Italian News Snippets: 04.27.08

Some Italian news for your Sunday reading pleasure:

• I know I should eat less red meat, but when in Florence I can’t resist La Bistecca. And other fans will be happy to know the real thing (the “Fiorentina”) is on its way back to restaurant plates very soon.
• If you’re near Rimini, Jessica in Rome gives a little tour of a place that’ll allow you to see the entire country of Italy in one quick stop.
• When I got married in 2003, the average cost of a wedding in the US was $25,000. So we eloped. Which is what I’d suggest to Italians who are facing average wedding costs these days of €27,000. James at Wandering Italy is particularly aghast at the underwear portion of that budget.
• Am I alone in thinking that making women wear special tracking bracelets so the police can react if they are attacked and raped is a little, well, weird?
• Shelley’s blogging again (oh, how we missed her), and she’s shocked that someone’s trying to kill people by starting a bike sharing business in Rome. (Bonus video of skinny, blonde Italian “weather girl” on TV!)
• This past Friday was Liberation Day in Italy, and also V-Day 2, as noted by Bleeding Espresso.
• There are lots of Italians who are already using the iPhone, regardless of whether it’s actually available in Italy yet. But there are reports that the iPhone in Italy (when it gets there legally) will be available only through Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM).
• The NY Times has a series of “at night” stories, about what some European cities are like after dark. Rome is one of the cities featured, but it’s the Venice article that really makes me wish I were back in Italy right now.
• The title of the article says it all – “it’s not a good time to be a woman in Italy.” Well, if you pay attention to what Berlusconi says, that is.
• The body of one of Italy’s most revered saints, Padre Pio, will be on display in Puglia for the 40th anniversary of his death.
• As if it weren’t enough that Italy recently dealt with dioxin in its mozzarella and ethanol in its wine, now there’s a scandal with some fake olive oil. What is the world coming to?
• Accidents and injuries are plaguing the filming of the new James Bond movie in Italy.
• I’ve read lots of reasons why the Italian government was always resistent to Air France buying Alitalia, but the one I believe most is one I heard from an Italian a week or two ago – that it would imply Italy was somehow under French rule. That same Italian said, however, that if Alitalia could buy Air France, that would be no problem. No surprise there, right?
• Going to the Lazio this summer? Check out this guide to Lazio beaches.
• I missed this, but Italofile’s got a video from a recent episode of “60 Minutes” that was about one man’s search for a “lost Leonardo” painting.
• Tourism in Italy isn’t just for foreigners – the Italians go on vacation, too. They’re apparently vacationing en masse this week.
• Drinking to excess is seen as uncouth in Italy, but the proliferation of “pub crawls” and other alcohol-fueled outings at youth hostels around the country is leading to more Italian youngsters drinking like some of their counterparts in other countries. Even Italians are drinking too much, apparently.
• Oh, man, thank goodness I didn’t eat at the Milan restaurant that puts calorie counts on the menu when I was there last month.