1. Milan is not Rome. Show up on time to appointments.
2. Whenever possible, use Linate airport for arrivals/departures.
3. Outfits matter, so skip the Friday casual look.
4. Get rid of jet lag at the Culti day spa. culti.it
5. Hail a taxi by phone on + 39 02 85 85 (remember, this is not NYC).

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In anteprima assoluta per i clienti di Milano residenti negli stabili già raggiunti dalla nuova tecnologia, Telecom Italia offre la possibilità di partecipare gratuitamente e senza alcun impegno alla sperimentazione dei nuovi servizi a larghissima banda.

[PS: notizia scovata da Gennaro].

• In ingresso a MXP. Due poveri doganieri in piedi, senza gabbiotto, controllano rapidamente i documenti di identità dei viaggiatori in arrivo;
• In uscita da MXP. Nessun controllo.

For a third year running, Italian cities failed to make our list. Though attractive spots for 48 hours of sightseeing or shopping, more needs to be done for their residents. Take public transport. Poorly funded and chronically late, the number of commuters on buses and trams actually fell in 2008. With most people behind the wheel, city centres are gridlocked and pavements used as makeshift car parks. Rome alone notches up 70 cars for every 100 inhabitants - Paris has just 26.

Bike sharing has been introduced, but cyclist face a fregmented network and fight for space with pedestrians. Official should look to Copenhagen, with nearly five times the cycle lanes and synchronized traffic lights (...).

In their favour, Italy's metropolises rank high for their food and cafè culture, enviable climate and wealth of cultural offerings. With more nimble public services and better infrastructure, a few could soon make the grade.

(...) Advertising has withered in the recession, causing Mediaset's revenues to decline by 12% in the first quarter and its net profits by 50%.

The difficulties faced by Mondadori are complex and more intractable. The recession has led to reduced spending on books and magazines, and businesses have cut their advertising. It made a slender net profit of €97m on sales of €1.8 billion in 2008. At the end of April it decided that no dividend would be paid this year. Moreover, technological innovation is transforming the publishing industry at an accelerating pace. Last October Mondadori announced the sale of 80% of its printing arm and is looking to rationalise its business further.

The main businesses of Mediolanum, Fininvest's third pillar--banking, mutual funds and life insurance--have also been weakened by the global crisis. Between the end of 2007 and the end of last year, assets under its management in Italy fell from €27.4 billion to €23.9 billion while new insurance business slipped from €3.4 billion to €2.7 billion. Abroad, the contraction was even more severe: assets under management in Spain and Germany dropped from €2.7 billion to €1.7 billion. At €131m, net profit was down 38% last year.

L'ENAC informa che in occasione del Vertice G8 che si svolgerà a L'Aquila dall'8 al 10 luglio 2009, il Ministero dell'Interno ha deciso di avvalersi della possibilità  di sospendere temporaneamente il Trattato di Schengen per la libera circolazione delle persone, con il conseguente provvisorio ripristino del controllo dei documenti di identità alle frontiere. Il ripristino di tali controlli avrà effetto per un periodo che va dalle ore 00:01 di domenica 28 giugno alle ore 24:00 di mercoledì 15 luglio.

• NYT: zero righe
• Financial Times: zero righe
• Washington Post: zero righe
• International Herald Tribune: zero righe
  
• Newsweek: zero righe
• Time: zero righe

• The Times: zero righe
• The Observer: zero righe
• The Indipendent: zero righe
  
• The Economist: Italy agreed to take three detainees from Guantanamo. Italy's prime minister made the offer to Barack Obama at a meeting in the White House.