DiCaprio meets the pope
Film star and environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio recently enjoyed a private audience with Pope Francis. The actor, who is currently in the running for an Academy Award for his latest movie, The Revenant, gave Pope Francis a book of illustrations by Hieronymus Bosch. He explained, ‘A picture of the Earth by Bosch hung over my bed as a child; my father put it up … For me it always represented the planet and ecological utopia. It was an inspiration and a promise for the future.’ Pope Francis gave DiCaprio a copy of his ecological encyclical Laudato Si’.
Print books up, e-books down
Sales of print books in Italy increased in 2015, according to Italian publishing association AIE. After a five-year decline, trade paperbacks and hardbacks rose by 0.7 percent last year, while the entire book market, including e-books, is up by 1.6 percent. Reading by children and teenagers fuelled the highest sales growth. According to Italian statistics centre ISTAT, print book reading among those over the age of 6 rose by 1.2 percent. Following a global trend, the number of e-book readers in Italy declined 5.6 percent in 2015, while e-book reading among 15- to 19-year-olds is approximately double the national average.
Zuma opens in Rome
In March, the London-based Japanese restaurant Zuma will open its latest outpost. Located in Rome’s Palazzo Fendi (via della Fontanella di Borghese 48), the restaurant will be the chain’s first in Italy. With food created by acclaimed chef Rainer Becker, diners can expect sushi and robatayaki cooking, as well as dishes like suzuki no sashimi (sea bass sashimi with yuzu and salmon roe) and tori no tebasaki (sake-glazed chicken wings, sea salt and lime). The chain announced that designer Noriyoshi Muramatsu has incorporated the elements of earth, fire, water and air into the décor while respecting the cultural heritage of the Palazzo Fendi building. The two-floor restaurant will include a roof terrace serving cocktails with a view.
