The Week in Italy

11/11/2021

This week's newsletter is now online ft. COP26, a new editorial product by the team behind Internazionale and the rapper Fedez's political turn. Read and subscribe on substack here:

Plus Fedez on the ballot and an interview with Fleur Jaeggy

04/11/2021

This week's newsletter is now online, ft. some (good) economic news, (bad) Covid news and couple of cultural gems to brighten up your week. Read and subscribe for the email updates over at substack.

Plus new Teju Cole essays and torta di amaretti

21/10/2021

This week’s newsletter is a lightly adapted version of a column I wrote for the political and cultural magazine Krytyka Polityczna - thanks to the editors for giving permission to re-post here.

My latest for Krytyka Polityczna

14/10/2021

Dear readers, you'll have noticed I've been a little slow updating the FB page for the newsletter. Mainly because, like many of you I'm sure, I have a certain antipathy towards this website. Nevertheless, I know these links can be useful - so here is the week's instalment, on green pass protests, Bora postcards, Domenico Starnone and more. I'll be back in rhythm in full regularity with the substack posts, next Thursday. Until then, buona lettura.
https://theweekinitaly.substack.com/p/the-end-of-forza-nuova?justPublished=true

Plus, strikes, novelty postcards and porcini soup

12/08/2021

I'm off on holiday, but before I go I wanted to share a few tunes in the newsletter to see out the end of the summer. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with updates on the forest fires, the local elections, the pandemic and a preview of the Venice Film Festival. So until then, buon ascolto!

From Neapolitan opera to industrial post-rock

05/08/2021

This week's newsletter: with some reflections on Roberto Calasso's life and work, the Agamben mess and that Gucci trailer. Read on substack, or subscribe here for free.

Plus, a hacker attack and a Gucci biopic

29/07/2021

Yes, it's a while since I've posted the newsletter here, but it's still going out weekly. If you haven't yet done so, don't forget you can subscribe straight to your email inbox for free via substack. Thanks.

Plus, mafia construction and Medici portraits

08/07/2021

This week's newsletter is now online: ft. Salvini's pro-EU turn, football memes and men's fashion from Florence.

Plus, football memes and neon-baroque

01/07/2021

This week's newsletter is online: with updates on Florentine (anti)movida; fireflies and a new, sweet, book by Letitia Clark. Read & subscribe here: https://theweekinitaly.substack.com/p/the-right-to-the-city

Plus, BLM, fireflies and sweet treats

24/06/2021

A slight deviation from the normal format this week, with a short Q&A from my Krytyka Polityczna column on the rise and rise of Georgia Meloni...

A special Q&A edition

10/06/2021

From the return of cruise ships in Venice to Sardinian sand thieves, the summer tourism controversies are already hotting up. So what role has the pandemic really played in changing peoples' attitudes?

Plus, Khaby Lame and prophetic culture

27/05/2021

This week's newsletter is now online, ft. Måneskin, Roman sinkholes and crab linguine among other things. Read and subscribe to get email updates via substack here. Thanks!

Plus the PD's gender headache and a first look at the Venice Biennale

20/05/2021

This week's newsletter is now online, ft. a homage to Franco Battiato (RIP), a Yorkshire borgho and fried spring flowers! If you haven't yet done so please do consider subscribing for free updates straight to your inbox every Thursday.

Plus a borgho in Yorkshire and fried acacia flowers

14/05/2021

UPDATE: quarantine for EU travellers to Italy to end starting this Sunday!

Plus, vending machine pizza and a translated story

22/04/2021

This week's newsletter is live: ft. info about the latest Italian Covid decree (valid til 31 July), plus some Sicilian photos, Netflix tips and hiking maps. Enjoy!

Plus Sicilian snapshots and some hiking inspiration

15/04/2021

This week's newsletter is live: on the threat to Italy's vineyards, TV racism and fava bean pesto. Check it out, and consider signing-up for free updates here. Buona lettura.

Plus Stradivarius adventures and a virtual Uffizi exhibit

01/04/2021

Easter edition of the Week in Italy is now online ft. stories about AirBnb, the Greek war of independence and a formidable bread recipe. Buona Pasqua a tutti.

Plus a tourist decalogo, and Bach in streaming

18/03/2021

This week's newsletter - perhaps inevitably - looks at the AstraZeneca debacle; plus some segways about the Naples metro, Italy-related podcasts, and fritto misto. Read and subscribe here.

Plus sci-fi subway stations and Italian 'tempura'

11/03/2021

This week's newsletter is online: with info on the Sputnik V vaccine, Kenya's Little Italy, Stanley Tucci's new travel show and Tuscan spiedini. Check it out and sign up for email updates here:

Plus a postcard from Kenya’s Little Italy and a biography of Machiavelli

04/03/2021

This week's newsletter is online, with updates on Pixar's upcoming film 'Luca', Women in the Mafia, and a very personal take on that Fedez/Francesca Michielin duet. Check it out here:

Plus Pixar mer-boys and mafia women

25/02/2021

This week's newsletter is online ft. Tobias Jones, Hsiao-Hung Pai and Termini TV. Check it out here

Millenarian omens and the Italian Orwell

18/02/2021

This week's newsletter is now online: with some thoughts on Covid lockdowns, Etna, Mulino Bianco and nationalism. Also featuring books by Judith Herrin, Jenny McPhee and Jhumpa Lahiri

Plus biscuit wars, mosaics and fiction in translation

11/02/2021

This week's newsletter is now online: with memories of Venice; some first thoughts on Niven Govinden's upcoming novel, 'Diary of a Film', and a new podcast on race and racism, 'Sulla Razza'. Don't forget, if you haven't already, you can subscribe to get it free to your inbox

Black history and Florentine donuts

04/02/2021

This week's newsletter is now online ft. some thoughts on , technocratic government, and a link to the Italian historical food channel you never knew you needed. Buona lettura.
https://theweekinitaly.substack.com/p/habemus-draghi

29/01/2021

The core of this week's newsletter - in case you missed it - is this wonderful, insightful piece on Foreign Policy magazine, by Michael Tanchum and Dimitar Bechev. Still: here's hoping that one day the Mediterraneo allargato might mean more than just fossil fuel trading...

Taking a page from Beijing, Rome is positioning itself as the center of trade, energy, and transportation in Southern Europe and beyond.

28/01/2021

This week's newsletter is online. It's heavy on economics this time round, with a look at Italy's relationship with the EU, its environmentalist ambitions and new trade initiatives across the Mediterranean and Middle East. As ever: click here to read, or subscribe to get it straight to your inbox.

Plus some curiosities about the Italian economy

22/01/2021

Fellow lemon appreciators may enjoy this alternative history of Italy, by Helena Attlee - which tells the story of the country, from Roman times, and pre-unified city states, through to the risorgimento and fascism, using citrus as the anchoring point. It's a peculiar book, but wonderfully written and impeccably researched. Scholarly but not intellectualised.

The Land Where Lemons Grow uses the colourful past of six different kinds of Italian citrus to tell an unexpected history of Italy, from ...

21/01/2021

This Thursday's edition of the newsletter is now online: with updates about the governmental crisis, Mozart in Milan, and a formidable recipe involving lemons. You can read it on substack here, or subscribe for the email updates. Thanks!
https://theweekinitaly.substack.com/p/a-note-of-confidence-its-citrus-season

When life gives you lemons make linguine al limone

15/01/2021

Right: a quick update for anyone following Italy's (rather tedious) governmental crisis. Conte is calling for a confidence vote next week. The key moment will be Tuesday, in the Senate, where he needs 161 votes. He is currently guaranteed 147, and around 11 are highly likely. This means it could be left, once again, to a few rebels from Berlusconi's Forza Italia, to prop up the government - thereby avoiding technocratic reshuffling and elections... meanwhile, for anyone interested in the health of 'il cavaliere' himself, for whatever reason, he is currently in hospital in Monaco for 'cardiac issues.' Some in his team claim this is a 'routine check'; others have cited vague terms such as 'arrhythmia' and 'deterioration'...

Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi went to a hospital in Monaco Thursday for a heart problem which entailed his being taken there instead of returning to Italy for treatment, his doctor said. © ANSA

14/01/2021

This week's edition of 'The Week in Italy' is now live! Featuring the governmental crisis, Covid-19 recovery budget, smog and Tuscan fairy tales. Check it out on the substack website, and, if you enjoy it, please consider subscribing below.

For the few, not the many