1) STUDENT FALLS FROM FOURTH FLOOR, ALCOHOL INVOLVED
2) FOREIGN TOURISTS BACK FOR THE SUMMER?
3) WEDDINGS DOWN 50%, GROOM AND WIFE OVER 40
4) DESPERATE MAN ASKS TO BE ARRESTED
5) VIAREGGIO CUP POSTPONED TO JUNE OR SEPTEMBER

BACKGROUND MUSIC
Title: Monolith (Argofox release)
Author: Erio
License: Creative Commons Attribution
Links: youtu.be/_oivKNpHNEE
https://soundcloud.com/argofox/erio-monolith

LINKS TO ARTICLES
https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/morto-studente-precipitato-finestra-1.6053730
https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/firenze-studente-precipita-dal-quarto-piano-e-muore-l-ipotesi-del-gioco-alcolico-1.6052066
https://firenze.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/22/news/toscana_turismo_prenotazioni_estate_2021-288734320/?rss
https://iltirreno.gelocal.it/prato/cronaca/2021/02/22/news/matrimoni-quasi-dimezzati-nel-2020-e-ci-si-sposa-sempre-piu-tardi-a-40-anni-1.39940961
https://www.pisatoday.it/cronaca/ragazzo-chiede-arresto-questura-pisa-21-febbraio-2021.html
https://www.lanazione.it/viareggio/cronaca/viareggio-cup-calcio-rinvio-covid-1.6052604

SCRIPT
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be, however you might be listening, welcome to another episode of What’s Up Tuscany, the daily podcast from L’Arno where you will find the most interesting news of today, Tuesday February 23rd 2021, as selected by our journalists. Please subscribe and share this podcast on social media, it would really help us.

Let’s start today with the update on a story that captured the attention of Florence yesterday, the tragic death of a student of the Fashion Institute after falling from the fourth floor of his building. As reported by La Nazione his name was Federico Schiraldi, 21 year old from Monza, in Florence to make his dream of working in fashion a reality. Only the autopsy will provide certainties, but many suspect that his death was caused by a drinking game with his friends. It’s definitely not the first time that alcohol causes the death of tourists or people from outside Florence. Today on La Nazione we read an article with some of the most egregious accidents of the past. It’s a tough read, the student that jumps into the Arno river as a joke, the US soldier that dies trying to jump from one roof to another, the Danish student that stumbles off the Vespucci bridge after a night at the disco. Tragedies that make no sense, especially in this time and age, where every single death seems almost unbearable.

Let’s move on to a story from the real economy we read last night on La Repubblica, one that doesn’t drip pessimism from every pore. According to several operators in tourism rentals, the bookings for the summer months in Tuscany have registered a plus 50% from the dismal numbers of 2020. Alessandra Signori, referent for Tuscany of Property Managers Italia, seems optimistic. Quote “on AirBnB we found many bookings for June, July and August. It is mostly large groups of people, 50% italians, the other Europeans that are finally travelling again. The bookings in Florence in the last 30 days have seen a 41% of Italians, 9,9% of Germans, 7,2% of English and 5,8% of French. On the coast, 49,5% of the bookings for the July-September period have been made by German tourists” end quote. The pandemic has convinced many to change their preferences. If before people booked houses in Florence to then take day trips elsewhere, now they seem to favour houses in the countryside or the coast, away from the cities. Be it as they wish, the important thing is for people to travel again and save the tourism sector from complete annihilation.

Let’s move now to Prato, where we read an interesting article on the local edition of Il Tirreno. According to the report published from the registry office, during 2020 the weddings in the city have almost halved, going from 384 in 2019 to 230. This tendency isn’t just related to the pandemic but continues a trend that started around 2016, when 426 couples decided to tie the knot. More and more people prefer civil to religious ceremonies and the average age of groom and brides has risen constantly. If in 2020 the average age of the groom is 43,23 years, while the bride is 39,27 years, thirty years ago the numbers were very different: 29,32 and 26,57 respectively. Not particularly surprising data, as these tendencies have been noticed for decades in the Italian society. The thing that caught our eye is the data on separations and divorces. While many experts predicted that living 24 hours a day with their spouse would have caused a massive spike in divorces, the data paint a very different picture. Both separations and divorces are falling: 77 separations from 79 and only 92 divorces from 109 in 2019. We will let you know if the data from other cities confirms this trend or not. Should it be the case, many experts will have to go back to the drawing board...

Let’s continue with a sad story we read on Pisa Today, that of a visibly altered young man that knocked at the door of the police station asking to be arrested. Rather than denouncing himself for some crime, the 25 year old asked the officers to put him out of his misery and just throw him in jail. He then painted a picture that is all too common these days. After losing his job, his fiance dumped him, throwing him into utter despair. The police officers, rather embarrassed, tried to cheer him up, as they had no reason to arrest him. The fact that life has become so unbearable for many to make them wish for a long stay in the big house makes you think. We are living some seriously strange days...

Let’s close today’s episode with a piece of news that will come as no surprise for many soccer fans, the cancellation of the Viareggio Cup, a world-class event for youth soccer clubs. The announcement from the Centro Giovani Calciatori in Viareggio came yesterday evening. The association who organizes the historic tournament from 1949 confirmed that the competition, that many consider a true world championship for youth soccer, will not be celebrated from March 15th to the 29th as planned, due to the high contagion numbers in Tuscany. It’s possible that it will be rescheduled in June or September 2021.

That was all for today, I’m your host Luca Bocci and I’ll see you tomorrow for another episode of What’s Up Tuscany, the daily podcast from L’Arno where you’ll find the news that, according to us, are well worth a second look. Thanks for listening and goodbye.