Danielle (Dany) Mitzman is a British freelance journalist who has been based in the north Italian town of Bologna since 1998. Before that, she worked in London as a producer for Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. She makes features and documentaries for BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, Deutsche Welle Radio and Radio Netherlands. Her reports are often rebroadcast on other networks, including NPR, CBC, ABC Australia and SABC. Her favourite areas are human interest, arts and culture and Italy's quirkiest news stories.
Over the past 10 years, Afghanistan has become the largest producer of opium. The Taliban finance themselves with the money they make from illegal sales of the drug. Many farmers are either forced, intimidated or financially tempted into cultivating opium poppies. And today the country produces over 90% of the world’s opium.
The government is trying to change this, with a policy of burning poppy fields, but one of the most effective ways of dealing with the problem is by offering farmers an alternative source of income.
In Herat Province in western Afghanistan, a small project is proving a resounding success: switching from the cultivation of opium poppies to saffron flowers.
First broadcast on World in Progress, Deutsche Welle Radio, 10th November 2010
The Italian Baroque artist, Caravaggio, never seems to be out of the news these days. This year, which marks the 400th anniversary of his death, has seen 2 major Caravaggio exhibitions in Rome and Florence, the possible discovery of an unknown work, the recovery of a stolen work and, last but not least, the discovery of the artist’s remains.
When a team of archaeologists, scientists and historians recently announced they’d identified the bones of Michelangelo Merisi, aka “Il Caravaggio”, the news created a wave of excitement among Italian art lovers. Caravaggio’s death has always been shrouded in mystery: despite countless theories, nobody knows exactly when he died and what he died of. Unlike most artists, neither his tomb nor his bones had ever been located.
But now it seems that one of the oldest cold cases in art history has finally been solved. Or has it? Dany Mitzman’s been talking to the team of academics-turned-detectives to find out more.
First broadcast on Arts on the Air, Deutsche Welle Radio, September 2010
If you were in the north Italian city of Bologna last weekend, you’d have been in for an unusual cultural treat. The resonant chimes of the church bells were temporarily replaced by the sharp trills of bicycle bells as scores of poetry lovers cycled through the streets and piazzas of the historic town centre, bringing poems written by poets from all over the world to…well, anyone who fancied listening.
Now in its second year, Poetandem invites everyone to get on their bikes and spread the poetic word to unsuspecting passers-by, as I discovered.
First broadcast on The Strand, BBC World Service, 26th July 2010.