The Belpaese Gets "it" Wrong

In a hopeful bid to relaunch Italy as the most visited country in Europe (France is #1; Paris the #1 tourist destination in the world), il belpaese has redesigned its logo (above), and endured a dual Prodi/Rutelli presentation, rife with explanations of its appropriateness.

Designed by San Francisco-based design firm Landor Associates, the logo is supposed to evoke "modernity", "naturalism" and "Italian tradition". Below the "it" it says "Italy leaves an impression". All indications point to the logo not being designed in Italy (for example, at Landor's Milan office) or even being the work of an Italian, but was rather outsourced to a design competition, albeit with some Italian judges on the panel. Italy's old turismo logo (above), whose look always struck me as suspiciously similar to Spain's (below), must have been more popular; an online survey taken today by Italy's second biggest daily La Repubblica found that only 29% of Italians approve of the new logo. Italy's turismo site, www.italia.it, is currently in fase di realizzazione -- coming soon -- just plain out of order; surely a great way to relaunch a tourism initiative.