Danielle Mitzman

Shakespeare turned Romeo and Juliet into the most famous teenage couple in history. Their hometown, the Italian city of Verona, has long been a place of pilgrimage for lovesick tourists from all over the world. Now an American movie has pulled the city back into the romantic spotlight.

“Letters to Juliet” was inspired by a book of the same title written by sisters Lise and Ceil Friedman. It documents the history of a unique tradition in Verona which began back in the 1930s, when visitors to Juliet’s tomb started leaving letters addressed to her. The tomb’s guardian began to reply to the letters, signing himself off as “Juliet’s secretary” and the tradition has continued ever since.

Today people leave notes at Juliet’s house and even write to her by post. But she receives so much mail that she now has a whole group of secretaries who reply on her behalf. They are members of the Club di Giulietta or Juliet Club, which promotes the legend of the star-crossed lovers as well as answering the thousands of letters that pour into the city each year.

(first broadcast on Outlook, BBC World Service, 1st June, 2010)

Brazil. Home to the Brazil nut and it’s much lesser-known cousin, the castanha de Baru (or Baru nut). It’s tasty, high in protein, and low in fat. But for the slow movement, the Baru nut is more. It’s a symbol of traditional, local farming methods and products which have been protected and even promoted. Dany Mitzman gives us a taste of the Baru nut and what it means to Brazil.

First broadcast on Earth Beat, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 16th April, 2010

A quarter of a century after the world’s worst industrial disaster, there is no end in sight to the survivors’ struggle for justice. Those responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy are yet to be brought to justice, and the clean-up of the affected area is not yet complete.

Twenty-five years ago, the people of the central Indian city of Bhopal woke up to the horrors of what’s since come to be known as the world’s worst industrial disaster. Around midnight on December 2, 1984, toxic chemicals leaked from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in the city.

Some of the survivors have been on a bus tour around Europe to publicize the fact that, 25 years on, the after effects of the disaster continue to devastate the community. The tour was organized by the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International together with partner organizations, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and The Bhopal Medical Appeal.

Dany Mitzman caught up with the touring survivors during their stopover in Rome.

(first broadcast on World in Progress, Deutsche Welle Radio, 3rd December, 2009)