thisweekinitaly.com

h3. Movie Titles

They sometimes are changed as a film migrates from the USA to Italy. The
Stepford Wives was changed to a title that perhaps expresses the Italian
male view of this phenomenon, The Ideal Woman.

h3. Come in Out of the Cold

In the United States, on a cold day, one can hardly wait to get inside to
become warm. In my apartment building, and I assume in most, getting inside
the door does little. The common areas of the building have no heat. Not
until you get into you own apartment are you greeted with a blast of warm
air.

h3. Correction

Last week I wrote about the criminal trial of a teacher who had a student
commit suicide on a field trip. I noted that I was not sure of the facts.
I’ve discovered that one key fact was wrong: it was a civil trial, not a
criminal one.

h3. Bother Bisceglia

He is a well known Franciscan Friar in Cosenza in the southern Italian
region of Calabria. The brother is admired for his work with the poor both
in Italy and in Africa. He is 69 years old. Last week he was charged with
raping a nun who worked with him. Some of his associates were also charged
in an alleged gang rape. The newspapers report that there are some other
allegations against him of sexual misbehavior, but the statue of limitations
has run so these cannot be brought to court. He declares his innocence.
Almost everybody in Cosenza says that he is innocent (and they may be
correct) , but the reason they give is that he is such a fine man who has
done such laudable work. This reminds me of scholars who for years claimed
that Thomas Jefferson could not have fathered children by Sally Hemmings
because he was such a distinguished, scholarly, man that he never would have
had sex with one of this slaves.

h3. Using Lethal Force to Resist a Crime

When I was in law school, the general law in the USA was that you could use
lethal force to resist a crime only if you were in reasonable danger of
serious bodily harm. In some states there was an additional requirement
that you had to retreat first, if possible, before using such force. In
Italy the law was more restrictive, but this week Parliament passed a new
law allowing you to use lethal force against a robber who comes into your
house or place of business if you feel seriously threatened similar to the
American law. Opponents of this new law used the standard phrase in Italy
to describe a situation of unbridled violence wild west. As the new law
was reported on one TV station, there was a film clip from an American
western showing two cowboys shooting it out on Main Street.

h3. Salvatore Ferragamo Museum

This is a small museum in the headquarters of the Ferragamo Company in
Florence. It features a revolving display of shoes designed by the master.
While I was there I bought a copy of his autobiography (Shoemaker of Dreams)
that an American friend once recommended to me. It is a fascinating book.
Ferragamo owed his fame not simply to his designs but to the comfort of his
shoes which were the result of years of personal research by him. While he
was in the United States (as Shoemaker to the Stars) he earned an
engineering degree from the University of California.

h3. Early Evening Buffet

About 15 years ago, the Holiday Inn in Gettysburg used to offer a free
appetizer buffet on Friday night at its bar. I dont recall if you had to
buy a drink to eat it. One night a friend said to me the food is ok, but
it is very salty. I pointed out that there was a reason for this.
Recently I ate at a similar buffet in Florence. Here you had to buy at
least one drink for 7 Euro. It was worth 7 Euro and more. The food was
wonderful and new items constantly appeared during the buffet period. It
was easy to make an excellent full meal from this buffet.

h3. New Train Schedule

As of January there are more trains per day on the line from Viareggio to
Florence that passes through Pistoia. This is the good news. Some say,
however, that delays on the trains are now more common. The problem is that
at places on this line there is only one set of rails. Once a train is
late, other trains must stop and wait for it to pass over this single set.
Often the situation snowballs. In short, the basic problem is insufficient
infrastructure, not the number of trains, but there is no money to improve
the infrastructure.

h3. Cancelled Play Performances

I subscribe to the local theatre here that has a series of about eight
traveling plays each year. These plays go for three days at a time to
various cities. In the last two years three plays have had to be cancelled
because the main actors could not perform. It was not a matter of sickness
or death. Instead in each case the main performers had undertaken other
obligations (usually a film) that did not finish on schedule so that they
were still engaged in these other pursuits. These cancellations give you a
glimpse of the fact that contracts in Italy are a little less solid than in
the United States.

h3. Watching American Films in Italy

As I have mentioned, American films in Italy are dubbed into Italian
subtitles are not used. As I also noted once before, sometimes a phrase in
English takes more words to translate into Italian. As a result, the dialog
in the film may be speeded up to fit this longer Italian phrase into the
time when the actors mouth is open. This makes the dialog harder to
understand. But there is an advantage also to understanding an American film
dubbed into Italian. I understand the patterns and conventions of American
speech. Thus I can often successfully anticipate what the actors will say.

h3. City of Falling Angles

I read this book by John Berendt (who wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good
and Evil) which takes place in Venice. As in his previous best seller,
Berendt has a skill for delineating local characters. What I found
especially interesting was how the Americans living in Venice often ended up
involved in intrigues and controversies exactly as are typical of the
Italians.

h3. Tabulating Multiples of the Same Item at the Supermarket

I wrote last week that my supermarket does not have a computer program in
which the cashier can tabulate multiples of the same item without running
each one over the scanner. An American friend tells me that many American
stores also lack this computer feature she mentioned Walgreens in
particular. So in this matter it is not simply a comparison of USA vs.
Italy. Also I should explain that one reason the cashiers can sit at the
supermarket in Italy is that they do not bag the groceries; the customer
does this.

h3. The School Trip

A teacher told me the following story for which I am not at all sure that
the facts are correct. A teacher took a group on a school trip. Included in
the group was a student suffering from depression. I am not sure if the
teacher knew this. The student committed suicide on the trip and now there
is a CRIMINAL prosecution of the teacher for failure to do her duty of
watching the students on the trip. If I heard this story in the USA, a
criminal prosecution would not even be plausible given these facts. At the
very most in the USA, there could be a CIVIL case against the teacher which
would probably have little chance of success. The fact that this story is
plausible (even if not true) in Italy illustrates the fact that in Italy
matters of negligence are more likely to result in criminal proceedings than
in the USA.

h3. New Sunday Supplement to Newspaper

A major Italian paper has a new supplement on Sunday aimed solely at
foreigners living in Italy. It is printed in Italian. There are so many
different languages among the immigrant community here that it would be
impossible to have supplements in all or even many of them. This differs
from the USA where Spanish is still the predominant language among
immigrants so that American big city newspapers often have sections in
Spanish.

h3. Possible Indictment in Italy of US Marine

The newspapers say that Italy may indict the US Marine who shot and killed
the Italian secret service agent who was on the way to the Baghdad airport
with the Italian journalist released by terrorists. If this happens, the
USA will not extradite the Marine anyway. I doubt that Italy will have a
trial in abstensia, but you never know in this country.

h3. Soccer and Big Money

In the USA in professional sports there is the problem that some teams have
much more money than others because of richer owners, more profitable
franchises, or much higher TV revenues. Different American professional
sports have faced this problem in different ways. It is not considered good
for a professional sport if the same teams are champions year after year.
In Italy there is the same problem in soccer, but , not surprisingly, the
Italian soccer league has not faced the problem. The same teams do win here
year after year. Now there is a big uproar over the differences in TV
revenue earned by various teams. As always in Italy, the problem even enters
the realm of politics. The political implication is exacerbated somewhat
by the fact that the national leader, Berlusconi, also owns one of the major
soccer teams in Italy.

h3. Air Flight from London to Rome

On the last leg of my airplane journey back to Italy, as we approached the
Rome airport, the pilot announced that we had to pull up and circle again
because there was a plane on the runway where we were to land. This struck
me as unusual, but the flight attendant whom I asked about it said it was
not uncommon. Next there was call over the planes public address system
for the chief flight attendant to report to the flight deck. Next the pilot
announced that there was slight problem with some mechanism so that we would
have to land at a speed slightly higher than normal. He said we would not
notice the difference. We circled again and then landed with no difficulty.

Was it all just a minor problem? Maybe so or maybe not. Ill never know.

h3. My New Stove Top

When I returned I had a new stove top in my apartment. The old one worked
fine. The landlords said that the old one did not meet the building code
while the new one did. The new one has a feature so that you cannot leave
on the gas without a flame. One time my landlords said that I left on a
burner without a flame. I think they are afraid that I might burn down the
apartment and changed the stove top for this reason, not simply to comply
with the code.

h3. The Red Pants

Last week I wrote about the success my German student friend Max had with
the ladies when he wore the Italian red pants I sent to him. A reader of
this newsletter who is bachelor wrote to say send red pants. I had to
give him the sad news that red pants are not a sure thing in conquering the
women I have three different pairs of red pants and no success.

h3. Health Care in Italy

When I was in the USA, I told many friends that I paid $500 per year for
full health care in Italy. I was wrong. I just renewed my health services
card, and I paid nothing. Apparently the $500 was a one-time fee. Recently
my Permesso di Soggiorno was renewed for two years. Since my health card
term is tied to the term of the Permesso, the health card too was renewed
for two years.

h3. Transmitting a Look over the Phone

Ive mentioned that Italians are animated when talking on the telephone as
if they were talking to someone face to face. Recently I saw a young lady
make a face while on the phone that said How would I know that? or perhaps
Are you kidding? What she did not do is match the face with any words.

h3. Political Corruption in the USA vs. Italy

While I was in the USA there was the big scandal about the lobbyist Jack
Abramhof; politicians were scurrying to return to charity contributions that
Jack had given to them. In the early 1990s there was a major political
scandal in Italy about illegal contributions to many political parties. As
a result the courts in Italy dissolved some political parties including the
traditional major party, The Christian Democratic party. I am surprised
when I read about what a sensation occurred in Italy when these
contributions were revealed it seems to me that this scandal simply proved
the kind of endemic dishonesty that most Italians always believed about
politicians.

I think it would be impossible for an American President to survive in
politics with the number of allegations of illegal activities that have been
lodged against Silvio Berlusconi. This week, however, Silvio is happy
because there is a scandal (again based in part on recorded phone
conversations illegally leaked to the press) nabout the involvement of some
of his political opponents in a bid by a large cooperative to buy a major
Italian bank. What is amazing in Italy is how much the financial system is
politicized. There are some corporations (especially cooperatives) and
banks that are said to be of the left or of the right. It is as if in
the USA the Chase Manhattan Bank was Republican and the Bank of American
was Democrat.

h3. Just a Very Minor Inefficiency

I notice at the supermarket that when a customer buys, lets say, six of the
same item, the cashier runs all six through the scanner. In the USA, the
cashier runs one item through the scanner and hits a key to record that
there are six of these items. It seems that the scanning program in the
Italian supermarket does not have this feature. These kind of very minor
inefficiencies are not uncommon in Italy. In general the supermarket is
very modern. And, as I have noted before, it has one feature more
advanced than an American supermarket the cashier sits while she runs
items over the scanner.

h3. Sports in Italy

I wrote last week how sports in Italy are not conducted through the schools
and universities and my opinion that there is an advantage to the Italian
system in that the underside of sports does not infect the educational
system. An Italian friend pointed out a disadvantage of the Italian system.
One who pursues a career in professional sports leaves school after high
school and is a full-time athlete. When the sports career is over (which
may be soon or later) the athlete has no higher education.

As I am about to return to Italy from my stay in the USA, I offer a few more
comments, mainly comparing Italy to the USA.

h3. Just as Tattoos Are Starting to go Out of Style in Italy…

the Italian Supreme Court has ruled that tattooing a child under age without
his (her, in the case) parents’ consent is a criminal offense since the
tattoo considered in that case a “disease” having altered sensorial and
protective faculties of the skin.

h3. Sports In Italy and the USA

In Italy and Europe in general sports are not a school activity. They are
done through amateur, semi-professional, and professional clubs. There is
cheating, dishonesty, and fraud in the Italian sports system. In the USA
amateur sports are at the school and university level. Recently Virginia
Tech University removed its star quarterback from its football team (after
the season was over, of course) because in the last few years he had:
# served alcohol to underage girls
# been arrested for reckless driving and
possession of marijuana
# in a game stomped on the left leg of a player
on the other team
# lied about apologizing to the player he had tried to
injure, and
# been stopped for speeding and driving without a valid drivers license.

At least in Italy the cheating, dishonesty, and fraud of
sports does not infect the educational system.

h3. The Head of Italys Central Bank

He FINALLY resigned after months of a growing scandal in which he was
invovled with or on the edge of questionable activities of close associates.
He kept saying that he had done nothing wrong. He seemed oblivious to the
fact that the appearance of impropriety undermined his role as the head of a
central bank. After he resigned (He could not be fired under Italian law.)
some politicians congratulated him for sacrificing his position for the good
of the nation. Others were so impolite to point out that almost everyone in
the political world had been calling for his resignation for months.

h3. Those Awful Red Pants

In 2002 a German high school exchange student, Max, lived with me for four
months. We have remained close friends. For his birthday this year I got
him what he calls those awful red pant a pair of stylish red Italian
pants. I kept telling him these pants were a definite babe magnet. He
lives with two girls who laughed at the pants. Still I told him not to lose
faith. Here is a recent message from Max:

Now I’ll have to report some news which you might like to hear: After
putting back my own constraints about those (awful) pants and ignoring my
(female) flatmates advice about those (old-fashioned) pants I decided to
wear them some weeks ago going out dancing with a couple of friends. Now the
first one I got really excited about the pants was my friend’s mother! While
we were just all meeting at his house to go out she saw those pants and she
barely wanted me to leave! We went to this retro style club called “Kaffe
Burger” www.kaffeeburger.de/ and my friend and I made quite and appearance.
At times we were the only ones on the dance floor while my friend told me
that large parts of the crowd was hypnotically staring at those pants. I had
several girls approaching me, trying to dance with me, but I was all to
confused with those new opportunities to take advantage of it. On New Years
Eve we went clubbing again and I combined those awful pants with a red
bow-tie (a real one, which always sits just a little crooked , which you
might have given to me as well, I can’t quite remember) which had the effect
that numerous cuties tried to straighten it. No kidding that night I could
have gotten at least 5 telephone numbers (in Berlin this is a common
measurement for the success of a night out). I ended up with only one though
(named *censored by the editor*) that I am going to meet again tonight. However she approached me
about the bow tie after which I could reply that it goes well with those
pants . . . bla bla bla.

h3. Shopping at Wal Mart

Wal Mart is the largest retailer in the USA. Some people dislike Wal Mart
because it tends to drive smaller stores out of business and does not pay
its employees well. I went to Wal Mart today to buy some handkerchiefs. I
asked the lady where I could find them in the store. As always at Wal Mart
she did not merely tell me where they were: she took me to them. She looked
at the price on the package and told me that there were some handkerchiefs
on sale at the front of the store that might be less expensive. She then
walked with me to the front of the store to find these other handkerchiefs
which in fact were less expensive. You dont often if ever get service like
that in Italy.

h3. Restaurant Servers

Italian writer Beppe Severgnini in his book, Ciao, America
(describing the year he lived in the USA) comments on the surprising
friendliness and informality of waiters and waitresses in America.
He preferred the professional formality of Italian waiters. I was
reminded of this recently when I had dinner with some American
friends who are, I will admit, unusually gregarious. By the end of
the evening we had seen photos of the waitress children, met her
husband (who also worked at the restaurant), and got an update on
her daughters trip that evening with a youth group to New York
City. This level of familiarity with a server would be unheard of
in Italy.

h3. Delivering a Package

I have mentioned that in Italy you sometimes have problem getting a
package delivered to you if you are not at home when the delivery
person brings it. They dont leave a slip that you can sign so that
the package will be left the next time even if you are not there. I
was visiting a friend in the USA when the United Parcel Service
truck went down her street. Her neighbor, who was not at home, had
asked my friend to intercept the truck if possible and to take
delivery for her of a microwave oven being sent to her. My friend
called to the truck driver and told him of the neighbors request:
he left the package with my friend. I cant say for sure, but I
think an Italian driver would have been far less likely to leave the
package at a different house. Life is more informal and less
bureaucratic in the USA.

h3. Article on Religion

Below is my article that should be published in The Florentine
newspaper (English paper in Florence) within next month or so.
Readers of this newsletter get a prepublication look at it.

h3. Trying to Make Sense of Religion in Italy

Italy has small Protestant and Jewish communities. Recently there have been
many Orthodox Christians and Muslims immigrating into the country. Still
when you think of religion in Italy, you think of Roman Catholicism. So
when I moved to Italy from the United States , I was curious about what
would be the role of religion in a nation where almost everybody belongs to
the same church.

After three years in Italy, my conclusion, in slightly hyperbolic terms, is
that the Church is everywhere and nowhere.

Since Italy is the site of the Papacy, Roman Catholic matters get heavy
coverage in the Italian media. When some theologians recently suggested that
the doctrine of Limbo (the place where babies go if they die not baptized)
be abandoned, this rated a full page story in the local newspaper. Official
Church positions on various matters are well publicized, and the Church is
more prominent in political issues than in the United States. The number of
present and former church properties is surprising. Present and past
churches, monasteries, convents, etc. make up a large number of the
buildings in an Italian city.

Today, however, church attendance is often sparse, few Italians are entering
religious vocations, and most convents and monasteries have been converted
to other purposes. Of course Italy is not the only European country with a
predominate or state established religion where church attendance is low.
Think of Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries. On the other hand
there is Poland where church attendance remains high.

Tuscany is renowned in Italy as an irreligious area. Certainly in Tuscany
the role of the church in everyday life seems far less pervasive than the
omnipresence of religious properties would suggest. In the United States I
have often heard people bring their religious beliefs directly into a
discussion of political, moral, and ethical issues. In Italy this rarely
happens. It is clear that most Italians disagree with the Churchs
positions on divorce, abortion, and birth control.
In the United States (despite what one hears in the media) there are many
people who dont practice any religion, but they tend to be neutral about
religion rather than hostile. In Italy I hear many negative statements
about the Catholic Church, usually from people who still would call
themselves Catholics.

These negative feelings do not often induce someone to leave the Church.
Whereas in the USA, people often leave one denomination to join another*, in
Italy a person who stops attending the Catholic church rarely joins one of
the few non Catholic churches. It is Roman Catholicism or nothing. Still
if one enters a Catholic church with a skeptic who no longer attends and
maybe even openly criticizes the Church, he or she usually dips a finger in
the Holy Water font and makes the sign of the cross. The tradition of the
Church is strong.

I note on TV that quiz shows sometimes ask questions about religion. Church
history or Bible questions are often answered incorrectly, but questions
about the everyday practices of the Church usually elicit the right
response. Once, when a contestant failed to name the Holy Water font as the
place into which the faithful dip their hands upon entering a church, the
audience moaned and hooted as if someone on an American quiz show had just answered the question Who is buried in Grants Tomb? by replying Lee.

The two major Church holidays, Christmas and Easter, are as commercialized
in Italy as in the United States. The Christmas season starts very early
and has a strong emphasis on buying gifts. Discussions of the Easter
holiday center around, in order of priority, the Easter meal, the long
Easter weekend, and finally going to church.

Roman Catholicism is not an established state religion in Italy. Religious
freedom is promised to all. When a Muslim parent went to court to get the
crucifix removed from his childs school room, the judge ruled in his favor
and started a national controversy. The President of the Republic argued
that the crucifix was not primarily a religious symbol but rather a cultural
symbol of the nation. This to me made little sense, but it reflected well
the difficulty of providing an atmosphere of religious freedom and openness
in a nation where one religion is so central in the history and culture of
the nation even if it is often followed more in form than in substance.

---

*There is the American joke about a shipwrecked hermit who is rescued after
20 years alone on a small island. The captain of the ship that picks him up
notices three buildings on the island obviously constructed by the hermit.
He asks what they are and the hermit replies the first is my house and the
second is my church. When the captain inquires what is the third building,
the hermit responds thats where I used to go to church.