Impressive statistics as to the amount of pasta eaten across the globe and equally impressive numbers of daily visitors to the Colosseum. A cheese company in Arezzo comes home with 4 medals from a major trade event (as it did last year, so perhaps time to go do a tasting!) and 700 cultural sights across Italy being opened to the public during the month of October.
Io Capitano by Matteo Garrone will represent Italy at the Oscars
Source: Rai News on line – 20/09/2023
Io Capitano by the Roman director Matteo Garrone is to be Italy’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards for best international film. "We are very proud to be able to represent Italy at the Academy Awards with Io Capitano and we hope that Seydou's journey will also touch the hearts of the American public", comments the director on Rai News online. The film is a contemporary odyssey, with Seydou and Moussa leaving Dakar to reach Europe, through the dangers of the desert, the horrors of detention centres in Libya and the dangers of the sea. The film, awarded a Silver Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival, for Garrone’s directing prowess, prevailed over 11 other films. Whether or not the film will be shortlisted won’t be known until 21st December. The nominations for the 95th Academy awards will be announced on January 24, 2024. The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 10, 2024.
The Arezzo based company Rocca Toscana is awarded 4 medals at world cheese event
Source: Arezzo Notizie on line – 26 .09.2023
Mondial du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers, a major trade event for the cheese and dairy sector, annually holds an international competition aimed at identifying and promoting the best cheeses around the globe. Rocca Toscana, an Arezzo based company, returning from Tours where this year’s event took place, brought home four medals: two silvers and two bronzes competing against 1500 products, many of which were French. The two silver medals were assigned to a pecorino cheese seasoned with truffles Il Piacere and a pecorino cheese seasoned in sandstone pits L'Ambra di Talamello. The two bronzes were awarded to the pecorino aged in caves Il Petroso and to the pecorino aged with rosemary Il Ricordi. This follows last year’s success at the World Cheese Awards 2022, where the company again won four awards, confirming it as one of the current trailblazers in the global dairy sector.
(Almost) time to put your clocks back
Source: The Local Italy – 26/09/2023
On the night of October 28th-29th, we switch from Daylight Savings Time (or summer time) to standard time. This means that we put our clocks BACK by one hour and gain one extra hour of sleep. In 2019, the EU apparently voted to scrap Daylight Savings Time (DST) by 2021, but Covid, Brexit and an intra-EU stalemate all delayed the process which means the hour change will go ahead again this year.
Autumn heritage days
On Saturday October 14th and Sunday 15th, more than 700 cultural sites across Italy open their doors to the public thanks to the cultural heritage society Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) with their
Giornate FAI d’Autunno, (FAI’s Autumn Days). Keep an eye on FAI's website, which is due to be updated in the first week of October with the list of sites to be included in this year's Autumn Days programme.
https://fondoambiente.it/eventi/
Italy prepares for autumn Covid vaccination campaign
Italy's autumn Covid booster drive is expected to be rolled out from October 2nd, with dates likely to vary by region. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said last week that the Covid vaccine remained a ‘fundamental device’ after Italy saw a marked uptick in infections in September, with most cases attributable to a new variant dubbed ‘Eris’.
Boom in visits to the Colosseum: 25 thousand per day
Source: Rai New on line - 28.09.2023 - credit Enzo Miglino
MiC (the Italian Ministry of Culture) announced that during June, July and August 2023, over 2 million (2,277,139) tickets were purchased to visit the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. This is an increase of 315,493 tickets (+16% compared to the same period of 2019) and an average of around 25,000 visitors per day. ''The Colosseum confirms itself as the most important and visited archaeological and museum site in Italy and among the most relevant at an international level,” stated the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano.
Waiting for World Pasta Day
Source: Rai news online – 28.09.2023

The whole world loves Italian pasta! According to a report by Unione Italiana Food (an Italian food industry association), nearly 2.4 million tons of Italian pasta, worth 3.7 billion euros, was exported in 2022. Last year more than 78 million servings of Italian pasta ended up on tables all around the world. In 2020, 1 out of 4 pasta dishes eaten across the globe was Italian. In a report published by Coldiretti (an Italian farmer’s association) the argument is made that pasta is also a sustainable food: in addition to being a healthy choice for consumers (as well as an economic one), pasta is also one of the more environmentally friendly products. It is apparently one of the least intensive foods to produce, and has a smaller carbon footprint - from farm to table - compared to other foods. The 2023 edition of World Pasta Day will be held on 25th October. The event, created and organised by the Unione Italiana Food together with the IPO (International Pasta Organization) will celebrate this ‘symbolic dish of Italian conviviality,’ by recounting its history and its recent evolution into one of the most successful products of Made in Italy.
Ryder Cup 2023: Won by team Europe!
Source: Rai News Online - 28.09.2023
The 44th edition of the Ryder Cup, the prestigious golf tournament which pits Team Europe against Team USA took place for the first time in Italy this year at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome. At the opening ceremony, the Inno di Mameli (Italy’s national anthem) was performed by the British opera singer Carly Paoli with the Frecce Tricolori (the Italian airforce’s aerobatics display team), in perfect timing, flying over the golf course, as the last notes of the Mameli were played. The flight was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the audience. The opening ceremony lasted about an hour, in which the captains of Team Europe, Luke Donald, and Team USA, Zach Johnson, presented their teams and revealed the pairings for the first game session. Present in the front row were the highest of Italian institutional and sporting authorities: among others, the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, the president of the Lazio Region, Francesco Rocca, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, the president of the Italian Golf Federation, Franco Chimenti. The general secretary of the Ryder Cup Project, Gian Paolo Montali, was also present, as was Lavinia Biagiotti, owner of the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
Europe has now had seven straight wins ‘at home’, dating back to 1993.