Italy has been famous for its calendars ever since the publication [by the company’s UK subsidiary] of the first Pirelli Calendar in 1964. Whatever the shortcomings of the tyre company’s calendar with regard to political correctness, ageism is not one of them, for it famously included the then 72-year-old Sophia Loren in 2007.
Today we would like to tell you about two Italian calendars that you may not have heard of:
Fifty women of all ages and sizes have posed for the Curve d’Autore Calendar 2010. This calendar is produced by Donna Donna Onlus, a non-governmental organisation founded in Rome in 2008 to help women who have difficulty in accepting themselves as they are, in particular those suffering from eating disorders. Bulimia and anorexia are the main causes of death in females aged 12 – 25 in Italy and eating disorders affect 200,000 Italian women.
The aim of the calendar is to negate stereotypical ideas of feminine beauty and to increase awareness of eating disorders. The photographer Gerald Bruneau took pictures of students, artists, housewives and professional women whose bodies are tastefully draped in red velvet. Each page of the calendar tells women, “Tu sei Bellezza” [“You are beautiful”].
The calendar will be distributed free of charge from now until January 6th as part of the solidarity demonstration, Roma Insieme. It represents the first stage in the campaign, "Uniti contro i disturbi alimentari" [United against eating disorders] which has the support of the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunities.
The second calendar is the Calendario dei Carabinieri 2010. The Carabinieri Calendar is in eighty-second edition and was presented in Rome on December 1st. Previous Carabinieri calendars have become collectors’ items and this year 1 million, 350,000 copies have been printed, all of which are now sold out, according to various websites.
The theme of this year’s calendar is the swearing-in ceremony, “the most demanding and solemn act the uniformed men and women will carry out during their career” over the almost two centuries of the corps’ history. The calendar also remembers all the Carabinieri who have served loyally and faithfully in times of war and of peace.
You can view images from the Carabinieri Calendar here.
