Italian News Snippets: 09.09.07

Some Italian news for your Sunday reading pleasure:

• A 66-year-old woman in northern Italy has apparently been beating the crap out of her 62-year-old neighbor, saying the neighbor is a witch. The supposed witch had to go to the police to try to get the beatings stopped.
• Romancing that ideal woman takes not just finesse but also cash, according to a poll released in Italy last week. Single men spent about €1,200 every year seducing women – the most money is spent in Milan (€2,400 per year), while in Bologna the men are apparently cheap – or the women are. Bolognese men spent only €380 per year on their dates.
• Italian researchers claim to have created the recipe for the “perfect” ice cream, which they say can be eaten every day, even in place of a meal. Said “perfect” recipe is 30% fat and 55% sugar, making me wonder what kind of meals the researchers normally eat.
• You think Google Earth is cool? Well, some Italian cows are now being monitored by satellite to make sure they keep to their own fields or safe in their barns. Look out, sheep and goats – you’re next.
• A Roam to Rome visited an abandoned Italian hill town not too long ago, and writes about it here. From the comments, it sounds like these Italian ghost towns are more common than one would think.
• A relic which was believed to be from St. Francis of Assisi has been shown to be a fake by Italian scientists using a form of carbon-dating.
• How to Italy is back with a few more things learned since living in Italy – this one is all about family.
• If you’ve only got 48 hours in Rome, is it possible to see it all? Well, of course not. But this guide is an attempt to help those with only a couple of days make the most of their visit to the Eternal City.
• That old tradition of grape-stomping is making a comeback, now that it’s become a children’s activity.
• Yet another older woman has been arrested for growing cannabis in her garden. In June, it was a 60-year-old woman near Venice. Now, it’s a 73-year-old woman near Naples. Not quite an epidemic.
• 40 people were arrested earlier this month in connection with the execution-style killings of six people in Germany in August.
• There is a new proposal to punish Sicilian businessmen who pay off the Mafia’s protection money, or the “pizzo,” rather than reporting it. Seems a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario to me.
• Calabria is about to become a film set – Robert Englund (yes, the Freddy Kruger guy) will be directing a movie to be shot in Calabria in the town of Pentedattilo.
• Valentino will retire from the fashion world after his final show in October, after 45 years in the business.
• Mona Lisa is always in the news… This time, it’s because a new book contends that it’s a self-portrait of the artist, Leonardo da Vinci.
• The world mourns the loss of Pavarotti, while the Vatican points out his faults. Classy.
• After 15 straight years of greenhouse gas emissions going up, Italy was able to cut emissions by 1.5% in 2006.