On this windy Sunday many people can enjoy their windsurf and sailing boats.
I've just got these two old black & white photos, which a friend of mine, Stefano, found through the web. The two aerial photographs, as seen from aircraft, were taken on the 14th of May, 1943 during an aircraft bombing on the port of Civitavecchia, 70 km north from Rome.
With relation to washing, another blogging friend, Ananka , also wrote that people need to do that. I understand that elderly people can't carry their washing on the rooftop, as in many old buildings there isn't any elevator.
But the problem is that there are facade decorations on some old buildings, and hanging out clothes on the facade architecture is not a nice thingh to look at.
I wish a nice new week to all the blogging community. ☀☕🥐
Yesterday I noticed streets and alleys were so clean in the early evening, while I was enjoyed a walk through Civitavecchia's historical neighborhood. And I also saw someone who was picking up trashing and litter while walking. A few minutes later it was easy to see that there were two women who were not employed to collect urban waste. I have heard of garbage collectors, who pick up and transport waste to disposal sites or recycling centers in the morning, but not in the early evening.
After I had asked her why she was collecting waste in the early evening, she said that it was not her job. She specified it was a new sustainable initiative which combines walking with caring of urban environment. Obviously, she wore gloves and had a bag to collect litter along her route.
The term "plogging" is a combination of picking up litter while jogging.
The 3rd and the 4th pictures have nothing to do with plogging. They give two different perspectives of the parich church located in the octagonal square of San Lorenzo Nuovo, which is a small village (149 km North from Rome).
With its 2,000 inhabitants, San Lorenzo Nuovo lies close to the lake Bolsena in Central Italy.
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Nice weekend to all the members of our blogging community!
How long is the Summer break in your country⁉️
I hope you will have a nice month of July ⛵
On 15th June this year I already showed an image of the split mountain which I took while I was sailing close to that evocative place located in Gaeta (South Italy).
https://blacknight2.blogspot.com/2022/06/
This week my nephew walked the whole path that leads to the split mountain's promontory, which is visited every year by tourists who are captured by this magic itinerary. He sent me these beautiful pictures.
If you visit South Italy, don't forget to see this magic place :-)
This week the great news is that Italy's biggest manufacturer and distributor of energy and gas, Enel SpA, will sell in the next three months its 56.43% stake in Russia to local investors. Established in Russia in 2004, the Italian group will follow similar moves by the world's biggest energy companies, such as Shell and BP after Russian government's invasion of East Ukraine.
In addition, the deal is expected to have a positive effect on the group's consolidated net debt of about 550 million euros. The global reach of the Italian biggest utility extends from Europe to Latin America and India, that's why the company's ordinary financial results would not be affected by the deal to sell the stake in the Russian subsidiary.
Its easy to forecast that other Western multinational companies, which have been established in Russia since long time, are going to do the same.
The Ukrainian President, Zelenskij, recently urged the EU to "prove that you are with us" in Ukraine war with Russia. As it is known, the German carmaker Volkswagen has two factories and around 4,000 employees in Russia. ENI, the Italian multinational oil and gas company, and the Russian company Gazprom have 50% each in the Blue Stream gas pipeline to Turkey. The Norwegian company Equinor has minority stakes in three Russian oilfields. The French carmaker Renault makes 8% of its earnings in Russia (source: Citibank).
In this context, how can the Ukrainian President be so naive? Does he really think that the EU may help his country? I hope the diplomacy will be able to do a good job. There is still room for a good negotiation! It is not too late!
From the 15th of October we (Italians) can no longer work without a vaccine passport. The fundamental human right to work stripped away. Silence from our government, silence from all governments and silence from Amnesty.
With regards to my previous post, this is the comment sent from an anonymous blogger:
"I think some of you are delusional. Clearly the covid certificate is a nazy style papers please kind of fascist ideology".
According to many researches, people who have been vaccinated or previously infected with the Covid-19 are able to catch and spread the virus. That's the main reason why last month Spain's Supreme Court ruled against using vaccine passport to restrict access to public spaces. It's the first judicial authority to do so in Europe, as using vaccine passport to prevent access to public spaces may not be useful to prevent the spreading of the infection. In this perspective, it seems that Italian policy makers still pretend to misunderstand the EU principles of effectiveness, necessity and proportionality.
In many EU countries people who haven't a green pass are banned from public spaces, basic freedoms and services, although it is already clear that there is no difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated with regards to the Delta variant. In this context, it's easy to see that pharmaceutical and health product companies are spending billions on lobbying politicians around the world. At the moment, in Spain it is not the case.
In Italy, the protests against the Covid health pass have now been going for 10 weeks.
Since late June there has been a great deal of talk about a fourth wave of coronavirus. Many countries, such as France, Italy, and Ireland are likey to have a fourth wave of the COVID-19 virus, as the new variant begins to take hold. It seems that the rapidly transmissible strains were first identified in India, where government imposed restrictions.
Unfortunately, these bad news have a big impact on people's mental health, not to mention of false information, which are important in manipulating public opinion and creating an atmophere of uncertainty.
It seems that many people around the world think Italians are so obsessed with food. Actually, we (Italian people) have a bond with food, as it gives a sense of identity.
In certain periods of history some foods were created and have become traditional and typical dishes of Italian culture. An article summarizing the relationship between Italians and food, just published in BBC website by Anna Bressanin, explains that in Italy "sharing a meal means daily joys, problems and sometimes our deepest neuroses and issues". It is an act of social conviviality that the author of the article defines as "a collective catharsis through pleasure".
I don't want to get off track, but increasing demand from East Asia, climate change, water shortages and pandemic-hit supply chains are all pushing up food prices.
In 2020 bosses of the top EU companies had weekly earned the same amount that an average worker in Europe earns in an entire year. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, despite the spreading of Covid-19 epidemic, chief executives of the 350 largest US companies earned an average of $ 20 million in 2020. In other words, there are evidence that top bosses continue to earn high salaries while coronavirus pandemic is exposing low-income populations to job losses and health risks.
The executive's price-driven salaries began in the early 1980s, when CEOs pay become connected with share prices (companies' share prices on stock markets). The problem is that sometimes an excellent company has nothing to do with the CEO. Not to mention of companies that operate in an oligopoly, as we can see nowadays in the emerging vaccine industry.
While people at the top are maintaining their wealth and society is suffering higher levels of inequality, the EU unveils plan for Covid-19 digital pass to allow travel within member states with the aim of helping entrepreneurs and workers who are involved in travel industry and tourism.
The digital pass is expected to consist of QR code that can easily be scanned at airports, as it will be in digital or paper format. On the one hand, some EU states say the digital pass discriminates people who didn't receive the injection to prevent Covid-19 illness. On the other hand, EU Commission says the certificate is not discriminatory and would be suspended after pandemic ends.
The following pictures show some popular tourist destinations in EU ... I hope tourists will come back there in the next months.
The whole country, which has recordered more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths, will be locked down on Easter weekend for the second year in a row. I am sorry to see that Italy has the second highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after the UK.
Meanwhile, some trees begin to show small leaves on their branches.
