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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of regional images of Italy on the purchase probability of wine. Instead of regarding country image as a homogeneous national construct, this article focuses on revealing regional differences in Italian country image and investigating whether they are related with purchase probability. Moreover, several scholars state, that the development of larger regional brands can improve consumer choice especially for the product wine. In the light of growing global competition from ‘New World’ wine countries and simultaneously decreasing competitivity of the main European wine-producing countries (including Italy), the possibility to actively shape the development of regional brands and thereby potentially strengthening the competitive advantage within the European Union and on a global level, seems to offer an adequate approach to maintain the leading role of Italian wine producers in European and international trade. Therefore, this study aims to test, whether using larger regions (and not specific wine regions) as origin information for wine is applicable and improving consumer choice. The empirical framework was tested on a random sample of consumers living in Germany and comprises (a) the description of image differences between Northern and Southern Italy, (b) measuring the influence of regional indication of origin on purchase probability, (c) determining the predictive value of image components for purchase probability, and (d) the investigation of moderation effects of country knowledge on the results. Data from 388 respondents were analysed using multiple linear regression and paired t test. Results show significant image differences, which affects purchase probability. It is shown that the image of Southern Italy does not provide respondents with a suitable decision-making heuristic for buying wine. Furthermore, country knowledge negatively influences the predictive value of the measured regional image for purchase probability. As the predictive value of Southern Italian image does not contribute to the explanation of purchase probability, the present work corroborates the hypothesis of region-specific tendencies in the relationship between regional Italian image and consumer behaviour. Thus, this work provides a fundamental understanding of the regional composition of the Italian country image. It therefore serves practitioners as a decisional basis for the utilization of origin-related product information.

This article aims to build on established scholarship by highlighting a little-studied area of fashion production, that of the regional Italian dressmaker. Using one woman's wardrobe as a lens through which to consider established patterns of consumption, this article examines the role of the sartoria or dressmaker in post-war Italy. After a brief discussion of the reputation and dynamics of the related but more exclusive Italian couture, the author defines the characteristics of clothing produced by Italy's regional, small-scale dressmakers and their importance within Italy's fashion system. The author draws conclusions based upon close examination of one woman's wardrobe, created by the Turin workshop Sartoria Grimaldi and now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum's permanent collection. A selection of this wardrobe was researched and exhibited for the first time in 2014 within the Museum's major exhibition ‘The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945–2014’.

While the Anglo-Saxon tradition is encapsulated in the corpus of nursery rhymes called Mother Goose, Italy presents a greater variety of traditional nursery rhymes. Even the naming conventions used for these nursery rhymes show the difficulty in distinguishing between the various genres. Folklore experts, who have been collecting the greater part of regional Italian folktales and poetry from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth, have coined the following definitions: “minor folk literature,” “children’s folklore,” “children’s life,” and “children’s games and pleasantries.” The terms most commonly used today are: ninne nanne, nenie or cantilene (lullabies or singsongs), when they are intended to make a baby go to sleep; tiritere and filastrocche (nursery rhymes), when they are used by adults to entertain children; conte and filastrocche (counting rhymes), for pieces invented by children and used to count out, jump rope or as part of their games. But within these same genres, there is an even greater regional variety, due to the use of local themes, structure and references, as seen in the traditional fables collected in Italy’s twenty regions. As an example, in the region of Abruzzo, one of the more common themes is that of the flock of sheep led to the base of the mountain to graze and the fear the shepherds have of losing them to wolves that inhabit the area, as in the following piece

Is there a relationship between bank monitoring models and the level of shadow economy? This paper develops a model of optimal lending technology to study the relationship between local underground economic activity and banks’ lending choices. In turn, as the aggregate level of informality and tax evasion increase, it becomes more profitable for banks to screen and supervise borrowers using more costly in-depth monitoring technologies. A large dataset of regional Italian data confirms these conjectures.

OBJECTIVES: To study aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), and lead (Pb) influence on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) development. METHODS: A total of 34 patients (10% of the regional ALS population) and 25 controls of an Italian region were enrolled. Metal concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. RESULTS: Serum Al concentrations in patients and controls were similar and lower than those provided by the Italian Society of Reference Values. No differences were observed in serum Mn concentrations, while, as expected, blood Pb levels were significantly higher in patients with ALS than those in controls. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirmed the association between high Pb blood levels and ALS; on the contrary, Al and Mn did not differ significantly in patients and controls, suggesting that Mn and especially Al may play a less important role in the ALS pathogenesis.

ProSisMu (acronym of the Italian translation of Seismic Protection of Masonry structures) is an Italian project ideated by the synergy of the ERREGI group, a company which works in the civil and architectural engineering field, and the scientific contribution of the University of Rome Sapienza, Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, recently approved to be financed by the regional finance company FILAS, Lazio Italy. The problem of seismic protection of historic masonry structures is always current in Italy, a country reach of history and of an extensive cultural heritage. The tragic seismic events happened in this territory, the last significant one refers to the L'Aquila earthquake in April 2009, together with the necessity of restoration and preservation of the cultural heritage, faced the necessity of a systematic analysis of the kind of structural damages induced on masonry structures. This work aims to illustrate the program of the project which shall be realized in the next two years.

We performed MBL2 genotyping in 47 CF patients—cared of at the regional CF Centre of Trieste—trying to establish a correlation within allelic variants of MBL2 and modification of patients' clinical outcome. FEV1 values were significantly lowered and a significantly earlier age at onset of Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonisation was found in CF patients with at least one MBL2 variant.