As the world grapples with war, economic crisis, pandemic and a climate emergency it seems Silvio Berlusconi is still living his best life. Last week he and his partner of three years Marta Fascina celebrated what appeared to be a lavish wedding party in the Villa Gernetto a Lesmo, in Brianza. The only thing is, the couple are not actually married and neither are they formally engaged. This event, which had no legal significance, was billed instead as “celebration of love.” The pair posed in traditional garments - he the 85 year old in blue, she the 35 year old in white - before cutting a giant novelty matrimonial cake and singing a few numbers with crooner pop sensation Gigi D’Alessio. Over a hundred statues were placed around the villa’s surrounding gardens, while a water show from one of the fountains was executed to mimic the shape of the aforementioned cake. The couple then dined in a three Michelin star restaurant (da Vittorio) with various luminaries of the Italian centre and far right including Matteo Salvini for company. I’ll refrain from the obvious moralising comments here about age-gaps, and spare you my aesthetic quibbles too. But I defy anyone who knows anything at all about Italy’s ex-PM to see the video below as anything other than a grotesque, self-indulgent swan song of Fellinian proportions.
If you’re reading this from Northern or Central Italy you’ll be well aware of how atypically dry the year has been so far. This may sound idyllic, but in fact the drought conditions are now getting pretty serious. Several provinces have passed the mark of 100 consecutive days without serious rainfall; and aside from the River Po, which, as I reported some weeks ago, is at historically low levels, reservoirs are also beginning to drain to a worrying degree. Particularly dramatic images have been coming out of Venice. Normally at this time of year the city is facing up to the aqua alta – high waters – with the correlative flood risk that implies. Right now, however, the opposite is the case. Water levels are in fact so low in the canals that in some cases boats are simply stuck in the silt and mud, unable to move. Read more, Italian only, at Corriere del Veneto.
Arts and culture: Il maestro dei maestri
Last week on 19 March the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence inaugurated their latest high-profile exhibition. ‘Donatello, the Renaissance’ sets out to “reconstruct the outstanding career of one of the most important and influential masters of Italian art of any age, juxtaposing his work with masterpieces by other Italian Renaissance masters such as Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Raphael and Michelangelo.” Hosted in conjunction with the nearby Bargello museum, the exhibition contains 130 works from 60 locations; thereby offering an important, holistic, vision of the artist’s development over the decades. If you’re in town, and interested, the show runs until 31 July, so check it out. The Florentine has also published a cracking review which you can read here.
Cory Oldweiler has an interesting piece up at the LA Review of Books providing a deep dive into the American release of Sandro Veronesi’s The Hummingbird (trans. Elena Pala). I read this book in Italian in a single sitting a few years back, when it won the Premio Strega. I found it brilliant stylistically, but also extremely hard to make sense of. Oldweiler does a great job of outlining the plot in a clear manner in this piece while - more importantly - offering an assertive criticism of the English version. Frankly, it’s the kind of review a translator dreads; but absolutely worth reading, both for its generous evaluation of Veronesi’s work, and as a reminder that there are still some literary journalists out there capable of nuanced, detailed critique. So thanks for the piece Cory!
Recipe of the week: lemon infused bulgur wheat with vegetables
This Amalfi-style dish by Gennaro Contaldo isn’t particularly traditional, though it is the kind of thing young people are prepping as a healthier alternative to some of the usual gut busting Campanian classics. Think of it as a kind of an Italian tabbouleh: something between a pasta and a salad with a particular freshness on account of the lemon and mint. The secret, though, is the aubergine which becomes an effective sponge for the other flavours, provided you cook it on a high enough temperature and for a long enough time (I’d suggest a good deal more than 10 minutes myself). Anyway, this is a perfect bistrot-ish spring lunch, something well-suited to lazy March-April afternoons. You can find the recipe in Gennaro's Limoni: Vibrant Italian Recipes Celebrating the Lemon which is available to preview on Google Books.
About Me
My name is Jamie Mackay (@JacMackay) and I’m an author, editor and translator based in Florence. I’ve been writing about Italy for a decade for international media including The Guardian, The Economist, Frieze, and Art Review. I launched ‘The Week in Italy’ to share a more direct and regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds.
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