Cuenca celebrates Italian culture and dining; Concert honors the Bienal; Notes on corpses in Azogues warn thieves and extortionists; Housing starts drop

Bored?
Arte, cine y música por la Semana de la Lengua Italiana – The Sociedad Dante Alighieri de Cuenca will celebrate the ‘Settimana della Lingua Italiana nel Mondo 2025.’ The program includes art exhibits, movies and a concert to promote Italian culture in Cuenca which has been participating in this celebration for 19 years. There is the exhibit “Lo Sagrado en la pintura italiana” at the Casa Patrimonial Quinta Bolívar which honors the Holy Jubilee Year Rome 2025.

Concierto en honor a Bienal – The Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca will present “The Game: una Bienal de Bienales” in honor of the XVII Bienal de Cuenca el viernes, 17/10 a las 19:00 in the Teatro Casa de la Cultura. The concert, conducted by Augusto Carrión Rodas, will have music from video games such as Mario Bros, Pokemon, Zelda and Donkey Kong.

Building starts dropped in Cuenca and Ecuador in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024.

Exposición en Galería Vitrina – The show, “De las Piedras no se Habla,” by artist Juan Carlos García opened at the Galería Vitrina of the Casa de la Cultura and will run until el 15/11. The works explore the boundary between what is human and what is natural. <Does that imply that humans are not natural?> Free.

Chaguarmishqui con un festival en Nabón (this is for all of you are not only bored, but would like to get drunk) – The 9th edition of the Festival de Chagurmishqui will be held in the Ñamarín community in Nabón el 18/10 starting at 10:30 in the center of the community. Local producers of this artesanal liquor will participate.

Hungry?
La auténtica cocina italiana – Mónica Figueroa has been serving Italian food at Mediterráneo (Honorato Vasquez 7-64 y Luis Cordero) for 18 years. She wanted to recreate genuine flavors in her native Ecuador after being an administrator at a cafeteria in Cassano D’adda in Milan in the 90’s. With the help of 2 memorable Italian grandmothers, she learned the secrets of classic recipes which form the base of her cooking. On the menu are creamy classic risottos, artisanal pizzas cooked in a wood fired oven, handmade raviolis, and gnocchis, meats and seafood prepared with traditional Italian techniques. Her plans are to develop a line of gourmet artesanal products to sell online.

Cornicello is a pizzeria started by Pastor Peña who is passionate about healthy food. The restaurant is located on Honorato Loyola y Agustín Cueva and the pizza focuses on the Neapolitan style, with the dough as the heart of the pie. The dough is fermented for 24 hours creating a delicious and light crust. He uses high quality basic ingredients – Italian tomatoes and classic mozzarella cheese. His most sold pizzas are a fig and blue cheese pizza which is a Cuencan/Neapolitan fusion and the ‘Imbatible’ which has tomato, mozzarella, ham, pistachio, pesto and burrata. His own favorite pizza is the ‘Margherita.’

Luca (Rafael Ramírez 1-26 y Remigio Romero) was founded by María de Lourdes Coellar during the pandemic. The menu started with lasagnas and then quickly expanded to handcrafted pastas, risottos, paninis and salads. Luca specializes in classic hand made pastas, risottos with meats and seafood, lasagnas, and other dishes and cocktails from her own recipes. Some of the most ordered dishes are the ‘Risotto Mari e Monti’, ‘Tonnarelli alla Carbonara’, and ‘Zuppa di Luca’, which is an Ecuadorian version of the traditional Italian ‘Zuppa di Pesce.’

Curious?
Moneda de aniversario – The Banco Central del Ecuador (BCE) issued a new commemorative coin to honor the 205 years of the Independence of Guayaquil. The coin is not legal tender but a collector’s object with patrimonial value. The issue is limited to 1,500 coins minted in 925 sterling silver. You can get one for $60 at the numismatic shops of the BCE in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca. <And no, I didn’t see anything that gave the weight of the coin. That’s for you to ask.>

Cadáveres y advertencias en Cañar – Since the end of 2024, several bodies have been found with flyers attached, warning robbers and extortionists that they will meet the same fate. <If you’re squeamish, you might want to go straight to the next article.> The latest corpses, which were decapitated, were found early on sábado el 11 by the side of the road between Rumihurco and Javier Loyola in Azogues, Cañar Province along with a warning flyer. They showed signs of violence, were wrapped in black plastic bags, and apparently thrown from a vehicle during the madrugada (early morning hours – your word for the day).

On the morning of martes, 7/10, pedestrians found a body in the weeds next to a 3d order road <which probably means a dirt or gravel road in bad condition> in the San Pedro sector of Biblián, Cañar. The corpse was covered in a blanket with a sign next to it saying that robbery and vacunas in Cuenca and Azogues are prohibited. This corpse presented signs of extreme violence with multiple injuries in the neck and torso from a bladed weapon. On el 29/9, a wrapped and also decapitated body was found in the weeds next to the vía Cuenca-Azogues along with a cardboard sign saying robbing in the city of Azogues-Cuenca is prohibited. <It looks like robberies and vacunas are a capital crime if you’re unfortunate enough to get caught by the victims’ friends or families.>

Another corpse was found el 12/8 next to a 3d order road in the Ayancay sector in Javier Loyola, Azogues, also with a flyer next to the body. <Geez, these Azogans don’t mess around with their criminals.> On Christmas morning, 2024, a man and a woman who had been shot were found on the vía a Turupamba, Biblián along with a note. According to preliminary investigations, the presumed motive was micro drug trafficking.

Cuenca construye menos este año – Construction of homes and edificios slowed in 2025 compared to 2024 according to the Estadísticas de Edificaciones (ESED), published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC). Based on permits, in 2024, 278 houses were built in the first quarter and 275 in the 2nd quarter. In 2025, these numbers fell to 166 and 246. This could reflect a slowing of the real estate sector. <Are big drug traffickers running out of money to launder or finding other ways to clean their earnings?>

Nationally, the majority of cantons have registered a decrease in the number of planned building projects for the 2nd quarter of 2025 compared with the 2nd quarter of 2024. Of the 3,381 potential buildings, 89.09% are new projects, 2.81% reconstruction, and 8.10% expansions. The total estimate of the amount to finance these projects is $391,000,000 with 14.94% of the projects reporting that financing will be through loans. <So how is the other 85% or about $324,000,000 of projects being financed? I think I already know what your theory is.>