ANOTHER UNEXPECTED GIFT

Italy's colourful and interesting Carabinieri calendars are becoming collector's items and the 2013 edition will be the 85th.  

I became interested in them when I wrote an article about Italian calendars for Italy Magazine in 2009 and the following year, a Carabiniere student of mine gave me one.  A couple of weeks ago we found a forgotten 2004 edition in the new school building and a few days later, while I was waiting for a friend in the bank, I happened to remark to the manager that I liked the two he had on display in the foyer.  Imagine my surprise when he took them down and presented them to me with a flourish!  The only "gift" I had ever previously received from a bank manager having been a stroppy letter, I doubly appreciated the gesture.

The Carabineri corps will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2014 and because of this the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 calendars each document and illustrate 50 years of its history.

ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 26

Here is my pick of last week's Italy Magazine articles:

The week began with the sad news of Mario Monicelli's death and all here were upset by the manner of it.  But, as Michele Placido said, we should respect the great director's wishes.  

In art news the original model for Michelangelo's Pietà was found and UNESCO inspectors headed to Pompeii to find out more about the recent collapse of buildings on the ancient site.

There were plenty of smiles too, as this was the week in which Julia Roberts became the smile of Lavazza , mythological smiles appeared on the Pirelli calendar and pets all over Italy, including my Simi, smiled at this news.

Preparations for Christmas are now in full swing in Italy and, if you thought bagpipes were a purely Scottish tradition, you may be surprised to read this.

For my Patti Chiari column I wrote about Christmas cards - or the lack of them in Italy - and seasonal confusion.

Happy reading.

TWO INTERESTING CALENDARS

This is an article of mine which was published in Italy Magazine on December 22nd:

TWO INTERESTING CALENDARS

Italy has been famous for its calendars ever since the publication [by the company’s UK subsidiary]of the first Pirelli Calendar in 1964. Whatever the shortcomings of the tyre company’s calendar with regard to political correctness, ageism is not one of them, for it famously included the then 72-year-old Sophia Loren in 2007.

Today we would like to tell you about two Italian calendars that you may not have heard of:

Fifty women of all ages and sizes have posed for the Curve d’Autore Calendar 2010. This calendar is produced by Donna Donna Onlus, a non-governmental organisation founded in Rome in 2008 to help women who have difficulty in accepting themselves as they are, in particular those suffering from eating disorders. Bulimia and anorexia are the main causes of death in females aged 12 – 25 in Italy and eating disorders affect 200,000 Italian women.

The aim of the calendar is to negate stereotypical ideas of feminine beauty and to increase awareness of eating disorders. The photographer Gerald Bruneau took pictures of students, artists, housewives and professional women whose bodies are tastefully draped in red velvet. Each page of the calendar tells women, “Tu sei Bellezza” [“You are beautiful”].

The calendar will be distributed free of charge from now until January 6th as part of the solidarity demonstration, Roma Insieme. It represents the first stage in the campaign, Uniti contro i disturbi alimentari [United against eating disorders] which has the support of the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities.

The second calendar is the Calendario dei Carabinieri 2010. The Carabinieri Calendar is in its eighty-second edition and was presented in Rome on December 1st. Previous Carabinieri calendars have become collectors’ items and this year 1 million, 350,000 copies have been printed, all of which are now sold out, according to various websites.

The theme of this year’s calendar is the swearing-in ceremony, “the most demanding and solemn act the uniformed men and women will carry out during their career” over the almost two centuries of the corps’ history. The calendar also remembers all the Carabinieri who have served loyally and faithfully in times of war and of peace.

You can view images from the Carabinieri Calendar here.

UPDATE: Last week a student of mine who is a Carabinieri officer brought me the 2010 calendar as a gift. I am delighted to have it and it is a very impressive publication: