LINKS:

FRAUD TO AMEX, EXPEDIA FOR A MILLION EUROS
https://firenze.repubblica.it/cronaca/2021/02/18/news/firenze_pelago_expedia_american_expres_truffa_affitto-288066159/?rss

101 YEAR OLD GRANNY DEFEATS COVID AFTER THE SPANISH FLU
https://www.lanazione.it/la-spezia/cronaca/guoarisce-covid-1.6035596

TUSCANY FOR SALE
https://iltirreno.gelocal.it/regione/toscana/2021/02/17/news/basta-vivere-di-prestiti-ho-cessato-l-attivita-1.39912489
https://iltirreno.gelocal.it/lucca/cronaca/2021/02/17/news/tutti-vendono-nessuno-compra-1.39915557

THE LYING LICENSE
https://www.gonews.it/2021/02/17/patente-bugiardo-accademia-bugia/

BACKGROUND MUSIC
Title: Calm and Harmony
Author: Mike Chino (Argofox release)
License: Creative Commons Attribution
Link: youtu.be/wF3uTGjoaws
https://soundcloud.com/argofox/mike-chino-calm-and-harmony

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 news that caught our eye today, Thursday February 18th 2021. If you wish, please subscribe and share this podcast on social media, it would really help us.

Let’s start with an article that we read this morning on La Repubblica, an incredible fraud that hit two giants of the economy such as American Express and Expedia. A small businessman based in Florence at the beginning of the lockdowns last year was facing a sudden drop in his activity, renting houses to tourists. Instead of trying to figure out how to keep his business alive, he thought best to exploit a bug in the payment system of Expedia and create out of thin air 1721 completely fake stays in his country house. AmEx, as always, anticipated the amount of the stay to the man, to be later reimbursed by Expedia. Gross total: 979 thousand Euros. The swindler later bought lots of stuff using fake identities - when the Guardia di Finanza knocked at his door, his bank accounts were almost empty. The really incredible thing is that no one at American Express noticed it for almost a year - it just beggars belief!

As we’re rather fed up with the daily bulletin of bad news related to the pandemic, we’re choosing to look at a positive story we read today on La Nazione, starring a remarkably gritty old lady. At 101, Lina Franciosi managed to survive everything and everyone. After defeating first the Spanish Flu, then the Nazi retaliations during the war, granny Lina has another notch on her gun, COVID-19. After 25 days of therapies and loving care from her family, on the day of her birthday, she received the best present: she tested negative for the virus. The energetic woman, well known in the small town of Luni, where she taught at Sunday School for decades, reacted to the disease with the usual unshakeable determination. After the contagion in January, her family decided to take care of her at home. A gutsy decision, as it exposed them to the virus, but with a very positive ending. A small sign of hope from this small Lunigiana town, with the wish that stories like this become the norm.

Let’s go back, unfortunately, to the silent massacre of businesses that is devastating the economy of our region, as reported on Il Tirreno. First, the story of Barbara Sorrentino, owner of a pizzeria in Certaldo, that after struggling for almost a year was forced last week to close her restaurant. With the spread of the virus, she tried to make things work, sustaining her restaurant with various loans, even if she was forced to halve the tables and operate only as a takeaway for months. Now she’s had enough. Quote “now I’m forced to sell my business at a loss just to cover the loans and the various expenses. I thought long and hard about it, I thought it was a personal failure but it’s not - it’s the government’s failure, as they left us alone to fight an impossible battle. Now all I’ve left is sadness and the meager consolation of having given everything to fight until the bitter end. Now I’ve had enough, I can’t hurt myself any longer” end quote. No one really knows how many businesses have closed since the pandemic hit but, judging from the article we read yesterday on the Lucca edition of Il Tirreno, the situation could be worse than many think. Just in Lucca there are almost 300 businesses for sale, shops, restaurants, hotels. Despite prices having collapsed from 25 to 50 per cent, no one is buying. Marco Catelli, a real estate realtor, isn’t optimistic. Quote “I think the worst is yet to come. Thanks to government help, many have enough cash to stay afloat but, sooner or later, people will have to pay their taxes. Goodwill is worth nothing these days, if you manage to recoup what you spent to furnish the place you should consider yourself lucky. Even Chinese buyers, who in the past were quick to snap up every bargain on the market, have disappeared” end quote.

Let’s close today’s episode with a really singular story we read last evening on GoNews. In Le Piastre, a small town near Pistoia, there is a particular association that is devoted to the cult of a not so popular group of people: liars. The Accademia della Bugia, with the spread of fake news and more or less mendacious statements, decided to turn lying into a competitive sport, organizing the first Italian Championship. To be honest, the passion for lying goes way beyond a single event. The local tourism authority has set up a Museum of Lies. Not even road signs are immune: the small town is, in fact, twinned with the planet Mars. Last initiative of this group of hilarious pranksters, the Lying License. With a donation of 10 Euros to the Accademia, you will receive a license that states how much of a liar you really are. It goes from “baby liar” to “piastrese liar”, the most prestigious rank. If you wanted to show everyone how big of a liar you are, you can always buy a funny sweatshirt, which you’ll be able to parade around the first week of August, when the second edition of the Italian Championship of Lies will be held. If you want to have a better idea of what they’ve come up with, go visit their website at labugia.it - well worth at least a hearty laugh, promised!

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, more or less serious, that, according to us, are well worth a second look. Thanks for listening and goodbye.