Italy Blog

Is the fundamental problem Italian journalism? Or is it the inability of Italians to plan ahead? Or is the Italian predilection for what sounds good, as opposed to what seems true, at fault? Whatever it is, I was amazed (amused? appalled?) by an article...

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...

To understand what is happening – and what is no t happening – in Italy these days, you have to start with the realization that what constitutes “public morality” here and in the United States is quite different. Without going...

Italy’s urban witching hour is 12 o’clock noon on August 15. That is the day, and the hour, when the only creatures you are likely to encounter in Milan, or Turin, or any major Northern city, are phantoms. The flesh and blood inhabitants of...

It¹s summertime. Let¹s talk about body odors. My dog and I went into an office last week on one of the toniest streets in Milan. The office wasn¹t very posh, but the area is a high-rent district, so I had dressed for the occasion (hair...

When the film “ Divorce, Italian Style ” was released in 1961, a legal divorce was not yet possible in Italy. So the lead character in this Oscar-winning (for best screenplay) comedy embarks on the only course of action left for him: maneuver...

Il Sole/24 Ore , Italy’s major business newspaper (think: an Italian Wall Street Journal without Murdoch), held its third annual Women’s Forum in Milan at the end of March. As with the previous two editions, the program was awash with women...