thisweekinitaly.com

h3. The New Italian Passion Curling

After figure skating, the most popular Olympic sport on Italian TV is
curling hardly a well known pastime in Italy. Someone once told me that
the Italians love sports where strategy, rather than athletic skill, is a
key element. The Italians are very clever. When the curling comes on the
TV, the theme song played is the theme from the American TV show, the
Flintstones. If I recall correctly Barney and Fred used to play a type of
prehistoric shuffleboard so I guess this is the reason for this theme.

h3. U.S. Record Powerball Drawing

This was an item on Italian news. In Italy, unlike the USA, the name of the
winner of a big lottery prize is not made public and the proceeds of the
prize are not subject to income tax.

h3. Medical News

I still have not been able to get to my doctor in Florence to have him
review my last CAT scan. You cant make an appointment; you simply have to
show up some day when he is in his office and it is not easy to get a
schedule of such days. On the other hand, last week I had an ecosonogram
of my carotid arteries (simply a precautionary test). This was done very
quickly and the results printed out and given to me. I took the results
immediately to my family doctor. His office is very efficient. As often in
Italy the mixture of the efficient and the inefficient is a constant puzzle.

h3. Friend Moving Back to USA

I have a friend in Florence who, as did many Americans, came to Italy as a
tourist and stayed. If, however, you want to become an Italian resident,
which is necessary for example to buy a car or to take part in the Italian
medical system, you have to get a Visa. This can be done only at an
Italian consulate in the USA. My friend is in the USA often for a month or
two, but this is not enough time to process a Visa at an Italian consulate.
He cannot apply for the Visa on one visit and then wait to pick it up when
he is next in the USA (Dont ask me why.). He is so frustrated that he now
plans to spend most of the year in the USA and only a few months in Italy.

h3. Two American Films with Subtitles

As I have noted, in Italy American films are dubbed into Italian, not
subtitled. I often go to a theater in Florence that shows the films in
English. I was surprised recently to see two films that were in English but
had Italian subtitles. These films were shown in Italy with a dubbed
soundtrack so I dont know what the market is for a version with Italian
subtitles. It is fun to watch how various English words and phrases are
translated into Italian. I noted some clever translations and some errors
in the subtitles. I have heard three different explanation as to why the
Italians historically have used dubbing rather than subtitles: (1) when
sound movies first came out , the illiteracy rate was so high in Italy that
subtitles would limit the market for the film, (2) Italians want to see the
words and emotions together by looking at the faces of the actors during the
film, and (3) in the Fascist era Mussolini forbade the use of foreign
languages in Italy in many contexts, including films.

h3. An Interesting Shop

Recently in Florence I passed a fabric shop that had fabrics (all seeming
to be the same kind) in a full array of colors sort of like the pencils in
a large colored pencil box. The display of the colors was very attractive.
I found out this shop sold only fabric to be used in lining clothes. Ive
never seen anything like this shop in the USA although it may exist in large
cities.

h3. Where Italians Would Prefer to Live

Recently on a TV show they reported the results of a survey that asked
Italians where they would prefer to live if they had to leave Italy. The
first three choices were Spain, France, and England. The USA was fifth.
Australia was near last. There are many Italians in the USA and Australia.
My thought is that if forced to leave Italy, most Italians would choose to
live nearby so they would not be that far from their family. Also in Spain
and France it would be easier to learn the language.

h3. Italian Conspiracies

The Italians love conspiracy theories. In recent Italian history there are
a series of scandals that often involved financial fraud and mysterious
deaths. Nobody believes the official explanations in these cases. After
President Kennedys death District Attorney Jim Garrison of New Orleans
brought a unsuccessful case against Clay Shaw for the murder. The case was
based upon a broad conspiracy. It is exactly this type of thinking that is
common in Italy.

This a key player in one of these big scandals died Archbishop Paul
Marcinkus. Below is his obituary from the Times of London. Note that he was
raised in Cicero, Illinois at the time when this town was a fiefdom of Al
Capone. The friend who sent me this item told me that in the Chicago
Tribune the obituary said there were no known family members. You can
compare this with the final line of the obit below from the Times

————————————————————

Archbishop Paul MarcinkusJanuary 15, 1922 – February 20, 2006Senior Vatican
official embroiled in the fraudulent bankruptcy of the Banco Ambrosiano

IT WAS thanks to the naivety, or perhaps the underhandedness, of Archbishop
Paul Marcinkus, that the Vatican lost around $274 million dollars in the
1970s and 1980s.

As chairman of the Vatican bank, Marcinkus was involved in rather unsavoury
financial dealings which led to the collapse of an Italian bank, severe loss
to the Holy See, and the suspicious deaths of two Italian bankers. A burly
character nicknamed Gods Banker, he will be rather unfortunately
remembered by his own dictum: You cant run the church on Hail Marys.

Archbishop Marcinkus had been appointed chairman of the Vatican bank in 1971
by Pope Paul VI, after a spell as his combined adviser, interpreter and
bodyguard. In 1974 Roberto Calvi, head of Banco Ambrosiano, a solid,
respectable and provincial institution, became the Vaticans main commercial
banking partner. Under Marcinkus, the Vatican bank exempt from currency
controls gradually became embroiled with the Ambrosianos increasingly
shady dealings in the Caribbean.

It was later discovered that Calvi was illegally exporting $26.4 million
from Italy. There was also $1.4 billion in questionable loans to three of
Banco Ambrosianos Latin American subsidiaries. The Vatican bank, or
Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) owned, directly or indirectly, ten
of the overseas dummy companies in the Bahamas, South America and elsewhere,
to which Ambrosiano lent the $1.4 billion. It was reported that Calvi asked
the Vatican bank for a letter guaranteeing the loans, to which Marcinkus
agreed. This letter came to light after Banco Ambrosianos board of
directors resigned and asked the Italian Central Bank to appoint a three-man
commission. The directors appointed by the Central Bank initially said that
the letter could make the Vatican responsible for the $1.4 billion debt.

Calvi soon disappeared, and in June 1982 was found hanged under Blackfriars
Bridge, London, his trousers and pockets filled with bricks and $10,000 in
banknotes. A coroner gave a verdict of suicide, though others suspected foul
play.

It was believed that Marcinkus was an accessory to the fraudulent bankruptcy
which led to Ambrosianos collapse. According to Calvis family, Marcinkus
told Calvi to keep quiet about the Vaticans financial affairs. Many thought
the Pope would now have to dismiss Marcinkus. However, in 1984 the Vatican
bank agreed to pay $224 million to the 120 creditors of the failed Banco
Ambrosiano as a recognition of moral involvement in the collapse of the
Milan-based private bank. At worst, conspiracy theorists say that the
Vatican got the Mafia to kill Calvi, who had invested Mafia funds from the
Vatican, and failed to pay them back. Marcinkus was never properly
investigated, and in the end escaped with his freedom, though his name was
forever sullied. Before this scandal consumed him, Marcinkus was known as
the Popes gorilla. Chicago-born and a former American footballer, he
acted as unofficial bodyguard to Popes Paul VI and John Paul II.

A genial, extrovert character, who kept fit by jogging, golf and tennis,
Marcinkus was also known by his trademark cigar. In November 1970 he saved
the life of Pope Paul after a deranged Bolivian painter lunged at the Pope
with a knife in the Philippines. Marcinkus managed to knock the knife out of
his hand, leaving the Pope only slightly injured. At 1.93m (6ft 4in) and
100kg (16st) he was the tallest and heaviest bishop of his time, though in a
cassock he was inconspicuous enough.

The youngest son of poor Lithuanian emigrants to the US, Paul Casimir
Marcinkus was born in 1922 and grew up in Cicero, Illinois, a tough
neighbourhood of Chicago, during the Depression. At 25, in 1947, he was
ordained priest and after taking orders he left his parish and went to study
canon law at the Gregorian University of Rome.

In 1964 he became the Popes tour arranger and bodyguard. Apart from helping
to establish Romes first baseball team, he spent 15 unremarkable years in
the diplomatic service.

His big break came in 1962 when, as one of the Holy Sees few
English-speakers, he was asked to help organise Pope Paul VIs visit to
America. His imposing frame was likewise considered an asset by Pope John
Paul II. It helped that Marcinkuss parents were from an area of Lithuania
with a lot of Poles, and spoke a regional dialect similar to Polish. He was
not present on the occasion when the Pope was shot in 1981, the year in
which he was appointed archbishop.

Marcinkus first courted notoriety in the 1970s through links with the
Mafia-connected Sicilian financier, Michele Sidona. Sidona had been
financial advisor to the Vatican, though when his bank collapsed in 1974,
the Holy See lost $30 million dollars. Sidona later died in prison after
drinking coffee laced with cyanide.

In 1982 a judicial communication from Italy was sent to Archbishop
Marcinkus, telling him that he was under investigation in connection with
the Ambrosiano affair. The Vatican rejected this communication, and Milan
judges made several attempts to summon Marcinkus and his associates for
questioning. All requests were refused.

In 1987 Milan judges investigating the Ambrosiano affair issued a warrant
for Archbishop Marcinkuss arrest. The warrant charged him and two other
senior officials of the IOR with being accessories to the fraudulent
bankruptcy which led to the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano. The IOR owned
some 16 per cent of Banco Ambrosiano. However, as he resided in the Holy See
which enjoyed protected borders under the 1929 Lateran Treaty the
Italian police could not arrest him.

In any case the Vatican always denied any responsibility for Ambrosianos
crash. The Pope accused the Italians of a one-sided and brutal cover-up,
and refused to extradite him from the Holy See. Eventually the Italian
Supreme Court cancelled the warrant, and two years later, Marcinkus was
ousted from his position at the bank and given a minor job in the Holy Sees
administration. I may be a lousy banker, but at least Im not in jail, he
once said. Not long after he returned to Chicago where he became a parish
priest, ruing that he would be remembered as a villain.

The whole Calvi affair remained a mystery. The Italian authorities carried
out a fourth autopsy on Calvis body in 1998, and the case was reopened as a
murder inquiry in December 2002 after a further examination of Calvis
remains which, Italian prosecutors said, showed he had not committed suicide
but had been killed. Last October four alleged Mafiosi, three men and a
woman, charged with his murder, went on trial. Marcinkus was not called as a
witness.

This month a Mafia pentito, Francesco Mannoia, told the court by video link
from the US that Calvi had been murdered on the orders of Mafia bosses. What
does remain clear is that Archbishop Marcinkus was not in it for personal
gain. His loyalty to the Church was not in question.

Some maintain the Mafia link, others have suggested that it was a plan to
channel clandestine funds to anti-communist movements in Eastern Europe.
Marcinkus retired to Sun City, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, where he
carried out duties as assistant priest and played a great deal of golf. He
never spoke publicly about the Ambrosiano scandal or his role in it.

He had a son by a mistress.

h3. Orange is the color

This years fashion color in Italy is orange. You see it everywhere.
Perhaps its most outlandish exhibition is the bright orange overcoats
(almost a blaze orange as worn by hunters) for both men and women. If any
of my friends want one of these items, I have a feeling they will be easy to
secure next year at a bargain price at a used clothing stall of the
semi-weekly market. Place your order now.

h3. Is This a Good Price for Bananas?

If you are in an Italian supermarket and you want to know if the price of a
particular fruit or vegetable is a good one, you simply send a cell phone
text message to a special number of a government agency, and you get a text
message back telling you: the price paid to producer for this item, the
wholesale price, and the average retail price.

h3. Italian Trains

As I have often noted, they are a good bargain for the price, but they are
far from ideal. I hypothesized one time that the reason there are cars on
trains for which the doors dont work (so the car is completely empty) is
that the railroad company has a contract to provide certain levels of
capacity on the trains. The empty cars help them meet the contract
obligations even if they do no good. Now Trenitalia has an agreement on
certain commuter routes that a fine to the regional government is paid for
excessive lateness of trains. To solve this problem, if it appears that a
train will be so late as to incur a fine, the railroad just cancels the
train and the fine does not apply. If the Italians dedicated their
cleverness in avoiding the law to most positive projects, this country would
do a lot better.

h3. Fine Woolen Pants

A few weeks ago I discovered on a bargain table at the semi-weekly market a
new pair of Italian woolen pants with exceptionally fine wool of a type you
can hardly get in the United States. I had them tailored, but after wearing
them one time, I noticed that the material had worn through at the point
where the bottom of the pant leg meets the top of the shoe. They I noticed,
for the first time, that there were some very small holes in the fabric at
various points. The wool in these pants is a bit too fine. They may be
viewed as a pair of disposable pants Wear once and discard.

h3. Candidate Berlusconi

National leader Silvio Berlusconi has gotten into trouble in the past for
his irreverent, and occasionally in bad taste, sense of humor. Within the
last few weeks he has compared himself to Napoleon (Ive done more than
any leader since Napoleon, and Im taller too) and Jesus Christ (I am the
Jesus Christ of Politics; I sacrifice myself for everyone). The taller
section of the Napoleon remark is a reference to fact that Berlusconi wears
elevator shoes. These remarks are made in a humorous context, but in the
newspaper often the quote itself simply appears, standing alone. I dont
think an American politician would compare himself to Jesus Christ in any
context.

h3. Murder of a Policeman

A policeman was murdered by a man who was recently released from prison.
>From what I can tell in Italy, if you behave well in prison you dont just
qualify for early release (as you may in the USA), but you may also qualify
for a furlough from prison. The murderer was out on some kind of limited
release. He was in prison for an earlier murder. In generally penal laws
are much less strict in Italy than in the USA.

h3. Italian Medal Winner at Olympics

Two Italian men won a medal for the two person sled. During the medal
ceremonies, one of the Italians did not remain on the podium for the playing
of the Italian national anthem. In general in Italy the national anthem and
the flag are much less important than in the United States. This athlete,
as are many Italians in the Winter Olympics, is from the section of northern
Italy that, prior to WWI, was part of Austria. The culture in that area is
probably more German than Italian.

h3. Italy Not Quite Ready Yet to be a Modern, Multicultural Nation

Every week in the news in Italy there are items that show that Italy is
behind the rest of Europe in facing the changes of the 21st Century (which
one may deplore or applaud depending on ones view of this modernity)

A high court ruled that the crucifix in school rooms of public schools is
acceptable because it represents, in addition to being a religious symbol,
the values such as tolerance and respect for the rights of others that
underlie the Italian state. A good decision politically but based on
ridiculous theology.
An appeals court ruled that in a case of sexual abuse of a 13 year old
girl, a lower sentence was justified because the girl was not a virgin and
thus the psychological harm to her was not as great as it might have
otherwise been.
Italian law still provides that a child may not take the surname of his
or her mother unless the father is unknown. A high court criticized this
law but said it was powerless to change it.
The Reforms Minister in the government had to resign after he was seen
wearing a T shirt that had on it the Danish newspaper cartoons that enraged
Muslims throughout the world.. This guy is from the Northern League, a
party of buffoons that has no counterpart in the USA.

h3. Death of Mussolinis Last Son

Romano Mussolini died last week. He was a well jazz pianist and painter who
had stayed out of politics. At his funeral in Rome, outside the church,
there were many in the crowd who gave the Fascist salute. These were not
skinheads or young hooligans but middle-aged people and older. In Germany,
if the son of a prominent Nazi leader had died, there would not such folks
giving the Nazi salute. The Fascist past is not totally rejected in Italy.

h3. The Bill Arrives

I thought I was able to enroll this year in Italian health system at no
cost. Although I got my new health card without a payment, unfortunately
the clerk discovered her mistake, and I got the bill this week. Still $500
for a year is not bad for full-health coverage.

h3. Lack of Hype for Olympics

Although the Winter Olympics are in the news, the coverage is surprisingly
muted. Maybe when the games start the coverage will become more insistent.
I get the feeling that the publicity for these games reflects the
regionalism of Italy; they are the Turin Olympics, not the Italian Olympics.

h3. Italians Traveling to the USA

In the past you did not need a visa to travel to the USA. Italy was under
the Visa Waiver program. Now this is true only if you have one of the new
Italian passports which, like the new American ones, has a digital photo
that can be optically scanned. If you have an older passport (even if still
valid), you have either to get a visa or a new Italian passport. The latter
costs maybe $80. The problem with getting a visa is the difficulty of
scheduling an appointment with the US Consulate in Florence. Here we have a
clear conflict between the new security measures and promoting tourism to
the United States.

h3. Paying Hospital Bill (or No Good Deed Goes Unpunished)

In Italy a foreigner ordinarily does not pay for treatment in an Italian
hospital even though by law he is obligated to pay. When I was in the
hospital in Florence in January 2005, I specifically asked that a bill be
sent to me. I did this because I had American insurance that would cover at
least part of the costs, and I wanted the hospital to receive the benefits
of this insurance. I got bill for $2600 and submitted it to my insurance
company. After deductible, and 20% co-pay, my insurance paid 50% of the
balance which was $810. I received a check for this amount. Although I had
hoped my insurance would pay more of the bill, I nevertheless was pleased to
give the hospital at least this $810. But when I went to pay this amount, I
was told that I had to pay all of the bill or nothing. They could not accept
a partial payment without a preexisting agreement for payment in
installments. Knowing Italy, I am fairly sure they will never institute
legal proceedings to collect this bill. In fact I was in the hospital for
observation for over two weeks because doctors here assume that one will not
be billed: so they are not in a hurry to move you out of the hospital.

Still I wanted the hospital to get the $810. So I decided to make a gift of
this amount to the Hospital. I went to the Public Relations Office and asked
how one makes a gift. I expected to receive the hospitals gift account
number to which I could send money through the Post Office. Instead I was
told that I had to write a letter to the Director fo the Hospital telling
him how much I wanted to give. I could then make the gift only after
receiving his authorization to send the money.

Maybe Ill just keep the money.

h3. New TV

I bought a new larger screen TV. Surprisingly this model is manufactured in
Italy. I dont think there are TVs manufactured in the USA now ; everything
is from China or other low-cost labor countries. I got a 25 TV for $240, a
good price even if there might be some models cheaper. Maybe in 10 years
all the TVs in Italy will also be from abroad.

h3. No Muslim Riots in Italy

There have been no riots or serious demonstrations here protesting the
cartoons published in Denmark. I think the reason is that most Muslims in
Italy are new immigrants and not citizens of Italy. In many other European
countries there are second and third generation Muslims who are citizens of
the country. As non citizens, the Muslims dont want to riot and take the
chance of being arrested and deported. In an election year the Berlusconi
government would be likely to deport them to gain support among Italians.

It is interesting to see on the news the Danish flag being burned in many
nations rather than the usual flag for such purposes, the American flag.
The flag makers in these nations must have had to switch their production
quickly to meet the new demand

h3. Protecting the Home

I wrote last week about the new Italian law giving greater latitude for one
to use lethal force to resist a robbery. The day after Parliament passed the
law, a man killed a burglar in his home with 13 bullets. He said he did not
do this because of the new law. In fact the new law was not yet in effect
(It has to be officially published.), and the man was arrested.

h3. Staring at Women (or Anyone)

An Italian friend with an American girlfriend tells me that she gets mad if
he looks at other woman. In Italy looking at (staring if you will) other
people is not considered impolite as it is in the USA. His American
girlfriend, however, is not tolerant of this cultural difference.

h3. Mozarts 250th Birthday

This was a big item in Italy and throughout Europe. I bought a set of 6
Mozart CDs that a newspaper offered on the date of his birthday as a premium
with a low price. Newspapers here often offer records and books at a
bargain price as a premium. The average Italian may be no more cultured
than the average American, but the respect for high culture is greater here
than in the USA.

h3. Father Bisceglia

Last week I mistakenly called him Brother Bisceglia when I wrote about the
rape charge against him. This week some of the intercepted telephone
conversations between him and his accuser were in the newspaper. It was not
exactly a smoking gun for the rape charge but his statements to her (e.g.
do you wear pajamas or sleep in the nude or I have a nice bed but it
lacks the feminine touch) show that his love for her was not exactly Christ
like.

h3. Cell Phone Mania

I was on a long distance train this week with two other people in a six
person compartment. Both of them had two cell phones and each sometimes
would be talking on one of them when the other one would ring. Believe me
neither of them had anything so important to say that more than one (if even
one) cell phone was necessary.

h3. Religious Symbols in the Courtroom Italy vs. The USA

In the USA there is the famous case of the judge (I believe in Alabama) who
refused to remove the copy of the Ten Commandments from his courtroom even
when higher courts ruled posting them was unconstitutional.

Compare this to the following story from Italy

Rome, February 1 – An Italian judge who refuses to have crosses in his court
room has been suspended from duty .

The Italian judiciary’s self-governing body, the Supreme Council of
Magistrates, removed judge Luigi Tosti from his post and cut off his pay
because of his “unjustifiable behavior.” The decision, which reignited
debate on crucifixes in public buildings, came after Tosti was convicted by
a criminal court last month …

The court gave Tosti a seven-month suspended sentence for refusing to
perform his allotted duties in the Marche town of Camerino …

Judge Tosti first made headlines in April 2004 when he threatened to place
symbols of his own Jewish faith, like the menorah candle-holder, in his
Camerino court …

Judge Tosti argues that there is no law which says a cross should be hung in
the court room, only an article in the Rocco Code, the criminal code adopted
under Fascism .

The justice ministry, on the other hand, insists that the Rocco Code has
never been abolished and therefore remains in force.

h3. A Trip to the North

I took a trip this week with a good friend to Cremona, Mantova, and Verona.
As always, it is a joy to discover the great art, beautiful buildings, and
charming vistas of the middle-sized Italian cities. Almost all these cities
had at one time its moment in the sun when powerful families amassed great
wealth and spent liberally on private and municipal projects.

h3. Another CAT Scan

I got my fourth CAT scan this week. I had gone to the hospital to schedule
it about a month with the help of my doctor, but when we went together to
the scheduling office, nobody was there. So I returned three more times
before I came on a day when my doctor was in. He then told me that he had
called the scheduling office and told them to set me up with an exam. They
did call and set the time and date. When I arrived at the usual place, I
was told the CAT scanner there was not working today and I needed to go to
another building in the hospital complex. When I got there, the
receptionist tried to send me back to the first building, but I told him no.
Finally I was ushered into the waiting room for the exam. Then I was told
that my doctor, even though he had requested the exam, had not sent down the
required written request. They were able to call him and get this
straightened out. About two hours late, I got my exam. Well, as always,
the price in Italy ($0) is right.

h3. New Drug Law

The new drug law treats the distribution of pot as the same level of crime
as distributing cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, etc. All illegal drugs are
deemed the same (which is not typical in Europe) , and distribution brings
strong (not as strong as in the USA) jail sentences. In general users of
drugs are sent for treatment rather than to jail. In all the controversy ,
one politician of the right admitted to smoking a joint once when he was in
Jamaica. This does not effect your political career here as it might in the
USA.

h3. Soccer Nazis

About two months ago, some spectators at a big soccer match unfurled Nazi
flags and slogans. The reaction was immediate and strong. There would be
ZERO tolerance of such actions in the future. If it occurred, the referees
were to stop the game, and sanctions were to be taken against the team whose
fans displayed these items. It happened again. The referees did not stop the
game. No sanctions were taken against the team, although 11 people were
arrested. As almost always in Italy, nobody pays attention to harsh threats
because they rarely are acted upon.