This fantastic picture of traffic in Rome shows what it means to drive in Italy and battle the streets of its capital city. The picture comes with news that Italian actor Max Giusti has joined forces with the “Coordinamento dei Motociclisti” association of Rome to get special lanes dedicated to motorcycle and scooter traffic. The aim is to provide a safer environment for scooter riders in Rome - and seeing this image, it’s probably something that needs to be done.

0 comments

If you live in Italy and are at the start of your Italian adventure, you’re probably still in the phase of being confused about just how and why the Italian people put up with many things the people themselves complain about. From public funding for transport, roads, education and arts, to the high taxes, hard work, low pay and the shenanigans of the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, living in Italy can be extremely surreal.

And while many Italians complain or shrug their shoulders (or do both simultaneously), it’s tempting to say they have brought it on themselves. I am of the personal opinion that many Italians don’t deserve the current state their country is in and the reputation Berlusconi has brought them at an international level, but then there is a total lack of ambition, sense of public pride and real desire to change that means really, we’re all in this self-administered pickle.

If you’re keen to understand the Italian people and their national character a bit more, Michael Kimmelman is to the rescue in the New York Times. His article on Rome’s Cinecittà film studios is an allegory of all that is modern and historic in the Italian cinema. Like an ageing diva who relies on the glamour of the past and has no interest in the future, Italy muddles along in its own way with varying success and failures (often brushed aside).

While the article is about public funding for the arts and how the Cinecittà could be a model for Italy’s cultural institutions, it is far more expansive than that. Kimmelman writes:

Continue reading: New York Times on Rome: Cinecittà and the Italian character

0 comments

Upmarket real estate agency Engel&Völkers is selling luxury Milan loft apartments through its historic town centre branch. One of the Milan apartments in New York style is being sold in the Corso Sempione district. The modern apartment is in an historic building and has contemporary furnishings over three floors, totalling 360 m2.

The large, well-lit living space looks onto the apartment block’s green space, and is separated from the large kitchen by a glass wall. It was part of the old factory that the building used to be, and has been preserved as a characteristic tribute to the apartment’s past. The first floor of the loft apartment has three large bedrooms and as many bathrooms, while a semi-basement level offers laundry, games room, fitness area and relaxation zone with spa bath.

In the same Corso Sempione district, another Milan loft is for sale in a similar industrial size building. The apartment has 300 m2 of space and has been built in an open space style with luxury finishes and modern furnishings. The city of fashion and its equally fashionable apartments don’t come cheap - this particular loft costs €1,470,000.

Luxury Milan loft apartments for sale

Continue reading: Luxury loft apartments on sale in Milan

0 comments

Rome is a city of infinite surprises, romance and even squalor. But it’s ancient roots and iconic status reveal why it’s the world’s “eternal city”. Today we bring you Roman street scenes in the form of this football field out the back of the Colosseum. Perhaps the most famous Italian icon the world knows, the Colosseum is the backdrop to days of soccer matches with big emotions played out on a small scale.

The Colle Oppio football field looks onto the south corner of the Colosseum and frequently hosts matches for Rome’s international students and multicultural citizens. The field occupies one of Rome’s famous seven hills, in an area which is only now being rezoned under urban regulations.

If you’re interested in seeing gladiatorial South American football matches on a small scale and want to explore this corner of Rome, the Colle Oppio football field is the place to be on a Sunday. During the week, it’s a quiet spot with a tree the only witness to the weekend’s passion. There is also a basketball court nearby and all in the shadow of the Colosseum; proving that Rome is host to many urban scenes and is not just the tourist city we often think it is.

Continue reading: Italian street scenes: football field near Rome's Colosseum

0 comments

Italian drivers might have a bad reputation overseas, but I’m going to say they are the world’s greatest parkers of cars I’ve ever seen. I have seen vehicles get into spaces you never thought even a motorcycle would fit. But in the case the car really won’t fit, most Italians will leave it at angles, sticking over pedestrian crossings, corners and footpaths.

I have never had the pleasure of driving in Rome but I imagine it to be a very tense experience and one best left to battle-hardened locals. In these pics of driving and parking in Italy, we see the Roman minivan drivers get away with anything in their daily challenge to actually make deliveries and get to the next job.

We understand from our colleagues at 06blog.it that even on asking them to move the van, most drivers with yell something in Roman dialect, which varies from “I’ll only be a minute” to “I’m not just playing around here”, which we take to mean: “I’m working, and you?” See all the pics from the love-hate relationship between locals and their minivan drivers.

Parking in Rome pics: Italian minivan drivers

Continue reading: Parking in Rome pics: Italian minivan drivers

0 comments

Italian cooking will also celebrate 150 years of Italian unification this year, but the regionalism associated with traditional Italian recipes and dishes nearly always outweighs a nationalist interpretation of Italian cuisine. Over recent weeks, as Italy celebrated the date of March 17, there has been much debate over whether Italians can be unified at the table, so to speak.

The ’soft’ conclusion is that while Italy has a multitude of regional dishes and styles, it’s all celebrated in a common spirit. But is there one dish that represents Italy? Not really. There are many dishes, Italian wines, and different cooking styles which all represent different parts of Italy, although the Italians in the culinary business at the moment are claiming a unified spirit.

Coincidentally, 2011 is also the centenary of the death of Pellegrino Artusi - considered the pioneer of what is called Italy’s enogastronomic renaissance and author of the work Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well (La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene). The work was the first to start collecting what could be considered Italian recipes, written in Italian and collected from across the Belpaese - from Sicily to Piedmont.

It’s a work that can be rivisted in times when Italian people still associate more with their local regions and territories, than any national definition of their culture and therefore culinary traditions, despite festivities for unification this year. Can turnip tops and octopus from Puglia be just as Italian as ossobuco and Panettone from the north? There is a world of Italian cooking to be discovered and while it doesn’t unite us as such, it’s all to be enjoyed at the table of one of the world’s greatest cooking traditions.

Source | Gustoblog.it

0 comments

If you’re moving to Italy and looking for a good quality of Italian life while you’re at it, you’d best consider the northern regions of the Belpaese. In a time when Italy is struggling through a significant financial crisis, and is experiencing continuing low wages, the autonomous regions of Alto Adige and Trentino have unsurprisingly turned up as providing the best quality of life in Italy.

The 2010 quality of life results come from research done by Italy’s national financial paper, the Sole 24 Ore, which lists the best places to live by province. Bolzano and Trento top the list, followed by another mountain province in the north of Lombardy, Sondrio, which rounds out the podium ahead of Trieste, which was the winner last year.

The evaluation and classification of Italy’s 107 provinces are based on the following criteria: standard of living, business and employment, health and environmental services, population, public order and free time. From Bolzano to Trento, Sondrio and Trieste, the top ten places to live in Italy are as follows: Siena, Aosta, Gorizia, Bologna, Oristano and Belluno.

The big cities find themselves further down the list with Milan taking the 21st spot, Rome at 35th and Naples is last. The northern and central Italy have the best classification with southern provinces unsurprisingly struggling at the bottom. See the quality of life list here.

Photo | Flickr

0 comments

We’ve seen world famous Italian gestures in this hilarious Italian video, and here we bring you a post on Italian gestures - in pictures! Ever wanted to know exactly what the guy was telling you when you hired your car in Italy? Or what the old men at the bar were arguing about? This is your chance.

Careful study of these pictures will allow you to communicate effectively in Italy, regardless of your level of Italian knowledge. In fact, we’re thinking they should be a fundamental part of any Italian language course. Our word of advice before you go launching yourself into a full gestured conversation with any Italian is to spend the first days of your holiday in Italy observing how these are used. You wouldn’t want to use the wrong one at the wrong time….

Source | Alfredo Cassano via Happblog.it

0 comments

While waiting to walk the Venice red carpet with his wife Italian actress Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel enjoyed a short holiday with his daughter Deva at Sabaudia, a sea-side resort near Rome. Judging from the pics the two had a wonderful time together!

Source | Vanity Fair

Vincent Cassel papà a tempo pieno a Sabaudia

Continue reading: Vincent Cassel's Italian holiday

0 comments

Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter, Barbara Berlusconi, has graduated in philosophy at Milan’s San Raffaele university with top honours but not without controversy. Clearly being the prime minister’s daughter (and just any prime minister, we should add), there were whisperings that she could have stayed at home and she still would have received a degree.

With Silvio Berlusconi at the graduation ceremony, what better opportunity than to spruik for a new faculty, possibly headed by his daughter? In fact, a university lecturer present at the ceremony has accused the chancellor of inappropriately offering Ms Berlusconi a future place as teacher at the university, in an Economics faculty which has yet to be established.

The university lecturer went on to say that such declarations in the presence of students and staff, and of Italy’s prime minister, were insulting and that there was a lack of respect and dignity during what is a public ceremony. In fact, the professor went so far as to say that it was against the “ethical requirements of a university of excellence, which is what San Raffaelle aspires to be”.

Continue reading: Barbara Berlusconi graduates with top honours amidst controversy

0 comments