Tag Archives: Italy

The Greece and Italy Crash and Burn

Greece appears to be going down, and now the Italians are panicking. This is in London’s Telegraph today (written by its international business editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard): Italy’s former premier Romano Prodi said the EU risks instant contagion to Spain, Italy, … Continue reading

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Inflate the Debt Away: Why Are Italian Interest Rates Climbing?

Italian interest rates are climbing because it’s feared that, should Greece leave the euro, Italy might follow suit, making the value of Italian bonds held by investors zero. That’s right, zero. Wolfgang Munchau at Spiegel Online explains: If Greece leaves … Continue reading

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Paul Krugman’s Advice to Italy and Spain: Inflate and Stimulate

Paul Krugman continues to think that what’s going on in Greece, Italy, and Spain says nothing—nothing!—about the political culture surrounding welfare statism in Europe and everything about the way the euro ties the hands of those making monetary policy: Japan is much more deeply … Continue reading

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A Fresco Painting from Pompeii Paired with Emily Dickinson’s Bedroom Window (and One of Her Poems)

A bedroom fresco? Whose bedroom? Source: Spiegel And here’s Emily Dickinson’s bedroom window: Dickinson’s bedroom was at her family’s Amherst homestead. Emily’s room was on the second story of their home. Here’s one of her poems: I felt a Cleaving in my … Continue reading

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Gore Vidal on the Romans: “They don’t care if you live or die. They’re like cats.”

Gore Vidal makes a cameo appearance in Federico Fellini’s Roma  (1972):

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Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: Primo Levi and Buna-Monowitz Concentration Camp

Italian Jew, Primo Levi, was a concentration camp survivor (he had been at Buna-Monowitz). His words below come from his poem, “Buna”, which he penned in December of 1945: Torn feet and cursed earth, The long line in the gray morning. The … Continue reading

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You’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe?: An Albrecht Durer Portrait of a Young Venetian Renaissance Woman

Albrecht Durer, painting during the European Renaissance, gives us a striking image of the “new” woman of his time. Here is no humble devotee to medieval religious orders, eyes cast downward and veiled before men, but someone simultaneously displaying herself … Continue reading

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Italian Americans Listen Up! Two Venician Gondoliers Sing a Tune for Our Pizon—Barack Obama!

And notice St. Mark’s briefly behind them:

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Tomb Decorated with Hunting and Fishing Images, Italy 520 BCE

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Bust of a Medici Family Member

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