Eye: Morocco Mall | Paul McCartney's Meat Free Cookbook | Italy's Luca Cordero di Montezemolo |
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Not Your Mother’s Casablanca
No, we’re not talking Las Vegas here. A 2,691,000-square-foot mall shopping center is coming to Casablance, with 98 percent of the retail space leased.
Morocco Mall, which is opening on Dec. 5, is a joint project of AKSAL and Al Jedaie Groups. The shell-shaped shopping center will be one of the 20 largest in the world and represents a $242 million investment.
The site of the Morocco Mall borders the Atlantic Ocean on the Casablanca Corniche coast. The mall stretches over 24,700 acres and includes 323,000 square feet of outdoor space and more than 150,000 square feet of landscaped gardens. With 350 shops representing everything from luxury brands to convenience stores, Morocco Mall will offer 600 brands, many of which will be opening a store in Africa for the first time, according a spokeswoman. via WWD
In the center of the mall is the Morocco Souk, a seating and lounging area inspired by the medina, or the old quarters of North African cities like Fez and Marrakech. No word on whether a branch of Rick’s Cafe will be on the premises.
Will Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Run?
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and second wife Ludovica AndreoniLuca Cordero di Montezemolo WSJ Magazine
Many Italians are praying fervently that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo goes into politics.
In 2009, Montezemolo founded Italia Futura, a nonpartisan political brain trust modeled along the lines of the Brookings Institution or the Heritage Foundation. Italia Futura is not exactly a political party, says Andrea Romano, the University of Rome Tor Vergata history professor who runs it, but is a political “brand” associated with Montezemolo. The hallmarks of the brand are managerial competence and a call to dismantle Italy’s deadweight political structure and reboot its flagging entrepreneurial drive. Some of this was also what Berlusconi called for when he first came on the scene, but he got a little sidetracked. “Montezemolo is affidabile,” says Romano—reliable, trustworthy. “You know he’s not going to get caught in a bunga-bunga.”
Is the chairman of Italy’s Ferrari prepared to challenge the disgraced Berlusconi? His family hopes not, says son Matteo. Montezemolo’s is very much the ‘car-she-is-like-a-woman’ guy. The first date with a car is turning on the ignition. Porsche is cold like a guy, in Ferrari’s auto playbook. Ferrari is all woman. Unapologetic about his mentality, Ferrari — like any great sports car — must smell of girls, paint and speed.
On the subject of speed, the chairman and his friend Diego Della Valle, the founder of Tod’s and a friend for 25 years, and Seragnoli, a great Italian industrial family, are busy building Europe’s first high-speed rail line, called the Italo. Running between Milan and Rome, it will begin operating next year (and did).
In the realm of politics and with Italy in absolute political decay, Montezemolo is another of the global financial elite who says he should pay higher taxes.
“I’m rich, and I’m ready to pay more taxes,” he told the Rome daily La Repubblica. The paper put his annual income at around 5 million euros. “In return, I call upon the state to reduce the scope of its activities and to operate more efficiently. Concerning my proposal for a tax on annual incomes of between 5 and 10 million euros a year, I heard a deafening silence.” La Repubblica heard the distant ring of a political pledge.
Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday Cookbook
Two years ago Paul and daughter/designer Stella McCartney launched the Meat Free Monday campaign, in hopes of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and raising awareness around climate change. His new Meat Free Monday Cookbook is available in now in the UK and will be released in the US in February 2012.
For an immediate hit of Paul McCartney’s first wife Linda’s favorite meat free recipes, follow link.
Other celebs who have cookbooks out this year include Gwyneth Paltrow, Eva Longoria and Sheryl Crow. Read on at Amazon.
