Sylvia has been (and remains) a staple of NPR news for 29 years with Europe as her territory. However she is memorable due to how her last name is said. To my ears, it sounds like it begins with “Boo” and “Zuh,” or resembles the French command to “move it!” (you’ll hear this with action flicks). The brothers Ray and Tom on Car Talk always love to say it too.
The official NPR site says Sylvia provides commentary which was a surprise. I’ve listened since the early Nineties and I’ve only heard her opinion about events in Europe twice: the death of Pope John Paul II and Roberto Benigni’s Pinocchio coming to America. Maybe I caught the wrong cycle. I’ll go with having a poor memory.
Sylvia’s career and life will make a fantastic book (or movie). She was born in America to ex-pat parents who were part of the anti-Mussolini/Fascist faction. In school she landed a Fulbright Scholarship so she studied in Rome, a way of giving Il Duce the finger to his grave. Thne Sylvia worked for Ansa (Italian AP) and later NPR. Europe may be seen as a plum gig but I remember she did most of the coverage on the Balkans Wars (Yugoslavia’s break into Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, etc.).
I haven’t bothered with NPR much over the last several years, the news tends to depress me and heightens my anxiety. Still I would like to hear Sylvia’s two cents about Italy’s current dictator Berlosconi.