I am the mom of a high school senior and a 14-year-old. So let’s just say that I have been busy these last few months.
Funny enough, my senior (Dante) was about four months old when I started keeping a file of Italy news with the hope that I’d get back to guidebook writing (and traveling) as soon as I could. Yada yada yada (yada) Dante is looking at colleges now. Do not ask me where the time went.
Anyhow, a lot has happened since I last wrote to you. So here are some of my most recent bookmarks.
As always, feel free to share this newsletter or subscribe if you haven’t already.
Headlines
The Purge: Meloni clears critics out of Italian culture | Politico Europe
“Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stands accused of trying to stamp her authority on the arts and media, in a purge her critics say is designed to silence dissent. In recent months, her government has cleared out the old leadership of some of Italy’s most prestigious museums and cultural organizations and installed sympathetic executives at the top. Even EU officials in Brussels are starting to worry.”
Matteo Messina Denaro, Italian mafioso, 1962-2023 | FT
“Convicted in absentia of orchestrating the devastating 1992 car bombings that killed celebrated anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Messina Denaro was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison. Yet when he was finally arrested in January at a private medical clinic in Palermo where he was undergoing cancer treatment using a fake identity, his failing health kept his time in custody brief.”
Saying goodbye to the Adamello: How climate change is killing the Italian Alps’ biggest glacier | Euro News
"‘Over the last five years, the front of the glacier has lost an average of 15 meters a year. But in 2022 alone, it has retreated by 139 meters,’ explains Cristian Ferrari, president of the Glaciological Commission of the Tridentine Mountaineers Society.”
“Working in tandem with the museum, the Carabinieri also identified a stolen red fish plate from the Italian region of Apulia which they were able to trace to David Holland Swingler, an American art trafficker and food importer known for a culinary modus operandi.”
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Apennines - Italy’s Newest UNESCO Site
Italy’s world-beating portfolio of noteworthy sites just grew by one more as the Evaporitic Karst and Caves of the Northern Apennines became the country’s 59th UNESCO World Heritage Site. These natural wonders are near Bologna; the city’s porticoes have been a World Heritage Site since 2021.
“This serial property is an unusually well-preserved and extensive epigenic gypsum karst terrain. It includes a very high density of caves: over 900 caves in a relatively small area, with over 100 km of caves in total. It is the first and the best-studied evaporitic karst in the world, with academic work beginning in the 16th century. It also includes some of the deepest gypsum caves in existence, reaching 265 meters below the surface.”—UNESCO
Calling all U.S. cheese lovers! Sign up for Murray’s Cheezemail to get personalized recommendations and exclusive offers on the best cheeses from Italy and the world. #ad
City Briefs
Venice
Visitors to Venice, Italy will have to pay an entrance fee starting next year | USA Today
“The city's officials have committed to a 30-day ‘experiment’ [in 2024] of charging visitors to the city 5 euros to enter on peak days if they're not staying the night, mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on social media.”
Driver may have fallen ill before fatal Venice bus crash | Reuters
Damaged Banksy mural in Venice to be restored | The Art Newspaper
Genoa
The glory of Genoa – Italy’s secret gem | FT
Naples
A string of volcanic tremors raises fears of mass evacuations in Italy | WP
Rome
Rome's Domus Tiberiana, closed for 50 years, finally reopens | Wanted in Rome
Florence
Florence bans new Airbnbs and short-term rentals in historic center | The Guardian
36 Hours in Florence | NYT
In Other News
Italians have embraced ‘fake English’ | FT
Axiom Space And Prada Design For NASA’s Next-Generation Lunar Spacesuits | Prada Group
The window into da Vinci's creativity? His sketchbooks | National Geographic
Burrata-Mania: An Unexpected Cheese Frenzy | Italics
Serie A Jerseys 23/24 – Every Team’s Home, Away, and Third Kit | Italofile
New Books
Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri (Translated from Italian by Lahiri and Todd Portnowitz)
Here Begins the Dark Sea: Venice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World by Meredith F. Small
Mamma Milano: An insider’s guide to creative self-discovery, the Italian way by J.J. Martin
PAX: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age by Tom Holland