Browse by Tags - Italy Blog

Women of the World (Cup), Unite

Being in Italy during the World Cup playoffs offers a unique opportunity to understand this country’s culture. Never mind that the World Cup happens only once every four years; never mind that this time the games are being played in South Africa...

Published Fri, Jun 06 2010 2:39 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, sports, money, World Cup, soccer

The mad, monsoonal month of May . . . in Milan?

Springtime has finally arrived in Italy. Never mind that it usually rears its flirty head in March and sashays forth in all its glory by mid-April: this year has broken all the rules. We had a frigid, Siberian winter, the kind that only Italy’s...

Published Sat, May 05 2010 7:22 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, work, career, economy, weather

Mondo Cane (actually Mondo Cagnetta, since we are females here)

Once of the nicer things about living in Busto Arsizio is that I can walk my dog at night without glancing nervously over my shoulder every two minutes. Not that Busto is a completely safe little city: there was that satanic cult murder several years...

Published Sat, Feb 02 2010 2:56 AM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, dogs, drunks, walking

It’s a hard life, Knox

Now that the verdict has been issued in the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, it’s time to ask who – or what – was really on trial in this mess. For those who haven’t followed the story (in Italy, that would be impossible...

Published Sun, Dec 12 2009 3:15 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, murder, Knox, Perugia, crime, law

The birth of the Gender Gadfly

I had just gotten on the train last week, coming back from a day in Milan to my home in suburban Busto Arsizio, when I heard someone call me. It was M, a woman who works in the fashion/technology space. Like me she is a dual passport holder but unlike...

Published Sun, Nov 11 2009 4:36 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, gender, technology, gadfly, university

Happiness is a warm pasta. Not.

We may never understand “what women want”, what WE want as women, but whatever it is, surveys suggest that it is independent of where we live, how old we are, or what we do in life. Thirty-seven years ago, when the General Social Survey in...

Published Sat, Oct 10 2009 4:46 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, Italian women, children, men, work, happiness, career

A second wind in an Italian summer

One of my best friends here in Italy (actually she lives in France but is un’italiana DOC) loves Bob Dylan. She went to a concert of his once in Italy and remembers it as one of the most moving experiences of her life. Since this is the time of...

Published Mon, Jul 07 2009 6:03 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, politics, Kennedy, Obama, Bob Dylan, Nixon

Life and death in the Circus Maximus

A few weeks ago, an Italian woman became this country’s version of Terri Schiavo – including the same hypocritical posturing and self-interested politicking of that sad case in Florida four years ago. Now, Italy prides itself on being a civilized...

Published Wed, Feb 02 2009 4:47 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: Italy, women, death, aging, life, politics

Making love, not babies

New year, new hopes, new resolutions, and the same old problem in Italy: why is it that Italian women, among whose numbers can be found some of the world’s sexiest females, don’t make more babies? Seeing Italian women undulating down the streets...

Published Sun, Jan 01 2009 6:17 PM by Claudia Flisi

Filed under: babies, Italy, beauty, love, Italian women