The pleasure of writing, Italian style: the history of Aurora fountain pens
In a world where the younger generations are less and less acquainted with pen and paper, and more and more in love with keyboards, talking about the pleasure of writing with a a good fountain pen may seem old fashioned. Call me old fashioned, then, because that’s what I’m going to do. When I was in Elementary school, we all wrote with fountain pen...
Textile and fashion industry generates half of Italy’s trade surplus
Italian fashion revenues continue to outperform Italy’s broader economy, and in the last part of 2016 and in the first quarter of 2017 they even picked up speed. That would already be good news in itself, but it is even more so because the textile and fashion industry is Italy’s largest after machinery. “If we consider the fashion system in the wid...
Francesco Totti ends Roma career after 25 years and 786 games in emotional farewell
It was a celebration tinged with tears, fear and love. Francesco Totti bid an emotional farewell to Roma after a remarkable 25-season career with his hometown club, contributing to a 3-2 win over Genoa in Serie A that secured the Giallorossi a spot in the Champions League. Almost 60,000 fans inside the Stadio Olimpico stood up and cheered when 40-y...
Ognostro: Marco Tinessa’s Aglianico varietal and the power of terroir
Marco Tinessa is a young broker, at home in Milan. He is also an Irpinia native who set his career in Italy’s financial capital aside to pay tribute to the mountains near Naplesthat bred him. How? When you've spent your youth between Montesarchio and San Martino Vallecaudina, and you've played hide-and-seek amongst the vineyards of Aglianico, how e...
The eternal enchantment of the Eternal City: little known facts about Rome (Part II)
Piazza Navona: how beautiful it is. So beautiful one may even accept to pay an excruciatingly high price for a “granita al limone” and a coffee in one of its many cafés just to dwell in comfort for a few minutes in all its splendor.Born upon the vestiges of Domitian’s Stadium, of which it still holds the ancient shape, its visual fulcrum is, today,...
Coldiretti: in 40mila salvano Made in Italy dall'estinzione
Salgono a 40mila gli agricoltori che nelle proprie aziende nel 2016 hanno salvato semi antichi e le piante rare del Made in Italy dal rischio di estinzione. È quanto emerge dall’analisi di Coldiretti/Ixè presentata insieme alla Sis, la Società Italiana Sementi sul ritorno delle antiche sementi della tradizione italiana che dopo aver rischiato di sp...
Italy ‘eating 10% less pasta’ as consumers turn backs on carbs
Sales of pasta in Italy have fallen by more than 10% in the last five years, with nearly a quarter of Italian consumers cutting back on the amount of pasta they eat. That’s according to new research from Mintel. Sales amounted to 908,000 tonnes in 2016 or 15.2kg per person – down from 17kg in 2011. Mintel suggested that Italy’s love of pasta had ‘g...
The E. Marinella style: the Neapolitan tie that unifies tailoring and Italian elegance
The “Marinella philosophy” originated in the year 1914, when the thirty-four-year-old Neapolitan Don Eugenio opened a small shop in the Riviera of Chiaia of Naples. After having completed the renovations, the young founder undertook his first trip to London to meet with prospective suppliers and recreate a small corner of England in Naples with exc...
Italian fashion designer Laura Biagiotti dies at 73
Laura Biagiotti, an Italian fashion designer who conquered global markets with her soft, loose women's clothes and luxurious knits that won her the nickname "Queen of Cashmere," died Friday following a heart attack. She was 73. Biagiotti suffered the heart attack Wednesday evening at her estate outside of Rome. Doctors were able to resuscitate her...
How to make tramezzini, the Italian sandwiches you can't get here
A midmorning snack along the street, off the Rialto Bridge in Venice. Soft slices of crust-less white bread stuffed with a mountain of chopped seafood — shrimp, squid, other lovelies of the sea, probably pulled from the giant market just up the calle — in a dressing, probably maionese, generous with chile heat. Somehow managing not to slop it all o...
This Italian nun is helping brides say ‘yes’ to the dress
Italian brides are finding wedding dresses at an unusual spot hidden in the Umbrian hills, where they are able to pick out their special gown – all for the cost of a donation. Sister Maria Laura at the Augustinian monastery of St. Rita in Cascia, Italy began running the thrifty wedding dress service out of a surplus of donated wedding dresses. “It...
GUCCI Climbing Ahead in Luxury Brand Rankings
Gucci is now the highest ranked luxury brand on the Brand Finance 2017 report, coming at at no. 3. The value of the Gucci brand increased from $ 5 billion (2016) to $ 6.1 billion (2017). Gucci executives note a lot of their recent success in benefiting from dominating in the digital/social media market. In terms of growth, Gucci is among the best p...