Reminiscing Lago di Como

A Beginner's Guide to Italy’s After-Dinner Drinks By Francine Segan

Italians like to linger at the table, both during and after a meal. Dessert is leisurely and often served in three parts. First the sweet itself, which is accompanied by a dessert wine or liqueur, then espresso or coffee, and finally a digestivo, like grappa or amaro. Dessert wines and little sweet nibbles are brought out as a way to keep guests at the table, to keep conversation going. Unlike here in the States, in Italy coffee or tea are served only after dessert. In fact, it’s considered rude for a restaurant to rush customers by setting down coffee with dessert. For me, one of the biggest differences between Italy and the US is the restaurant experience. In Italy when I sit down to dinner in a restaurant, that table is mine for the night. I am never rushed. The courses are served in a leisurely fashion---not only because the food in Italy is usually made to order, but because they want us to have time between courses to digest to build anticipation and an appetite for the next course. My plate isn’t removed until everyone else at the table has also finished eating. I especially like the after-dessert digestivo tradition in Italy. My favorites are the homemade ones, brought out by the chef himself and poured with a flourish as a final culinary gift. I’ve had all kinds of delicious concoctions and the chefs shared their recipes generously.

Glossary of a few of the many Italian dessert wines and liqueurs
Alchermes
Alchermes, a spicy-sweet bright red liqueur, has been popular in Italy since the Renaissance. Pope Clemente VII considered it healthful going so far as to call it “the elixir of long life.” Alchermes was supposedly brought to France by Maria de’ Medici where it was called “liquore de’ Medici.”
Originally the shell of the cochineal bug was used to color the liqueur, but today it’s made with artificial colorings. It is a classic dessert ingredient in many Italian desserts including zuppa inglese and pesche dolci, faux peach cookies. 
Aleatico dell’ Elba Passito
An exceptional dessert wine with lovely aroma of roses and dark berries awarded the special denominazione d’origine controllata e garantita, DOCG, designation.
Amaretto
Amaretto, “little bitter,” is a sweet almond-flavored liqueur cordial. Amaretto is an ingredient in hundreds of dessert recipes and is also paired with all sorts of Italian sweets, especially crunchy amaretti cookies. One of Italy’s best selling brands of amaretto is Disaronno Originale.
Amaro
Amaro is the term for a general category of bittersweet digestive, after-dinner drinks thought to aid digestion. Amaro, which means “bitter,” are generally made from various spices, herbs, fruits and alcohol. Popular since the Middle Ages, monks originally created these drinks as a medicinal remedy. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different types of Amaro in Italy, with each region, city, and even village claiming its own local specialty. 
Asti-DOCG 
Asti, a sparkling dessert wine, is made with the moscato bianco grapes from the Langhe, Monferrato and Roero areas of Piedmont. Asti is a DOCG wine, meaning it is officially certified and guaranteed as to process and origin. In Italian, Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita. Asti, an easy-to-drink wine, has a moderate alcohol content of 7 to 9.5%. In Italy it is served in bowl-shaped glasses, rather than the thinner champagne flutes. The thinking is that the narrow flute exaggerates Asti’s sweetness, concentrating the liquid on the tip of the tongue, where the sweet taste buds are situated. It is classically paired with panettone at holiday time.
Asti Moscato
A dessert wine made in the Asti region of Piedmont using moscato grapes. It’s less bubbly than Asti-Spumante.
Barolo Chinato
An after-dinner digestivo from the Piedmont region, made with Barolo wine that has been steeped with different spices such as cinnamon, coriander, mint, and vanilla. It is a very smooth, aromatic beverage that pairs beautifully with chocolate. 
Brachetto d’Acqui
Red sparkling dessert wine produced in the Piedmont. It is a blend of Aleatico and Moscato Nero grapes.
Frangelico
Hazelnut liqueur in a trademarked bottle shaped like a monk. Great for both drinking and as a desserts ingredient.
Galliano
Bright yellow liqueur, that’s a mix of dozens of herbs and spices. First made in Livorno in 1896 and named for 19th century Italian war hero Giuseppe Galliano. Used in cocktails, and as an after-dinner digestivo, it’s also a terrific flavoring for various dessert recipes.
Grappa  
Grappa is a fragrant spirit, 75-120 proof, made from the grape skins and other solids left-over from the winemaking process. The name, grappa, most likely comes from the Italian for bunch of grapes, grappolo d’uva. In Italy grappa is enjoyed after dessert, served in small, tulip-shaped or short grappa glasses. It is also exceptional paired with Italian chocolates. A splash of grappa is often added to espresso to create caffé corretto.
Limoncello
A lemon liqueur from the Amalfi Coast, Calabria, and Sicily.  Made by steeping lemon peels in alcohol and sugar, it can be drunk at room temperature or icy cold. Wonderful with Italian cookies, pastries, and cakes, limoncello is also an ingredient in many desserts.
Malvasia delle Lipari
An amber-colored DOC dessert wine from Sicily with an apricot-honey taste and lovely aroma.
Maraschino liqueur
A clear cherry liqueur made from northern Italian marasca cherries (not the same as maraschino cherries found in supermarkets).  Used in many traditional Italian desserts.
Marsala
Marsala is a DOC golden-colored fortified wine made with grapes grown in the Marsala region of Sicily. Marsala is made both sweet and dry. The dry is enjoyed chilled as an aperitif, while the sweet is sipped at room temperature as a dessert wine.
Marsala is used extensively in Italian cooking, especially in making sweets such as the classic zabaglione.
Moscadello di Montalcino
A DOC, Denomination of Controlled Origin, dessert wine from the Montalcino region of Tuscany made with aromatic white muscat grapes.
It is produced in three versions: still, sparkling and late-harvest.
Nocino
Nocino is a dark colored digestivo, made from unripe green walnuts. Traditionally the walnuts are gathered on the eve of the Feast of San Giovanni, June 24th, on La Notte delle Vergini Scalze, “the evening of the barefoot virgins.”
Passito
Passito is dessert wine made by pressing partially dried grapes, dried to concentrate their sugar and flavor.
Passito di Pantelleria
One of Italy’s most acclaimed passito wines. In 1971 this fine dessert wine from Sicily became only the 3rd Italian wine to receive DOC status. It has a lovely bouquet and velvety sweet yet crisp flavor.
Sambuca
A colorless digestivo liqueur flavored with star anise. Sambuca is splashed in coffee, or served neat and topped with 3 toasted espresso beans called con la mosca, “with flies”.  Besides giving a little caffeine kick, chewing on the beans highlight Sambuca’s flavor. 
Sassolino
A liqueur from the town of Sassolino in Modena, flavored with star anise, it’s an ingredient in many Emilia desserts.
Strega liqueur
Strega, “witch,” is a yellow liqueur made from over 70 ingredients including saffron, which gives it its color. Used as a digestivo and in dessert recipes. 
Vin Santo
Vin Santo, “holy wine,” is a smooth amber-colored wine made from Malvasia and Trebbiano grapes. Although made in many parts of Italy, it is most often associated with Tuscany where it is often paired with cantucci, the area’s crunchy almond biscotti. Italy Magazine (with photos).

Elena Ferrante to become Guardian Weekend's new columnist

Photo Credit: Elena Ferrante
www.amazon.de

Author of bestselling Neapolitan novels says she was keen to test herself with the ‘bold, anxious exercise’ of writing regular pieces for the magazine.

Elena Ferrante, the bestselling Italian novelist of the highly acclaimed Neapolitan series, is to write her first ever regular newspaper column, in the Guardian. The pseudonymous author’s return to writing, a year after an investigative journalist controversially claimed to have revealed her real identity, will be welcomed by fans anxious to see her next move. Ferrante has always said that her anonymity was important to her work, freeing her from the “anxiety of notoriety”. Now, in her weekly column for the Guardian’s Weekend magazine, Ferrante will share her thoughts on a wide range of topics, including childhood, ageing, gender and, in her debut article, first love. After the Guardian approached her with the idea, Ferrante said she was “attracted to the possibility of testing myself” with a regular column, and called the experience “a bold, anxious exercise in writing”. The column will be translated by Ferrante’s regular collaborator Ann Goldstein. “I’m thrilled to be working with Elena Ferrante on her first newspaper column – a new adventure for her and for Guardian Weekend magazine,” said editor Melissa Denes. “Every week, she will be writing a personal piece, covering subjects from sex to ageing to the things that make her laugh. We can’t wait to see where she will take us.” Ferrante’s books, particularly her Neapolitan series, have been bestsellers among English readers since the first volume, My Brilliant Friend, was translated in 2012. Narrated by a woman called Elena – or Lenu – the series follows her life and that of her friend Lila as they rebel against the poor and stultifying Naples neighbourhood they grew up in. The three novels that followed – The Story of a New Name (2013), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014), and The Story of the Lost Child (2015) – have all made bestseller charts around the world. Frantumaglia, a collection of the author’s essays and letters, was released in 2016. She is also currently working on the screenplay for a television adaptation of My Brilliant Friend for HBO. Ferrante was named one of the world’s most influential people in 2016 by Time magazine, and was one of the highest-earning literary novelists in the UK in 2017, despite not releasing a new book that year. Asked in a 2016 email interview for the Gentlewoman why she worked anonymously, Ferrante said she wanted to shield the Neapolitan community from which she drew her inspiration. She was also driven, she wrote, by “the wish to remove oneself from all forms of social pressure or obligation. Not to feel tied down to what could become one’s public image. To concentrate exclusively and with complete freedom on writing and its strategies.” The Guardian’s Weekend magazine has been redesigned as part of the newspaper’s move to tabloid format, with the first new-look issue appearing on 20 January. The Guardian

A Venezia74 arriva Penélope Cruz e Javier Bardem fa il "bis" sul red carpet

Photo Credit: Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem/
Cosua

VENEZIA. È sbarcata a Venezia l'ultima, vera grande star internazionale di quest'affollatissima edizione della Mostra del Cinema: Penélope Cruz, protagonista con il marito Javier Bardem di "Loving Pablo", storia vera della relazione tra il trafficante internazionale di droga Pablo Escobar e la giornalista colombiana Virginia Vallejo. Attraverso il loro rapporto, il film di Fernando Leon de Aranoa racconta così l'ascesa al potere del narcostrafficante più famoso al mondo. Cruz è arrivata al Lido in un lungo abito bianco con ricami rossi, secondo uno stile gipsy che quest'anno va molto di moda tra le attrici sul red carpet. Passerella che calcherà per la seconda volta Javier Bardem, protagonista martedì di "mother!" l'orror del già Leone d'oro Aronofsky fischiato dalla critica. (foto Cosua) Qui lo Speciale Mostra del Cinema 06 settembre 2017 La Nuova di Venezia Wikipedia

Il Giro d’Italia ritorna a casa Volata finale in piazza Duomo By Maurizio Giannattasio

Photo Credit: Ryder Hesjedal/Ansa

Fiato sospeso fino alla fine con la tappa a cronometro dall’Autodromo al Duomo. Il sindaco Sala: «Milano capitale del ciclismo. Non sarà soltanto una passerella» Un ritorno al passato e una promessa per il futuro. Milano e il Giro d’Italia si riabbracciano. La tappa finale dell’edizione numero cento della corsa rosa non solo torna nella sua città d’origine, ma sceglie di nuovo il cuore di Milano per il traguardo finale: piazza del Duomo. Con un impegno del sindaco Beppe Sala: «Non mi dispiacerebbe che l’arrivo del Giro fosse sempre in piazza Duomo, sarebbe una bellissima cosa». Gira la testa alla sua destra. Vicino a lui c’è Urbano Cairo, patron Rcs: «Facciamo subito un contrattino?».
Appuntamento domenica 28 maggio. Crono individuale con partenza dall’Autodromo di Monza e arrivo in piazza del Duomo. A presentare la tappa milanese, oltre a Sala e a Cairo, gli assessori allo Sport di Comune e Regione, Roberta Guaineri e Antonio Rossi insieme al direttore della Gazzetta dello Sport Andrea Monti e al direttore generale di Rcs Sport, Paolo Bellino. Ventinove chilometri e 300 metri di tracciato. Non sarà una passerella, assicurano tutti, ma una tappa che potrebbe cambiare la classifica finale. Autodromo, parco di Monza, viale Italia a Sesto San Giovanni, viale Sarca, Bastioni di Porta Nuova, corso Venezia, corso Matteotti, piazza Duomo. Prima partenza alle 13 e 10, ultimo arrivo alle 17 e 10. Tifosi e automobilisti sono avvertiti.  

Il Giro torna a casa: 47 volte partenza da Milano, 76 volte arrivo a Milano. E numeri importanti: 12,5 milioni di italiani che scendono in strada per vedere i loro beniamini, 840 milioni di spettatori in tv. Poi la separazione, non si capisce quanto consensuale. A sbloccare la situazione un incontro a tre: Sala, Cairo, Monti. Il sindaco, attento alla vocazione internazionale della città, rilancia il «matrimonio». Accordo fatto. Il Giro torna sotto la Madonnina. «Non poteva essere altrimenti — dice Cairo —. C’è un legame speciale con la città, Milano è una destinazione naturale per il Giro. Il legame tra il gruppo Rcs e la città nasce più di un secolo fa: il nostro gruppo è cresciuto con Milano e da sempre trova in Milano un campo pieno di entusiasmo per tutte le nostre manifestazioni». A Sala viene consegnata la maglia rosa. In prima fila c’è Vittorio Adorni, vincitore del Giro nel 1965 e del campionato del mondo nel 1968. Un bignami della storia del Giro che conta più di un secolo di vita. È lui a riannodare il filo tra il passato e il futuro. Tra l’arrivo al Musocco del 1909 (spostato all’Arena per problemi di ordine pubblico) e il traguardo in piazza Duomo del 2017. Ma non ci sono solo i professionisti. La passione delle due ruote che ha contagiato molti milanesi potrà trovare uno sfogo la mattina del 28. Prima della crono individuale ufficiale, gli amanti della bici potranno provare il brivido di percorrere il tragitto ufficiale con una cronometro a squadre. Corriere della Sera

Prepariamo il profiteroles a casa

La Cucina Italiana
aka Eclairs ?

Berlusconi cuddles lambs in vegetarian Easter campaign By Reuters in Rome

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has infuriated Italy’s meat industry by joining a vegetarian campaign and “adopting” five lambs that would have been butchered for Easter. A video by the Italian League in Defence of Animals and the Environment, showing Berlusconi cuddling, kissing and feeding the lambs with a baby’s bottle, was circulated widely on social media over the weekend. The 80-year-old former prime minister was filmed in his parkland estate in front of a sign saying “Defend life, choose a vegetarian Easter,” while a scrolling message urged viewers to “Be like him. He saved five lambs from the Easter slaughter.” Berlusconi was expelled from the senate in 2013 following a conviction for tax fraud, but his Forza Italia party is still the third or fourth most popular in Italy with about 12% of the vote, according to opinion polls. Italians traditionally eat lamb or goat on Easter Sunday but consumption has declined sharply over the last five years due to an economic slump and the growing success of vegetarian campaigns. The Guardian

Gucci to finance 2mn restoration of Boboli Gardens

(ANSA) - Florence, April 4 - Gucci will donate two million euros to the Uffizi Gallery to restore and enhance Florence's Boboli Gardens park. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri, Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt and Florence Mayor Dario Nardella. For the first time, as part of the deal, the Gucci Cruise show will take place on May 29, 2018 in the Galleria Palatina of the iconic Palazzo Pitti, which maintains the world-famous gardens. The 'Boboli Spring' project, promoted by the Italian culture ministry under the aegis of the Florence city council, in partnership with the Uffizi Gallery, "will make the greenery of the garden thrive again and restore it to its status as the Italian Versailles," said Schmidt. Bizzarri noted that one million people visited the garden last year and he, too, said "we want to restore it to its place as the Versailles of Italy". The project had a "particular significance", he said, reflecting Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele's "cultural and aesthetic background", which finds in Renaissance Florence "an undying source of inspiration". Culture Minister Dario Franceschini hailed Gucci's "significant" investment, noting that fashion is part of Italy's cultural heritage. The Boboli Gardens (Italian: Giardino di Boboli) is a park behind Palazzo Pitti, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities. It is one of the most famous gardens in Italy and a favourite spot for locals and tourists to picnic. Life in Italy

Madrid and Rome revive bilateral ties to address European challenges By euroefe.es and Samuel White

The prime ministers of Spain and Italy, Mariano Rajoy and Paolo Gentiloni, met on Friday (27 January) for the first time in four years, in a bid to bring fresh impetus to high-level cooperation between the two countries. Euractiv Spain reports. Gentiloni replaced Matteo Renzi at the head of the Italian government last December after the former premier lost a referendum on wide-ranging constitutional reforms. He met his Spanish counterpart at Madrid’s Moncloa Palace on Friday afternoon. Renzi had been in office since February 2014, but during his tenure he did not hold any bilateral meetings with Rajoy in Spain or Italy. The last time a head of the Italian government visited Spain was in May 2013, when then-prime minister Enrico Letta met with Rajoy at the Moncloa Palace. So for the Spanish government, Gentiloni’s visit was an important step towards reviving high-level bilateral relations. Between two countries with such strong historical, cultural, social, economic and investment ties, this is a good sign. Madrid believes that the two countries’ respective domestic situations held them back from taking full advantage of these ties in recent years. The bulk of Friday’s discussions centred on this issue. The two heads of government also discussed the Malta summit on 3 February, to be attended by all EU leaders except the UK’s Theresa May, to discuss the bloc’s future after Brexit. They also exchanged views on the EU summit in Rome this coming March to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the treaty establishing the European Economic Community. EurActiv

No, Italy is not about to leave the euro By Pepe Escobar

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is no more. The temptation is inevitable to ascribe the end of this lucky opportunist’s thousand days in the limelight as a verdict on the euro and the EU. As with all things Italy, it’s way more complicated. The Italian referendum this Sunday was indeed a resounding No to Renzi and the constitutional amendments he proposed. The key takeaway is that Italians essentially voted not to change the constitution to the benefit of an autocratic Parliament. Inbuilt in the No, of course, there’s immense, potential collateral damage – which happens to involve the future of the EU. It’s no wonder the anti-elite Five Star Movement, led by Beppe Grillo, as well as the ultra-xenophobic Lega Nord (Northern League), led by Matteo Salvini, are spinning it as a rout. Voter turnout was particularly high in wealthy Lombardy and Veneto – where the League is quite popular. The League’s message, day in, day out, centers on ominous figures besetting Italy – from three million workers in the black market to eight families out of ten living in extremely precarious circumstances. Blame the government – Renzi’s Democratic Party – as well as immigration. Yet, in parallel, scores across the Left voted No exactly to block the path for the extreme Right to reach power. So the No victory may also be seen as a vote for democracy – as Renzi’s constitutional amendments would facilitate a major power grab for the next prime minister's seat in Rome’s Palazzo Chigi. A Yes vote would have meant the end of what in Italy is known as “perfect bicameralism,” created under the country’s 1948 constitution, where we have two chambers of Parliament filled with elected lawmakers. Both have equal power and must agree on all legislation to be approved. This being Italy, the name of the (perennial) game is gridlock. Renzi’s government proposed the number of senators be reduced from 315 to 100, on top of it elected indirectly, as in selected by regional assemblies, with some mayors thrown in. This Senate emasculation would mean most Italian laws including the crucial state budget – passing without a glitch, thus making the nation “easier to govern.” The Senate would only be effective on ruling about the prickly relationship between Rome and Brussels. No wonder most voters interpreted it as a power grab by Renzi’s Democratic Party.

Tickets for the opera, anyone?

The 'follow the money' scenario is once again preeminent in Italy. The EU banking ecosphere is agog the No victory will make it even harder to rescue Siena’s Monte dei Paschi – the oldest bank in the world and currently Italy’s third-largest; it badly needs to raise €5 billion of equity and sell off €28 billion in bad loans. In fact, virtually the whole Italian banking system is on the ropes, needing a rescue package of at least €40 billion. Italy is paying JP Morgan to come up with a solution. European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny, who’s also the head of Austria’s central bank, insists Italy might have to spend a lot of public money for the rescue. This will be considered toxic by most Italian voters. Couple the banking crisis with the fact Italy’s industrial output may be as much as 10 percent smaller than it was ten years ago. And unemployment – at a hefty 13 percent - is roughly double than it was before the 2008 financial crisis. What’s immediately ahead is, what else, a political crisis, although containable. President Sergio Mattarella, elected only last year, must oversee the formation of a new government. The Five Star Movement and the Lega Nord are already calling for immediate elections. A look at the major players jockeying for position in the new government sweepstakes is not exactly uplifting. They are: Renzi (Democratic Party); Silvio 'bunga bunga' Berlusconi (Forza Italia); Beppe Grillo (Five Star Movement); and Matteo Salvini (Lega Nord). If these signori don’t agree on anything, there could be a snap election soon. Grillo’s Five Star want an election so badly because it will be held under the new electoral laws before it’s all changed back to the good old proportionate system. Expect a lot of (figurative) blood on the Colosseum before any solution. As the EU observes, in thrall, the bottom line is that Italy is not anywhere near a referendum to leave the eurozone, not to mention the EU, as most Italians are Europhiles (except when it comes to the German domination of the ECB). The next elections, whenever they take place, will feature a battle of three political formations: the anti-elite Five Star Movement; Renzi’s Democratic Party – now in a shambles; and the center-right (Berlusconi) probably aligned with the Lega. Any of these three, but mostly the Five Star, stand a chance to win. So Italy is now firmly concentrated on trying to get a new – functional – government, not abandon the euro. But that still entails a fascinating sub-plot; none other than Angela Merkel will have to step up and lend a hand to “save” the EU by saving the future of Renzi’s Democratic Party. Now that’s what an opera buffa is all about.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. Born in Brazil, he's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of "Globalistan" (2007), "Red Zone Blues" (2007), "Obama does Globalistan" (2009) and "Empire of Chaos" (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is "2030", also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015. RT

New earthquake rocks Italy, buildings collapse but no deaths reported By Isla Binnie

NORCIA, Italy A powerful earthquake struck Italy on Sunday in the same central regions that have been rocked by repeated tremors over the past two months, with more homes and churches brought down but no deaths reported. The quake, which measured 6.6 according to the U.S. Geological Survey, was bigger than one on Aug. 24 that killed almost 300 people. Many people have fled the area since then, helping to avoid a new devastating death toll. With thousands already made homeless, a leading seismologist warned that the earthquakes could go on for weeks in a domino effect along the central Apennine fault system.The latest quake was felt across much of Italy, striking at 7.40 a.m. (0640 GMT), its epicenter close to the historic Umbrian walled town of Norcia, some 100 km (60 miles) from the university city of Perugia. Panicked Norcia residents rushed into the streets and the town's ancient Basilica of St. Benedict collapsed, leaving just the facade standing. Nuns, monks and locals sank to their knees in the main square in silent prayer before the shattered church. "This is a tragedy. It is a coup de grace. The basilica is devastated," Bishop Renato Boccardo of Norcia told Reuters. "Everyone has been suspended in a never-ending state of fear and stress. They are at their wits' end," said Boccardo, referring to the thousands of tremors that have rattled the area since August, including two serious quakes on Wednesday. Italy's Civil Protection unit, which coordinates disaster relief, said numerous houses were destroyed on Sunday in the regions of Umbria and Marche, but either they were deserted at the time or most of the residents managed to escape in time. Civil Protection chief Fabrizio Curcio said no deaths had been reported and around 20 people were injured, none of them critically. He said it was too early to say how many more people had lost their homes. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi promised a massive reconstruction effort regardless of cost and took advantage of the disaster to resume his frequent criticism of the European Union's public finance rules. "This morning's quake has hit the few things that were left standing. We will have to start from scratch," Michele Franchi, the deputy mayor of Arquata del Tronto, told Rai television. Experts said Sunday's quake was the strongest here since a 6.9 quake in Italy's south in 1980 that killed 2,735 people. Sunday's earthquake was felt as far north as Bolzano, near the border with Austria and as far south as the Puglia region at the southern tip of the Italian peninsula. It was also felt strongly in the capital, Rome, where transport authorities shut down the metro system for precautionary checks. Authorities also toured the city's main Roman Catholic basilicas looking for possible damage. Italy sits on two geological fault lines, making it one of the most seismically active countries in Europe. Its deadliest quake since the start of the 20th century came in 1908, when a tremor followed by a tsunami killed an estimated 80,000 people in the southern regions of Reggio Calabria and Sicily. (Writing by Crispian Balmer and Philip Pullella; Additional reporting by Steve Scherer, Gavin Jones and Mark Bendeich; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Larry King) REUTERS

Quake: at least 120 killed, hundreds injured and towns razed

Sant'Agostino, Amatrice
Rieti, Lazio, Italy
Photo Credit: shutterstock.com

(ANSA) - Rome, August 24 - The provisional death toll from an earthquake that hit central Italy early Wednesday has risen to 120, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told a press conference in Rieti. The toll may rise, he said, adding "now is the time for tears, prayer and emotion" and vowing swift and successful reconstruction. "It will take a long time to handle this emergency", he added, saying cabinet would take the first "immediate" measures Thursday morning. The 6.0-magnitude quake flattened mountain towns between Lazio, Umbria and Marche. Some 64 people are known to have died in the village of Amatrice near Rieti alone. The earthquake, which struck at 03:36 local time and was followed by a second, 5.4 magnitude seism at 04:33 between Umbria and the Marche, was said by civil protection authorities to be "comparable in intensity" to the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in which over 300 people died. A few hundred were reported injured and an unspecified number of people were still missing as of the early evening on Wednesday. About 200 aftershocks were felt, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 4.9 on the Richer scale. Renzi visited Amatrice where he met with the head of the civil protection agency and the infrastructure and transport minister, Grazinao Delrio. There were reports of "apocalyptic scenes" with many collapsed buildings in the towns and villages affected. Rescuers had difficulty accessing the area due to landslides and damaged infrastructure. Many people were saved by rescue workers who used even their hands to dig out survivors, including an 11-year-old boy whose calls for help from under the ruins of his home and a 43-year-old whose legs were stuck under rubble for hours. United States Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday called Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni to voice condolences to the Italian government and confirmed the US's readiness to respond to any requests for help, echoing a similar offer made to President Sergio Mattarella by President Barack Obama. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his condolences and the pope said he was "greatly affected" after hearing the mountain village of Amatrice was razed to the ground. L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said 250 temporary homes built after the 2009 earthquake were available for the newly displaced. The Rieti provincial chapter of Italian blood donation charity AVIS has put out a call for people to donate blood for the injured. Mayor Stefano Petrucci said 2,500 people had been displaced from their homes. The national emergency fund has 234 million euros that will be used for immediate aid to earthquake-stricken towns and villages in central Italy, the economy ministry said. life in italy Photo DONATE to Italian Red Cross

Italy

Only The Best Italian Style - Verbania

Starbucks to Open First Italian Store in 2017 By Silvia Donati

Starbucks will open its first store in Italy in early 2017. The announcement was made by none other than Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who was recently in Milan for Fashion Week, where he met with a group of Italian business leaders and journalists to talk about his plans for the first Italian Starbucks. Scheduled to open at the beginning of 2017 in the center of Milan, the store is expected to be the first of several set to open in other Italian cities throughout 2017. According to an article published in the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Schultz said he is personally involved in the opening of the first Starbucks in Italy. “Our mission is to surpass Milan residents’ expectations,” he was quoted saying. “ I am personally involved in every detail, for me the first Italian Starbucks isn’t just about business, it’s a personal question.” After all, Schultz came up with the idea of launching a coffee shop chain after a business trip to Milan in 1983, during which he noticed the large number of coffee shops (bar in Italian) in the city and the ritual of coffee drinking in Italian society. That inspired him to try to recreate the same experience and coffee culture in the U.S. The idea was clearly a winning one, as Starbucks has not only become ubiquitous in the U.S., but has also expanded to the rest of the world (there are roughly 24,000 Starbucks stores in the world). The rest of the world, except Italy – so far. “I didn’t feel ready for Italy,” Schultz said. “I felt for a long time we hadn’t earned the right to open here. But after all these years, I can say we have learned the craft and honored Italian culture around the world. It’s a dream I’ve had since 1983. Now the time has come, and it will all begin in Milan, the capital of food, fashion and style.” Starbucks certainly isn’t entering the Italian market with the expectation to teach Italians how to roast coffee or how to prepare an espresso, Schultz pointed out: “We’re coming here with great humility to present our interpretation of the coffee experience, whose main component is to create a sense of community, a third place between home and the workplace.” Just as in its other stores around the world, the Italian Starbucks will recreate comfortable spaces, with music and wi-fi. At the same time, Schultz said, Starbucks will honor and adapt to Italian culture by having the classic bar counter, for Italians who still prefer to drink their coffee standing, and by creating a special blend to suit the taste of the Milanesi. “It’ll be a classic, dynamic and elegant Starbucks store,” Schultz said, “but in terms of experience, atmosphere and design, it’ll be immediately obvious how much we respect the Italian people and their coffee culture.” Italy Magazine Photo Oprah Winfrey Network (Interview)

GELATO WORLD TOUR 2016: THE AMERICAS AND ITALY TAKE CENTER STAGE By Chiara Mancusi

After the stages in Singapore and Tokyo, the Gelato World Tour now turns to the American continent with two stops in the United States, open also to artisans from Central and South America. The first is scheduled for May 27-29 in Chicago; in September, the tour will continue on to the West Coast. 2016 will also see a busy calendar for the Gelato World Tour Italian Challenge, the traveling competition that will travel throughout Italy, stopping at Carpigiani dealers. Registration for the Americas East stage will close on March 31, 2016 (www.gelatoworldtour.com and, for more information, committee@gelatoworldtour.com ). After the success of the inaugural stage in November 2015 held at the offices of Omab, Carpigiani’s dealer in Rome, the Gelato World Tour Italian Challenge has already scheduled another 18 stops for 2016, and still others are being organized. The top two flavors of each stage will participate in the Italian final to be held on March 23-24, 2017 in Anzola Emilia at the Carpigiani Gelato University campus. Here the 8 Italian participants will be chosen to compete in the Grand Finale of the Gelato World Tour. At Sigep 2017, selections will be made for the German stage, which will be held in Germany during the summer of 2017; the grand finale of the second edition of the Gelato World Tour will be held in Rimini in September 2017. Pasticceria Internazionale

Monaco's impressive contribution to World Expo 2015 By Madeleine Adey

The construction of Monaco’s impressive pavilion has begun in preparation for the 2015 World Expo in Milan. Monaco will be one of 144 countries represented at the expo, which will focus on the way in which food unites people of different cultures and religions, as well as the profound concerns it raises. The design is particularly impressive and echoes the theme of the expo of ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.’ The Italian architect who designed the pavilion, Enrico Pollini, based it on three themes: shipping containers, transport and storage elements. The sloping grass roof garden represents the landscape of the south east of France, where the mountains descend towards the sea. The inside of the pavilion will house recycled wooden crates forming a kind of 'ideas workhouse' with 11 distinct stations. Each station will represent an environmental topic, such as sustainable fishing, deforestation, the surge in jellyfish numbers and ocean acidification, for example. There will also be services including a restaurant, as well as a VIP lounge and terrace for private visitors. The event, which will begin in May 2015 and end in October, is a non-commercial universal exposition held every five years, attracting millions of visitors who are able to explore pavilions, exhibitions and cultural events put on by hundreds of participants including nations, international organisations and businesses. The interests of the event do not lie only with the participants and visitors, however. Each expo aims to have a wider impact on cultural, social and environmental transformation, leaving behind a positive legacy not only for the country in which it is held but hopefully for the rest of the world. This year’s theme will therefore explore the problems surrounding nutrition alongside the resources of our planet, with the aim of opening up a global dialogue to exchange views on these extremely relevant issues. The Monaco Times

Outrage as Costa Concordia Schettino lectures Rome students on panic management

The participation of the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise that shipwrecked in 2012 in a criminology university seminar prompted fierce condemnation and outrage of Italian education authorities and media. On July 5, Francesco Schettino took part in the “From the crime scene to the investigation” seminar at Rome's La Sapienza University where he was invited to lecture students on emergency procedures. But it was today when Italian media revealed Schettino’s controversial participation with Italy’s Education Minister Stefania Giannini considering it “disconcerting” and the head of the Sapienza University saying “academic freedom can not be irresponsible.” Schettino is on trial for manslaughter and accused of causing the incident and abandoning the 114,500-tonne luxury liner after it struck rocks and sank off the Italian coast, precipitating a chaotic nighttime evacuation. According to some participants of the seminar, Schettino held a 15-minute video conference giving details on the Costa Concordia sea accident and lecturing students on “panic management” at times of crisis. The Florence daily La Nazione, however, said today the captain gave a two-hour lecture instead. Professor in the spotlight Meanwhile, the professor who invited the disgraced captain to speak at the criminology seminar has been referred to the ethics committee at La Sapienza University, the university said on today. Professor Vincenzo Mastronardi held the seminar last month reconstructing the January 2012 shipwreck in which 32 people died, complete with 3D graphics and comments from the ship's captain Francesco Schettino, the university confirmed. A coastguard's order to Schettino to "Get back on board, damn it!" spread quickly in Italy and was printed on t-shirts. "Everyone remembers the exchange between the coast guard and Schettino, with the curt order to return to the ship," La Sapienza said in a statement. "This is quite enough to brand Professor Mastronardi's actions as contrary to the objectives of any academic event." La Repubblica newspaper quoted Mastronardi as saying he would clear up any misunderstanding with La Sapienza, saying the seminar had been reserved for specialists. The ethics committee was expected to decide whether to take disciplinary action against the professor. La Sapienza said Mastronardi's faux-pas was made more serious by the fact that legal action was still ongoing and that there was no one there to represent the other side, such as a passenger or someone who lost a relative in the disaster. Schettino, who was in charge of the ship when it performed the maritime display known as a "salute", which brought it dangerously close to shore, denies the charges. The Costa Concordia, a floating hotel as long as three football pitches laid end to end, was towed in July to the Italian port of Genoa to be broken up for scrap after wallowing by the Tuscan island of Giglio for two and a half years. A chorus of Twitter users responded to Italian media reports that the seminar had happened, with the hashtag "#sapienza" appearing alongside witticisms such as "Get back to your desk, damn it!." Buenos Aires Herald

Italy's former PM Silvio Berlusconi starts community service at senior center By Livia Borghese, CNN

Rome (CNN) -- Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi began a year of community service for his conviction on tax fraud charges on Friday when he showed up at a senior center near his hometown, Milan. The 77-year old billionaire tycoon must visit the center for the elderly at least once a week for a minimum four hours. The community service order is in lieu of house arrest. He was handed a four-year sentence last August -- commuted to a year -- for tax fraud at Mediaset, the large commercial broadcaster that Berlusconi founded. He has also been barred from holding public office for two years and was expelled from the Italian Senate in the fall. Last month, a Milan court ruled that Berlusconi could be assigned to social work at the elderly center as an alternative to house arrest. He also faces restrictions on his movements within Italy. CNN