https://www.scmp.com/rss/323519/feed Lucia Esther Maruzzelli (left) and Valentina Giannella (right) are journalists with 15 years of experience working in Italian magazines and newspapers. They currently live in Hong Kong, where they have co-founded the editorial agency Mindthegap (mindthegaphk.com). Together, they cover stories from the Asia-Pacific region freelancing for national media back home and they write about Italy, and Italians, for Post Magazine, South China Morning Post. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Magic moments All of my life, I have listened to fairies and looked in the direction that they somehow have suggested. Don’t take this as a New Age thing, it’s just a fundamental skill: every time something wasn’t going as expected, I found I could work towards new directions, even better ones. I call them fairies to simplify the concept, but I am talking about a positive attitude: the capacity to allow ourselves to find some­thing new and surprising. Everything started back in the early ’60s in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2173573/when-turkey-was-open-modern-and-women-wore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2173573/when-turkey-was-open-modern-and-women-wore?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Nov 2018 09:07:40 +0000 “Even if I set out to make a film about a fillet of sole, it would be about me,” Federico Fellini once said. The Academy Award-winning director of La Dolce Vita (1960) and Amarcord (1973) devoted a great deal of his art to reviving memories from his childhood, which was spent in Rimini, an old Roman town in the southeastern part of Emilia-Romagna (the region has just been designated Best Destination in Europe 2018 by Lonely Planet), on Italy’s Adriatic coast. La Marecchiese, a 50km stretch of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2153850/road-trip-heart-italian-culture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2153850/road-trip-heart-italian-culture?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Jul 2018 07:15:15 +0000 What is your architectural vision? “It’s a powerful instrument that can bring light, culture, art and energy into the city. Architecture is not about the details: [they] annoy me.” Where do you get your ideas? “It usually happens in the early morning, when I’m still in bed. With my eyes shut, I can imagine the shape of a new structure and the light dimming through it. I always have three kinds of lights within this vision: the direct one, the indirect one and the ‘magic’ one.” “Later, I paint... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2134092/italian-architect-rise-china-and-why?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/2134092/italian-architect-rise-china-and-why?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Feb 2018 04:31:11 +0000 A child of fascism I was born in 1924 in Livorno, Tuscany, a port town by the Tyrrhenian Sea. I grew up immersed in the fascist mass hysteria until its fall, in 1945. My father was a renowned syndicalist, the director of the industrial union in Livorno, close to the government. He supported the idea of the mainstream superhero models typical of that historical era, and I was brought up in that environment. To get closer to the fascist government, we moved to Rome in 1934. We lived in a large,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/2120132/93-italian-artist-gianfranco-baruchello-still?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/2120132/93-italian-artist-gianfranco-baruchello-still?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Nov 2017 04:48:39 +0000 THE FAMILY KITCHEN I was born in Italy, in a small country house near Clusone, a village in the province of Bergamo, at the foot of the Bergamasque Alps. Growing up immersed in a rural atmosphere, as fortunately happen­ed to me, means being able to connect from the start with the seasonal patterns. June represented the scent of freshly cut hay, just before my uncle fed it to his cows; August still brings memories of bright yellow corn, ready for harvest­ing, and the garden where my grandmother... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2067209/when-hong-kong-chef-umberto-bombana-served?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2067209/when-hong-kong-chef-umberto-bombana-served?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Feb 2017 05:15:15 +0000 BORN TO BE FAMOUS My introduction to the Italian celebrity system took place in a rather daring way, during an afternoon in June 1971. As a “preemie”, I spent a month in an incubator. Nevertheless, the paparazzi managed to get snapshots of my little body attached to the wires and tubes that kept me alive. My parents (actors Ugo Tognazzi and Franca Bettoja) found a way to get me out of the clinic and escape further public exposure: I was transported in a laundry van from Villa Margherita to my... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2040532/hong-kong-love-first-sight-maria-sole-tognazzi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2040532/hong-kong-love-first-sight-maria-sole-tognazzi?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Oct 2016 09:00:45 +0000