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Italy Blogs On: News and opinions about Italy along with personal comments. We hope you enjoy it!
Made in Italy On Line has been online since February 1995. But the web evolves constantly and we decided to join the bloggers.
Living in Italy is a lot different from visiting and I'm often asked "But what is it REALLY like to live in Rome?"
I'll try to give you a feeling for life here, along with some stories that may not make it into your local papers.
Your comments are most welcome, please write to:
Italy Blogs On.
Made in Italy on Line features the best of Italy: Fashion, Shopping, Food, Wine, and Travel.
Check also Ciao * Italy, a guide in English
with links to Italian web sites divided by categories.
Some of our favorite links
Translations are not absolutely perfect, but hey - they're free!
Our favorite online store, great web, great quality, great prices, great sale prices.
"It's a Dog's Life"
TAZIO 1985-1998
FANGIO 1985-1999
A Tribute to Man (and Woman's) Best Friends, Tazio and Fangio.
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Italy Blogs On
Featuring Italian News and Personal Opinions
by Logan Bentley Lessona
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DECEMBER 2006
December 31, 2006 It's the night to make resolutions, but I gave up years ago. Somehow I never managed to keep them, especially diets, past the first day. Except I promise to dedicate myself as much as possible (I won't list my misfortunes this past year, including two bone fractures) to this blog along with this web which will be 12 years old (!) on March 1, 2007.
In the past I spent many New Year's Eves trying to keep my dogs Tazio and Fangio from trembling with fear from all the fireworks and "botte" explosions that take place on our street, a main thoroughfare when the clock strikes midnight. They had their own special ledge in front of my bedroom window, and they loved to watch the traffic and people passing by. But on New Year's eve they huddled under the covers as the noise went on for almost an hour.
Until a few years ago Romans had the habit of throwing out the "old" to celebrate the "new" which included old pots and pans, glasses, dishes, and anything that would break and/or make a big bang as it crashed to the street. So party-goers had to be very careful as they walked along many of Rome's narrow streets to avoid being injured. I'm not sure exactly when this custom ceased, it may have been during the Seventies.
For the past few days nearly every newscast on Italian TV featured famous chefs demonstrating the meals they would serve for dinner on New Year's Eve and lunch (a big family deal) on New Year's Day. Lentils are a must for lunch on January 1, Italians believe they bring money and good look during the new year. It also improves your fortunes if you wear something red, so during the last days of December the windows of lingerie shops are full of red boxer shorts and tangas for women.
December 28, 2006 It took four centuries, but the truth can finally be told! Thanks to the Italian version of "CSI" (three forensic medical examiners and an historian) the deaths of two members of the noble Florentine Medici family attributed to malaria instead were a result of arsenic poisoning. Or should we be calling it an episode of the TV show "Cold Case" - it only took 420 years to solve the mystery. The team of experts from the University of Florence believe that Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici decided that his older brother Francesco (son of the legendary Cosimo de' Medici) was unfit to govern. He didn't like Francesco's second wife Bianca Capello, either.
Suspected of poisoning the couple, the Cardinal ordered a public autopsy of both. The doctors declared the deaths were due to Malaria. Instead, after a long and exhaustive investigation which included exhuming remains and analyzing DNA of the couple the conclusion was: poison. The team published their fascinating findings in the British Medical Journal. The killer obtained a papal dispensation to leave the priesthood and succeed his brother, he continued the works and reforms of his father Cosimo and the Medici family became even more powerful. Does this mean that crime pays?
December 27, 2006 The Aga Khan invented Sardinia (called Sardegna in Italy). Well, he didn't exactly invent it, but in 1958 when he was 22 years old he paid $ 25,000 for 50,000 hectares (well over 100,000 acres) of rugged land on Sardinia's coast. The Imam (spiritual leader) of some 15 million Ismaili Muslims turned this land into today's Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast), playground for millionaires and billionaires from all over the world. They sailed their mega-yachts into the bays of Porto Cervo and Porto Rotondo and visited the boutiques of the local "planned" fishing villages. The luxurious hotels (room rates average $3,000 a night) attracted patrons from the oil-producing countries in the middle east as well as the new Russian millionaires.
But when the Aga Khan wanted to expand his resort he found himself blocked in all directions by the local population, some of whom felt they had not adequately participated in the wealth generated by the Costa Smeralda he sold his hotels and properties to Starwood (Sheraton), reportedly taking a considerable loss on his investment. In 2003 U.S. real estate tycoon Tom Barrack bought the resort for 320 million dollars, a bargain at the time. The Aga Kahn was left with the title of honorary president of the Yacht Club and controlling interest in Meridiana Airlines, which boasts of low cost/high quality and flies between various Italian cities and European cities such as London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, and Madrid as well as several cities in Rumania. Now Meridiana has just bought out another low-cost airline, Eurofly, hopes to expand to include inter-continental routes, and looks to be in the running to take over troubled Alitalia, the Italian national airline.
Karim Aga Khan's father Ali Khan was one of the last of the international playboys, married Rita Hayworth and died at the wheel of his Ferrari in Paris' Bois de Boulogne park. Ali was considered too irresponsible to lead the Ismailis. His father passed the title to his grandson Karim. Life is funny, in the near future Karim may become the majority stockholder in Alitalia.
A few years ago Rome's city fathers decided to remove the statue of Marcus Aurelius from the large piazza in front of city hall for a long-needed restoration. But then they decided to preserve it in the museum next door and substitute it outside with a good reproduction. But other antique statues located in outdoor public locations such as the Villa Borghese park suffered vandalism. The famous fountain of the four turtles in Piazza Mattei lost a turtle in 1981. The remaining three were moved to the Capitoline museum, and today the fountain boasts four replicas. Most of the statues (which often lost their noses) in Villa Borghese have been replaced by copies. But as the vandalism unfortunately continues, Rome's authorities may be forced to install video cameras in an effort to discourage it.
According to the Associated Press today more members of the United States military have died (2,975) in Iraq than the victims (2,973) of the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. (The AP counts 16 more deceased than the official Pentagon figures.) When will it end? Don't any of the big shots in Washington who keep talking about the possibility of "winning" in Iraq remember what happened in Korea and Vietnam? The expression "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" is a concept that has ruined many lives. Who wants to be a loser? But deciding to go to war without being absolutely sure of being able to win it is not only the sign of a loser, but of a lack of regard for the consequences, the appalling number of deaths and injuries to thousands of Iraquis and Americans.
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