News Summary in Tuscany

A snapshot of stories from the local newspapers in Florence

27th July
- Italian Exports to non-EU countries go negative
Italian Trade with non EU countries went slightly into negative values during the June 2004 according to Istat. But when compared to June 2003 exports grew by 16.9% and imports grew by 21.8%

- In 2003 fifty-thousand more Tuscan residents
More than 50,000 more residents at the end of 2003, this is the signal from ISTAT. The major proportion of the new residents are attributed to "stranieiri" (foreigners).

- Ice Cream D.O.C.
A proposal being touted by Verdi threatens to take the flavour out of Italian ice-cream. The proposal would make it possible for ice-cream makers to make ice-cream using composite ingredients. For example the flavour "nutella" could be made by combining ingredients rather than using just nutella. Confartiginato (the union of artisans) has said that this proposal could take the flavour out of the beloved ice-cream. I can only see the tourists suffering in this case because if you try to palm a dodgy ice-cream off on an Italian, word soon gets round.

11th July
- Jumped under a train for love
A 27 year-old chinese man threw himself under a train at Porta al Serraglio over the weekend, love is being attributed as the motive.

- 2 Million head for the beaches
This weekend 2 million cars filled with passengers made the journey to the coasts. By far the worst time to come back is from 6-10 during the evening.

- Planes Cancelled at Peretola
Flights into Peretola were put on hold over the weekend as strong winds made take-off and landing too risky. Planes land coming in straight over the busy Autostrada so no risks can be taken. The planes were diverted to Pisa and Bologna.

5th July
- Live Music in July
July is a good month for Music in Tuscany, here is a summary of some of the calander dates for the Tuscan Explorer's diary.

7th, Wednesday Arezzo Wave Casino Royale
8th, Thursday arezzo wave Cypress Hill or Pelago Music Festical
9th, Friday Piazzale Michelangelo AIR in concert or Arezzo Wave Groove Armada
10th, Saturday Arezzo Wave Miriam Makeba or Pelago on the road Cuban Festival in memory of Cumpay Secundo
12th, Monday Gilberto Gil Sesto Fiorentino, ( Parco di Villa Solaria )
13th, Tuesday Suzanne Vega Piazzale Michelangelo
15th, Thursday Le Vibrazioni at Sesto fiorentino, FREE

- E-Tourism that's the future!
A little bit behind the trend the Region has declared that online tourism is the way to go. The report looked at computer and internet connection figures for the tourism industry and family home use.

• 77% tourism sector use at least one computer to manage their activities
• 45% families in Tuscany have a computer. With greater numbers in cities than in the countryside.
• 98.9% of 4* & 5* hotels use a computer
• 90% 3* hotels use a computer
• 62.7% 2* hotels use a computer
• A tourism related company with an internet connection will have a 73% probability of having an email address. In families this number falls to 36.7%

- Bus Strikes on Tuesday
In Florence one of Italy's biggest 'rock stars' is coming to town, Vasco Rossi. Just in time for the the event ATAF (the bus company) is going on strike for the day. This means that the estimated 40,000 fans will have to find another way to make the journey to the Stadium from the central station - in Italy there are too many strikes, no-one can get anything done.

26th June

- Tuscany expensive for the locals
For Italian families living in Tuscany the annual summer holiday involved either camping on the coast or to taking a house in Viareggio or one of the other seaside resorts for the month of August. This year however many of the houses usually fully booked still display the brightly coloured "affitasi" signs, as families opt for the southern coasts of Sicily over Tuscany's status as an international holiday destination. As Tuscany continues to grow as a historic entitry it is becoming increasingly difficult for its citizens to live in. Recently the telepass (payment for use of road) system was introduced in the centre of Florence which makes it impossible for people to go into the centre to do any shopping.

21st June

- A.C. Fiorentina return Seria A
In 2001 the football club of Florence found itself in financial turmoil. Unable to pay wages and with debts of around 45 million dollars the club was relegated to Seria B. However the club went bankrupt before the season began so Fiorentina went all the way down to Seria C2. To give a comparison that would be like Manchester united going from the Premiership to division 4. Fiorentina then won the C2 league- as would any other team that had been playing in the premiership - and progressed to C1. However after promotion and before the season actually started a couple of football club in Seria B went bankrupt. In a controversial move Fiorentina went from C1 to Seria B. During last weekend they managed to beat Perugia and so earned classification for promotion into the Premiership (Seria A) league.

28th May

- Agriturism growth in Tuscany

L'agriturismo, the word used to decribe a process whereby farm-houses in the Tuscan countryside converted to holiday residences offering courses on local tuscan traditions (from cookery to gardening and horse riding to archery lessons!) is still in massive expansion. There are 2,600 "agrituristiche" companies currently operating, providing a total of 31 thousands bed spaces.

The league results (number of agriturismo's):

Siena - 720
Grosseto - 520
Firenze - 417
Arezzo - 274

The total spending power of those using these agriturismo's for holidaying and getting away is a staggering 350million Euros.

The largest proportion of people arrive from Germany (500,000) followed by the UK (158,000) and the USA (103,000)

26th May

- Body found in a Canal
In the zone of Campi Bisenzio a body was pulled out of the canal, it is thought to belong to a factory worker.

- 25% of all Italians suffer from chronic pain
In a report published by the Pain Society 15 million Italians suffer from chronic pain every day. 1 person in 4 in every family suffers from chronic pain (in the rest of Europe the average is 1 in 5), that 22% of patients prescribed medication actually continue to take it (this compares to the European average of 58%). The report which covers the whole of Europe is the most comprehensive of it's kind ever carried out. [link]

- Smog is killing the Battistero
The results of a study by "Progetto Battistero" has revealed that pollution and gas outputs are the biggest problem facing the Battistero in Florence. The study was conducted over the course of more than a year and damage was most visibly made to the north door. The monitoring involved fixing bronze plates to the north and south doors and then measuring changes. The solution be offered is to change the traffic flow around the duomo area because during the summer months (when the central heating units of the buildings in the area are switched off) there is more decay on the door facing the traffic. It's be interesting to see the solution that finally gets the go-ahead because there aren't many options in the centre of Florence.

- Florence awarded tourism destination of 2004
The satellite television channel MarcoPolo has given Florence the prestigious title of Italian Tourism Destination of 2004. The other results can be found here [link] in Italian.

- "Prezzo Fresco" a complete failure
Marco Razzanelli, of the political party L'UDC, has declared an initiative by the Florence Council to help increase trade in the historic centre a complete failure. Predominantly concerns were voiced by traders in the centre who said they are being commercially ruined by the big shopping centres and malls opening all over Florence at the moment. In fact it's interesting to note here that consumer spending figures in Tuscany confirm that increases have been made in just the food sectors.

updated at latest article date!