A Commentary and Suggestions

We need to understand this wonderful culture. I understand how Italians think of time as a flowing river and not a commodity to spend nor save. I understand about the midday heat--it's a very hot and humid country. In the past when agriculture was the major part of most Italians lives, it was respectful of nature and biological rhythms to rest in the middle of the day rather than waste a body's resources to the heat of the day.

But this is a modern Italy. There is air conditioning--that actually works! (In fact, we recently installed the same type of air conditioning units as in Italy, which are efficient and effective!) Italians have the beauty and history of Italy to grow the their economy--through tourism. Consider that tourists from other countries have certain expectations, even those visiting to explore your wonderful lifestyle.

There might be a certain degree of lost jobs profits in your riposa--but I am speaking only of areas where tourism is a mainstay of your local economy. There is a way to embrace your culture while growing your nation and moving forward to the benefit of all Italians. The World Travel & Tourism Council says that tourism brings in over $203 billion a year for Italy, an impact larger than that of the communication services, chemicals manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, higher education, and mining industries.

My advice to Italians:  Keep your shops and restaurants open during the day in tourism dependent areas. Embrace the idea of employees taking turns with their lunch breaks. Find ways to truly serve the tourists that are bringing so much wealth to your country without expecting them to just put up with lack of comfort or proper services just because that's the status quo.

On another touchy subject: Ensure that public rest room facilities and trains have fixtures that are as functional and beautiful as your homes and the apartments we rented. Make certain they are well stocked with toilet paper--and toilet seats. To be honest, some public toilets were simply shameful. And please put an end to the squat-down, so called "Turkish toilet". Please? It's not great for handicapped or the aged among us.

As for restaurants, we want to experience your cuisine--not fast food chains. Support the Slow Food efforts in your country and  your local restaurateurs by helping them realize that by staying open during hours when visitors to Italy are used to eating, that will only help your economy. I'm not saying to change your entire way of life... just adapt to your main market--tourists.

I write this with tutto dovuto rispetto, and with a goal to share your wonderful culture with as many voyagers as possible.

--Jerry Finzi


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We want to wish all of our Grand Voyage Italy friends, family, cousins and new Voyagers a very Happy Thanksgiving. We hope all of you stay healthy, warm, loved and hopeful throughout this holiday season. Hug your loved ones, enjoy your feast and don't forget to pass along all of your traditions to the younger ones in your lives.

Felice Ringraziamento, tutti!

--Lisa, Lucas and Jerry Finzi

Is this really news? Isn't most of Italy incredibly hot and humid just about each and every summer?

Yes... yet again, another heath warning for excessive heat from the Italian Health Ministry. Eight cities are on being put on red alert for heat-related health risks and the oppressive temperatures are going to rise through this coming weekend and last for several days after. The hottest temperatures will be in Bolzano, Bologna, Campobasso, Genoa, Florence, Perugia, Pescara and Rieti reaching as high as 104 F (40 centigrade).

The saving grace, especially in the north, is that weather forecasters are predicting storms which should cool things down. Some storms may bring high winds and hail.

Stay cool!

--GVI

by Jerry Finzi

Italy’s Giuseppina Projetto-Frau is is about to turn 116 on May 30th and is currently the oldest living person in Europe. Several days ago in Barcelona, 116 year-old Spaniard, Ana Vela Rubio passed away. Ana was born on October 29th, 1901 which made her the longest living European.  Ana passes the baton to Giuseppina, bringing back the title formerly held by Emma Morano, who died in March 2017 at 117 years old, who was also considered to be the last human who lived during the 19th century. Born in Sardinia in 1902, Projetto has been dubbed La Nonna d'Italia (the grandmother of Italy). She is the third oldest person alive in the world today, after two Japanese women.

Giuseppina (her friends call her Pina) was born in 1902 in La Maddalena--a small island off Sardinia's northern tip. Her father’s name was Cicillo, and she had four siblings. Her grandfather had moved to La Maddalena from Sicily in the wake of the revolt of Garibaldi. At 5 years old, after losing her mother, along with with three of the four sisters, she was sent to  the female orphanage Satta-Sequi of Ozieri on the main island of Sardinia, where she lived until she was 21. Pina calls the the orphanage il Collegio, where she learned the art of embroidery, a craft she practiced her entire life. Pina has vivid memories of Ozieri... the fountain with the two marble lions that is located just in front of the "Collegio", the Attilio Pintus pastry shop and the "Swiss" café where she used to buy candy.

She married twice, but bore no children of her own. Her second husband, Giuseppe Frau, had 3 children that Nonna Pina raised with great love.  In 1946, when her son moved to Montelupo Fiorentino near Florence for work, she moved with him, where she still resides today with one of her daughters, Julia. Her son was tragically lost when trying to save bathers from drowning--a sorrow she still carries with her. Pina worked many years for the Bitossi Ceramics factory in Montelupo Fiorentino. She attributes some of her longevity to eating chocolate.

She is one of tens of thousands of Italians over 100 and still going. Many scientists have sought to identify the key to Italy’s extraordinary longevity, with suggestions ranging from a Mediterranean diet to hormones to a good sex life.

© GVI

You might also be interested in...
Emma Morano, Italy's Oldest Person, Dies at 117 Years Old
Sister Candida Bellotti Celebrates her 110th Birthday
Why Are There So Many People in Italy Over 100 Years Old?
Acciaroli, Campania: A Legend of Hemingway and 300 Residents Over 100 Years Old!

Update 2/21/17:

It seems every year about this time, Starbucks puts out press releases saying they are opening Starbucks stores all over Italy. last year (read below) they said they were going to open their very first Starbucks in Italy. That never happened. I don't think there's much support for Starbucks in Italy. Having their espresso Italian style every morning at home with their Moka pots or at their neighborhood breakfast bar on the way to work is simply too ingrained in the Italian culture for things to change now.

Starbucks announced last Thursday that it plans to open 200 to 300 stores in Italy starting next year. Really? Where's that first shop they promised last year? Now they claim that in June of next year--2018--they will will open four shops in Rome and Milan. "If the first phase of expansion goes well" (what happened to last year's "first phase"?), they are promising 300 stores opening in Italy before 2023.

Basta! Enough promises. Besides, that's way too long for Italians to sit and wait for them. It's much faster to fire up the moka pot...

--Jerry Finzi

From 3/1/2016:
Starbucks announced today that they will be opening their very first coffee house in Milan in the first part of 2017. What? In 2017, they say? Well, it makes sense that their plans will take that long, especially when you consider how Starbucks' offerings in huge take out coffee cups have little to do with the way the average Italian indulges in their espresso. It might take the company a full year (or more) to test market, focus group, finesse, and then fine tune a new batch of caffeine alternatives to the ultimate coffee drinkers on Planet Earth--the Italians. I predict the offerings will look nothing like what American Starbucks offer here in the States.

In the early 1980s, Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz visited Italy and supposedly was inspired to bring what he called the "romance and theater" of Italian coffee bars and baristas to the U.S. market. I'm wondering where in the Italian Boot did he visit that caused him to create such an over-blown, over-priced and over-sized coffee product that has little to do with the culture of coffee consumption and tradition in Italy.

In most coffee shops (called bars in Italy) there is little "romance" and the only "theater" is standing at the bar (either that, or get charged extra for a table), chomping down a cornetto and slurping down your espresso after which the mega-dose of caffeine propels you on your way toward the morning's labor. Perhaps he mistook a simple fact for "theater": the barista knows the locals because bars are local, neighborhood places in Italy... every neighborhood has them, each one with a small family of baristi and neighbors. Sure, some of the fancy coffee bars in tourist centers might be pretty plush, but most are plain and proactical. This is hard to duplicate on a fast-food chain store model. And I'm not sure that the Italians will put up with paying four to six times the price to what they currently pay for an espresso.

Every morning, the average Italian either makes their own small cup of intense espresso with their little art deco Moka coffee pot on their home gas range, or they stand for a couple of minutes in their neighborhood "bar" at an actual bar counter (bars serve coffee in Italy) and down a little cup (usually half full) of dense, hot espresso--usually with some sugar added. This is part of their colazione (breakfast) which nationwide consists of an espresso or cappuccino and a sweet pastry, such as a cornetto (the Italian, less flaky version of a croissant).

There must be a good reason that after 33 years of Starbucks' great success and with about 21,000 stores in 70 countries (with 38 in Europe), the brand has never opened a store in Italy, the supposed home of its inspiration. Is it because the look and feel of both the Starbucks experience and its offerings have nothing to do with coffee bars in Italy? It depends on what the meaning of their "success" is too... as it seems that every couple of years Starbucks seems to announce mass closings of its stores, anywhere from hundreds to thousands. Have they become over-saturated? Italy is going to suck up a lot of marketing funds to convince the average Italian to gulp instead of slurp.

Is success really guaranteed in Italy... a country with 22 different regions each with their own regulations and laws and customs? Is it guaranteed in a country where people think it's a Cardinal Sin to add milk to coffee at any other time than early in the morning? Is success guaranteed where eating and drinking while walking on the street or in your car is socially unacceptable and considered disgustoso? Will it be a success where family run, small shops in local towns and villages with loyal customers are the mainstay of the Italian economy?

Starbucks claims that it will enter the birthplace of espresso "with humility and respect". Doesn't that sound like a scene from The Godfather? Are they going to have to bow and kiss a few knuckles, too? Are they going to make Italians an offer they can't refuse?

Starbucks needed a partner to accomplish their plan in Italy, so they selected Italian real estate/mall developer, Gruppo Percassi. The company, based in Bergamo, will license and run the Starbucks brand in Italy. Even signore Percassi himself admitted: "We know that we are going to face a unique challenge with the opening of the first Starbucks store in Italy, the country of coffee, and we are confident that Italian people are ready to live the Starbucks experience, as already occurs in many other markets."

There are some hard facts that will prevent Italians from easily accepting the Starbucks brand. While the espresso machine was invented in Italy, it turns out that Italy doesn't drink anywhere near the amount of coffee as other countries, especially when compared to the United States--we drink about four times as much coffee per person as Italians! Italy ranks as only the seventh largest consumer of coffee in Europe. The reasons for this are simple. Their espresso cups are small, and usually not filled completely. Unlike in other countries where one might have large cups of coffee each day, the Italians drink small amounts. I had an assistant once who drank 6-8 cups each day and even my wife, Lisa likes her coffee in over-sized mugs rather than small cups,  I've never seen an Italian drinking coffee from a mug or a paper cup. They don't do take-out coffee, either.

The Italian cultural attitude toward coffee consumption is also very different. Perhaps they will have a cappuccino (with milk) in the morning with a sweet pastry, then a quick espresso shot during a late morning break at the bar down the street from their office, and perhaps another espresso on the way home or after dinner. Workplaces don't have coffee machines and stations as they do here in the U.S., and most homes have at least one Moka pot... never a Mr. Coffee machine. Unlike in American homes where there might be a large pot of coffee (already brewed) in a coffee machine waiting to be consumed all during the day, an Italian likes their espresso made fresh... they drink it and they're done.

Unlike the scene at a Starbucks, Italians might not take to lounging around in armchairs sipping huge take-out cups of overly sweet and pumpkin-spiced cappuccinos while surfing the Internet. They are used to getting their caffeine fix on-the-go with a quick stop at a neighborhood coffee bar.

The types of coffee served at Starbucks are a caricature of what you find in Italy, some of which are completely made up. In Italy, when you ask for "un caffe" you receive an espresso. Coffee IS espresso to Italians. And if you ask for a "latte" in Italy, you get a glass of milk--yes, only milk. Latte means milk. And a Frappuccino is a trademarked name, invented by Starbucks by shoving together "cappuccino" and "frappe" together... a sweet espresso with milk married to basically a milkshake. 

And then there's the amount of sugar in Starbucks offerings. A Grande Vanilla Frappuccino contains more sugar than six servings of Kellog's Fruitloops! After all, there is a reason Italians stay so thin.

If Starbucks opens in Italy, they will also have to be careful about how they roast their beans. Italians roast beans only until they are brown--not black, like American baristas tend to do. In fact, Italians tastes--literally, the way they sense flavors--are different than the American palette. Americans seem to tolerate overly roasted coffee with a much more bitter flavor than Italians prefer. They also don't go for overly sweet things.

You can also consider the fact that Italians don't really drink iced coffee. Their cold coffee is a completely different thing. In fact, a tall glass of iced coffee would strike fear into most Italians... all that ice could cause congestione, a digestive block, and might even threaten one's life! There is an actual health code that forbids making and chilling espresso for storage. Enter the Shakerato.... a shaken and chilled espresso. Ice, espresso and sugar syrup is shaken in a metal cocktail shaker, resulting in a chilled espresso with a foamy head when poured into tall wine glasses. There are also other variations on this...
Caffè Freddo and Granita di Caffè.

Then there's the size difference between Italian espresso and Starbucks products.
In Italy, it goes like this:

• Un Caffè is a demitasse sized cup of espresso, usually about half full. Customers can add cold water or sugar to taste.  You might consider this the Italian "single shot".
• Ristretto (Caffè Corto) is a "short shot" (3/4 oz) of very intense espresso (twice the coffee, half the water)
• Lungo is 1-1/2 ounces, opposite of Ristretto (twice the water, half the coffee - less intense)
• Caffè Doppio is a "double shot" is 2 ounces of a more concentrated espresso (double the amount of coffee is used to extract it).
• Cappuccino is roughly 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk, and 1/3 foam (never order one after 11am!)
• Caffè Macchiato is a shot of espresso “stained” with a drop of milk or foam.
• Caffè Americano is watered down espresso served in a larger cup.

(In all cases above, the cups used are much smaller than a typical, American style 6 ounce cup.)

At Starbucks things are much larger to start with:

• a Demi is 3 ounces
• Espresso Shots (a Short) is 8 ounces
• a Mini is 10 ounces
• a Tall is 12 ounces (offered as low calorie option)
• a Grande is 16 ounces
• Venti literally means 20, for both options - a small Venti is 20 ounces, a large Venti is 24
• a Trenta is a whopping 31 ounces

In the end, if Starbucks does come to towns in Italy, I really wonder if it will look and feel the same as Starbucks do here in the States. It's sort of like how fast food places are a different thing entirely in Italy. They offer far more healthy food that we get here. Italians expect things to be fresh--made the same day. They shy away from overly sweet things. They really don't overindulge on food or drink. You won't see coffee-addicted loners sucking up both bandwidth and caffeine in a cushy leather chair all morning in a local hangout. Italians like socializing. They go home for long lunches to spend time with family. The spend time with friends and family after work. They would never think of parking a huge paper coffee cup into their car's cup holder.

And they are frugal. One of the reasons they stand while drinking their espresso is that if they sit at a table, they will get charged much more for the table and the table service. And I really can't see an Italian spending 10 Euros on a Grande when they can buy an espresso for 1 Euro or a really nice bottle of wine at their local alimentari for 5 or 6 Euro.

Starbucks has their work cut out for them if they want to attract Italians into their shops...

Time will tell if their cup is half empty or half full.


--Jerry Finzi

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If you liked this post, you'll love THIS ONE...

from Italy Magazine...

by Silvia Donati

New rooms opening, a valuable collection finally on view, compelling exhibitions, and, alas, a price increase: here’s what’s new at the Uffizi for 2018.

Let’s start with some not-so-good news: peak season ticket prices (March 1 through October 31) are now €20 (an increase of more than 50% since they previously cost €8). (If you travel in the low season - November 1 to February 28 - then the cost drops to €12.)  
But hey, art is priceless, and the art contained in the Uffizi even more so.

And now there’s even more incredible art to see there, thanks to the opening of eight new rooms devoted to Caravaggio and 17th-century painting. Painted in a bright cinnabar red meant to evoke the fervor of that century, but also a color that was often used in fabrics and wallpapers depicted in paintings at the time, the rooms contain such Caravaggio masterpieces as La Medusa, Il Bacco and Il Sacrificio di Isacco, alongside works by Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni, Gherardo Delle Notti, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Artemisia Gentileschi, in a confrontation between Florentine and Italian art with European art.

More welcome news comes with the recent opening to the general public of ...

Read MORE HERE...

From the Guardian:

Leoluca Orlando, the mayor of Palermo, has transformed his city from a mafia capital to a capital of culture. But these days, sitting in his palatial office in the heart of the Sicilian capital, just a dozen miles from where a high-profile anti-mafia judge was killed in a car bomb 26 years ago – an act that set off the island’s campaign to dismantle the Cosa Nostra – Orlando is ill at ease.

The recent return of Silvio Berlusconi as a major force in Italian politics is, he says, good news for the enemies he has been fighting for years. “I am not saying he is mafioso. I am not saying that,” Orlando says of the 81-year-old former prime minister. “But he is the man that the rich need, the man that the corrupt need, the man the mafiosi need.”
Not far from city hall, a political debate is under way at trattoria Gigi Mangia, where the eponymous owner, a local legend, is sipping prosecco with Maurizio Miceli, a retired lawyer, and debating the sorry state of politics. Miceli supports Berlusconi, the man known as Il Cavaliere (the knight) because – like millions of Italians – he sees the billionaire as the best of a bad set of options for Italy.

It’s Berlusconi – not the centre-left led by Matteo Renzi, nor the populist, upstart Five Star Movement – who really understands the country and its complexity, Miceli says.
“When people have a pain in their bellies, when they are hungry, the issue of ethics becomes secondary,” he says. “When they hear their pensions will go up and that Berlusconi will bring a flat tax, they don’t care about the times he has been condemned in court.”

READ MORE HERE...

Here's a handy way to find out if you missed something on Grand Voyage Italy:
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We have hundreds of Pins linked to our most popular GVI posts.
It's another way to find what you're interesting in!

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From Magical Earth...

The Italian government has overwhelmingly backed a new set of laws aimed at cutting down the vast amounts of food wasted in the country each year. A bill passed by 181 Senators will encourage families to use “doggy bags” to take home unfinished food after eating out and removes hurdles for farmers and supermarkets seeking to donate food to charity.

The goal to cut the five million tonnes of food wasted every year by at least one million tonnes was only opposed by two Senators and abstained from by one when put to a vote in Italy’s upper house on 2 August. Ministers have said that food waste is costing Italy’s business and households more than €12 billion (£10 billion) a year, or about 1 per cent of GDP.

And since the country has a public debt exceeding 135 per cent of GDP – a figure which has increased by a fifth since 2003– and a youth unemployment rate of an estimated 40 per cent with millions of Italians in poverty, the levels of food waste are considered unjustifiable.

Indeed, Italy’s highest court ruled only three months ago that stealing small amounts of food because of hunger was not a crime. The new laws seek to make donating food easier by allowing businesses to record donations in a simple form every month.

If you are a world traveler, a lover of art and have someone special with oddball, special sensitivities--just like you--then perhaps here is a gift your lover will really love. A fully articulated Michelangelo's David Action Figure by Figma. Well know to nerds and comic book fans worldwide, Figma produces both static and pose-able action figures of nearly every type of pulp, TV and movie hero. But now, in their Table Museum series, they are offering several classical art sculptures as articulated models.

The David is the fourth artwork to join the series along with Venus de Milo and Rodin's The Thinker. David has smooth, pose-able joints that can move from his classic pose to an endless variety of action poses. Even his eyes can be moved to change the direction of his gaze. A special base and arm parts are included for the classic pose, but various other hand parts are also included. His sling is also included, allowing you to pose him ready to take a shot.

The first in the their series was the Le Penseur (The Thinker) by Rodin. For the first time after pondering his problem, the Thinker can actually get up and do something about it! But for Valentine's Day, perhaps you'd like to see him with a special someone... How about a wonderful Goddess from the Greek island of Milos--Venus herself. Of course, you'd get the classic upper torso without arms, but in her kit you also get additional parts such as her missing arm parts, an apple and various hand parts.

Pose your Venus with the bronzed body of Thinker or pair her with The David. Either way, these are unique gifts for that special someone who is also an art lover.

Available on Amazon.



Happy Valentine's Day...

--Jerry Finzi

"We Three", as we call ourselves, want to wish all of our Grand Voyage Italy amici a very Merry Christmas and a Safe, Healthy, Prosperous and Happy New Year. We want to thank you all for your interest in what we offer in our little corner of Mondo Italiano.

Much like preparing for the Holiday Season itself, what we do here is an act of love and faith: Love of everything Italian and the faith that we can live la Vita Bella no matter where we live, whether or not we've ever been to Italy, or with hopes that someday we can visit la Bel Paese for the first time, for the tenth time or perhaps for the rest of our lives.

So, for this Natale, embrace your family and friends, forgive any transgressions of the past, share the heritage of both the food and traditions; like the Night of the Seven Fishes or playing tombola with grandparents and the little ones, or having some panettone with espresso on Christmas morning while the lids open their presents. Remember those who have gone before us and who inspired and passed along these traditions. Just don't forget to score those chestnuts with a sharp knife before roasting! 

All our love and friendship...

Lisa, Lucas and Jerry Finzi

As if Alberobello and the trulli region of Puglia needed any more publicity (bringing in far too many tourists), Disney is going to be broadcasting a new TV cartoon series about the pointed roofed houses--Trulli Tales.

Trulli Tales, The Adventures of Trullalleri is a new animated series for children, set in Alberobello. It will be broadcast from December 11 in different parts of the world including Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

from Travel & Liesure

Alexandra Korey
April 19, 2017


The early 2016 news that Cinque Terre would be imposing caps on the number of tourists allowed to access the picturesque towns was "just a provocation," admits Patrizio Scarpellini, director of Cinque Terre National Park, but “it had reached a point that we had to do something.”

That something — a dramatic statement to the press by the park’s president, Vittorio Alessandro — has raised awareness of the problems faced by this UNESCO Heritage Site, but the solution is much more complex than closing a door.
Cinque Terre is a stretch of particularly rugged coastline in the Italian region of Liguria, halfway between the busy ports of Genova and Livorno. Day-trippers from the cruises that stop here stream into the five towns of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso, which grow up from the sea into a steep hillside that has been transformed, over the centuries, into terraced parcels of agricultural land.

Click HERE to READ MORE...

from CNBC News:

Who bought the $450 million da Vinci?

• The $450 million sale of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Salvatore Mundi" has touched off an epic guessing game in the art world: Who paid so much for a painting?
  
• Some dealers say the buyer is likely an American, since there is only one
  Da Vinci in the U.S.
  
• Others say the price suggests it was a foreign buyer willing to pay anything to have a Da Vinci in, say, China or the Middle East.
  

to read MORE, CLICK HERE...