 24 hours of that interview being published, though, Borriello had changed his tune slightly, explaining that as a local Napoletan, he was tired of hearing his city constantly criticised:

Continue reading: Marco Borriello vs Roberto Saviano: Italian intellectuals, Naples and her footballers

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Italy’s most famous escort girl, Patrizia d’Addario, continues to great waves in the country, with a film adaptation of the d’Addario biography on the cards. At the recent 2010 Sanremo festival, d’Addario dropped a hint that none other than Quentin Tarantino would direct the film based on her biography and the scandal of Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and his escort girls.

After the rumours surrounding Tarantino (now fizzled out), another famous face is at the centre of the gossip from Italy, this time in the form of actor Alain Delon. Reported to play Berlusconi himself in the film, the rumours have so far been denied, as has the reported two million euros for the part. There seems to be no question, however, that the film will be made, with Gioele Centanni as producer, and Dario Cioni as director. Executive producer would be Raffaello Saragò, also a veteran in Italian film making circles.

While I haven’t read the biography, we can only hope for something of quality that won’t play into the propaganda machine that already gives fuel to the Berlusconi fire. I’m not holding my breath though. Executive producer Saragò says: “It won’t be a political film. I’m neither right wing nor left wing. It will be a story about a life lived: intense and even painful. If one night Patrizia went where she went and met the Prime Minister, she’s certainly not the only one to have found herself in that position.”

Meanwhile, the constant “Patrizia is the victim and Berlusconi the hero who sows his seeds” roles continue to play out. D’Addario was actually at Sanremo to promote her new single and first venture into the music world and, surprise surprise, the lady will play herself in the film. An escort girl turned Italian diva is hardly a turn-out for the books.

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Dan Brown’s book, the Da Vinci Code, has got nothing on Dr. Stephen Haliczer’s game, Vatican: The Board Game. In a game that will test your theological and doctrincal knowledge, players attempt to reach the top of the Vatican to be ordained as Pope. The game takes events from the previous papal term, with strange and bizarre circumstances, and tests the players currently at cardinal level, who aspire to the top job.

Moral and theological issues are tackled, including contraception, celibacy, stem cell research, theological censorship, and the politics of beatification. Jucier aspects like the sin of gluttony and temptation, represented by a banquet dinner with cannelloni, also appear. The website for the game describes it thus:

Vatican is a fascinating way for all to understand a central point of Catholic identity, and will appeal to a wide variety of audiences, whatever their religious preferences… It is sophisticated, filled with nuance that makes replays as enjoyable as the first time you play it. For teachers, it’s a powerful educational tool – for a gathering of friends, it’s a stimulating experience. Vatican, historically accurate, is more compelling than the depictions of the Catholic Church in popular culture. Reality and truth are always more interesting than fiction.

For more information, you can also go to the dedicated Facebook Vatican game page.

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Croatian cook Lidia Matticchio Bastianich has a quite interesting story behind her. Forced to leave her homeland, back then oppressively ruled by a Communist dictator, Ms Bastianich took refuge in Italy where she patiently learned all the secrets of Italian cuisine. A few years later, thanks to her expertise in cooking, she opened a restaurant in New York (quite a tough job!). Now, after years of hard work, she has published an amazing book of recipes called Lidia Cooks From The Heart Of Italy and which contains more than 175 recipes. So if you are interested in Italian cuisine and can’t take the first available flight to Italy and its restaurants, the next best thing you can do is to read Lidia Bastianich’s recipe book and learn to cook the Italian way!

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Dustin Hoffman speaks Italian in this video where he tries his hand at reciting a poem by famous Italian poet, Giacomo Leopardi. The poem in question is described as Leopardi’s greatest work. Called “L’infinito”, it is about eternity and from the native Marche poet, works well as a tribute to the region.

The video above is a commercial to promote tourism in Italy’s beautiful Marche region, but it has been met with criticism from Italy’s intellectual elite due to Hoffman’s difficulties with the language. I actually think it works quite well, but perhaps not for an Italian public.

Imagine this in America and you’d have more than one Italo-American all of a sudden discovering their Italian roots and rushing back to the Marche. The region is Italy’s unsung beauty, and this commercial won’t do it any favours in keeping it a secret for the rest of us. I still give kudos to Hoffman for the effort, and think that of all American actors doing a publicity stunt, he is one of the few who would genuinely understand and appreciate the literary work at hand. See the poem in Italian after the jump, along with an English translation of “L’infinito”.

Continue reading: Dustin Hoffman "butchers" the Italian language: L'Infinito English translation

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Due to the extraordinary turn-out of visitors, the exhibition ” Le gesta di Fiume. Gabriele il Vate, l’Eroe, il Comandante” has been extended to 31 December 2009. Dedicated to Gabriele D’Annunzio, one of the most famous and controversial Italian writers and poets, this exhibition, which is taking place at the atelier Verna d’oro in Pescara, D’Annunzio’s hometown, features more than 100 pieces including letters, stamps, lockers, old magazines and photos (all items on display are from Maurizio Biondi archives). With this amazing exhibition, the curator Maurizio Biondi has succeeded in recreating the atmosphere of those memorable years when Gabriele D’Annunzio with his attempt to liberate the town of Fiume became an hero for many Italians.

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I have yet to read Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah, the best-selling Italian book which has become a famous film. The book examines the depth of the mafia control of Italy: Italian life, Italian families, and business in this country, in a vice-like grip that will perhaps never be shaken off.

Saviano is not about mythologising the mafia, a popular passtime, it seems, in Italo-America and other cultures who understand nothing of the seriousness of how a society can suffer under an organised crime regime such as this. In this interview, Saviano talks of what he hopes his obituary might say, getting inside the head and hearts of his readers and the stink of mafia money as the bosses attempt to make heros of themselves.

Roberto Saviano has been nominated for the European parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Saviano was nominated by Sonia Alfano, chair of Italy’s association of mafia victims. I wonder if the freedom of thought prize will help assuage the life of imprisonment, in hiding from the mafia, that Saviano now leads.

Source | Abbondanza

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