Focus::Daily News
NEWSLINE
THR.COM. Matteo Garrone's organized crime thriller "Gomorrah" dominated the David di Donatello awards Friday, taking home seven prizes, including a near-sweep of the major categories. "Il Divo," the biopic from Paolo Sorrentino, also won seven awards, meaning the two films that burst onto the scene a year ago in Cannes combined to win 14 of the 18 categories in which they were eligible for a prize. (Read the article)
KANSAS CITY.COM. And that was the exact moment I came face-to-face with my Italian immigrant past.“Spaghetti?” I asked, not really sure exactly what I was looking at. “Yes. The recipe is so easy: just flour, water and eggs,” Nana said. (Read the article by Jill Wendholt Silva)
BBC. The Italian navy has transferred more than 200 migrants picked up in waters off the island of Malta to Tripoli under a new agreement with Libya. (Read the article)
ANSA. A mayor who threatened a traffic cop after she tried to fine him in a no-traffic zone got his comeuppance in court Wednesday. (Read the article)
ANSA. The latest 32 recruits to the Swiss Guards, the oldest army in the world, swore their oath of allegiance at a ceremony here on Wednesday amid suggestions women might some day join their ranks. (Read the article)
ANSA. The number of Italian beaches to be awarded a prestigious Blue Flag for clean water and pristine sands has risen once again this year, the international Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) said Wednesday. (Read the article)
ANSA. erlusconi's public marriage-ending spat with his wife Veronica Lario is providing fodder for Italy's state broadcaster talk shows and apparently leaving the premier's popularity unscathed, according to reports Wednesday. (Read the article)
THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS BLOG. Because it is used in every e-mail address and many tweets, you might be forgiven for thinking that the remarkably common symbol @, which English-speakers know as the “at sign,” but Italians call a “snail,” and south Slavs know as a “monkey,” is a fairly recent invention. In fact, a Florentine merchant named Francesco Lapi used the symbol @ in a letter written 473 years ago today, on May 4, 1536.
Francesco Lapi’s letter was sent from Seville to Rome and described the cargo on three ships that had just returned to Spain from Latin America: “There, an amphora of wine, which is one thirtieth of a barrel, is worth 70 or 80 ducats,” Mr. Lapi informs his correspondent, representing the amphora with the now familiar symbol of an “a” wrapped in its own tail. (Read the blog post by Robert Mackey)
Threevillagetimes. Assemblyman Tom Alfano announced a comprehensive Italian Earthquake Relief fund that is collecting donations for the families. The NIAF/Abruzzo Relief Fund, which has been established by the National Italian American Federation, will help victims and their families who perished from the recent earthquake in the town of L'Aquila and other small towns in central Italy in the region of Abruzzo. (Read the article)
DAILY NEWS. Brooklyn-born Dom DeLuise, the roly-poly movie foil to best buddy Burt Reynolds during a comedic career that spanned the last half-century, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 75. (Read the article)