Fri 11 May 2012
I Should Not Have Commented Last Week in Improving Efficiency in Italy
Right after I sent out newsletter 461 with such comment, my internet service went down and the elevator stopped working in my building. Then a friend in Florence complained that it took seven days for a letter to arrive at her house that was mailed 12 blocks away.
Everett Hall Trousers
I finally got these oversized trousers (for professional athletes) altered down to my size. The seamstress probably could have made another garment from the material she took out of these trousers to fit me.
Mayoral Election in Pistoia
It took place this week. There were eight candidates for mayor. The candidate of the central-left coalition won with 60% of the vote. There were administrative elections throughout Italy. The center-right party of Berlusconi did poorly. I predicted that this party would not long survive Berlusconi’s exit from politics, and I think my prediction will come true. The closest thing to the American Tea Party in Italy, the party of comedian BeppeGrillo, showed strong gains, but I don’t think it will develop into a major party.
Renzo Bossi (aka The Trout)
I have written recently about this not very bright son of Umberto Bossi, the founder and head of the Northern League party. A prime tenet of the League is disrespect and disdain for the south of Italy. After Renzo twice failed his high school exit examination, however, the Bossi family sent him to the south of Italy (where standards are more lax) to take it a third time. He passed. Then the family faced the issue of a university education for Renzo. It now appears that at a private university in Albania he earned a three-year degree in only one year by passing 29 examinations with very good grades. What makes this even more amazing is that the language of instruction at the university is Albanian. All this came to light when it was discovered that the Treasurer of the Northern League party made a large payment to this university. Perhaps the tuition is quite high for the fast-track, one-year program.
In Renzo’s defense, however, I must note what he said last week. With the scandal in Northern League finances, Renzo has lost his political post. He said that he needs to start over now, and he thinks he would like to be a stone mason or farmer. The most sensible thing I have ever heard him say.
A sad coda to this story. Umberto Bossi has done everything possible to get Renzo qualifications that he has not earned and to place him in positions for which he is not competent. The final result: Renzo is a national joke in Italy.
Renita Cameron
She does not live in the city of Pistoia, but when she is in town on Wednesday or Saturday, she may join our coffee group. She grew up about four miles from where I grew up. She was in TV work in USA, but came to Italy to marry an Italian from whom she is now divorced (a not untypical story). We have worked together in an organization to promote local artisans in Pistoia, but now her main project is promoting disc golf (golf with a Frisbee) in Italy (www.discgolf.it) . This sport is quite popular in northern Europe and parts of USA, but is just getting off the ground in Italy. An extraordinarily vivacious person, she is even a better known American than I am in Pistoia!
Approaching a Crucial Moment in Movement for Change in Italy
I often asked people why Berlusconi, with a large Parliamentary majority, implemented so little of his political program. I have been told that every time he tried to do some new major initiative, the opposition blocked it with strikes, street demonstrations, etc. In short, if you are loud enough in protest in Italy, the government simply backs down. Now we have a non-political government of technocrats. It is proposing major changes, and the opposition is growing more intense. Will this government also pull back in the face of strikes, demonstrations, etc.? If it does, how will the world financial markets react? Will Italy have to pay more interest to borrow in the marketplace because it will be seen as not serious in making needed changes?
The cost of politics and government in Italy is scandalous. So demands that the government address this waste are just. The problem is that the mirage arises that savings from such cuts can solve Italy’s financial problems and put it on the road to economic revival. Not true.
City Rivalries
I wrote recently about how Pisa would not allow Florence city flags in a celebratory parade in Pisa. An Italian friend wrote to remind me of what Dante from Florence said about Pisa in The Divine Comedy:
Ah! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people
Of the fair land there where the ‘Si’ doth sound,
Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are,
Let the Capraia and Gorgona move,
And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno
That every person in thee it may drown!
It’s only been 700 years since these words were penned. One can hardly expect the Pisans to forget that quickly.
Follow Up on Private Mail System
I wrote in newsletter 457 (April 6, 2012) about mailing some post cards in Rome that seemed to be going through some kind of private mail system. I could not identify the stamps I purchased at the tobacco shop. I put the cards in a special box in the shop. I thought maybe these were Vatican stamps, but they did not seem to be. So I planned to have a friend to whom I sent a card scan the stamp on the card and send me the photo of it. I could then look more closely at the stamp and try to figure out how the mail was sent. A big problem with my plan – the cards never arrived in the USA. Maybe it was just a scam.
In My Neighborhood
I wrote in newsletter 442 (December 16, 2011) about tours of historic sites in my neighborhood sponsored by a new coalition of local merchants. I took all three tours. Now some of the sites on the tours have a plaque mounted which has on it a code that can be read by a smartphone. Then the sceen of the phone will display the information about the site (perhaps even an audio track). Very up to date!
