A Pair of Red Sneakers

“You see, I had left the scene to make room for the new leaders, but, given the results, I have been wrong...”, Massimo D’Alema says amid applauses and cheers. 53rd Italian Prime Minister from 1998 to 2000, and first Italian and NATO country’s Prime Minister to come from a Communist Party thus started over again from Tricase, Apulia, Italy his “mission impossible” – to carry Pietro Grasso’s new party Liberi e Uguali (Free and Equal) into parliament. “Once upon a time this was a Catholic Christian Democratic comune: the Italian Communist Party counted two municipal councilors, the Christian Democracy twenty-two... I remember the first time I came here, in the 1980s: we mounted the stage outside Tricase’s beautiful Matrix Church and when the people got out at the end of the Mass, as soon as they saw the hammer and sickle, they ran away. The parish priest was the only one who remained on the churchyard listening to me. His name was Don Tonino Bello. This time I was invited by a Catholic association and I’m gonna be speaking in the parish theatre”.

Massimo D’Alema visiting a shoe factory on the way of his electoral campaign. Photo: La Stampa.

Would You Believe

Former U.S. President Barack Obama arrived today (Monday, May 8) in Milan, Italy for a two-day visit to coincide with the third edition of Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit at Fiera Milano, Rho, Lombardy. On the occasion Obama had a two-hour meeting with Italian Democratic Party (PD) leader and former Premier Matteo Renzi at Milan’s Park Hyatt Hotel where the former U.S. President is staying. It’s reported that they phoned Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his election, and we feel, even though without knowing for certain, that Mr. Renzi was who offered the evening coffee.

44th U.S. President Barack Obama in Milan, Italy
Photo: la Repubblica.it

Elementary, my dear Watson!

The former Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia declared himself “read to unite the Left out of the Democratic Party. Renzi should dialogue with us, and get rid of Alfano and Verdini”.

Giuliano Pisapia
Photo: Giovanni Dall’Orto

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

I just have a question for you. If you were in my shoes, would you ever feel safe in a banana republic without the bananas?

Touchless knockout

“I hope now Renzi will give up his will to scrap other people”, former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema told l’Unità.tv. “If there had not been such a significant part of the Centre-Left to fight for the ‘No’ vote, we would have left this outcome in the hands of the Right and Five Star. Since the Left has been striving for it, I believe that now this result belongs to all Italians”.

Red String of Fate

“I cannot speak, in respect with observing the electoral silence. The pencil, however, worked well”, former senior member of the Italian Communist Party, 53rd Italian Prime Minister from 1998 to 2000, and first Italian and NATO country’s Prime Minister to come from a Communist Party Massimo D’Alema joked with the journalists after casting his vote at the polling station for the Italian constitutional referendum in Via Col di Lana in Rome, Italy. Photo: Adnkronos.

Broadcast delay

The aftermath of the landslide on Lungarno Torrigiani in Florence, Italy. Mayor Dario Nardella — Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s “Dauphin” — estimated the damages to approximately $5 millions €uros. Florence’s Prosecutor’s Office immediately started an investigation into the cause of the six hours delay between the S.O.S. flood call and the intervention. Meanwhile, there is no supply of water to most urban districts, and not even to Prato. Photo: Maurizio degl’Innocenti/AP.

Multi-storey car park

The aftermath of the landslide on Lungarno Torrigiani
Photo © Maurizio degl’Innocenti/EPA

A 200 metres long swallow hole opened up in a street running next to the Arno River downtown Florence early on Wednesday. “No one is injured, there’s just damage – huge damage”, said Mayor Dario Nardella – Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s “Dauphin” – after arriving at the site on Lungarno Torrigiani, between Ponte Vecchio and Ponte alle Grazie bridges. About 20 cars parked alongside the street got lowered into the hole. Apparently, the hole would have been caused by a burst water pipe.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

• لایحه ثبت قانونی زندگی مشترک زوج های همجنسگرا در ایتالیا رای اعتماد گرفت (Italy Approves Civil Unions Bill in Confidence Vote for Prime Minister), persian.euronews.com, May 11, 2016

• Civil unions become law, ANSA.it, May 11, 2016

Artwork © Wolfling01

Confidence interval

• Isla Binnie, Italy PM Renzi wins confidence vote on civil unions bill, Reuters.com, May 11, 2016

Artwork © Dixlexart

Reborn

In mortem Ei fu, io sono E sull’ermo colle D’alloro cinto All’ora fatale, prode, m’appresto Il timor mi fa vile Ma più ardito l’agognato plauso E se di lui l’umana gente Ebbe a dir gran lode E sperticato elogio Che dirà di me per cotanto canto? Ei fu ed io sono Ma sol nella morte il volgo il mito incarna Io sarò! Sia pur cocendo ne lo tormento eterno. Isadora Duncan

The Open Door

In the framework of the official visit to Italy, President Petro Poroshenko had a meeting with President of Italy Sergio Mattarella. The President praised consistent support of Italy for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. He also thanked Italy for active participation in the OSCE mission to Ukraine. [Read more].

• Presidents of Ukraine and Italy reaffirmed intention to intensify comprehensive cooperation, November 19, President of Ukraine official website, 2015

Today President of Ukraine Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko met with President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, at Quirinale Palace, Rome, November 19, 2015. Photo: President of Ukraine official website.

Early in the afternoon Poroshenko also met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, at Palazzo Chigi, Rome, November 19, 2015. Photo: Palazzo Chigi (Flickr).

Red Highlander

Alexīs Tsipras ha rotto gli indugi e, dopo aver incassato la prima tranche del terzo pacchetto di aiuti per far fronte alle scadenze del mese, si è dimesso, aprendo la via a elezioni anticipate che potrebbero tenersi il 20 settembre prossimo. “Il mandato che ho ricevuto il 25 gennaio si è esaurito“ – ha detto il premier in un discorso televisivo – “ora i greci devono decidere se li ho rappresentati con coraggio davanti ai creditori e se questo accordo è sufficiente per una ripresa”. “Ho l’obbligo morale di sottoporre quello che ho fatto al vostro giudizio, chiederò un mandato forte per governare e proseguire il nostro programma di governo”, ha aggiunto Tsipras, che ha ricordato di aver chiesto al presidente del Parlamento Europeo, Martin Schulz, di assumere un ruolo nella supervisione del nuovo programma di assistenza. E non ha mancato di difendere l’accordo raggiunto come “il migliore possibile che potessimo ottenere”, anticipando forse uno dei leitmotiv della prossima campagna elettorale. [Read more].

• Michele Pignatelli, Tsipras si dimette: elezioni anticipate, Il Sole 24 ORE, 21 agosto 2015

Alexīs Tsipras
Foto © Reuters

Random Hearts

Kos, Greece: Migrant children watch a kitten as they wait to be registered at a police station. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP.

Parable of the broken window

• Grecia, il Bundestag approva gli aiuti: 454 i “sì”, 113 i contrari, 18 gli astenuti. Schäuble: “Non ci sono garanzie”

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble addresses a session of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, August 19, 2015, prior to a vote on Greece’s third bailout programme. Photo: Reuters/Axel Schmidt.

The Horse Whisperer

• Vittorio Da Rold, Grecia: raggiunto l’accordo con i creditori su obiettivi di bilancio fino al 2018, Il Sole 24 ORE, 11 luglio 2015

Alexīs Tsipras

Big Babol

A young migrant boy blows bubbles July 30, 2015, at a park in central Athens where migrants have found temporary shelder after arriving from the Greek islands. More than 69,000 migrants reached Greece in the first half of this year, dwarfing the 43,500 who came throughout the Whole of 2014, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Photo: AFP/Angelos Tzortzinis.

The Way to the Stars

• Grecia, accordo Ue-Fmi-Bce su riforme da chiedere ad Atene: “Così aiuti già dal 20 agosto”, R.it, 8 agosto 2015

Syrian refugees are photographed moments after arriving on a dinghy at the Greek island of Kos after crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, estimates that Greece has received more than 107,000 refugees and migrants this year, more than double its intake in 2014. Photo: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters.

To sleep, perchance to dream

• Elias Kulukundis, Tsipras and Hamlet, The Huffington Post, August 3, 2015

Alexīs Tsipras
Photo: ANSA.it

Le Radeau de la Méduse

• Vittorio Da Rold, Borse, Atene riapre e crolla (-16,2%). Bancari giù del 30%, Il Sole 24 ORE, 3 luglio 2015

Greek shipping heiress Eugenie Niarchos
Photo: Glamour.com