Italy's favourite son, finally moving out - The Florentine

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4 Thursday 7 September 2006 News Florence NEWS www.theflorentine.net News in BRIEF Florentine architects create energy with every turn A skyscraper that’s 59 fl oors and 250 meters high is an architectural feat in and of itself. But more can be said about the project recently designed and presented by Florentine architects at the Fortezza da Basso’s X World Congress of Renewable Energy, organized by the University of Florence. According to its ecologically magnifi cent building plan, each fl oor of the ‘Florentine’ sky-scraper will continually rotate slowly—as to not disturb its inhabitants—and use the strength of the wind to produce electrical energy. The tower will be built in Dubai over the next 30 months, and will produce, thanks to its built-in ‘wind-mill’ style building structure, up to 190 million kilowatts (7 million euro’s worth) of energy annually. The grass is always greener The turf at Fiorentina’s Artemio Franchi stadium has been painted green to look good in time for the team’s game to take place in October. Stadium staff coated the ground with a green varnish to combat the effects of a disease that has ravaged the turf over the summer. Seniors with sticks and stones A 92-year-old man was handcuffed and arrested by police after attacking an 80-year-old female neighbour and her daughter. The two women were taken to the hospital after their elderly neighbour assaulted them with a fl ick knife and a stick. The trio had argued after a blackout on their apartment block in Pontassieve, a town infamous for its vicious verbal arguments between neighbours. Driver’s Mis-ed New survey showcases the behind-the-wheel know-how of 1,100 Italian drivers. According to a questionnaire sponsored by Directline Insurance, numerous Florentines confessed confusion about basic rules of the road. More than 50 percent admitted ignorance about speed laws and point-based driving licenses. Only 70 percent of those surveyed knew how many points they were initially assigned—even fewer knew how many they held at the moment. Florentines worry about their licence status less than the other 8 Italian provinces interviewed, in which 82 percent of the drivers keep licenses in constant check. City wants to attack violence Woman’s safety emerges as critical concern Graziano Cioni Episodes of violence against woman throughout Italy have multiplied considerably during the summer months. From north to south, Bergamo to Agrigento, reported rape cases have risen in the past few weeks, and Florence has proved no exception. The recent rape of an American university student in the centre of Florence—the second rape case reported in a twoweek period—has prompted both citizens and city officials to finally start asking serious questions regarding the safety of women along the banks of the Arno. In a recent interview, Florentine Safety Councillor Graziano Cioni affirmed, ‘Even if there are already 100 surveillance cameras operating within the city, women continue to be unsafe. We need to act urgently. I have requested a new plan to guarantee better lighting in the city’s streets.’ Politicians from both sides of the political spectrum have started to draw up much-needed public safety proposals, which include tax-breaks Fires box in city quarter Investigators search for arson’s pattern for shops that keep their windows lit after hours and for businesses that postpone closing time to 11pm. Many city representatives argue in favour of a stronger circuit of surveillance cameras that communicate directly with police stations and the installation of an electronic alarm system at traffic lights. Other ideas include facilitating night-time transport for women by making ATAF buses available for on-call service. Taxi drivers operating in Florence are already obliged to provide a discount to women travelling alone at night, although said discounts are not always applied. According to recent official data supplied by the Italian statistics agency Istat and the association Telefono Rosa, rape ranks high in the topten of Italian crimes. Reported cases tripled in 2005, and this trend shows signs of continuing in 2006. Over the past 12 months, more than 2,500 cases of sexual assault were reported in Italy. Even more worrisome is that three out of four rape cases occur within the domestic sphere. Ninetyone percent of victims do not report rape to the police. Only 18 percent of rape cases reported nation-wide happen with a stranger, while 27 percent happen on the street. Associazione Artemisia – Centro donne contro la violenza, is a local volunteer association providing services to women and children who have been victims of sexual violence and physical or psychological mistreatment. Located in Via Mezzetta 1/int., Associazione Artemisia has Englishspeaking volunteers and is open Monday-Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. For more information call 055 602311. For over a month now, sudden flames have ravaged Florentine summer nights. During August, no less than four abandoned buildings fell prey to intentionally-set fires. The first occurred Aug. 6, destroying an old railway deposit located on the edge of the Campo di Marte train station. The end of the month, saw the destruction of several rooms of Lungarno Colombo’s ex-villa, Kasar. Converted into a discothèque for the Florentine ‘in-crowd’ of the 1990’s, the abandoned building had become home to many of the city’s homeless immigrant community. In both cases, no one was hurt. In late August, another fire-related emergency destroyed the asphalt corridor that splits the characteristic antiques market Mercato dei Ciompi in half, causing controversy among merchants, locals and politicians regarding the safety of public structures. The last episode took place at the ASL office in Via del Salviatino, damaging an abandoned building that had become a homeless shelter. These four sites form an almost perfect square when seen on a city map; three out of four occurred in Florence’s Quartiere 2 neighbourhood. Police and official investigators discard the possibility that these episodes are unrelated. MAFIA’S LOSS REDEEMED BY YOUTH Confi scated land hosts activism an old view of Canicattì U nder the banner Liberaci dale spine, or ‘Free us from thorns,’ more than eighty Tuscan volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 left for Sicily between Aug. 21 and Sept. 3 to complete their second week of agricultural work on ex-Mafi a lands near Canicatti, Nomreale and Corteleone, all recently confi scated by the Italian government. The project, organized by various volunteer organizations and government offi ces in Florence, Palermo and Agrigento, had volunteers working to uproot old vineyards and prepare soil for re-planting. They also gathered tomatoes for the production of tomato paste and started reaping in the harvest of wheat. But in addition to a bit of healthy manual labour, these volunteers also had the chance to participate in various seminars and workshops on topics ranging from ‘Anti-mafi a Initiatives’ to ‘Crime and Legality.’ They were introduced to several famous anti-Mafi a spokespeople, including Rita Boresellino, widow of magistrate Paolo Borsellino, who was assassinated by the Mafi a in the early 1990’s. Visits to various localities marked by Mafi a violence such as the house in which young Di Matteo was murdered in San Giuseppe Jato, were part of the project. Several local political fi gures, including Province President Matteo Renzi, Pontassieve’s mayor Marco Mairaghi, Calenzano’s mayor Beppe Carovani and Certaldo’s mayor Andrea Campionti, visited the six southern Italian work-camps. ‘We are convinced,’ said Province President Renzi, ‘that the presence of these young people on confi scated lands and their efforts to offer their labour as a permanent social stance against the Mafi a will become a cultural investment for their communities. They will be powerful examples of social commitment.’
www.theflorentine.net News 5 Thursday 7 September 2006 Florence NEWS Savings on aisle 5 Florence on top when it comes to low prices Supermarket queues are set to grow even longer with the news that Florence is the cheapest city in Italy for shopping. Florentine families save more than 1,200 euro on food, personal hygiene and household products compared with the rest of the country, a new survey has found. Consumers in Reggio Calabria, Messina and Catania could pay between 25 and 30 percent more in supermarkets and discount stores. Shop owners have declared war on fake Fendis and rip-off RayBans, as police battle to contain a 40-percent boom in the black market. In the first four months of this year alone, police seized more than 50,000 counterfeit goods from the city’s street corners and market stalls, an increase of 39.73 percent. In 2005, the total number of confiscations of fake handbags, sunglasses, clothes and jewellery was 126,000, a figure that has more than doubled in the past seven years. Across the region, there has been an ‘unstoppable’ surge in the sale of fake goods, said Antonio Catanese, president of Confartigianato Imprese Firenze, a business interest group. In 2004, police seized more than 3.6 million items in the region compared with 640,000 in 2003 and 478,000 in 2002. Counterfeits $$$ Altroconsumo, an independent consumer group, found that shoppers could spend 1,000 euro less per year at the supermarket by buying cheaper products in big cities such as Florence, Bologna, Milan, Palma, Pisa, Rome and Verona, where there is greater competition between businesses for consumers. For items such as a 500-gram packet of Lavazza coffee, for example, shoppers in smaller cities could pay up to 34 percent more than at Esselunga or Coop supermarkets in Florence. Altroconsumo surveyed the cost of food, personal hygiene and household products in 559 supermarkets, 95 hypermarkets and 77 discount stores across 39 cities. An average Florentine family spent less than 5,000 euro a year on cheap brand products compared with more than 6,500 euro in Reggio Calabria, Messina and Catania. Pisa was the second cheapest city in Italy for shopping. Altroconsumo will publish the findings in its 18 th annual ‘convenience map.’ The pamper scam Immigrants falsify citizenship to obtain subsidy New-born babies charged with fraud? No, only their parents. The Province of Florence’s judicial authorities recently charged 266 immigrants with ‘ideological falsity.’ The crime? Having illegally applied for and received the Italian state’s Bonus Bebè, the grant offered by the Italian government to babies born in 2006. Only couples with an annual income of less than 50,000 euro per family unit are allowed the benefit. Further, according to national fiscal regulations, only Italian citizens or resident EU citizens are considered eligible for the 1,000 euro of ‘nappy’ money. In order to beat the system, the 266 immigrants in question, primarily Moroccans, Chinese and Albanians, presented fraudulent self-declarations of citizenship to their neighbourhood post office. The military police of the Florentine Provincial Offices are currently handling the case. As of yet, no diapers have been repossessed. Flood of fakes can’t be damned Zero tolerance towards booming black market hurt local businesses and cost the economy 1.5 billion in lost taxes, Catanese told the Agenzia Giornalistica Italia. Confartigianato, in cooperation with Florentine shop owners, craftsmen, businessmen and consumers, has launched a ‘zero tolerance’ campaign to contain the booming black market. But businesses need greater powers to combat the problem, Catanese said. He said that large notices warning tourists against counterfeits, such as those posted in the San Lorenzo market, were not containing the problem. ‘The crisis is difficult to face with only flyers and posters written in many languages alerting tourists on the illegality of buying faked products, especially if sanctions continue to be paid not by the sellers, but only by the buyers,’ he said. FRIENDLIER TUSCAN SKIES Ryanair increases fl ights to Pisa Ryanair, the number one lowcost airline in Europe, is strengthening its presence in Tuscany, a region quickly becoming one of the most readily served areas in the European fl ight circuit. The Agenzia per il Turismo of Florence and Ryanair have recently become bed-fellows for tourist promotion in Florence, with the common goal of launching six new Ryanair destinations serving the Pisa/Florence Airport. (Ryanair currently promotes Pisa as the connection, Florence as the destination.) Starting Sept. 14, new routes from Tuscany to Oslo, Doncaster (UK), Valencia, Trapani, Friedrichshafen, and Karlsruhe-Baden will be added to the company’s 11 pre-existing destinations: Alghero, Hamburg, Bournemouth, Brussels, Dublin, Eindhoven, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Glasgow, Liverpool, and London-Stansted. Considered great news for regional tourism, the new destinations are expected to increase the arrival of an additional 410,000 visitors yearly. ‘Tuscany has always been a very important destination for Ryanair,’ says Alessia Viviani, the company’s marketing manager for Italy. In October 2005, Pisa/Florence became Ryanair’s 14 th destination. Since then 4.5 million travellers have passed through the Pisa/Florence gates. WHO IS THE ANIMAL HERE? Cruelty to pets causes concern deadly trend for this nation’s animals has not abated. Within the A last year the Florentine branch of Animal Protection Services has recorded ever-increasing levels of pet mistreatment in the city and throughout the province. Recently published data denounces a new alarming trend: pet poisonings. Since last July, Florentine animal protection has recorded no less than 1,800 cases of animals poisoned by pesticides, rat poison and strychnine. The victims are primarily cats and dogs. Italy is no stranger to animal cruelty. The infamous practice of summertime pet abandonment has increased 10 percent since just last year. Of the 59.5 million pets throughout Italy, huge numbers of them are abandoned— literally thrown away—each summer when their owners fi nd them a hindrance to their vacation plans. According to reports from animal protection services in Trentino, Puglia and Sardegna, Florentines are succumbing to the new trend of abandoning their animals near holiday resorts. There’s even more shocking data regarding ‘domestic abandonment.’ In 90 percent of the reported violations, holiday-bound pet owners chose to abandon Fido on the terrace, or lock him up in the cellar. If you believe an animal to be abandoned or mistreated, the advice from Lega Pro Animale, a local charity working for animal welfare, is to get in contact with the local veterinary services (ASL – Azienda Sanitaria Locale) or any other authority – call the polizia, carabinieri or vigili urbani. Local animal protection organisations work together with the public veterinary services, who must provide free spaying and neutering for stray animals. For more information on the subject, please visit the web sites: www.fondazionemondoanimale. com or www.geocities.com/fondazionemondoanimale.
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Italy's favourite son, finally moving out - The Florentine

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