Italy-South Korea economic forum in Rome, June 12th, 2026

Italian Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani hosted an important Italy-South Korea economic forum at the central Hotel Excelsior (it’s located right next to the American Embassy, on what's left of the famous Via Veneto) together with South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung.

 
The  South Korean delegation was headed by President Lee Jae Myung as well as the Executive Chairman of Samsung, just to name a few.

 
The bilateral meeting came after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to Seoul early this year which saw up to 170 Italian and Korean companies during that event.

 
Topics at the Rome event included airspace and advanced technology, the farming sector, consumer goods and also the cosmetics’ sectors in both countries.  South Korea is also the 3rd world market for Italian exports.

 

Photo call for Italian actor Alessandro Borghi, June 9th, 2026

Italian actor Alessandro Borghi was at the photo call at Rome’s Cinema Quattro Fontane for the presentation of his latest movie, “Il Prigioniero” (The Prisoner).

Also on hand to present the movie was Oscar-winning Chilean film director Alejandro Amenabar.  The movie was first presented at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival.  The movie regards the author of one of the world’s most famous novels (“Don Quixote de La Mancha”), Miguel de Cervantes.

Cervantes, who is played by the actor Julio Pena, in 1575 ends up being the prisoner of Ottoman pirates.  Once in jail he learns the fine art of telling a tale.  Cervantes draws the attention of a man called Hasan (Alessandro Borghi) who is the governor of Algiers.   As tensions rise Cervantes comes up with an audacious plan to escape from his prison cell.

 

Italy’s famous “Mille Miglia” car rally hits the Eternal City ,June 11th, 2026

Italy’s famous “Mille Miglia” car rally hit Rome the other day.  The "birth" of the race dates back to 1927 in the northern town of Brescia.  The road race snakes through many towns in Italy, including Padua, Siena, Assisi (St. Francis’s town) and Viterbo, aka the “City of Popes”. 

Rome's event started on the famous Via Veneto and also made its way past the U.S. Embassy (where I once worked many yrs ago) and a museum housing the history of the Mille Miglia.

Aficionados of the race have also included Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons as well as AC/DC front man Brian Johnson.  

 

About 400 vintage Ferraris and also other historic cars were on hand for the rather unique event.