10 ° C
Profile

Tag: monacolife

Through the eyes of a prince

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/01/2021

Prince Michael of Yugoslavia has combined his love for Monaco and passion for photography in one exhibition titled ‘Promenade dans Monaco’ at the Banque Havilland Monaco.

Prince Michael of Yugoslavia has worn many hats in his life. He has tried his hand at careers as diverse as investment executive, real estate broker, socialite and philanthropist. But his true passion is photography.
Using his love of the medium combined with considerable talent, he joined with Banque Havilland Monaco to organise an exhibit of his works “inspired by life in the Principality”.
Promenade dans Monaco is a series of snapshots of life in the Principality featuring unique seaside perspectives, iconic landmarks and beautiful landscapes to portray the country in all its diversity.
“I am happy to present my exhibition Promenade dans Monaco held at the Bank Havilland in Monaco,” Prince Michael said on his social media page alongside sample pieces from the event.
The exhibition was made possible through Banque Havilland’s programme to promote local artists and personalities.
Son of Prince Alexandre of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria Pia of Savoy, Prince Michael cultivated a passion for photography in his childhood and has participated in several exhibitions both in the US and across Europe. He credits his love of art to his mother, who had an excellent eye.
“Since we were not rich, rather than buying, my mother was often changing the placement of furniture (in our home). Volumes and perspectives were always evolving,” he says, reminiscing on his entry into the world of visuals.
As a young man, his royal family was forced to live in exile. As a result, he spent a lot of time travelling and this is where his appreciation was cultivated further. “On each trip I would visit art fairs. I was reunited with a whole group of friends in all these large cities. During these years, I would sharpen my look on art and paintings, but also on photography.”
Prince Michael’s style has been called “well-groomed and rigorous, where every detail is thought of” allowing people to see Monaco with fresh eyes and new angles.
The exhibition began on 1st January 2021 and will run until the end of April at Banque Havilland Monaco on Boulevard des Moulins. Visits can be made by appointment only.
 
Photo © Michel de Yougoslavie
 
 

Antonio Salvatore awarded Michelin star in first year

by: Cassandra Tanti
19/01/2021

Monaco’s Antonio Salvatore has gained a Michelin star for the five-table fine dining restaurant he created less than 12 months ago in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.

Despite criticisms that this year’s Michelin Guide should not go ahead, the adapted 30th annual award ceremony was livestreamed from the Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Monday.

The awards for the 2021 Michelin Guide for France were based on reviews of restaurants that have spent a large part of the past year completely closed by some of Europe’s strictest lockdown measures. In fact, the guide said its anonymous reviews were squeezed into a six-month period between lockdowns in France.

“It’s an important decision to support the profession despite the context, and maybe even because of the context. It was necessary to maintain these announcements,” Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the guides, said during the ceremony broadcast on Facebook. “It’s an occasion to shine a spotlight on all these talents, to encourage them and to keep restaurant patrons motivated.”

Antonio Salvatore opened his fine dining restaurant in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, telling Monaco Life in September 2020: “A very small number of people in the world were brave enough to open a gastronomic restaurant during Covid, and I was one of them.”

Well it certainly paid off. The intimate five-table restaurant, situated in the basement below its more famous sister-restaurant Rampoldi, was awarded a Michelin star within the first 12 months of opening – an incredible achievement in itself.

La Table d’Antonio Salvatore

Michelin had promised no three-star chefs would be demoted this year because of the health crisis. As a result, Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel de Paris and Menton’s Mirazur have both kept their three stars.

Any stars removed were for restaurants that had closed or changed dining concepts.

The year’s only new three-star chef was Alexandre Mazzia for his Marseille restaurant AM, featuring compositions such as algae popcorn, smoked eel and chocolate, and raspberry sorbet with harissa.

Michelin also noted the success of the “culinary jewels” Mazzia has been offering from a food truck during the pandemic, with meal baskets sold for just €24. “The idea is to not be a victim of this lockdown, to keep your head above water and keep the fire alive – it’s like training, even though the game is different,” he told AFP last year.

Michelin also promoted two restaurants to two stars: Helene Darroze’s Marsan in Paris, and La Merise, an Alsatian restaurant near Strasbourg opened by Cedric Deckert and his wife four years ago.

La Table d’Antonio Salvatore was one of five new restaurants to receive their first star in the Côte d’Azur region. The others were Les Agitateurs (Nice), Colette Hôtel Sezz (Saint-Tropez), Louroc – Hôtel Eden Roc (Antibes) and L’or Bleu (Théoule-sur-Mer).

First Michelin starred vegan restaurant

Chef Claire Vallée, head of ONA (Origine non-animale) was awarded the first Michelin star in France for a vegan restaurant. The restaurant, in Arès, Gironde, was established in 2016 through a crowdfunding campaign, helped by honour loans and an ethical bank (La Nef) because traditional banks did not believe in the project. Featuring on her seven-course gourmet menu is, notably, ‘fir, porcini, sake’ and ‘celery, tonka and amber beer’. The chef was also awarded a green star, introduced last year to reward establishments for their eco-responsible approach to food.

Six Michelin restaurants in Monaco

Antonio Salvatore’s award brings the total number of one Michelin star restaurants in Monaco to five. The others are Vistamar, Le Grill, Yoshi and Le Blue Bay. Le Louis XV is the Principality’s only three star restaurant.

Photos courtesy La Table d’Antonio Salvatore

Related stories:
Monaco’s new intimate fine dining experience

Charles Leclerc tests positive but “feeling ok”

by: Stephanie Horsman
15/01/2021

Monegasque Formula One driver Charles Leclerc says he is suffering only mild symptoms after contracting Covid-19 and is in self-quarantine at his home in the Principality.
Team Ferrari’s rising star revealed in a Tweet on Thursday that he has tested positive for Covid, saying: “I hope you are all staying safe. I want to let you know that I have tested positive for Covid-19. I am regularly checked according to my team’s protocols. Unfortunately I learned that I have been in contact with a positive case and immediately went into self-isolation, notifying anyone I had contact with. A subsequent test I took has come back positive. I am feeling OK and have mild symptoms. I will remain in isolation in my home in Monaco in compliance with the regulations set by the local health authorities. Stay safe and take care.”
The 23-year-old is the fifth Formula One driver to have tested positive. Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez all missed races last season due to the virus, and Lando Norris is currently self-isolating in Dubai after learning of a recent positive test result.
Ferrari has assured the public that Leclerc has followed protocol, saying: “Charles notified us immediately and has informed everyone he has been in close contact with in the last few days.”
The news of Charles Leclerc’s positive test comes the same week as Formula One announced its 2021 season schedule, including the postponement of the Australian and Chinese Grand Prix races. The Melbourne opener has been moved from March to November, making Bahrain the season opener on 28th March.
 
Photo of Charles Leclerc, source Formula One
 
 

Prince to headline Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

by: Cassandra Tanti
14/01/2021

Prince Albert will give a keynote speech on national resilience in the face of Covid-19 at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, designed to help set the agenda for a green recovery from the health crisis.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW), hosted by Masdar, is a global platform for accelerating sustainable development and will be held virtually from 18th to 21st January 2021.
ADSW 2021 will feature a series of high-level virtual events, including the ADSW Summit, IRENA Assembly, Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Forum, Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum, Youth 4 Sustainability Virtual Forums and the World Future Energy Summit Webinars.
“As our economies and industries begin to recover from the impact of the global pandemic, we have an opportunity to set ambitious goals, invest in new technologies and put the necessary policies in place that will deliver a sustainable recovery,” said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change and Chairman of Masdar. “Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week embodies the United Arab Emirate’s proactive and forward-thinking approach to climate change and sustainability and underlines the UAE’s role as a responsible, solutions oriented global citizen, enabling dialogue to be turned into action.”
Dr Sultan Al Jaber will be delivering a keynote speech at the ADSW Summit, which will feature more than 70 high-level speakers from around the world, including Prince Albert II of Monaco, Head of State, who will share how his Principality has handed the coronavirus crisis.
“The Covid-19 pandemic continues to cause unprecedented levels of disruption to lives all over the world. But the recovery period offers energy policy makers and the investment community a moment to realign their decisions and actions with sustainable growth, economic resilience, and shared prosperity,” said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “The IRENA Assembly and Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week represent a starting point for a year that we must come to define as pivotal in our pursuit of a sustainable future.”
This year’s summit follows a successful 2020 edition of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, which hosted around 45,000 attendees from 170 countries, with more than 500 high-level speakers from around the world. After this year’s virtual event, the physical program of ADSW will return in 2022.
To ensure the safety of all participants, ADSW 2021 and all related high-level events will take place virtually. The physical program of ADSW will return in 2022.
 
 

How many workers in Monaco are female?

by: Stephanie Horsman
14/01/2021

Women made up 41% of the workforce in large companies in 2019 and the majority of working females in Monaco were French. These are just some of the findings to come out of the latest report by IMSEE.
New figures by Monaco’s statistics body show that 53,091 people were employed in the private sector in 2019. Of those, just over 21,000 were women, constituting 40% of the total.
The overwhelming nationality was French at 63%, while Italians made up 15%, and Portuguese 7%.
Meanwhile, 43% of women lived in Monaco or the communities immediately surrounding it such as Beausoleil, Cap d’Ail, La Turbie and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. This is compared to 32% of private sector men.
The average age of women skewed a bit lower than that of the men, but only just. Males were aged 42.2 on average, and women 41.6 years. In the 25 to 34 age range, women had a slight edge over men, making up 25% of the sector’s workforce compared to 22% of men.
The biggest sector in Monaco – Scientific and Technical Activities, Administrative Services and Support – is also the biggest employer of women in the Principality, with 3,000 females coming under this umbrella.
Hospital Activities, GSA Admin, Teaching and Social Health and Action Services are primarily female dominated sectors, with seven out of 10 employees being women.
On the other end of the scale, only one construction worker in 10 was female.
The number of working hours each week varied only slightly in two categories. Women worked more than 39 hours a week in 12% of cases, whilst 26% of men did the same. In other categories, it is roughly even. For those working under 20 hours per week, women came in at 12% and men at 9%. Meanwhile, 41% of women worked exactly 39 hours a week compared to 39% of men.
The figures show that women made up the majority of employees in small companies in the private sector. In those with less than five employees, they represented 53%. However, in companies with 50 or more employees that figure drops to 41%.
Finally, there were 48 companies of more than five employees that were 100% female, versus 129 that were 100% male.
 
Photo source: Unsplash
 
 

Roca Team clobbers Nanterre in Euro Cup match

by: Stephanie Horsman
14/01/2021

The Roca Team came out swinging and never stopped in their Wednesday night Euro Cup 7 Top 16 match against Nanterre, beating their opponent 93 to 65.
AS Monaco Basketball is back on form after their disappointing loss to Orleans last weekend when they were knocked out of the Coupe de France.
It was clear from the start that Nanterre didn’t stand a chance on Wednesday. The team was determined to take home the win and win they did. They delivered both offensively and defensively, dominating the game on the opponent’s home turf.
Top scorer Marcos Knight had praise for his team, saying “I think we played a big team game in defense. We forced them to take some tough shots and from our side we shared the ball well.”
Knight took home 20 points and seven rebounds on the night, followed by Rob Gray who had 19 points and an impressive four for seven three-pointers. Damien Inglis had 11 points and nine rebounds, and JJ O’Brien brought home 10 points. Will Yeguete picked up 10 rebounds to match his 10 points scored.
The team made 26 out of 38 shots on the night and a whopping 39 total rebounds.
“I’m very happy with the performance of my team, with the way we won this match,” said Coach Zvezdan Mitrovic. “We produced a very good game in attack, collectively. Everything worked out well with a good share of the ball, it was really better than usual in this sector. We confirmed our status as the best defense in the Euro Cup but I really liked what I saw in attack. It’s only the first game but the Top 16 is off to a good start.”
The Roca Team face off against Unicaja Malaga next Tuesday at home at Salle Gaston Médecin.
 
Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball