December 21, 2004
The Pope's preferred caffe
New caffe on top of St Peter's duomo has been dubbed "Holy Apostolic Cafeteria" by an Italian newspaper.
It's your typical Italian coffee bar, with espressos for less than a buck and plenty of gelato in stock. But the location can't be beaten -- it's perched on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica.The coffee shop is so little-known that Il Giornale newspaper put the discovery on its front page Monday.
Waiters declined to confirm when the coffee bar opened or give any other information.
Adding to the mystery were conflicting reports: Il Giornale said it had opened within the past few weeks, while the ANSA news agency said it had been renovated in recent months. Several employees at St. Peter's said they did not even know it existed.
December 20, 2004
Buon Natale!
A merry early Christmas to everybody! Holiday obligations are going to prevent me from posting extensively for the next week or so, but I've got plenty of interesting links for you. Bullet-style!
However, southern regions Calabria and Sicily won the marital stability category, with the lowest rates of divorce and separation. "Stable families remain one of the south's characteristics," the paper wrote.
And Neapolitans, despite a brutal mafia turf war in their southern city, value their lives more than any of their neighbors -- Naples has the lowest suicide rate, while the wealthy North-East has the highest.
December 16, 2004
Italy books
USA Today has a nice list of some books about Italy, some fiction and nonfiction, some including recipes, photos, etc. I can't vouch for any of the books since I haven't read them, and I'm sure some are smarmy, tacky accounts, trying to capitalize off the success of Frances Mayes' books (in fact, she's got yet another book out that's on this list) - but who cares! It's Italy! Everbody loves to live vicariously through people who live in Italy and then make terribly cliched books out of it. And I'm going to list them because it gives me an opportunity to try out my Amazon.com referrer links and try to capitalize off of other's capitalization.
If I had to choose a book or two myself, I'd probably go for Seasons in Basilicata or Tuscan Countess : The Life and Extraordinary Times of Matilda of Canossa. Basilicata is one of the most beautiful and underappreciated regions in Italy; it's home to the caves of Matera, several unspoiled beaches and possibly the best food/produce/olive oil of the whole region. It's also got a fascinating history, which I'm sure the book delves into. And I've read reviews of Tuscan Countess that compare it to a Pirandello play - I'm sure that's over the top, but it sounds fascinating nonetheless, and Matilda - one of only five women buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome - sounds pretty kickass.
December 15, 2004
Christmas tree lit in St. Peter's Square
"Two children lit up the Vatican's Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, with shimmering lights reflected in the gold and silver ornaments of the 100-year-old fir.The 105-foot tree from the Alpine forests of Italy's Trento region stands at the center of the square, next to a large Nativity scene still under construction. A choir sang "O' Come All Ye Faithful" in Latin as the tree's lights flickered on.
... American Cardinal Edmund Szoka, who presided at the ceremony, said this year's tree was the tallest of John Paul's 22-year tradition. Each year, the tree comes from a different country in Europe or region of Italy.
The people of the Trento region donated the 2004 tree in memory of John Paul's trip to Adamello, a mountain peak in the area, 20 years ago. At the time the pope took a few runs down the mountain on skis, a sport he used to practice before age and Parkinson's disease made movement difficult."
The tree is 110 years old and weighs 87,000 kilos (about 191,400 lbs).
Check out some of the gorgeous pictures:
Men of their words
Some choice comments from President Bush, after his meeting with PM Silvio Berlusconi at the White House this morning:
"I want to thank the prime minister for his understanding about the need for the free world to succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq," Bush said following a White House meting with the Italian leader. "He's the kind of man, when he gives you his word, he keeps his word, which is the sign of an impressive, strong leader."
And when he promises to screw you over, well, he'll keep that promise as well.
Bush, Berlusconi meet at White House today
US President George W. Bush was expected to hear European worries about the weak dollar as he welcomed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for talks also set to focus on violence in Iraq....Bush was expected to hear from Berlusconi that Europe has deep concerns about the weakness of the dollar and that a stronger US currency is needed to safeguard US-EU trade ties.
"The dollar must not be too weakened compared to the euro because that creates the risk of damaging trade relations between the two sides," Berlusconi said recently.
"We need a shift in the direction of the (European) Central Bank's policy to change the relationship between the euro and the dollar," Berlusconi told a meeting of his ruling party last weekend.
The White House has repeatedly insisted that Bush favors a "strong dollar policy" even as the US currency slid to record lows against the euro, and on Wednesday McClellan offered no new solutions to its weakness.
Bush and Berlusconi were expected to discuss security and elections set for January in Iraq, where Italy currently has a 3,000-strong military contingent deployed as part of coalition forces.
Other topics were expected to include the US leader's stated goal of overhauling international institutions, including the United Nations.
Italy fears being relegated to second-class status within the European Union if Germany is ever given a seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Travel packages
Got the travel bug? Frommers.com Deal's page lists several package deals for trips to Sicily and those other Mediterranean jewels, Corsica and Malta.
And Gate1Travel has a six-day, $849 Venice Carnevale deal.
Italy plans to withdraw from Kyoto Protocol
They're right. Why would Italy need to try to reduce emissions, anyways? They're FINE!
>>Sahara Jumps Mediterranean into Europe; Global warming threatens to create dust belt around the globe. "A fifth of Spanish land is so degraded that it is turning into desert, according to figures released for the first time yesterday, and in Italy tracts of land in the south are now abandoned and technically desert."
>>Climate Changes Blamed For Deaths. "WHO cited heat wave figures from some countries, including France's 14,802 "excess" deaths blamed on the heat spell. It said Italy had more than 7,000 "excess deaths in the over 65-year-old" group compared to the same period a year earlier, and Portugal had 1,300 heat wave deaths."
>>Global warming hits winemakers. "Lack of snow last winter, almost no rain in spring or summer and searing temperatures for prolonged periods have had a major impact on the grape harvest.
There has been a 20% reduction in output.
"Less water of course means less wine," he says."
Italy doesn't need agriculture, wine, or, you know, not dead people to keep on truckin'. Good decision, folks.
December 14, 2004
Sure to quell Vatican homosexuality
Via Andrew Sullivan: A calendar of hot, hot, hot Italian priests, photographed in front of various Italian landmarks. This wasn't sanctioned by the Vatican (like we needed to tell you that), but is merely sold in kiosks and souvenir stores around the country.
You can see some shots from the 2004 calendar at this photo gallery. We're partial to Mr. January, ourselves.
Related: "Frate Indovino" priest calendar beats pinups, and Sexy calendars go bust, Italians prefer saints to pinups, both from zoomata.com. Combine this with the recent study that reveals 2/3 of Italians prefer pasta to sex, and the place doesn't seem nearly as sexy. Except for those priests.
Let's get happy
Some rather, shall we say, pessimistic views of the Italian economy that came out today:
WORST ITALIAN ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SINCE WWII-CONFINDUSTRIA
(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Dec. 14 - "I cannot remember seeing since World War Two such a negative array of indicators on all fronts by comparison with our competitors," said Confindustria chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, commenting on Italy's economic outlook based on macroeconomic forecasts which were released today by the employer's association study centre. The data show that "we are faced with structural problems," said Montezemolo. "When a country doesn't grow for at least 15 years, has lower output than its European partners, has stagnant investments, has a falling export quota, has stagnant production, has higher labour costs than other countries, then we're not faced with casual problems," he said. Montezemolo then reasserted the lack of competition in some sectors, such as services, while "the high bureaucratic costs leave all of Europe behind, as does the record breaking slowness of the legal system." In light of all this, Montezemolo defined the forecasts of his organisation "interesting, useful, to be analysed, and above all made into concrete facts. We have the duty to face these problems with all our might, without letting ourselves be dragged down by pessimism."
It might be a little too late for that, buddy.
The Sinking City
Salon.com/The Guardian has a great, detailed article today on the sinking of Venice and what technology is being employed to try to stop it - specifically, the Venice flood barrier and the intense rejoinders it causes from city inhabitants.
Brotto is a glamorous figure in suede trousers and high heels, with a deep tan, a ready smile and perfect English. Brotto is the coordinator of the final design of the Venice barrier, and her name arouses strong reactions in Venice.The Venice flood barrier has been decades in the planning, has been endlessly debated and remains intensely controversial. Unlike in London and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where the barriers created anxieties but the population was broadly willing to trade some environmental impact for safety, the Venice barrier (or, strictly speaking, four barriers, which will be strung between the islands that separate the lagoon from the Adriatic) has split the city down the middle. Opinion polls sometimes show Venetians broadly in favor, sometimes against (depending, usually, on how the question is framed). Brotto assures me most people want the barrier, but acknowledges that "those who are against it are very noisy." They have, she says, created a false dichotomy between the barrier and other, more gradualist measures to deal with flooding. Both are necessary, she insists; and the consortium of engineering and construction companies that is building the barriers is also raising canal banks in the city, restoring salt marshes in the lagoon and dealing with the legacy of industrial pollution.
Brotto admits there will be some environmental disruption during construction -- "but we are taking mitigating measures, such as using an ecological dredger to reduce turbidity." She is adamant, however, that the gates remain necessary. They will be closed, she anticipates, five to seven times a year. "With this solution, we will solve all problems for Venice and the other settlements around the lagoon. Definitely."
"So," says Gherardo Ortalli, professor of medieval history at Venice University, "are you going to write that the barriers will solve all the problems for Venice? That is what the world wants to believe. A lovely story with a happy ending." I have come to meet Professor Ortalli at a palazzo close to the Grand Canal, the headquarters of an ancient institute of arts, letters and science, of which he is the administrator. In the fading light of a winter afternoon there is something gloomy about the building, an impression that Ortalli's mood does nothing to dispel. "This town is ending," he says. "When I arrived here 30 years ago, there were 130,000 inhabitants. Now we are half that. But the numbers are not so important. Young people are being priced out of the city, and those of us left behind are old and exhausted."
Other interesting facts from the piece:
If you've never seen Venice during one of the 100 times it floods annually, it's really a sight to behold. Planks are set up above the water all across the city, with policemen directing traffic; people wear thigh-high wellington boots (though naturally the Italians manage to make even those look stylish; and tourists are understadably befuddled.
The end of the article doesn't offer up much hope in regards to either the barrier or Venice's future as a city:
The tides of economic globalization are another matter. At present, Venice is a city close to being swamped by the international tourist trade, and finding no other identity it can assert. If it is to avoid being turned into merely the museum quarter of the Venice metropolitan area, it has to engage with globalization, not avoid it. In theory, it ought to be easy enough for Venice (rather as Dubai has done) to offer incentives for appropriate businesses, those based mainly on computers and the exchange of ideas, to set up in the city. But it remains to be seen whether there is the political will to engage with modernity in this way. For Professor Ortalli, the city is already becoming like Babylon. "Venice cannot survive," he says, standing on the palazzo steps. "I think it has died already. I am spending a lot of time fighting this barrier not to save Venice, but to save my soul."
Pax De Niro
Did you know that Italians loathe Robert De Niro? Neither did we! We just assumed that all those stereotyped performances of soulless, corrupt, violent gangster Italians throughout his lengthy acting career could only bolster relations with his ancestral country. Silly us.
But we really thought that De Niro's avoidance of the country, cancellation of appointments with Italian officials in October (which involved turning up 45 minutes late for a ceremony in Milan at which he was to receive the city's highest award, the Golden Ambrosius Medal; the mayor of Milan described the incident as "an incredible display of bad manners") and failure to attend the Tribeca Film Festival in Rome (he flew to Rome but refused to emerge from his private aircraft and after half an hour flew to Paris) would do the trick. Apparently not.
But now, now! De Niro's making it all better. See, his late father has an art show in Rome, and all of a sudden, De Niro has decided that he a) wants to promote the show, even though he hates art, b) deserves Italian citizenship and c) should be feted by dozens of Italian celebrities.
We're sure this has nothing to do with capitalizing on his father's art exhibit or promoting his New York film festival. We're sure De Niro just wants to let bygones be bygones and get back to his roots. We're sure he's an opportunistic asshole who'll continue to give Italians an ethnically stereotyped name. And we're pretty sure he's hungover at his dead father's art show.
Grass Asses
You've gotta give it to the Italians - they ALWAYS know how to maximize efficiency:
An Italian town is setting donkeys to work mowing the grass on the side of its highways in an effort to save money and reduce pollution.Fed up with paying some 100,000 euros (69,000 pounds) a year to cut the grass on its out-of-town roads with tractor-mowers, the local government of Treviso, near Venice, said on Tuesday it had bought six donkeys to do the work instead.
"This purchase will allow us to save cash as well as launch an experimental ecological project," said local government chief Luca Zaia, who paid just over 2,000 euros for the six animals.
Motorists need not fear running down the donkeys -- they will only be allowed to munch the grass in roadside areas that are fenced off from traffic.
In other news, the Italian town of Brescia announced that gorillas would be performing nighttime construction on the nearby autostrada.
December 13, 2004
Take that, wax Jesus!
Remember the eerily-lifelike wax nativity scene at Madame Toussad's in London? The one featuring David Beckham as Jesus; his pop star wife, Victoria, as Mary; President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prince Philip as the three Wise Men; actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L. Jackson as shepherds; and disco diva Kylie Minogue as an angel? The one that the Vatican was, to put it lightly, not very pleased with?
Well, it seems Christ has sent a minion over to the wax museum to stop all this blasphemy -- by punching the figures in the face:
A protester has attacked a controversial waxwork Nativity scene featuring England soccer captain David Beckham as Joseph and his pop star wife "Posh Spice" Victoria as the Virgin Mary."He pushed Posh and Becks over. It caused some damage but we don't know how much. The baby Jesus is fine," said a spokeswoman for Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum in London on Monday.
Another article says the figures of Posh and Becks were "pummeled" several times in the face.
Way to go, protestor. It takes a lot of balls to beat up some inanimate wax people.
Naples slides back to violence
The New York Times has an interesting article today on concerns that Naples might be sliding backwards into its formerly violent days:
An ambulance is there to help, but the first one to arrive at a double shooting on Oct. 28 - the day Naples began worrying that its bad old days might be creeping back - was torn up by people on the street.The second one, carrying Dr. Carmine Russo, an emergency doctor in one of the dreariest Naples neighborhoods, was menaced all the way back to the hospital by hoodlums on scooters. Two members of the Camorra, an age-old version of the Mafia in Naples, died that day, setting off a new gang war that has since claimed more than 25 lives.
"After those two, it's been a massacre," said Dr. Russo, a cigar-chomping 52, who has tended many of the victims. People have been shot on the street, incinerated in their cars. One man died face down in his pizza, in the center of the city that invented it. Several poor areas on the outskirts now feel a bit like occupied lands, after hundreds of arrests and a raid this week that involved more than 1,000 police officers.
Violence like this would agonize any city, but for Naples - which for centuries has defined a certain excess of beauty and baseness alike - it is especially troubling.
The article goes on to mention further worries about gang violence, homicides (there have been more than 120 homicides in Naples this year, compared with 64 in 2002), crime, and the age-old question of the "lagging south" vs. the richer, more industrialized north.
The latter half of the piece details the Camorra -- basically an organization that is to Naples what the Mafia has been to Sicily -- a very corrupt, violent, connected and powerful mob. The center of Naples has been cleaned up in recent years, but apparently members of the Camorra are backing a comeback in the suburbs and outskirts.
But there is worry too in the city center. At a photo gallery downtown, a poster hangs as a reminder of the less savory past. It shows the Piazza del Plebiscito in its old incarnation as a parking lot. A caption reads, "So we don't go back."The gallery owner, Stefano Fittipaldi, 58, said he did not think things had gone that far yet, but he did get a worrying call recently from friends who had relatives planning to visit Naples from Germany.
"Their life insurance company said Naples was a dangerous city, and they wanted more money," he said. "That hurts."
For the record, when I spent time in Naples, I found it to be a thrilling and vibrant city -- certainly seamy and dirty, but fascinating, and if you used common sense and didn't walk alone, it didn't seem like there was much risk of being a crime victim. You were probably more likely to be injured by a crazed Vespa driver. But my visit was almost two years ago, so perhaps things have changed since then. You can see a few shots of my trip to Naples here.
December 10, 2004
Best Italian cookbooks
Over at Leite's Culinaria, they've made up a list of the 20 Best Food Books of 2004. A couple of Italian cookbooks made it on there. They are Marcella Says and The Spiaggia Cookbook: Eleganza Italiana In Cucina
They might make some nice holiday gifts for that special Italophile in your life.
(And by the way, there's a scrumptious-looking recipe over at the site for Torta al Mascarpone in Salsa di Illy Caffe [Mascarpone Torte with Illy Espresso Sauce], a recipe from the Spiaggia Cookbook.)
Acquitted
Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted of corruption Friday in a victory in the Prime Minister and billionaire's lengthy legal battle that he blames on left-wing prosecutors.
WEENK WEENK
Updates to come.
I weenk at you
I just want to say that I am loving the photo selection over at the AFP. Performing a search on Yahoo News Photos, I cannot find one single normal-looking shot of Berlusconi. He's either mopping his brow frantically, squinting weirdly, or looking like a lecherous, creepy man. Which, I suppose, probably isn't all that surprising (except considering all the plastic surgery he's gotten on his eyes, maybe it is).
I mean, could they honestly not find a better photo than the following to illustrate an article about his corruption trial?:
Culture in a bottle
Here's hoping that a new branding strategy can help slumping exports of Italian wine to the U.S.: An article in the International Herald Tribune reports that Italian wine producers are crafting their sales pitches to inspire the feeling that when you buy a bottle of Italian wine, you're buying a part of the culture.
"So the Italian wine industry is deep in a campaign not to compete directly on price or quality, but to emphasize what is distinct, and distinctly Italian, about its wine: how certain Italian wines go with Italian food; the life and history in the places, like here in Montalcino, where wine is made; the almost uncountable strains of grapes particular to Italy."
The article is kind of interesting, in a brief way, revealing some of the fractures in the Italian wine producers' system, where many people complain the wine growers are simply too greedy to cut prices or too condescending to explain or simplify the thousands of different types of wines to confused consumers.
"The notion of marketing Italy as a land of unique history and culture is not exactly new. (James Joyce, living unhappily in Rome, once likened the nation's hawking of its past to a man "exhibiting to travelers his grandmother's corpse.") And, certainly, it is no guarantee of success. The almost fetishistic devotion to Tuscany among foreigners has not faded, but wine sales still have dropped. Some experts say that what Italy really needs is a more organized effort to cut prices and to simplify for foreigners an already too complicated range of wines.'People are put off," said Michele Shah, a wine consultant and writer who helped organize the Turin conference. "They don't know what they are drinking.'"
Exquisite espresso
This doesn't quite fall into a category that relates explicity to Italy, but it does relate to those, like me, who are interested in how to best fake the Italian caffe'-on-that-adorable-piazza-in-Florence-experience: Slate.com offers up an article on which espresso machines give you the most bang for your buck.
This is how the testing went: the author spent six months testing various models (all of them pump-driven instead of steam-driven, because, while more expensive and bulkier, they make a better shot) and rating them on four categories: Looks, Quality, Convenience, and Value. The whole experiement is really quite scientific and, well, anal in its execution, and he comes up with some good recommendations. The crema of the crop? The Nespresso D290 (pictured below), which, at $499, "is so simple that a 5-year-old could master it and so consistent that I managed to get a near-perfect espresso shot out of it every time."
But apparently, the machine only makes excellent shots when you use the company's "capsules," (also included in the picture) which are 50 cents a pop and must be ordered through Nespresso's online site.
Capsules are good and convenient and all, but it seems to me that you're missing out on half the espresso experience if you don't grind your own beans and pat them down in the cup holder. I mean, plastic coffee capsules remind me of my dreary office kitchen coffee maker, not of a little table on a stone-cobbled piazza, where the espresso is thick and rich and the waiter is cute and doesn't speak English. So I say points off for authenticity.
Personally, I use an espresso machine that I bought in Milan at the local Iper, and I'm pretty happy with it. But if I had a gas stove, I'd be happy with a good old-fashioned stovetop espresso maker and some Illy coffee.
December 09, 2004
Wax museum nativity scene offends Vatican
Watch out, everybody, it's the end of humanity and Christianity and maybe even the world: Madame Toussad's wax museum in London has created a nativity scene featuring soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl, as the parents of Jesus. And, wouldn't you know it, the Vatican finds this simply shocking:
The Vatican was not amused, calling the tableau tasteless. A spokesman said it was unacceptable to have celebrities representing Jesus, Joseph or Mary.... "This is worse than bad taste. It is cheap," an official Vatican source told Reuters in Rome. "You cannot use contemporary personalities as the central figures of the nativity ... And it becomes worse, if that were possible, if the people may be of questionable moral standing," he added.
He said it was sometimes acceptable to use modern figures in the supporting roles because it can help make Christmas contemporary -- but not the central characters.
In Naples, for example, famous figures like Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona have been depicted as shepherds.
Oh, so it's not okay to have Posh and Becks in a nativity scene, but Diego "Cocaine is Delicious" Maradona is a pillar of moral values?
Anyway, take a look at the nativity scene and decide for yourself: offensive, or just plain scary? Should Jesus be wearing that much bling-bling? (And yup, that's British pop singer Kylie Minogue floating overhead as an angel.)
Insurgents fire mortars at Italian Embassy
Though Italy has no combat troops in Iraq, it has sent about 3,000 troops to help rebuild the infrastructure of the country, and PM Silvio Berlusconi is one of President Bush's staunchest allies.
The Italian Embassy has previously been the target of insurgent attacks. In September, three Iraqis were slightly wounded in a mortar attack, and one Iraqi was killed in a June barrage. The Embassy was also hit and damaged by rocket fire in November.
Wine exports from Italy to U.S. decline
I wouldn't have thought it from the amount of Italian wine that I ingest on a weekly basis - but apparently Italian exports of wine to the U.S. have taken quite a beating in the past year, according to the Italian Wine and Food Institute.
The Institute announced that exports from Italy had dropped 10% compared to the same period last year. The article suggests that possible reasons are the fact that the euro is so strong against the dollar right now, making Italian wine fairly expensive, and that Australian wines are currently kicking the butts of both French and Italian wines - exports of the wines from down under to the U.S. jumped by 20% from last January to September. I wouldn't be surprised if one reason for the decline is that the U.S. economy is faltering right now, and luxury items, including wine, are some of the first to go under a tight budget. Except my budget. If the Italian wine market needs me, I'll be happy to try to support them single-handedly. Somtimes a girl's gotta make sacrifices.
Judges deliberate on Berlusconi verdict
Everybody's favorite sinister Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is currently awaiting a verdict in his long-running corruption trial. A panel of three judges began deliberating a verdict in the trial, which charges that Berlusconi bribed judges in Rome to block the 1985 sale of state-owned food company SME to his rival Carlo De Benedetti, boss of Italian food giant Buitoni. Yeah, we know, bribery in Italian politics - who'd have thunk?
Berlusconi, meanwhile, seems to be taking the whole thing in stride:
"I'm waiting (for the outcome) totally relaxed," Berlusconi said in Rome."I deserve a medal in this trial. I don't think that I will be convicted," he said, adding: "I don't think that there will be a sentence that will change the current political situation" in the country.
Prosecutors are calling for an eight-year sentence, but Berlusconi will most certainly appeal if found guilty - a tactic which, given the less-than-speedy nature of Italian law and bureaucracy - could keep him out of jail indefinitely.
Benvenuto!
Welcome to Blogissimo!, a blog about anything and everything Italian -- food, news, travel deals, fashion, culture. I decided to start this site up after noticing the lack of current Italian items out there. Obviously, there are tons of amazing travel sites, and sites that tell you how to get the best hotel in Rome or offer up photos of trips to Florence, but so far, I hadn't been able to find an up-to-date place where I could get information on everything from Berlusconi's latest political decision to flight deals for Milan.
A bit about myself: I'm a 24-year old living and working in Washington, D.C. I graduated from the University of Virginia with degrees in English and Italian in May '02, and resided in Milan from August '02 to July '03, where I worked as a teacher at an international school. I've been in deep, deep denial that I no longer live in Italy ever since I've moved back to the U.S., and occasionally will drink enough red wine that I hallucinate myself back to the Piazza del Duomo or the Dolomites.
Anyway, this site is just in beta right now, and hopefully will grow into something useful and pertinent. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to contribute, feel free to email me. Divertitevi!