Santoro Sides with Hamas
Michele Santoro runs a political chat show on the RAI television channel. The show, Annozero, is often controversial and has rubbed Italy’s sensitive politicians the wrong way on more than one occasion.
Cheesed Off
The rubbish crisis which appears to have made Naples infamous the world over, has now been joined by a mozzarella crisis. A Buffalo Mozzarella crisis, to be more precise. As you may have seen from stories in the press the world over, this delicious cheese, one of Italy’s more prized delicacies, has become the subject […]
Burnt Midnight Oil
A little while back I was asked to prepare a short two day workshop on how to write a press release in English for the Media Relations master at the business school where I often find myself. After burning copious amounts of that old midnight oil, I came up with such a course. The first […]
Italian Paragraphs
I don’t know if others have noticed this, and I imagine they have, but many Italian writers construct some of the longest paragraphs I have ever seen. These paragraphs, which are seemingly never ending walls of text, tend to put me off reading Italian newspapers and books.
Turning Round La Brutta Figura
Italy is a very image conscious country – just wander down any Italian street and you will see beautiful shops and elegantly dressed passers by. The places and people are examples of ‘la bella figura’ – which means ‘creating the right impression’. The opposite of the ‘bella’ version is ‘la brutta figura’, which is similar […]
Was I writing rubbish?
Well, yesterday I suggested that Prodi and co bring in the army to sort out the trashy chaos down around Naples. So, I was a little bit surprised to read today in one of the freebe newspapers – E Polis Milano, that the Italian government was thinking about doing just that. In fact it was […]
Rom or Romanian?
As I wrote a few days back, Italy has taken measures to extradite European Union citizens who have been involved in criminal activities here. The Italian law enforcement spotlight has been shining heavily on those from Romania, and the police have been rounding up Romanians by the dozen in preparation for having them sent back […]
Beppe Grillo rattles the establishment.
Various Italian politicos are going on both the defensive and the attack with regard to Mr Grillo’s attempts to get Italy back onto a truly democratic track. Aside from Bertinotti, we now have D’Alema and Fassino having a go at dismissing Mr Grillo for having had the temerity to have stated that all is not […]
The Size of Newspapers
Awkward things newspapers. The full size versions that are still here and there are so huge and ungainly that you risk punching someone in the face when you try open and read the things on crowded buses and trains. The so-called ‘tabloid’ format papers are a little better, but they are still difficult to handle. […]
