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  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Notebooks and books are seen here in the studio of Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  The reading room of Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) is seen here in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait as he looks at a painted portrait of his wife's great aunt in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Interior of Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi's home is seen here in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020: A painting of a cat drawn by Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi's son (center), a portrait of Mr Veronesi's parents (left) and a pile of books, including his latest novel "Il Colibrì" (2019) are seen here in his studio in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Notebooks and books are seen here in the studio of Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Notebooks and books are seen here in the studio of Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  The last known picture of J. D. Salinger is seen here in the studio of  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait as he looks at a painted portrait of his wife's great aunt in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • ROME, ITALY - 21 FEBRUARY 2020:  Italian novelist and essayist Sandro Veronesi (60) poses for a portrait in his home in Rome, Italy, on February 21st 2020.<br />
<br />
In 2006 Sandro Veronesi won the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, with his book "Caos Calmo". His latest novel is "Il Colibrì" (2019).
    CIPG_20200221_DE-VOLKSKRANT_SandroVe...jpg
  • CIVITAVNOVE MARCHE, ITALY - 28 NOVEMBER 2019: Cesare Catini (81), a former shoemaking entrepreneur, poses for a portrait in Civitanove Marche, Italy, on November 28th 2019. At 12, he left school and began working with his uncle making shoes. In 1961, when Mr. Catini was only 22, he launched his own business, making women’s shoes in a small garage at his home. By the 1980s, they had hired a designer from Milan and were buying advertisements in the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. In 2001, China secured entry to the World Trade Organization, opening markets to its exports.  That year, Italian footwear manufacturers exported 354 million pairs of shoes. By 2018, that number had plunged to 203 million, a drop of more than 40 percent. <br />
Over the same period, China displaced Italy as Germany’s largest source of shoes. By 2017, China was selling $3.7 billion worth of footwear to Germany, according to the World Bank, nearly triple Italy’s sales. Mr. Catini’s sales and production were down by 80 percent by 2005.   He shut it down in 2008, throwing 70 people out of work, unable to compete with China.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around.
    CIPG_20191128_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_4117.jpg
  • CIVITAVNOVE MARCHE, ITALY - 28 NOVEMBER 2019: Cesare Catini (81), a former shoemaking entrepreneur, poses for a portrait in Civitanove Marche, Italy, on November 28th 2019. At 12, he left school and began working with his uncle making shoes. In 1961, when Mr. Catini was only 22, he launched his own business, making women’s shoes in a small garage at his home. By the 1980s, they had hired a designer from Milan and were buying advertisements in the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. In 2001, China secured entry to the World Trade Organization, opening markets to its exports.  That year, Italian footwear manufacturers exported 354 million pairs of shoes. By 2018, that number had plunged to 203 million, a drop of more than 40 percent. <br />
Over the same period, China displaced Italy as Germany’s largest source of shoes. By 2017, China was selling $3.7 billion worth of footwear to Germany, according to the World Bank, nearly triple Italy’s sales. Mr. Catini’s sales and production were down by 80 percent by 2005.   He shut it down in 2008, throwing 70 people out of work, unable to compete with China.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around.
    CIPG_20191128_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_4056.jpg
  • CIVITAVNOVE MARCHE, ITALY - 28 NOVEMBER 2019: Cesare Catini (81), a former shoemaking entrepreneur, poses for a portrait in Civitanove Marche, Italy, on November 28th 2019. At 12, he left school and began working with his uncle making shoes. In 1961, when Mr. Catini was only 22, he launched his own business, making women’s shoes in a small garage at his home. By the 1980s, they had hired a designer from Milan and were buying advertisements in the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. In 2001, China secured entry to the World Trade Organization, opening markets to its exports.  That year, Italian footwear manufacturers exported 354 million pairs of shoes. By 2018, that number had plunged to 203 million, a drop of more than 40 percent. <br />
Over the same period, China displaced Italy as Germany’s largest source of shoes. By 2017, China was selling $3.7 billion worth of footwear to Germany, according to the World Bank, nearly triple Italy’s sales. Mr. Catini’s sales and production were down by 80 percent by 2005.   He shut it down in 2008, throwing 70 people out of work, unable to compete with China.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around.
    CIPG_20191128_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_4039.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: Chinese clothes with a "Made in Italy" label are shown here in a showroom of a Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3300.jpg
  • CIVITAVNOVE MARCHE, ITALY - 28 NOVEMBER 2019: Cesare Catini (81), a former shoemaking entrepreneur, poses for a portrait in Civitanove Marche, Italy, on November 28th 2019. At 12, he left school and began working with his uncle making shoes. In 1961, when Mr. Catini was only 22, he launched his own business, making women’s shoes in a small garage at his home. By the 1980s, they had hired a designer from Milan and were buying advertisements in the Italian edition of Vogue magazine. In 2001, China secured entry to the World Trade Organization, opening markets to its exports.  That year, Italian footwear manufacturers exported 354 million pairs of shoes. By 2018, that number had plunged to 203 million, a drop of more than 40 percent. <br />
Over the same period, China displaced Italy as Germany’s largest source of shoes. By 2017, China was selling $3.7 billion worth of footwear to Germany, according to the World Bank, nearly triple Italy’s sales. Mr. Catini’s sales and production were down by 80 percent by 2005.   He shut it down in 2008, throwing 70 people out of work, unable to compete with China.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around.
    CIPG_20191128_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_4096.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: Chinese clothes with a "Made in Italy" label are shown here in a showroom of a Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3297.jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: A family walks by a fish seller in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30909...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 15 APRIL 2021: A view of the "Sails" housing project in Scampia, a district in the outskirts of Naples known across Italy as a tough place plagued for years by the Camorra mafia, is seen here in Naples, Italy, on April 15th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and wo
    CIPG_20210415_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_M2P...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: A waiter is seen here after a delivery in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30067...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: An elderly woman is seen here walking in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30064...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo,  call names off a list organized by the customers themselves to enter the Bank and either pawn their valuables or pay interest on their paws, in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30058...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, wait for their names to be called off a list organized by the customers themselves to enter the Bank and pay interest on their paws, in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30053...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: Luigi Milano (69), owner of a pawnshop, weighs  a gold watch and a gold brooch recently pawned by a customer in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30043...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: Luigi Milano (69), owner of a pawnshop, poses for a portrait at his counter in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30039...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Passerby are seen here in Piazza Plebiscito in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30994...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: People shop in the Pignasecca, a popular outdoor market in the center of Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30029...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Passerby are seen here in the historical center of Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30968...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: (L-R) Gennaro Sifo (58), Salvatore Sifo (55), Giuseppina Liberti (63) and Elena Carlevalis (49), all without a stable income, have a chat here in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30936...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Valentina Filardi (45), unemployed, poses for a portrait in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30924...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, wait for their names to be called off a list organized by the customers themselves to enter the Bank and pay interest on their paws, in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30902...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: A family fishes by the seafron overlooking Mount Vesuvius in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30024...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: A man is seen here by the seafront overlooking Mount Vesuvius in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30017...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Young men play ball by the Basilica of San Francesco da Paola, in Piazza Plebiscito in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30016...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: A girl looks at her smartphone by the Basilica of San Francesco da Paola, in Piazza Plebiscito in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30012...jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A projection of the history of the local textile industry and the Chinese presence is seen here the textile museum in Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_2895.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A view of the former Nesi textile factory, that went out of business, is seen here in Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
In the 1990s, the Germans began purchasing cheaper fabrics woven in the former East Germany, Bulgaria and Romania. Then, they shifted their sights to China, where similar fabric could be had for less than half the price of Prato’s. Chinese factories were buying the same German-made machinery used by the mills in Prato. They were hiring Italian consultants who were instructing them on the modern arts of the trade. By 2000, the Nesi textile factory was no longer making money.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_2328.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Marco Weng (20), a first-generation Italian-Chinese and son of Chinese immigrants who arrived in Italy 30 years ago, poses for a portrait at his partner's fried chicken take-away restaurant in the Chinatown of Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. “There was no clothing industry here. Italians only made textiles. Chinese people didn’t take jobs. We have created jobs”, Mr Weng says.  Marco Weng is about to launch a chain of Korean fried chicken restaurants with a partner.<br />
<br />
Today, roughly one-tenth of the city’s 200,000 inhabitants are Chinese immigrants who have arrived legally, while many estimates put the total number at 45,000 after accounting for those without proper documents. <br />
Chinese grocery stores and restaurants have emerged to serve the local population. On the outskirts of the city, Chinese entrepreneurs oversee warehouses teeming with racks of clothing destined for markets across the continent. Estimates have it that 80 percent of clothing sold in street markets within the European Union is made by Chinese workers in Prato.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s facto
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_1894.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Marco Weng (20), a first-generation Italian-Chinese and son of Chinese immigrants who arrived in Italy 30 years ago, poses for a portrait at his partner's fried chicken take-away restaurant in the Chinatown of Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. “There was no clothing industry here. Italians only made textiles. Chinese people didn’t take jobs. We have created jobs”, Mr Weng says.  Marco Weng is about to launch a chain of Korean fried chicken restaurants with a partner.<br />
<br />
Today, roughly one-tenth of the city’s 200,000 inhabitants are Chinese immigrants who have arrived legally, while many estimates put the total number at 45,000 after accounting for those without proper documents. <br />
Chinese grocery stores and restaurants have emerged to serve the local population. On the outskirts of the city, Chinese entrepreneurs oversee warehouses teeming with racks of clothing destined for markets across the continent. Estimates have it that 80 percent of clothing sold in street markets within the European Union is made by Chinese workers in Prato.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s facto
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_1890.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Marco Weng (20), a first-generation Italian-Chinese and son of Chinese immigrants who arrived in Italy 30 years ago, poses for a portrait at his partner's fried chicken take-away restaurant in the Chinatown of Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. “There was no clothing industry here. Italians only made textiles. Chinese people didn’t take jobs. We have created jobs”, Mr Weng says.  Marco Weng is about to launch a chain of Korean fried chicken restaurants with a partner.<br />
<br />
Today, roughly one-tenth of the city’s 200,000 inhabitants are Chinese immigrants who have arrived legally, while many estimates put the total number at 45,000 after accounting for those without proper documents. <br />
Chinese grocery stores and restaurants have emerged to serve the local population. On the outskirts of the city, Chinese entrepreneurs oversee warehouses teeming with racks of clothing destined for markets across the continent. Estimates have it that 80 percent of clothing sold in street markets within the European Union is made by Chinese workers in Prato.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s facto
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_1829.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Marco Weng (20), a first-generation Italian-Chinese and son of Chinese immigrants who arrived in Italy 30 years ago, poses for a portrait at his partner's fried chicken take-away restaurant in the Chinatown of Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. “There was no clothing industry here. Italians only made textiles. Chinese people didn’t take jobs. We have created jobs”, Mr Weng says.  Marco Weng is about to launch a chain of Korean fried chicken restaurants with a partner.<br />
<br />
Today, roughly one-tenth of the city’s 200,000 inhabitants are Chinese immigrants who have arrived legally, while many estimates put the total number at 45,000 after accounting for those without proper documents. <br />
Chinese grocery stores and restaurants have emerged to serve the local population. On the outskirts of the city, Chinese entrepreneurs oversee warehouses teeming with racks of clothing destined for markets across the continent. Estimates have it that 80 percent of clothing sold in street markets within the European Union is made by Chinese workers in Prato.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s facto
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_1765.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Sellers of Marini Industrie, a textile company that has survived Chinese competition, are seen here choosing fabrics in Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. Marini Industrie is one of the few companies in Prato that weren’t hit by Chinese competition, by elevating their quality.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_1166.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: A fabric sample from the 1967/1968 Fall/Winter collection of Marini Industrie, a textile company that has survived Chinese competition, is seen here in Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. Marini Industrie is one of the few companies in Prato that weren’t hit by Chinese competition, by elevating their quality.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_1070.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019:  Lorena Bertocci (70) chooses fabric samples for a client at Marini Industrie, a textile company that has survived Chinese competition in Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. Lorena Bertocci has been working at Marini Industrie since he was 14 years old. Marini Industrie is one of the few companies in Prato that weren’t hit by Chinese competition, by elevating their quality.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191125_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_0564.jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 15 APRIL 2021: A view of the "Sails" housing project in Scampia, a district in the outskirts of Naples known across Italy as a tough place plagued for years by the Camorra mafia, is seen here in Naples, Italy, on April 15th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and wo
    CIPG_20210415_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_M2P...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 15 APRIL 2021: A view of the "Sails" housing project in Scampia, a district in the outskirts of Naples known across Italy as a tough place plagued for years by the Camorra mafia, is seen here in Naples, Italy, on April 15th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and wo
    CIPG_20210415_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_M2P...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 15 APRIL 2021: A view of the "Sails" housing project in Scampia, a district in the outskirts of Naples known across Italy as a tough place plagued for years by the Camorra mafia, is seen here in Naples, Italy, on April 15th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and wo
    CIPG_20210415_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_M2P...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: A third grade student is seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, wait and call names off a list organized by the customers themselves to enter the Bank and either pawn their valuables or pay interest on their paws, in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30051...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: Luigi Milano (69), owner of a pawnshop, poses for a portrait at his counter in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30039...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: People shop in the Pignasecca, a popular outdoor market in the center of Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200619_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30035...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: A waiter is seen here at work in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30985...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Passerby are seen here in the historical center of Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30957...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Passerby are seen here in the historical center of Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30962...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Claire Tranchesi (40), founder and owner of the vintage shop Oblomova, poses for a portrait in front of her shop in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30948...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Claire Tranchesi (40), founder and owner of the vintage shop Oblomova, poses for a portrait in front of her shop in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30945...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Valentina Filardi (45), unemployed, poses for a portrait in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30924...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Rossana Nappo (52), a tobacconist, poses for a portrait in her tobacco shop in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30920...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: An elderly man rings a doowbell in the Spanish Quarters in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30913...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 19 JUNE 2020: The entrance of the pawn shop owned by Luigi Milano (69) is seen here in Naples, Italy, on June 19th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30906...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, wait for their names to be called off a list organized by the customers themselves to enter the Bank and pay interest on their paws, in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30898...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, wait for their names to be called off a list organized by the customers themselves and enter the Bank to pay interest on their  pawn, in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30895...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: A customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, waits for her name to be called off a list organized by the customers themselves and enter the Bank to pay interest on her pawn, in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30894...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 18 JUNE 2020: Customers of  the pawn branch of the Bank of Naples, which is owned by the financial giant Intesa Sanpaolo, wait and call names off a list organized by the customers themselves to enter the Bank and either pawn their valuables or pay interest on their paws, in Naples, Italy, on June 18th 2020.<br />
<br />
The gold and jewelry-backed loans business of Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo, which operated the Naples pawnshop, is in the process of being acquired by Banca Sistema. A company spokeswoman said its new pawnbroker policies went up 20 percent in March and April and that it looked forward to standing at the side of Italians, protecting them from loan sharks, and getting them much needed cash.
<br />
Pawn shops have been part of the Italian banking system for centuries. Lombard money changers worked with collateral in the Middle Ages and Catholic church in the 15th century sought to combat usury, and undercut Jewish money lenders, by pooling the resources of wealthy locals into a Mount of Piety, basically a pile of cash, to make no interest (and thus no-sin) loans to the poor. Papal intervention eventually allowed added payments, and pawn departments became central to the evolution of Italian banking, extending ready cash through plagues, sieges and other assorted catastrophes. Now, with Italy facing economic devastation from the coronavirus pawnshop industry leaders are confident there will be a surge in business.<br />
<br />
In the days after the lifting of Italy’s lockdown in May, the collateral loan sector – the institutional name for Italy’s pawn brokers — saw a 20 to 30 percent increase in activity. And on lines outside the pawn units of banks in Rome, Milan and Naples, anxiety remained palpable.
    CIPG_20200618_NYT-Italy-Pawn_7M30892...jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: A view of the quality control area of Marini Industrie, a textile company that has survived Chinese competition in Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. Marini Industrie is one of the few companies in Prato that weren’t hit by Chinese competition, by elevating their quality.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    SMAS_20191125_NYT_Italy-Crisis_DSCF7...jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Claudio Vivarelli (53) is seen here checking the quality of a fabric at Marini Industrie, a textile company that has survived Chinese competition in Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. Claudio Vivarelli has been working at Marini Industrie for 20 years. Marini Industrie is one of the few companies in Prato that weren’t hit by Chinese competition, by elevating their quality.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    SMAS_20191125_NYT_Italy-Crisis_DSCF7...jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 25 NOVEMBER 2019: Luca Campigli (56),  walks by the stocked fabric samples at Marini Industrie, a textile company that has survived Chinese competition in Prato, Italy, on November 25th 2019. Luca Campagni has been working at Marini Industrie for 27 years. Marini Industrie is one of the few companies in Prato that weren’t hit by Chinese competition, by elevating their quality.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    SMAS_20191125_NYT_Italy-Crisis_DSCF7...jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: The fabric fabric produced in the Tronci textile factory, a supplier of Marini Industrie, is seen here in Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3409.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: The fabric fabric produced in the Tronci textile factory, a supplier of Marini Industrie, is seen here in Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3405.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: A man is seen here at work in the Tronci textile factory, a supplier of Marini Industrie, in Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3400.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: The weaving of a fabric is seen here in the Tronci textile factory, a supplier of Marini Industrie, in Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3367.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: A woman is seen here at work in the Tronci textile factory, a supplier of Marini Industrie, in Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3349.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: Signs advertise  Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3332.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: Chinese clothes are shown here in a showroom of a Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3310.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 27 NOVEMBER 2019: A graffiti saying "Here are the slaves" is seen here by the Chinese clothing retailers in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 27th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191127_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3285.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: Chinese immigrants are seen here loading a truck at a showroom of a Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3275.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A man is seen here in a makeshift pastry shop the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3264.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A sign advertises a Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3241.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer is seen here in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3215.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: Signs advertise  Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3177.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A building with Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailers is seen here in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3172.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A sign advertises a Chinese Pronto Moda (Fast Fashion) retailer  in the textile industrial area of Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_3153.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A projection of the history of the local textile industry and the Chinese presence is seen here the textile museum in Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_2877.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: An interior view of the textile museum in Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_2831.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: The textile museum in Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
    CIPG_20191126_NYT_Italy-Cris_M3_2806.jpg
  • PRATO, ITALY - 26 NOVEMBER 2019: A 1926 photograph of the owners and workers in the Nesi textile factory is seen here in the house of Edoardo Nesi, who inherited the business that went out of business because of globalization and Chinese competition, in Prato, Italy, on November 26th 2019.<br />
<br />
Italy has proved especially vulnerable to China’s emergence as a manufacturing juggernaut, given that many of its artisanal trades -- textiles, leather, shoe-making -- have long been dominated by small, family-run businesses that lacked the scale to compete on price with factories in a nation of 1.4 billion people. <br />
In recent years, four Italian regions that were as late as the 1980s electing Communists and then reliably supported center-left candidates -- Tuscany, Umbria, Marche and Emilia-Romagna  -- have swung dramatically to the extreme right. Many working class people say that delineation has it backwards: The left abandoned them, not the other way around. <br />
<br />
Between 2001 and 2011, Prato’s 6,000 textile companies shrunk to 3,000, and those employed by the plants plunged from 40,000 to 19,000, according to Confindustria, the leading Italian industrial trade association. As Prato’s factories went dark, people began arriving from China - mostly from the coastal city of Wenzhou, famed for its industriousness - to exploit an opportunity.<br />
They set up sewing machines across the concrete floors and imported fabric from factories in China. They sewed clothes, cannily imitating the styles of Italian fashion brands. They affixed a valuable label to their creations: “Made In Italy”.
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