The Welby Case

Book Presentations

Correction

Going First Class

Accordion Orchestra

Amateur Scholars

The Euro Five Years After

House Calls

Reading the Newspaper Headlines

I’ve mentioned that at the newsstands each day are displayed broadsides that show the major news headlines for that day’s newspapers.  There are two local papers covering Pistoia.  Here is what the two broadsides said recently.  The first: “Thieves attack cash machine with pickax in the night and steal 20,000 Euro.” The second: “Thieves attack cash machine with a pickax but the assault fails.”  Take your choice.
 

A Little More About Immigrants

I mentioned last week the Moroccans and Tunisians as the immigrant groups with the worst reputation in Italy.  I think the best reputation belongs to the immigrants from the Philippines.  They are very popular in Italy as companions for older people who need a caretaker in the home. So whenever an immigrant arrives from the Philippines, he or she has no problem finding a job. They don’t arrive in boatloads of great numbers, as do those from Albania or North Africa.
 

Cap on Salaries of Top Public Administrators

The recent budget contained a salary cap for public administrators. Think of these as comparable to the persons who manage the Tennessee Valley Authority or the National Institutes of Health in the USA. The cap is 550,000 Euro (at current exchange rates $ 732,000). I don’t know what these comparable positions pay in the USA, but my guess is less than this new salary cap.  As I mentioned once before, Italy’s representatives to the European Parliament have the highest salaries by far (which are determined by the home nation) of any members of this body.  Italy also has the largest national legislature in Europe.  All this gives you a little taste of why Italians distrust their politicians far more than Americans do theirs.
 

Seeing Paul Ginsborg Talk

Who is Paul Ginsborg? He is the best-known historian of the history of modern Italy.  I have read one of his two major works and am completing the second. He is an Englishman who teaches at the University of Florence. I saw him speak recently in Pistoia. As always when a person whose native language is English talks in Italian, it is easy for me to follow him.  The accent is one factor.  The person also tends to speak slower. I think a third reason that the person is more easily understood is that I can anticipate and follow more easily the train of thought (mode of expressing ideas) of a native English speaker.
 

Silvio Berlusconi’s Surgery in the USA

This was reported as the placing of a pacemaker in his chest.  This is a routine operation that doesn’t require somebody to go to the USA.  Silvio could have it done by the best surgeon in Italy at the best hospital. Why the trip to the USA?  The papers here reported that in addition to the pacemaker, he had another minor procedure done that is a specialty of the surgeon who performed it. Perhaps this explains the trip to the USA, but I (thinking as an Italian who will never believe that the news tells the whole story) wonder if Silvio has or fears that he has a problem more serious than that which required a pacemaker.
 

A Wonderful Sunday

Last Sunday I went to church in Florence as usual.  The music for the service and a short concert afterward were provided by the Dartmouth Handel Society from the USA. This is the oldest community singing group in America, celebrating its 200^th anniversary next year. They were marvelous. I

then had a fine lunch at a friend’s house.  Her apartment even had an extra bedroom where I could take my daily nap after the meal. In the evening I went to the Christmas Gala, a fund raising event sponsored by my church. It was at a large Palazzo in Florence.  There was an elegant meal and the singing of carols. I met some new folks from the American/British community in Florence. The people who have chosen to live their lives in a foreign land generally are interesting, intelligent, well educated, and articulate.
 

Still Searching for that Pirelli Calendar

Meanwhile a reader sent me the following web link http://www.pirellical.com/thecal/calendar.html for the images on the 2007 calendar.  If these are the definitive images that appear on the calendar itself, I must report that those of Sophia Loren are not totally in the buff. In fact they hardly earn a PG-13 rating. Life is full of such little disappointments.
 

Ice Cream

In the Frankfort, Germany train station (I am in Germany visiting my son and his wife,) I stopped at the Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop. Put quite simply, the ice cream I ordered was tasteless.  Perhaps this was just a bad batch.  Or perhaps, being used to Italian gelato, I now no longer am satisfied with American ice cream.
 
Never Say “No” Directly
 
This is a well-known Italian trait. Recently some friends of mine had to catch an airplane at Florence airport at 7 am.  This meant they had to be at airport at 5 am and leave their house at 4:30 am. They called a friend who has a taxi service to make a reservation for the cab.  First the cab driver suggested that my friends needed to call him at 4:00 am so he was sure to get up in time — an odd request. Then the cab driver, who has a Mercedes Benz, asked how many suitcases my friends would have. There would be four, but with a trunk and only three passengers, there was plenty of room for the bags.  The cab driver, however, said there would not be enough room because he wanted his wife to accompany him on the trip so that they could not accommodate within the car the bags that did not fit in the trunk. My friends at this point just dropped the request.  Very sad for the cab driver’s wife who certainly was looking forward to a 4 am trip to the airport with her husband.
 
Playing the Lottery
 

Aging Movie Queens

Legal Rights for Unmarried Couples Living Together

Those Wacky Americans

The Lavish Version of Aida in Milan (contd.)

Here is a quote from last week's newsletter from the New York Times article on this new production:

 'Most Italian critics responded positively to the lead singers in this 'Aida.'While Mr. Alagna seemed nervous in his opening aria,
'Celeste Aida, forma divina,' he steadily gained in confidence, climaxing with his poignant finalduet with Ms. Urmana as Radamès
and Aida prepare to die in each other's arms.'

 
Well unfortunately Mr. Alagna’s problems did not end with his nervousness the first night on the first aria.  From an article this week in the New York Times:
 

Renewing One’s Permesso di Soggiorno

 
I’ve written before about the long lines and delays at the local office of Questura to obtain this document.  Now one can do it by mail.  Good news except the fees for a mail renewal are 5 times higher than the old fee at the Questura.  I don’t know if the old method is even an option now.
 

The Chinese Car Market

 
About a month ago an Italian trade delegation went to China.  There was lots of talk about China as a big new market for Italian goods. Included in the delegation were representatives of Fiat who were eyeing the fast growing Chinese car market. I said to myself ‘What are these guys smoking?  The Chinese will  make their own cars in China far cheaper.’   This week in the news was the story that the Chinese are starting to produce a car which is a clone of the Fiat Panda.
 

Pension Problems

 
Italy, like all Western democracies, has to modify its pension system because of the aging population.  Too few workers; too many pensioners. The problem in Italy, however, is exacerbated by an additional factor. It takes so long for young people in Italy to enter the work force full time (often not until well after age 30), that they have fewer years of contributions to the pension system before they reach retirement age.
 

Immigration Story

 
A friend told me about the family of a lady who works for him.  Her daughter fell in love with a Tunisian illegal  immigrant, and they began to lie together. He was arrested on drug charges and sent to prison.  He was then released to house arrest. Contrary to the requirements of house arrest he and his wife took a train to Florence (without a ticket).  When the conductor found that they had no ticket, he took their names and threw them off the train. When the names were run through the computer, the Tunisian came up as under house arrest. He was then sent back to prison. He was released this year as part of the amnesty law. Now this guy never had permission to be in Italy, but he was never simply sent back to Tunisia.  I think the law in Italy allows the government to send him back, but if so, the law (like so many) is not enforced. Immigrants to Italy do not have an easy time finding a good job.  It is probably easier to find an underground job here than in many other countries because the ‘black’ economy is so large. Also once you get to Italy, you have few worries of ever being back.  Just another little story of why Italy has almost no control over its immigration problem.
 

Speaking of Tunisian Immigrants

 
A family was murdered along with two neighbors in northern Italy.  At first it was thought that the husband, a Tunisian immigrant, had killed his wife, child, and the two neighbors.  Then it turned out that he was back in Tunisia when the killings took place. Shall we say, however, that he was not totally ‘innocent.’ He had been in prison before for drug dealings.  It looks to me, and most others, that he was involved in a drug deal gone wrong. He fled to Tunisia, leaving his family to receive the fury of the angered drug dealers. Although I don’t know the actual crime statistics, the two immigrant groups in Italy about whom you hear almost all bad things (despite the fact that there must be fine immigrants from these two nations) are Tunisians and Moroccans.
 

Italian Troops Return from Iraq

 
The last Italian troops have come home from Iraq.  There was no controversy over this fact-no discussion about a premature departure of troops.  There are Italians who supported the original dispatch of troops to Iraq. There are Italians who favor a strong stance against terrorism.  My guess is that there are few Italians who have confidence in George W. Bush as the person to lead the war against terrorism. A leader as inarticulate as Bush simply has no credibility among Italians.

Translating a Ship’s Manual

A friend is translating from Italian into English the manual of an Italian ship.  The ship’s Italian crew is being replaced by a Polish one. The officers probably will still be Italian. Whenever the officers and crew speak different languages, English becomes the common one. This switch to a Polish crew is the type of ‘job flight’ that will become common as Eastern European nations are added to the European Union.

Separate vs. Community Property

What we call community property in marriage in the USA (as is the rule, for example,  in California) is a system based upon European Civil law and is the typical system in Europe. Many Italian couples, however, opt to have the property of husband and wife treated as separate.  I wondered why. Now I know at least one reason. In Italy if you own two houses (as many families do), the second is treated as a luxury house and subject to higher taxes. So the husband and wife separate their properties and one owns the first house and the second owns the other house. The luxury tax is avoided.

My new telephone, computer, TV Fiber Optic Service.

Installation of all the elements was completed this week. I ordered this service on September 11. The almost three months is not untypical for Italy.  I ordered it pursuant to an offer that gave me a greatly reduced cost until December 31.  I really am not getting a lot of benefit from this offer. The lateness of the computer line is not a problem because I have been waiting for two months for a hand me down computer from a friend whose office is updating its units.  The new ones are always to be installed ‘next week.’

One reason this kind of thing takes so long in Italy is that each step in process is subcontracted to a different company.  So it you complain to the guy who sold you the service about the slow installation, he has no influence with the company that in fact is doing the installation.

Understanding Italian

If asked how well one knows a language, one might be tempted to say ‘I can follow simple conversations, but not a philosophical discussion.’  In fact, just the opposite is true for me in Italy.  A philosophical discussion is easy to follow because it uses a restricted vocabulary based upon words with Latin roots almost all of which are similar to the English word for the same concept. Daily conversation uses slang and goes on at a fast pace.  The context is not always immediately apparent.

 

Knowledge of English among Italian University Students

Ninety-seven per cent of Italian University students say they know English ‘well enough.’  What does this mean?  I think it means that they can pass the required university tests in English (whose levels are low) and read English well enough on the rare occasions that they are asked to do so. It does not mean any kind of fluency.  I don’t think many Italians see fluency in English as a great value even though it obviously can provide an advantage in certain work situations.  The children of many of my friends from mixed Italian/American (British) couples have obtained good jobs primarily because of their knowledge of English.

The New Hospital Addition

I mentioned this unit which has many prominent art works integrated in it. There was a large, lavishly illustrated,  book published about the whole project that describes both in Italian and English the architectural, mechanical, and artistic features of the addition which is a dialysis unit. The book is so attractive that I had a friend get me a copy.

‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’

I recently saw in English this film about the Irish rebellion of the early 1920s. This version had Italian subtitles.  As the actors spoke in their broad Irish accents, I found myself relying upon the Italian subtitles to follow the dialog.  The same problem of understanding ‘English’  that I had in Scotland the week before.

How Religious are Italians?

New Production of Aida in Milan at La Scala

December 9, 2006

At La Scala, an Egypt That Looks a Lot Like

Hollywood

By ALAN RIDING
MILAN, Dec. 8 – Even for those who embrace opera as a celebration of excess, it seemed almost a provocation to open the Teatro alla Scala’s season on Thursday with an extravagantly lavish new production of ‘Aida’ created by Franco Zeffirelli. Indeed, after the buildup that preceded the show, how else could the audience respond but by cheering the singers, the orchestra, the director, La Scala – and themselves for being there?
Yes, attending La Scala’s annual opening gala on Dec. 7, the feast day of St. Ambroise, this city’s patron saint, is a must for anyone who matters in Milan. And this year was no different. Italy’s prime minister, Romano Prodi, and his guest, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, occupied the royal box, while the theater’s six tiers of boxes and its sweeping main floor were bursting with government ministers, foreign dignitaries and the home-grown rich and glamorous.
As is tradition, while elegantly attired mounted police guarded the limousines depositing the chosen at the front of the house, the square facing the theater was crowded with protesters, with banners denouncing military spending and the war in Iraq, and a labor union loudspeaker complaining that it was ‘una vergogna nazionale’ – ‘a national shame’ – that public money should be wasted on opera.
Still, La Scala, which was inaugurated in 1778, remains a unique institution. And after the troubles that early last year prompted the resignation of the house’s top management, including its longtime music director Riccardo Muti, there is no small relief that its new president and artistic director, Stéphane Lissner, has not only restored peace to the theater but is also rebuilding its reputation as one of Europe’s most innovative opera houses.
Add to this a new ‘Aida.’ While the opera was first performed at the Cairo Opera House on Dec. 24, 1871, it was just six weeks later that Verdi took his four-act spectacle to La Scala. And ever since it has been one of the theater’s most popular works. Mr. Zeffirelli, now 83, first produced ‘Aida’ here in 1963, and two other productions have followed. Yet, strangely, there has been no performance of ‘Aida’ here since 1984.
‘It represents a return to La Scala’s popular roots,’ Mr. Lissner said, explaining his decision to commission a fresh production. ‘It’s a work that is central to Italian love of opera. It is also a work that enables us to involve the entire house, from costume makers and stage builders, to a huge chorus, dancers, orchestra and top singers.’
By commissioning Mr. Zeffirelli, who first directed Rossini’s ‘Italiana in Algieri’ here in 1953, Mr. Lissner was also inviting something grandiose. And the veteran director delivered, with no fewer than six different sets; golden temples covered in Egyptian reliefs; pharaonic statues galore; richly colorful costumes; and lengthy ballet interludes. In these, dancers darkened like Ethiopian slaves were accompanied by two leading principals from La Scala’s ballet corps.
‘La Scala triumphs in a Hollywood-style ‘Aida,’ ‘ the newspaper La Repubblica proclaimed. Another daily, Il Messaggero, said Mr. Zeffirelli offered ‘an Egypt of dreams presenting unforgettable scenes capable of captivating even video game freaks.’ Only elephants and camels were missing from the famous Triumphal March at the end of Act II. But four figures dressed like large birds swept over the stage in compensation.
The burden of carrying this production rested on the shoulders of four singers, with the Lithuanian soprano Violeta Urmana as Aida, the Ethiopian slave who loves and is loved by the Egyptian warrior Radamès, sung by the French tenor Roberto Alagna. The pharoah’s daughter, Amneris, who also loves Radamès, was sung by the Hungarian mezzo-soprano Ildiko Komlosi, while the Italian baritone Carlo Guelfi was Aida’s father, Amonasro, the captured Ethiopian king.
La Scala’s orchestra was conducted by Riccardo Chailly, one of several conductors who is being considered as a possible future music director. After Mr. Muti’s resignation last year, Mr. Lissner decided to postpone appointment of a new music director to allow time for the orchestra to try out several contenders. Meanwhile, from next year, Daniel Barenboim will conduct two operas and several concerts each year. From 2010 through 2012, he will also conduct Wagner’s Ring Cycle here.
Most Italian critics responded positively to the lead singers in this ‘Aida.’ While Mr. Alagna seemed nervous in his opening aria, ‘Celeste Aida, forma divina,’ he steadily gained in confidence, climaxing with his poignant final duet with Ms. Urmana as Radamès and Aida prepare to die in each other’s arms. In 12 minutes of applause at the final curtain the audience in turn singled out Ms. Komlosi and Mr. Guelfi for their smoothly rich voices and strong performances.
Although Mr. Lissner began his first season a year ago, he had only six months in which to prepare it, a minimal period in a business in which opera singers and conductors are booked years ahead. For the 2006-7 season, however, he has been able to make his mark, increasing the number of opera, ballet and concert performances to 260 from 160 only two years ago.
Further, while including Italian evergreens by Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti, along with Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’ and Mozart’s ‘Così Fan Tutte’ this year, he is continuing to bring more 20th-century works into a house that often seemed trapped in the past. This season includes Richard Strauss’s ‘Salome,’ Janacek’s ‘Jenufa,’ Shostakovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,’ Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Candide’ and a newly commissioned opera by Fabio Vacchi, ‘Teneke.’
Mr. Lissner, 53, who previously ran the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and the Aix-en-Provence opera festival, is also famous for planning far ahead. So already he has announced that next year’s season opener will be Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde,’ conducted by Mr. Barenboim and directed by Patrice Chéreau, and on Dec. 7, 2008, all Milan will be offered Verdi’s ‘Don Carlo’ in a version conducted by Daniel Gatti and directed by Stéphane Braunschweig.
And Mr. Lissner can now plan with confidence, he said, because La Scala’s economic problems are behind him. Thanks to increased support from Milan’s new mayor, Letizia Moratti, and Italy’s new culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, the opera house’s perennial financial headache appears to have eased. ‘I always need more money,’ he added, ‘but we have no financial crisis.’

Italian Wrapping

Property Seized from the Mafia

A Marvelous Lunch

Update on Sophia Loren

Marturità Examination

Scottish Lingerie

Berlusconi Collapse

Italian Citizenship

Crime in Naples