thisweekinitaly.com

November 1 is a Holiday in Italy so this week’s issue comes one day early.

Weather

It appears, on the basis of two years’ experience, that Fall is the rainy
season in Pistoia. It rains a little almost every day with alternating
periods of sunshine. It is like living in Seattle. I dry my clothes outside;
sometimes it take two or three days for them to dry because it requires
about 6-8 hours of dry weather for this to happen.

Some Good Words for Italian Bureaucracy

Despite its shortcomings, the post office here has the advantage of very
long hours. The main office is open from 8:15 – 7 Monday through Saturday.
There are many branch offices throughout the city whose hours are not as
long, but whose locations provide added convenience.

I finally got a codice fiscale, the Italian version of a Social Security
number. This took only 10 minutes to accomplish. In my cynical way, I think
that this process is very efficient because it is to the advantage of the
government for all residents to have this number. This is the number by
which, among other things, the government keeps track of the earnings of
individuals and businesses.

On the Other Hand

I went to pick up my renewed Permesso Di Sorgiorno, my permission to stay in
Italy for another year. It is not particularly in the government’s interest
to give me this form. When I got it originally in October 2003, I had to
present only my passport for documentation. When I filed the renewal form
in August 2004, I had to present also my lease to the apartment. When
I went to pick up the completed form this week, I was told I needed first
to provide a copy of my new lease (the old one expired in September) and
a statement from an Italian bank certifying that I had a checking account
at the bank. It did not matter how much money is in the account, only that
I have one. (To Be Continued).

Street Entertainers

They are common here. Three that I liked especially in the last week
were : (1) the man who played on the saw with a bow ( He provided harmony to
pre-recorded music) and had tapes and CD of his songs available, (2) the man
with the marionette show featuring Ray
Charles at the piano, and (3) the duo on penny whistle and accordion.

Appliances

In Europe you find appliances with buttons and switches (when possible)
illustrating with a picture the function of the button or switch. This is
because the appliances are sold in many countries. The pictures came in
handy last week. Although my heat is set for 67°, it got very cold in the
apartment. In the middle of the night I remembered that in May
my landlord had turned off a switch on my water heater (used for heat and
hot water) in May. I got up and was able to identify the switch (by the
picture in it) that routed the water to the radiators. I turned it on
and had heat again.

Tuesday = Travel

In Fall and Winter I plan to reserve Tuesday for trips around Tuscany.
I find that unless I do so, the everyday tasks start filling up my schedule,
and I don’t do some of the traveling that I should. My first trip was to
Florence to see some attractions other than the most famous ones (which
I see often when friends come to visit).

It is very noticeable in Italy when one visits many churches how often at
least part of the church or the famous art works in it are under restoration
or renovation. In the Renaissance, Italy supported well the artists of
the country; art was a major industry. Now it supports well the renovators
and restorers.

The Crucifix in the Public Schools

A crucifix on the wall in common in Italian public schools. (In Italy there
are not separate parochial schools as in USA.) A Muslim leader raised the
issue of whether this was appropriate for school rooms with Muslim children,
and in one town, after a Muslim parent protested, a local magistrate ruled
that the crucifix should come down.

In many ways this singular issues is a “tempest in a teapot”, but it raises
larger issues in Italy. How does Italy make the transformation to a
multi-ethnic
society. It was illuminating that when the President of the country (Ciampi)
was asked about this issue, he did not say what might seem obvious. He
did not say (as his predecessor surely would have 40 years ago) “Italy is
a Christian country. If someone comes to Italy to live, they must accept
this fact. Otherwise they should not come.” Instead he said that the
crucifix
was not a religious symbol but a symbol of the underlying values of the
nation. This was a bit fatuous, as politicians often are. For example,
the value of sacrificing for others, illustrated by the crucifix, is hardly
a prime value of the Italian nation. But Ciampi knew that he could no
longer frame the issue in terms of “This is how it is in Italy; Muslims
like it or leave it.” Already Italy is too multi-cultural for such a
response.

The American Church in Florence

Although the church I attend is called The American Church in Florence,
in fact probably less than 1/2 of the parishioners are American. There
are many Africans, British who prefer a less formal service(The English
Anglican Church in Florence is High Church with incense and fancy
costumes.), people from other English speaking countries, and Italians (many
of whom
are married to Americans). Our rector is leaving within a year (after many
years of distinguished service) to return to USA. It is not at all clear
that we will hire both a new rector and
a new assistant rector from the USA. Now we have to decide what kind of
ministry best meets the needs of an international congregation.
We may, for example, require the new rector to speak Italian.

Your Subscription to this Prestigious Weekly

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you actually read it and (2) want to keep receiving it, then if you don’t
get the newsletter for a week or two, send me a note and I will be sure that
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The Great Italian Cook

Bacala, salted cod, is a great Italian favorite. It comes in a dried form
that is stiff and hard; this obviously must be soaked in water before
cooking. It also comes in a “fresh” form that sometimes also is highly
salted. I bought some of the latter. After I cooked half of the fish, I
realized that it too must be at least rinsed well before cooking. It was
not edible –like eating a block of salt. I did soak the other half in water
before preparing it.

Mother Teresa

She was beatified recently — a saint in record time. The Church waived some
of the usual rules for sainthood to put her on the fast track. I watched a
documentary about her on Italian TV. What surprised me was the section of
the documentary interviewing British writer Christopher chens. He has a
book or articles “debunking” Mother Teresa. He claims that she collected
money to build hospitals that were never started; instead the money went to
build convents for her order. He also argues that her strict adherence to
the Catholic doctrine on birth control meant that her teaching guaranteed
more poverty in India where it is necessary to cut the birth rate. I
mention these items not to agree or disagree with Mr. chens. I mention
them because I was interested that he was included in the documentary. I
don’t think that 40 years ago Italian TV would say anything criticizing a
saint. Another indication of the declining (but certainly not extinct)
power of the Church in Italian public life.

The New Postal Clerk

At the post office I saw a clerk working quickly and efficiently. Then I
noticed another employee looking over the clerk’s shoulder. The clerk was a
trainee — probably a new employee still on probation. After the clerk
obtains the permanent job, one can depend upon her moderating her speed to
the usual norm.

Pistoia on the National News

There was a armed robbery at the Supermarket ( Coop) where I shop. An
armored truck came to refill the cash machine outside of the store, and two
robbers with guns tried to rob the truck. They were not successful and fled
with nothing. Many shots were fired and two customers were slightly
wounded. Of course everyone says that nothing like this has ever happened
in Pistoia before. It appeared to be an “amateur” job. I shop also at a
small neighborhood grocery store. I suggested to the owner of this store
that he post in the window the newspaper article about the Coop robbery
along with a sign saying “It is safe to buy your groceries here.”

Exhibit about Willy Brandt and the Berlin Wall

In the local court house there is an exhibit about Willy Brandt and the
Berlin Wall. It includes models of sections of the Wall with all the
graffiti on them. A few of these graffiti are in English and obscene.
(Maybe some of them in German also are obscene ; I don’t know.) I think in
a courthouse in the USA, such an exhibit would not have the obscene phrases.
A small example of how Italians are less “uptight” about such items.

Buying Coffee from a Coffee Machine

I doubt that Italians like to buy coffee from machines, but at train
stations they exist on platforms. I noted how many choices the machine
offers — at least 4 different types of coffee (cappucino, lungo, etc) and
two different brands for each of these four types. Not simply black, with
sugar, with cream and sugar etc.)

Leaving Your Wife in Italy

A friend told me about an acquaintance of his — a 58 year old man who left
his wife (and adult daughter who lives at home) to live with a 40 year old
girlfriend. This act alienated him from his family and friends. There is a
strong possibility that this new relationship will not last and at age 68 he
will find himself alone, without family or partner. Obviously it is never
good to be alienated from your family and friends, but a man in this
position in the USA could move to a retirement town in Florida (“Sunset
Village”) and find full range of social activities plus the possibility of
chasing after the many widows there (become a “Condominium Casanova”). He
could also move to a retirement home complex with the three levels of
independent living, assisted living, and medical care. He could also easily
build a new social life at the home.

This options are not open in Italy. There are no “Sunset Village” towns.
Homes for the elderly are for those no longer able to be taken care of
within the family. When you break the ties with your family in Italy, it is
a very radical step.

The Thrift Shop

Each month my church in Florence has a one day thrift shop sale. There
are many nice items; the ex-patriots in Florence who contribute the goods
have many lovely things, especially clothes. I have an Italian friend who
loves Ralph Lauren shirts so I thought I’d check out the sale for him.
I arrived at the church, and I noticed that there was a crowd there already
(before the sale opened at 10), mostly made up of immigrants. Then a person
handed out numbers to the crowd in the order in which they had arrived.
This seemed strange for a thrift shop sale. I finally asked the church
janitor who was present about the thrift shop sale only to discover I had
come on the wrong day. This day was the Food Bank day. I imagine the
immigrants
looked at me with a suspicious eye wondering why I needed free food. I
left without taking any food, one of the few times I have passed up free
food.

The Securely Locked Bike

The people in Pistoia lock their bikes but only with a small cable lock.
Such a lock discourages casual thefts but would be no problem for a
committed
bike thief. One day I saw a bike with its front wheel removed and secured
with a strong lock. Very unusual. But it was a Pinin Farina mountain bike.
Pinin Farina is probably the best known Italian industrial designer. So
I guess if you own a Designer Mountain Bike, it deserves more care.

If You Don’t Need It, It Isn’t a Bargain

These are the wise words I pass on to friends, especially those addicted to
yard sales. But like all of us, I don’t always follow my own advice. Last
week I saw an attractive wool Italian sport coat on a table at the market.
The last thing I need, but when the lady said it was only 5 euros –SOLD.
Then later in the week I passed an outdoor sale rack (everything 20 euros)
and could not pass up the pair of pants that originally were 140 euros.
(After the purchase, I looked in my closet and found about 38 pairs of
pants.) Anyway these new ones have a button fly. Now one of the gifts of
old age for men is that you have to go to the bathroom more often and with
greater insistence. So the stylish button fly may prove an impossible
inconvenience for me.

Improvement at the Post Office

The Post Office now has electronic scales to weigh packages. More accurate
but also slower. Just as in the USA when electronic cash registers came
in, the clerks began to enter about 20 seconds of information into the
register
before you got your receipt and change, so too at the post office the clerk
spent a lot of time punching keys before I got a receipt and change.

In Italy the clerks work slower, but also it is much more common for
customers
to ask questions and get into extended conversations with the clerk. I
don’t know if this is because the postal rules (like many other things in
Italy) are complex and hard to understand or if the customers just want
to make sure that something is done exactly right.

Paying a Bill at the Post Office

I had to pay my bill for the tuition for my Italian class at the bank at
the Post Office. One person told me that it is illegal to send a check
or cash through the mail in Italy. It is not quite illegal, but you are
supposed to use special types of mail for checks or for cash. I sent cash
once to my son in Germany; it never arrived. So in Italy the typical way
to pay a bill is to pay it at the Post Office. My bill was 15 euros. I
figured there would be a charge for paying it so I took out 50 cents. Well
the charge was 2 euros. (Another student told me she paid only one euro,
but I was charged two.) So instead of simply mailing a check or a form
on which you put your credit card number, you stand in line at Post Office
for the privilege of paying the bill and a service charge of over 10%.

Italian TV

As I’ve mentioned before, it isn’t very good. I was up at 3 in the morning
recently; I had some problems adjusting to the Italian time after my return
from the USA. I turned on the TV. One Italian station was broadcasting
CNN news in English, but almost half of the stations were broadcasting
extended
advertisements for “talk dirty to me” services. These feature naked or
nearly naked women saying how much they want to talk especially to YOU.

In general in Italy, there are a lot of scantily dressed women on TV. I
was talking to a young lady from Denmark recently who was surprised at this
feature of Italian TV. Now if you have been to Denmark, you know that the
Danes are hardly prudes, but Danish TV is more reserved than Italian TV.
My theory on this (perhaps silly) is as follows. Public displays of
sexuality in Italy
were restricted for years because of the power of the church. You may
remember the wonderful scene in the film “Cinema Paridiso” where the local
priest censors the films (by requiring that certain scenes be removed)
before
they are shown at the local movie theatre.
So when the power of the Church in public life was finally broken in Italy,
and Italians could make and see racy films, the Italians became like the
little boy who first has his freedom. They overdid it. And they haven’t
stopped yet.

The World Series in the USA

Once again my beloved Cubs fell short. You may all know about the situation
in game 5 of Cubs-Marlins series in which a fan interfered with a fly ball
that a Cubs fielder was about to catch. After this missed opportunity, the
Marlins exploded for 8 runs and won the game. The Cubs seemed to never
recover and lost the next two games and the series. My son Chris told me
that this
fan needed a police escort from the game. I’ve tried to imagine what would
happen in Italy in a similar situation in a soccer game. Of course in
soccer,
the fans are not as close to the field of play as in baseball so to
interfere
a fan would have to run onto the field. But if a fan did so and appeared
to cause the local team to lose in a championship series game, the police
escort would have to be for at least a year. In fact, I would advise such
a fan to leave town and change his name. His life would surely be in danger.

The movie “Elephant”

I saw this new film by Gus Van Sant that was praised at the Cannes Film
Festival. First, a warning. If you like to go to the movies to be
entertained, it’s not for you. If, on the other hand, you are a devotee of
the cinema, you might find it interesting. Despite the usual disclaimer at
end of the film that all characters and situations are fictional, this is a
movie based upon the Columbine high school shooting. In the film, the two
assassins buy an automatic assault rifle through the Internet. My Italian
friend says that this is in fact what happened in the Columbine case: I
don’t remember this detail. Anyway, he wanted to know how it was possible
for minors to buy such weapons through Internet (or phone or mail order). I
pointed out that in these kind of impersonal sales transactions, minors can
represent themselves to be adults. But still the fact of such a type of
purchase was not understandable. It was inexplicable to him that this could
happen in the USA just as it is inexplicable to me that Italians use the
system of waiting in line to pay simple bills at the post office bank.

Immigrants and the Vote

An Italian politician has proposed that legal immigrants who are not yet
citizens
be allowed to vote in Italy. I could vote in Italy. Someone told me that
this idea is a goal of the European Union for the future, but it is still
an unusual proposal now. Even more unusual is that the proposal came from
a politician in the Central-Right governing coalition, not from the
Central-Left
opposition. Part of Central-Right coalition is the Northern League which
is very anti-immigrant. It appears that this proposal is really about a
fight between two factions in the Central-Right coalition; it was proposed
to pick a fight with the leader of the Northern League.

What is unusual for an American is that a proposal to extend the vote in
the USA is almost always made by the party that thinks it would benefit
from the votes of newly enfranchised voters. So when there was a proposal
to make the District of Columbia a state, Democrats favored the proposal
and Republicans opposed it. In Italy, on the other hand, it is not at all
clear that the party making the proposal now is the one for whom immigrants
would vote. But all this may be academic since the politician making the
proposal really doesn’t expect it to pass anyway.

The Cleaning Lady

While I was in USA, my landlady hired a cleaning women to clean my
apartment. My landlady politely noted that “You don’t know how to clean.”
This was said in the way you would tell someone without mechanical
experience who plans to repair his own car that he doesn’t't know how to
repair automobiles. My landlady further suggested that I might want to hire
this cleaning lady to come every week. I settled for every other week. I
think that my apartment is decently clean “for a bachelor’s apartment,” but
that falls quite short of my landlady’s standards.

“Sex and Joy in Pistoia:”

That is the title of a new X rated film about to be released. This is one
of a series of films that have included “Sex and Joy in Civitavecchia”, “Sex
and Joy in Gubbio’” etc. The director of these cinematic landmarks recruits
local amateur actors and actresses from the city in the film title over
the Internet. He then comes to the city and makes the film. I’m sure many
of you will want a copy to see the landmarks of Pistoia but unfortunately
(1) one cannot play a European videotape on an American VCR and (2) the film
was shot totally within an apartment in Pistoia — no outside scenes. Since
the film has no outside locations, there was no need to shoot it in Pistoia,
but “artistic integrity” still is important in Italy. If it says
“Pistoia”, it should be in Pistoia.

Now this series of films has produced a slight problem in other cities where
they have been produced. It seems that when local residents recognize the
actors from the film on the street, the reaction of the local citizens is
not always friendly. We will leave unanswered for now the question of just
how the local citizens are able to recognize the actors and actresses.

Bicycle Ride to Collodi

I took part in my first organized bicycle ride in Italy. The Cycling
Organization of Pistoia held an “ecological” bicycle tour ( I never quite
understood the ecological theme) of 50 km from Pistoia to Collodi. There
was a police escort all the way and in front of the cycles was a van with a
PA system announcing who the riders were and what was the purpose of the
ride. There were many sponsors of the ride, the most important of which
seemed to be the local association of large plant nurseries. At the end of
the ride, as always in Italy at events with multiple sponsors, there was a
ceremony at which a representative from each sponsor spoke. They had nice
certificates, a medallion, and a sapling of a small tree for each rider.
The riding was easy and at no cost. At end of ride there was a bus to take
us back to Pistoia, but many riders just rode their bikes back (even though
about half of that ride back would be after dark). At an event such as
this, one does not worry about keeping up with the young riders (very few
present); one worries about keeping up with the old riders, many of whom
were racers as young men.

In Italy Always the Artistic Flare

On TV there was a news item about a raid on the home of some underworld
figure. Displayed on the TV were the money and guns found in the home.
What interested me is that the money was not shown in stacks of bills.
Instead the money was fanned out over the table according to denominations
of the bills in an attractive display. Next to each gun, the bullets were
placed on end in nice neat rows.

Update on Illegal Building in Italy

After talking about this problem last week, I had a discussion with an
Italian friend,. At first glace it seems silly to have a system where one
builds a structure without a building permit, and later tries to make it
legal. In USA you either get or don’t get the permit before you start to
build.–no permit means no building. But in USA if there is a problem
getting a permit, you go to the zoning board and can appeal a negative
decision of that board to the courts. This can be done usually in a
reasonable amount of time. In Italy, if you want to build a structure that
requires an exception to the zoning rules, it would take almost forever to
get a decision from a government agency or a court. By the time you got the
decision, you probably would have lost interest in the project. So the
extremely slow pace of the bureaucracy and the courts in Italy, makes the
American system impossible. The weakness of the Italian system is that once
a building is constructed, it is hard to say “no” and demand that it be
torn down. So usually some kind of fine can be paid, and the building
remains standing.

Porn Queen vs. Arnold

Once in Italy a female porn movie star was elected to the national
legislature. Her main campaign promise was to publicly bear her breasts if
elected, but once elected, she became a true politician and did not fully
keep her promsie. But it is important to note that her election was a
statement of “protest” by the voters toward the government. Those who
elected her had no thought that she was highly competent as a legislator.
They wanted to express their contempt toward the government. In California,
in contrast, the voters decided that Arnold was the most competent person to
be Governor. Among the 135 candidates there were (in addition to all the
“clown” candidates) persons with long records of achievement in public and
political affairs. There were also, for the party faithful, REAL
Republicans and REAL Democrats. For Arnold the Republican label seemed to
be a “flag of convenience.”

Sometimes when I read about the “opera buffa” aspects of Italian politics, I
am tempted to feel a little superior about our American system. But then
the people of California (or Minnesota with Jessie “The Body” Ventura) have
an election that makes me humble (if not a slight bit embarrassed) to be an
American.

Please don’t send me a message telling me that Arnold may turn out to be a
good governor. Of course that is possible. The irony in the USA is that
one may never know what kind of governor he is. If Arnold’s media staff is
able to charm the newspapers and TV stations, Arnold will appear to be a
good governor regardless of whether or not this is true. If the media turns
against him, the opposite will be the case. In the USA (and especially in
California) “image” is much more important than truth, and few people have
the resources, time, or inclination to independently investigate what is the
truth. For all the faults of the Italian system, at least here one is not
bombarded with political advertisements showing the candidate in a cozy
domestic setting with spouse, children, and the dog.