h3. Back in the USA

I am in the United States until January 8. So weekly newsletters may
disappear or be less frequent until after I return to Italy. Happy Holidays
to all!!

h3. Driving in Florence

Driving is severely restricted in Florence. All Italian large cities use
lots of one way streets. Even in Pistoia to go to a spot two blocks from my
house by foot is almost one mile by car. Florence also has zone permits.
So if you live in zone 1 (with a zone 1 permit on your car) , you cannot,
during the day, drive your car into zone 2 , 3, etc. There are television
cameras posted on the streets to catch violators. I have a friend who lives
about a mile from her daughter. After 8 am and before 8 pm, she cannot drive
to see her daughter. Cars in Italy are placed in numerical classes
according to how much they pollute. Next year some of the higher polluting
cars will not be allowed on the streets in Florence. Each family can get a
city parking permit (to park on street) for one car only. The difficulty of
negotiating Florence by car may be one of the reasons that there is a
population exodus from the city to the outlying areas.

h3. Trip to Faenza

I have an artist friend who works in ceramics. There is a large Ceramics
Museum in Faenza which hosts every other year an international ceramics
competition. My friend wanted to go see the winning pieces from this years
event. But she could not find time to go until November 25 the last
possible date before I left for the USA. Unfortunately November 25 was the
date of a National Strike. So first I had to find out when the trains were
not running this was from 9 am to 1 pm. So we had to find trains to Faenza
that left before 9 am. Fortunately in Italy, if a train leaves before the
effective time of the Strike, it does complete its route even if this means
it is running after the Strike starts. With tight train connections, I
always plan to leave on the train before the last one that makes the
connection. The first train I wanted to take from Pistoia to Florence was
late because on a very cold day something got frozen. Fortunately they got
it going in time. The third of the three trains to Faenza had a defective
engine and they had to call in another engine to haul the cars. It was due
to leave before 9 am but left after 9 am. Good luck that it left at all.
On the trip back there were no problems. The ceramics were very interesting
more abstract art works than bowls, vases, etc.

h3. Soccer Nationalism

The Northern League is a very nationalistic political party in Italy which
is a little ironic because one of its programs (that will never take place)
is to divide Italy into two nations north and south. Anyway the newspaper
of the Northern League carried a story of outrage when recently a major
Italian soccer team fielded for a game a squad entirely made up of
foreigners. Soccer players salaries are very high in Italy so many foreign
players come here to play. Also last week a Black player on one of the
squads suddenly refused to continue to play during the middle of a game
because of racist taunts from the fans. This led to a big national
discussion of racism in soccer and a new rule that the referees can simple
suspend a game where such taunts are taking place and, I assume, give a
default victory to the other squad.

h3. Where Theological Issues Make Big News

As I have often noted, most Italians pay little attention to the dictates of
the Catholic Church. Still Church policies and actions are big news in
Italy. In Catholic theology, Limbo was the place to which un baptized
infants went if they died before they had any record of good or bad acts.
Now the Catholic Church is considering abolishing the doctrine of Limbo and
saying that the fate of these children after death is subject to the mercy
of God. This story got a full page in the paper.

h3. A Great Place For the Very Young and The Very Old

Italy is wonderful for children. The 2 1/2 year old grandson of some close
friends in the USA attends a Nursery School that costs $12,000 a year.
Excellent nursery schools in Italy are available at no cost to parents.

In Italy prescription drugs are free, but over the counter drugs (aspirin,
cold medicine, etc.) can only be purchased in Pharmacies and the prices are
much more than in the USA. Now a major Italian city is considering
lightening the financial burden on the elderly for one of these important
drugs. For those over 70, there will be a subsidy to cover part of the cost
of purchasing Viagra. In Italy, by the way, you can often get drugs over
the counter that require a prescription in the USA; pharmacists have greater
authority to sell such drugs.

h3. Speaking about Drugs

In the USA next year Medicare will include a drug benefit. This will be
administered through private insurance companies. A friend tells me in
California, for example, there will be over 150 different Medicare drug
plans offered (through different insurance companies) from which the senior
citizens must make a selection. My friend also tells me that Iowa has the
fewest options 27 different plans. Fortunately, since prescription drugs
are free in Italy, my choice is simple. I am taking the least expensive plan
with the least extensive drug coverage. I stay enrolled in Medicare and
have a medicare supplement policy in USA (paid by my former employer)
because I dont want to get in the situation of returning to the USA at some
future date and being unable to get the medical insurance I want. With full
medical coverage costing only $500 a year in Italy, it is not a great
financial burden to have medical coverage both in Italy and in the USA.