Word: isola
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...thousand years, venice's fate has been inextricably tied to water: the city famous for its canals is even shaped like a fish, with an imposing tail bifurcating at the Isola di San Pietro. Over the centuries, the Venetians' empire-building navies gave them grandiose reason to stage an annual Marriage with the Sea--the doge on board a gilded galley flinging a ring into the lagoon in mythic matrimony. Last week, however, the sea wanted more than a ring: the Adriatic appeared to be reeling in all of Venice itself, grabbing at it with the worst floods La Serenissima...
...millions of Italians tuned into the ever-popular local version of Celebrity Survivor, or Isola dei Famosi ("Island of the Famous"). The show was wrapping up its sixth season with the coronation of the latest champion, Vladimir Luxuria, a former cabaret performer and Refounded Communist party member. In 2006, the unlikely politician became the first transvestite to be elected to Italy's parliament...
...media. But questioning his current influence might miss the point. Berlusconi's most lasting influence might well have been made before he entered politics: namely, the transformation of Italian television from a gray source of information and family programming into a feast of commercial, and often trashy, entertainment. Isola dei Famosi is broadcast on the state RAI network and follows the success of the local version of Big Brother shown on Berlusconi's Mediaset network. In a sense, Luxuria's victory brings the process full circle. Berlusconi's leftist opponents, often so critical of the lowbrow entertainment that the Prime...
...explore the ironies further, I turned to Andrea Tesseri, an Italian astrophysicist and longtime fan of Isola dei Famosi. Tesseri doesn't buy the hype. "So we aren't so intolerant. We like to get along. But comparing [Luxuria's victory] to Obama is depressing," Tesseri told me. "Being in the [political?] minority, all we are left with is this...
...Kristina Isola made working for the company a family affair. After spending her childhood with her grandmother on a farm that has been in the family for eight generations, she moved to Helsinki when she was 14 to live with her famous young mother, with whom she was collaborating by the time she was 16. These days Kristina's inspiration for her print designs is Finland's breathtaking natural world, along with the sense of magic and fairy tale that runs through Finnish culture. This spring, the company launched her latest work, Metsanvaki (Forest Dwellers), which draws on images...