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NYPOST. Mayor Bloomberg granted the Feast of San Gennaro the right to continue its full-length festival in September, despite opposition from the local community board spurred on by high-end boutique owners in the neighborhood who wanted it scaled down. (Read article)
The new York Times reports today on the shrinkage of Little Italy. Once the heart of Italian-American life in the city, today it exists mostly as a nostalgic fantasy.
(Read the article)
AFP. The European Union said Saturday it will launch an aid mission to help Italy process the scores of illegal migrants from North Africa that recently reached the Mediterranean country. (Read the article)
NYT. The miracle of digital restoration, as financed by the Film Foundation and performed by the Cineteca di Bologna, has brought "Senso" this great, cold, morbid film back to life for a new high-definition transfer released in the United States by the Criterion Collection. (Read the article)
ANSA. The cabinet on Friday approved March 17 as a one-off national holiday marking the 150th anniversary of Italian unification but the regionalist Northern League party was unhappy and three of its ministers voted against the decision. (Read the article)
ANSA. Venice's annual carnival celebrations will kick off on a Bacchanalian note Saturday evening with a fountain filled with wine and a grand toast to Venice, event organizers announced. (Read the article)
NEW YORK TIMES. A Milan judge on Tuesday ordered Prime Minister Silvio Berlussconi to stand trial in April on charges of paying an under-age girl for sex and abuse of office, dealing the most serious blow to his leadership in the 17 years that he has dominated Italian politics. (Read the article)
AGI. Roberto Benigni called in an extraordinary audience for last night's Sanremo show on Raiuno. His performance garnered 18 million viewers. The Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, praised Roberto Benigni saying his performance "proved the Italian people still exist". "Rhetoric aside, necessary to summarize 150 years of history in half an hour, with his comment on the Italian national anthem," explained the Vatican paper's critic Marcello Filotel, "Benigni proved that there are still Italians capable of being moved if there shared values are presented in a persuasive manner." The Tuscan director and comedian therefore "used rhetoric and irony to ensure the public's approval and used his credibility to move people in the sense of bringing them together in something that united them." Also Italy's President Napolitano phoned Roberto Benigni commending him for his performance at Sanremo. With passion and professionalism he explained, on Sanremo's stage, the lyrics and the profound meaning of the national anthem. In a RAI press conference it was reported that other national dignitaries sent congratulations to the Tuscany-born artist, who managed to keep the audience's attention for more than half an hour. He closed his performance singing, unaccopanied, a version of the anthem of all Italians, which was considered very touching.
AGI. Cabinet has approved the establishment of a national holiday on March 17, to celebrate 150 years of Italian unity. Defence minister Ignazio La Russa explained that the national holiday "carries full civil effect" and will not "interfere with November 4th [armistice] celebrations." Three ministers opposed the establishment of the new public holiday, among the the LNP party's Roberto Calderoli, according to whom "given the country's current economic predicament, and the fact that our public debt is the largest in Europe and third-largest worldwide, it is pure folly."
POP EATER.COM - The cast of MTV's 'The Jersey Shore' is reportedly ditching Seaside Heights for Italy next season, and Italian-American groups are fuming, according to FOX News. MTV has begun scouting locations in Italy for the hit reality show's fourth season, according to reports, and the move has upset Italian-American groups, who have previously denounced the show for its portrayal of young Italian-Americans.
Joseph Del Raso, president of the National Italian American Foundation, had some choice words about the show. "We are disappointed that this irresponsible programming will be brought to Italy because it affects the image of all Americans, not only Italian-Americans," Del Raso told FOX News. (Read the article)