Category: Culture
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MayDay
Who would have thought that a concert for May Day would become a real mayday alert for Italy? Centre stage is pop artist, rapper and X factor judge, as well as one half of the Ferragnez couple (think the Beckams), Fedez. Upstage there’s Rai 3, the state tv channel of the political left, and in…
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A father or a Dad
An Italian court has decided that a woman can use a fertilised egg to get pregnant. This, notwithstanding the objections of her ex husband who claimed that he should have a role in the decision. Except that this is Italy. The ruling of the court is that the ex-husband will be the biological father…
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Like getting blood from a stone
The miracle of San Gennaro didnt happen yesterday. Consternation and gnashing of teeth in Naples and beyond. The December ‘miracle’ is relatively new – it was instituted after the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 when the saint stopped the lava flow short of Naples. It’s the ‘civil’ miracle, as opposed the one on September…
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Going viral
Suddenly I seem to have time on my hands, and antibacterial gel. It’s day two of the national lockdown thanks to Covid19, although not alot seems to have changed here in the south of Sicily. There are fewer cars, and people keep their distance, but there isnt the tumbleweed blowing down the Corso as we…
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Tic Toc
The EU bigwigs have decided that by 2021 all member countries can decide if they want to have permanent winter time or summer time. Apparently this is due to the fervent desire of its 500 million inhabitants. There was an online questionnaire about this last summer, completed by 7 million, of which over 4 million…
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Black and white bread
There’s a mystery in Italy to Italian bread, and Ive heard so many reasons behind it, it’s up there with Area 51 as a conspiracy. To any seasoned breadaholic from another country, trying to find a decent wholemeal loaf in Italy is like searching for the Templar treasure. Lots of bready products emblazon their labels…
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Montalbano lost at sea
The threat of an episode of Montalbano dealing with immigrants meant that Salvini took a break from eating all the pies to go on tv directly afterwards to refute anti immigrant accusations. In the end it was a storm in teacup, and Salvini used the moment to a) slag off the French b) agree that…
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Rai, Foa and other three letter words.
Hopes that RAI (the italian BBC) may become politically independent are fading with the latest nominations to the board. The behemoth of Italian broadcasting has historically been divided up between the politcal parties – Rai 1 to the Christian Democrats,Rai 2 to the right and Rai 3 to the left. This has meant 3…