Sylvia Poggioli

No More Smuggling: Many Cured Italian Meats Coming To America

Sylvia Poggioli — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:17:00 +0000

American gourmets and lovers of Italian food products, your days as food smugglers are over.

No more stuffing your suitcases with delicacies bought in Italy, hoping the sniffer dogs at JFK or other American airports won't detect the banned-in-the-USA foodstuffs inside your luggage.

In the U.S., they're called cured meats, the French say charcuterie and in Italy, the word for cured-pork products is salumi.

Long Hidden, Vatican Painting Linked To Native Americans

Sylvia Poggioli — Sun, 05 May 2013 09:27:00 +0000
For close to 400 years, the painting was closed off to the world.

Suspended Coffee: Old Italian Custom Spreads Across Poorer EU

Sylvia Poggioli — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:04:00 +0000
Tough economic times and growing poverty in much of Europe are reviving a humble tradition that began some one-hundred years ago in the Italian city of Naples.

With New Pope, Catholic Women Hope To Regain Church Leadership Roles

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:17:00 +0000
The newly elected pope's focus on the poor and the marginalized has instilled great faith among many Catholic women.

Pope Francis Delivers First Easter Sunday Mass

Sylvia Poggioli — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:33:00 +0000
Pope Francis celebrated his first Easter Sunday Mass praying for world peace and urging a diplomatic solution to the standoff on the Korean peninsula.
Only two weeks after his election, the first pope from the developing world continues to make his mark on the Catholic Church.
St.

Amanda Knox May Face Retrial After Italian Court Ruling

Sylvia Poggioli — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:57:00 +0000
In a surprise ruling, Italy's highest court ordered a retrial of American student Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. The ruling overturned the 2011 acquittal of the two defendants after they had spent four years in jail.

Election Of Pope Francis Could Signal New Start For Church

Sylvia Poggioli — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:26:00 +0000
Transcript
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
Not since the early centuries of the Roman Catholic Church has a pope come from outside Europe.
MONTAGNE: Pope Francis, the first pontiff ever to take that name, comes from Argentina.

Sistine Chapel Conclave Prep Includes Ensuring Social Media Blackout

Sylvia Poggioli — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:50:00 +0000
Last-minute preparations are under way at the Vatican where the conclave to elect the new pope begins Tuesday.
The 115 cardinal electors will remain at the Sistine Chapel incommunicado from the rest of the world as they vote. In the era of social media, however, Vatican officials are taking every precaution to prevent cardinals from yielding to the temptation to tweet and text.
In one corner of the chapel, workers have already installed a century-old cast-iron stove, where the voting ballots are to be burned after being tallied.

Cardinals At Odds Over When To Begin Choosing Next Pope

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:56:00 +0000
The College of Cardinals is holding its first official meetings at the Vatican on Monday. The top agenda item is choosing which day to start the closed-door conclave that will elect the new pope. With no clear front-runner, the conclave outcome is unpredictable.
The papal resignation has put the cardinals in an unprecedented situation in modern history.
"The real mood is of shock and disappointment — this resignation desacralized the figure of the pope," says Massimo Franco, author of several books about the Vatican.

'The Real Jiminy Cricket': Unlikely Candidate Upends Italian Elections

Sylvia Poggioli — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:28:00 +0000
Italy's election campaign has been dominated by an upstart comedian-turned-politician whose Five Star Movement is soaring in the polls. The movement is not expected to win in the weekend vote, but its strong presence in Parliament could be destabilizing and reignite the eurozone crisis.
Beppe Grillo is a standup comedian and the country's most popular blogger; 63 years old, with a mane of grey curly hair, he's hyperactive and foul-mouthed.

Greece's Economic Crisis Reveals Fault Lines In The Media

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:58:00 +0000
Three years of spiraling economic crisis in Greece have devastated every sector of the economy. The Greek media are among the hardest hit. Many newspapers and TV outlets have closed or are on the verge, and some 4,000 journalists have lost their jobs.
Many people believe the country's news media have failed to cover the crisis — and lost credibility along the way.

Pope Benedict XVI: A Champion Of Catholic Tradition

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:41:00 +0000
On April 19, 2005, when wisps of white smoke puffed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel, the Roman Catholic Church had its first German pope since the 11th century.
Just one day before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger delivered a homily that, many analysts later said, became the platform of his papacy.
He denounced modern trends he said were undermining Catholicism and Western civilization.
"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism, which does not recognize anything for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desire

Benedict XVI, Vatican's Traditionalist Enforcer, Steps Down

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:14:00 +0000
The first German pope in a thousand years is a cold, distant intellectual who never served as a parish priest. Cardinal Ratzinger, the Vatican Enforcer, became Pope Benedict XVI. As successor to John Paul II, Benedict was never as beloved by the faithful but still attracted crowds matching those of his media-savvy predecessor.

Knights Of Malta Celebrates 900th Anniversary At Vatican

Sylvia Poggioli — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:53:00 +0000
Pilgrims and tourists visiting the Vatican received a special treat Saturday, when some 4,000 members of the Knights of Malta marched in procession to the tomb of St. Peter.
The last of the great chivalrous orders is celebrating the 900^th anniversary of its official recognition by Pope Paschal II. On Saturday, the Knights attended Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and received an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.
The Knights of Malta is also known as the Sovereign Military Order of St.

Privatization Of Greek Assets Runs Behind Schedule

Sylvia Poggioli — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:39:00 +0000
In exchange for multibillion-euro bailouts, Greece was required to sell state-owned assets. But the sweeping privatization process is behind schedule.

For Greeks, Painful Cuts Keep Tearing At The Social Fabric

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:45:00 +0000
Greeks are feeling the squeeze. The social repercussions of three years of austerity measures imposed by international lenders are hitting hard. Thousands of businesses have shut down, unemployment is nearly 27 percent and rising, and the once dependable safety net of welfare benefits is being pulled in.
With further cutbacks and tax hikes about to kick in, Greece's social fabric is being torn apart.
Nowhere are cutbacks more visible and painful than in health care.
Universal coverage — which most countries in Western Europe have in some form — is no more in Greece.

Violence At Both Ends Of Political Spectrum Threatens Greece

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:13:00 +0000
Escalating political violence from both the left and right is raising fears of political instability in debt-burdened Greece. The conservative-led government is cracking down on leftist groups, vowing to restore law and order.
But the opposition says authorities are trying to divert people's attention from growing poverty and despair.
Take the latest explosion in Athens — a firebomb at a crowded suburban mall last month that slightly injured two security guards.
Officials described it as a revival of the full-scale leftist terrorism that plagued the country in past decades.

Honoring 'Our Will To Live': The Lost Music Of The Holocaust

Sylvia Poggioli — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:58:00 +0000
For the past two decades, in a small town in southern Italy, a pianist and music teacher has been hunting for and resurrecting the music of the dead.
Francesco Lotoro has found thousands of songs, symphonies and operas written in concentration, labor and POW camps in Germany and elsewhere before and during World War II.
By rescuing compositions written in imprisonment, Lotoro wants to fill the hole left in Europe's musical history and show how even the horrors of the Holocaust could not suppress artistic inspiration.
Lotoro's solitary ques

Berlusconi Plots His Comeback: 'You Italians Need Me'

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:15:00 +0000
With elections in Italy just weeks away, polls show leftist parties with a comfortable lead.

A Showdown In Italy Over A Polluting Steel Plant

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 17:06:00 +0000
In an effort to safeguard some 20,000 jobs at a time of rising unemployment,

At Christmas, A Roman Holiday Revolves Around The Food

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 08:18:00 +0000
The city of Rome may be the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, but as far as bright, glitzy decorations, Christmas there has always been a rather sober affair.
And yet at Christmastime, there's one area where Romans pull out all the stops — the dinner table.
Even with the economic crisis, outdoor markets, grocery shops and fishmongers are crowded with customers.
As in many Catholic countries, where the time leading up to the holiday was traditionally marked by fasting, the Christmas Eve meal in Rome is primarily based on fish, says Isabella Michelini, a tour guide and expert on local cul

Families Of Spain's 'Stolen Babies' Seek Answers — And Reunions

Sylvia Poggioli — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:18:00 +0000
Allegations of the existence of a secret network of doctors and nuns who stole newborn babies and sold them for adoption are reviving a dark chapter in Spain's recent history.
More than 1,000 people have gone to court hoping to track down sons and daughters or brothers and sisters they were told died in childbirth.
In Madrid's Puerta del Sol square last month, Antonio Iniesta stood next to a poster with the words bebes robados (stolen babies).

Spain's Crisis Leads To Rise Of Grass-Roots Groups

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:47:00 +0000
A year and a half ago, recession-ravaged Spanish society reacted to the economic crisis with the "Indignados," a mass protest that inspired the worldwide "Occupy" movement.
The "angry ones" are long gone from Spanish streets, but they've evolved into many grass-roots associations now filling the gaps left by the eroding welfare state, spawning a new form of anti-austerity resistance that embraces all branches of society, from those who have lost homes to foreclosures, to the entire judiciary.
Hardly a day passes in Spain without a noisy demonstration by one sector of society or another.

Spain's Economic Woes Take A Toll On The Media

Sylvia Poggioli — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 10:06:00 +0000
Three years of euro-zone recession have badly hurt Spain's media sector, where some 8,500 journalists have lost their jobs. Dozens of newspapers have closed and the remaining publications are sharply cutting back as ads plummet.
That's led to warnings from journalists, who see a threat to press freedom at a time when Spaniards want to understand why their financial stability is unraveling.
Independent newspapers and their owners are increasingly in debt to banks.

Cat Fight In Rome: Beloved Shelter Faces Closure

Sylvia Poggioli — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:39:00 +0000
Anyone who has visited Rome and its antique monuments has also seen their four-legged residents: the many stray cats that bask in the sun amid the ruins.
One site in central Rome is known as "cat forum," thanks to its adjacent cat shelter. But Italian archaeology officials have issued the Torre Argentina Cat Shelter Association an eviction notice, and feline lovers from around the world are bracing for a cat fight.
The Roman ruins at Torre Argentina are an oasis in the middle of the city's chaotic traffic.

Separatists Make Gains In Catalan Elections

Sylvia Poggioli — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:16:00 +0000
Transcript
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's catch up on a vote in Catalonia, Spain's most economically powerful region. That region gave overwhelming support to pro-independence parties in elections on Sunday. This election is seen as a threat to Spain's political and financial stability, so we're going to talk about this with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli. She is in the most famous city in Catalonia, Barcelona.
And, Sylvia, we did say that there were pro-independence parties.

Catalan Vote Could Amplify Independence Fight

Sylvia Poggioli — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:02:00 +0000
Voters in Spain's northern region of Catalonia go to the polls Sunday in a parliamentary election that is shaping up as an unofficial referendum on secession. The current Catalan president has pledged to pursue a move toward independence if re-elected.
The region, which holds 8 million people, is the country's industrial engine. Catalans are resentful that their taxes are being siphoned off for poorer regions.

Italian Women Call For Action Against 'Femicide'

Sylvia Poggioli — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:13:00 +0000
Already this year, 105 women in Italy have been killed by husbands or boyfriends –- present or former.
Vanessa Scialfa, 29, was killed by her partner in Sicily. Alessia Francesca Simonetta, 25, was pregnant when she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Milan.

German Lawmakers Move To Quell Uproar Over Circumcision

Sylvia Poggioli — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:03:00 +0000
Circumcisions have been virtually suspended in Germany for the past four months. The practice was effectively banned after a regional court in Cologne ruled that circumcision amounts to assault.
That controversial ruling this summer alienated the country's 120,000 registered Jews and 4 million Muslims, who saw it as a violation of religious freedom.

With A Database, Germany Tracks Rise Of Neo-Nazis

Sylvia Poggioli — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:25:00 +0000
The spread of neo-Nazi influence in Germany came to light fully last year with the shocking discovery of a neo-Nazi terrorist cell responsible for the worst right-wing violence since World War II.
At least nine people of migrant origin were murdered, and there were bomb attacks and bank robberies.
In response, Germany last month established the first centralized neo-Nazi database, similar to those that existed for decades for Islamic and leftist extremists.
Germans have been stunned that