In Italy judges are not political appointees or elected. Instead they are selected through national written competitions. In Siena a woman student of law plans to take the test to enter the career path of a judge. There is a potential problem. Her mother for many years was a prostitute. Now the mother is entering some kind of program of “rehabilitation” to clear her criminal record so this record won’t harm her daughter. The newspaper article, as is often the case, was not completely clear about how the mother’s past might prevent the daughter from being a judge, but the Italians I talked to were not surprised that this in fact might be true. It is another example of how “family” is much more important in Italy than in the USA, this time in a negative way.
Mario Capecchi
He is the American, born in Italy, who won this year the Noble Prize in Medicine. I wrote about his extraordinary life as a young child, abandoned on the streets of Italy. Now it turns out that some of the supposed facts about his early life are not true. I actually had noted in reading his story one of these facts that was dubious, that his mother was sent to Dachau in 1941 for anti-Fascist activities. In 1941 the German Gestapo was not acting in Italy, and Italians were not yet being sent to concentration camps. She probably was deported to Germany to work there. He also apparently spent a little time each year during the war with his father who was not dead at this time. It appears that the inconsistencies in his story come mostly from things he was told by his relatives after the war. He is not at all defensive about these new revelations, and, in any case, his life story is an extraordinary one. By the way, I found out about these inconsistencies through an article in the American press; I’ve heard nothing about them in Italy.
Encouraging Larger Families
In general European countries have more liberal laws on parental leave than in the USA. In addition, in order to counter the low birth rates in Europe, these nations now are trying other means, such as cash incentives, to encourage larger families. In the latest “pro family” proposals of the current Italian government is one that would extend parental leave to grandparents. In Italy already grandparents who are not working provide much of the child care.
Strikes: Italy vs. France
Italy is rife with one-day nuisance strikes, but the crippling long strikes of essential industries and services, as occur in France, do not take place in Italy. There have been no such strikes in my five years here. The Italians often arrive at the abyss of foolishness, but rarely jump into it.
Motivation for Tax Evasion
Common sense would say that people don’t pay their taxes so they can keep the money rather than giving it to the government. An Italian friend, however, says that this is not the whole story in Italy. She says that Italians take great delight in being clever, in “getting away with it,” and that this is an important factor behind the high rate of tax evasion in Italy.
Love that Flag
Italy certainly does not have the widespread veneration for its flag that is found in the USA. So I was surprised to read about a case involving Umberto Rossi, the head of the Northern League that wants to separate Italy into two nations so the north will no longer have the burden of the south. In 1997 Bossi said a public meeting that he used the Italian flag only to wipe his ass. He was charged with crime of showing contempt for the flag. Originally he was sentenced to 16 months is prison, but this was converted to a fine of 3000 Euro, thanks to a law passed by his buddies in Parliament. If an American politician said the same thing it could not be a crime because it is protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The political career of the American politician would, however, be finished after such a statement. Bossi’s career continues unhindered.
Is the Cup Half Full or Half Empty?
I’ve noted that in Italy shopkeepers often have little change available. If you make a 2 Euro purchase and give even a 10 Euro note, it can be a problem. As is often the case in Italy, the situation was much worse in the recent past. In the mid-1970s there was a severe shortage of coins in Italy (for reasons still not fully known). As a result shopkeepers gave as small change: candy, a greeting card, a clothspin, or a telephone token which then were needed to use pay phones. One supermarket chain used colored discs which were redeemable only at that chain. Banks issued script money in small denominations for use in stores which made money for the banks because a lot of it was never redeemed at the banks for real money. In 1978 the state mint was put under a different governmental agency, and the problem ended. Foreigners who have lived a long time in Italy generally concur that things are much more efficient now than they were 20-30 years ago.
Personal Political Parties
In 1992 Ross Perot formed the Reform Party in the USA as a vehicle for his presidential candidacy. The party did not outlive his political ambitions. In Italy there are many “personal” political parties throughout the political spectrum. The largest is Forza Italia of Silvio Berlusconi. He started it in the 1990s. It, like other such parties, has an administrative and regional structure and numerous elected officials, but it is really a one man show. This became obvious when Silvio recently announced he was starting a new party, The People of Liberty. He did not confer with his own party or with the leaders of the other parties in the Center-Right coalition. He just did it. I guess Forza Italia will be blended into this new entity. Umberto Bossi, founder and head of the Northern League, was near death two years ago. He recovered, but he also annouced that, upon his death or retirement, his successor as party leader would be his 19 year old son. This could not have pleased the other leading members of the League.
Learning About England Through an Italian Textbook
In looking at a textbook for Italian students learning English, I came across the following list of the 10 most important persons in history of Great Britain according to a recent BBC poll
1. Winston Churchill
2. Isambard Kingdom Brunel
3. Diana, Princess of Wales
4. Charles Darwin
5. William Shakespeare
6. Isaac Newton
7. Queen Elizabeth I
8. John Lennon
9. Horatio Nelson
10. Oliver Cromwell
The list obviously ranges from the ridiculous to the sublime. It is biased toward recent persons. How many of you even know person number 2 on the list? He has apparently been the subject of a retrospective celebration recently in Great Britain.
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November 2007
Sat 24 Nov 2007
Sat 17 Nov 2007
All About Naples
I’ve mentioned the crime, piling garbage, traffic, and general disorder inNaples. One might think that Italians would have sympathy for the residents of this unfortunate city. Not so. Citizens of Naples are stereotyped as lazy schemers who are constantly seeking for ways (often illegal) to get by without doing legitimate work. There is no city in the USA whose citizens have such a negative image.
My Man Friday
I met an African streetmerchant fromNigeria named Friday. When I am with friends speaking English, Nigerian street sellers are especially likely to come over because they can address you in English. Friday has a University degree in statistics from Nigeria. This counts for nothing in Italy because it is not from an Italian or EU university. To get a work visa for a legitimate job he must get a letter from an Italian employer saying that he has been hired, but almost all employers will not hire an immigrant until after they have the work visa. You would really like to help such person but there is so little that one can do. You can buy a little something or give some alms, but the underlying situation is close to hopeless.
The Perils of a Second Medical Opinion
Patients often seek a second medical opinion, especially when surgery is recommended. This wise precaution presents problems, however, in Italy. When you visit the second doctor in Italy and tell him (most likely it is a man) what the first doctor said, the following elements come into play. First in Italy “appearance” is very important. If the second doctor is going to appear to be an especially skilled diagnostician, he needs to contradict the first doctor in order to show superior intelligence and knowledge. Second many Italian men have a “know it all” complex which means that the opinions of others carry little weight. Third, there is the arrogance that is common among doctors in Italy (and perhaps elsewhere too). Put these three things together, and you have a recipe for possibly misleading medical advice. If you want to see an amusing cinematic portrayal of this phenomenon, rent the DVD of the film “Caro Diario” (Dear Diary). This film has three amusing sections, the third of which chronicles the adventures of the director as a medical patient vainly searching for the correct diagnosis.
A Politician of Principles
I’ve mentioned before that no politician who speaks as poorly in public as George Bush could be elected as head of the nation in Italy. There is another way, however, that Bush differs significantly from his Italian counterparts. Bush has a set of principles that he follows fairly consistently despite the popularity or lack of it of these ideas. Of course a politician who is “principled” may be a good or a poor leader depending upon the value of the principles that he is espousing. In Italy, however, a politician will quickly depart from any position the minute it is not longer politically helpful to maintain it. The idea of persevering on an unpopular path “for the good of the country” is not an idea much seen here.
Another Little Difference Between Politics in the
Recently a prominent journalist died in Italy. Many years ago Silvio Berlusconi (who was then head of the government) has some very nasty things to say about this journalist. Soon thereafter the journalist’s TV show was pulled from the state run television network. So after his death, Silvio was asked about this episode. Nobody wants to speak badly of the dead. In the USA, someone in Silvio’s position might have said, “although we had our differences, he was a great man in Italian journalism. In retrospect, I was too harsh in my criticism of him.” In Italy Berlusconi first said “I never said those bad things about him.” Later this changed subtly to “I didn’t mean to say those things.” In Italy when a politician makes such statements to the press, whoever is interviewing him rarely, if ever, says “Mr. Berlusconi you did say these things. I have the transcript in my hand. You have never issued a clarification of these remarks. So just what do you mean by ‘I didn’t mean to say those things.’?” In Italy a politician can say “2+2=5” and nobody will bother to correct him.
Cultural Perspectives on Begging
I’ve mentioned in the past that you never see a Chinese beggar in Italy and that African streetmerchants, if you don’t buy something from them, will then ask you to give them money. My church has a Food Bank that distributes free bags of food each week to needy persons. No African ever comes to get a bag of food even though my church is well known among the African community. It would be considered a disgrace within the African community for someone to take this aid.
Soccer Death
Along a road leading to a soccer match a fight broke out between fans of the two teams. The word in Italian for the most fervent and violent fans is “ultras.” To break up the fight the police fired shots in the air and one shot that killed one of the fans. This became, as such incidents always do, a national obsession. In response to the death there were riots at soccer stadiums and ultras attacked police barracks throughout Italy. Other soccer fans and police have been killed before in soccer riots. In the political riots in 1992 at Genoa of the No Global group against the G8 meeting there, a protestor was killed. The Italians tolerant violent actions in soccer riots or political manifestations, but the idea is that nobody is to be seriously injured or killed. It is like playing with fire with the idea that nobody will ever be seriously burned.
Selling an Apartment
I’ve written about two of my friends who, in order to sell their apartments legally, and to made physical modifications in the premises – one had to take out a door to bring more light into a room (so it met luminosity standards) the other had to provide cross ventilation in a bedroom. One of these friends has a contract for sale of the apartment and is working diligently to get the modifications made in time for the real estate closing. Now when you do interior work in an apartment in Italy, you have to submit your plans and drawings done by a profession (at no small cost) to the city in order to get permission. My friend did this and received the necessary permit. Now her neighbors are demanding to see the plans. (Remember that I have written that spats between neighbors are a national sport in Italy.) I asked her if they had a legal right to do so, and she said no. The neighbors, however, could complain to the police (wrongfully) that the work is not authorized. The police would then come to demand to see the permit. No problem, I said, there is a permit, but the police would take the permit papers with them to the station for review (meanwhile stopping all work on the apartment). Only after a week or two (hopefully not longer) would they return, and the work could begin again. In order to meet the real estate closing deadline my friend cannot afford to lose a week or two in the reconstruction process. She has to find a way now to satisfy the neighbors.
As a comparison, if a similar complaint were made in the USA, the police would simply look at the Building Permit and accept it. If the owner did not have the permit, the police would call the appropriate public office and see if a Permit had been properly issued. It would take five minutes. The amount of stifling bureaucracy in Italy is astounding.
Cap on Salaries of Public Employees
Although the members of Parliament are grossly overpaid in Italy, the highest salaries go to the top managers of public and semi-public enterprises. In the new budget there is a proposed cap on these salaries with an exception for the TV stars who work for the public television network and a few other positions. The amount is 275,000 Euro ($410,000 at current exchange rates). Remember that in general in
Sat 10 Nov 2007
Opportunity for a Stay in Italy Summer 2008
See final item below
Crisis of the Week
I mentioned a few weeks ago the growing concern about immigration from Romania (now a member of the European Union). This reached a crisis point when a Romanian (a gypsy) in Rome robbed an Italian woman, beat her severely, and threw her body in a ditch. She died two days later. It was one of those crimes that galvanize public opinion about the “crime problem” even though this one crime in itself obviously does not make the problem worse than it was before. The government issued a quick executive order allowing local judges more leeway to deport immigrants who commit crimes.In a week or so this crisis will pass and soon be forgotten. The problem of illegal immigration in Italy is exacerbated by its long coast line making it an easy place to enter. To cope with this problem, two things are necessary. First, there must be a political consensus as to what are the steps that must be taken. Such a consensus does not exist in Italy (or in the USA for that matter). Second there has to be an efficient and effective system of law enforcement to implement these steps. This certainly does not exist in Italy. So the immigration problem will continue to be one for strong talk and weak action.
A lot of the current anti-immigration talk is aimed at Romanians, but often the problem is not Romanians in general, but the gypsies coming from Romania. Gypsies often are beggars and minor criminals; violent crimes are not their typical way. Italians give money regularly to gypsy beggars. Law enforcement is sufficiently weak in Italy so that for the gypsies crime does pay. Stop giving them money and have good law enforcement, and the gypsy problem will take care of itself.
Anti-Discrimination Poster
I am not sure the extent to which the law in Italy forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but such discrimination is considered undesirable. The Region of Tuscany has issued a controversial poster that shows a newborn baby in his crib at the hospital with a wrist band on his arm that says “homosexual.” The legend on the poster says “Sexual Orientation is not a Choice.”
The Phantom Path
I read in one of the free “throw away” newspapers in Florence that a bike path had been completed along the Arno River from Florence to Empoli with the plan that it eventually would stretch all the way to Pisa. So I took a bus to Empoli with my bike and went to ride the path to Florence. I could not find the path on either side of the river. When I asked, people said it had not yet been constructed. The newspaper article was a bit premature. I did ride on an ordinary road that was close to the Arno; it was still pleasant. In Italy if something you plan to do goes wrong (not uncommon), you can usually find something else enjoyable to do.
Military Mistakes
I’ve noted in a couple of documentaries I watched about WWII that there is strong criticism of the military decisions of US General Matt Clark who led the effort to liberate Rome. Maybe this is the stuff that military historians argue about and of which the general public knows little. During the War itself, I doubt if there was much overt public criticism of the strategy of American military leaders. It doesn’t help morale on the home front if people think their sons are dying because of the mistakes of our generals. After the War is over, historians debate the decisions that were made, but the public wants to move forward, not live in the past.
The Dollar Disaster Reaches the USA
As the dollar continues its disastrous decline, we poor Americans living abroad now have company in our misery – Americans at home. Oil prices continue to go up partly because these prices are set in dollars. As the dollar declines, the price goes up. In fact, the cost of oil for Italians has gone up much less than for Americans because the increased oil prices in dollars are partially offset by the growing value of the Euro vs. the dollar. The Federal Reserve in the USA has lowered interest rates to stimulate the economy, but this too weakens the dollar. Meanwhile China, who has been financing a lot of the growing US national debt, is talking about investing less in this debt and more in other nations where interest rates are higher. Suddenly Wall Street discovers that perhaps “the Emperor has no clothes.” The low value of the dollar helps American exports, but then America doesn’t manufacture as many things for export as it once did. Instead Americans buy thing made abroad.
Obesity in Italy
I’ve mentioned before that it is growing. The figure is 50% more obese people compared to ten years ago. As for the youth, the same factors are cited as in the USA, bad eating habits and less exercise as children spend more time in front of the TV and the computer.
My Apartment for Rent at Very Reasonable Price, Summer 2008
I would like to spend the months of June-October 2008 in the USA. While I am gone from Pistoia, I would like to sublet my apartment. It has a large living room/dining room/kitchen, a bedroom with king sized bed, study, and full bath. There is an airbed which can be used to sleep one or two additional people. Comes with two TVs (stations in Italian), stereo system, and satellite radio which gets programs from USA. There is a washing machine and dishwasher and place to hang out clothes. It is in a modern building with elevator. Pistoia is centrally located along the rail line for easy access to all major cities in Tuscany with connections through Florence (20 miles away) to all of Italy and beyond. Everyone who has visited me in Pistoia has been surprised at how lovely this little known city is.My goal in subletting the apartment is not to make money but to recoup my rent, utility, and condominium costs. Rents (in Euro) are as follows: 1 week – 250, 2 weeks – 475, 3 weeks – 675, and 4 weeks – 800. (Currently one Euro equals about $ 1.50.) I think the rent compares quite favorably to prices for apartments rented through tourist agencies.
Interested: contact me at bobnordvall@hotmail.com
Sat 3 Nov 2007
Earth Shaking News Headline of the Week
“Man Slams on Brakes to Avoid Hitting a Cat and Police Give Him a Ticket for Making Too Much Noise.” In defense of the police, the reason the noise was so loud may have been that the man was well over the speed limit when he hit the brakes.
An Argument with a Street Merchant
I was having lunch at an outside table with a Black lady friend who lives in Pistoia but comes from Chicago, when we were approached (as is almost certain to happen) by an African streetmerchant. He first asked if we want to buy some of the items he had. When we said “no” then he begged for any loose change we had. My friend told him that he should be either a salesman who has a legitimate job or a beggar, but not to mix the two roles. In mixing them he loses the respect given to a person doing legitimate work. The discussion got ugly. My friend said that when the first Africans arrived in Italy to sell items on the street, they did not beg. The street merchant was not fluent in expressing his view, but had he been, I think he would have said something like this. “The first Africans only sold and did not beg, but now that are too many of us to maintain this posture. I can’t sell enough to live on so I have to beg when people don’t buy.” Often when you in a bar or sitting outside in a restaurant, you will be approached by two or three Africans within 20 minutes.
Trying a Murder Case
An Italian court decided that it did not have jurisdiction to try the American soldier who fired the fatal shot in Baghdad that killed the Italian Secret Service agent a few years ago who was transporting a freed Italian hostage to the airport. The wife of the deceased said that this ruling murdered him a second time; she threatened to return to the government the Distinguished Service Medal awarded to him after his death. Without expressing any opinion about what, in fact, happened in this case and whether Italian courts have jurisdiction to try the soldier, I find the fact of a contemplated trial to indicate something important about Italian culture. Criminal trials have the following three purposes (1) to find out what happened, (2) to determine if someone is criminally responsible for what happened, and (3) if so, to assign an appropriate penalty. At a trial in Italy, the American soldier would not be present. So the first purpose of a trial is frustrated; you don’t determine the facts hearing only one side of the story. In such a case, the soldier would be found guilty in my opinion, but this finding would be tainted by his absence. Since he is not in Italy, there is no way to meet the third purpose, imposing an appropriate penalty.
My analysis is a rather practical one – why have a trial that can, at best, accomplish so little? There are, however, other legitimate perspectives on this case. What interests me is not that my view does not predominate, but that it is not even raised in Italy in the media. To say that a trial would be a waste of time and money is to insult the Honor of the deceased and his family. In
Late Train Story
In the newspaper was the story of a man’s trip on an express Eurostar train from
The Good Life, Home vs. School
The newspaper reported the results of a multi-nation study that assessed the relative satisfaction and happiness of school age children in various nations with their life and friends at school vs. their life at home. No surprisingly, Italian children gave one the highest ratings to their home lives and one of the lowest to their school lives. At home you are a little king or queen whose every wish is satisfied. How can school ever compete with this environment? By the way American children gave a relatively low rating to their satisfaction both at home and at school.
The 52nd Venice Biennale
I went to Venice for a day and a half to visit this huge bi-yearly exhibition of contemporary art. In fact it would take three full days to explore it because besides the main Exhibit Area there are smaller ones all over town. Most of this is not art you put on your wall. I lot of it is conceptual art (often audio visual) where the ideas are more prevalent than the images.
While there I had two Venetian specialties to eat, liver and onions and seppe with black sauce. The English translation for seppe is cuttlefish. It is like octopus. The black sauce is made with the colored fluid inside the fish. It tasted fine, but it was the ugliest piece of food I have ever had. Worse even than Haggis in Scotland. The sauce looked like thickened black India ink.
At the restaurant was a calendar with the days of the week and the months in Venetian rather than Italian. They were quite similar to the Italian words, but other words in Venetian are not. Venetian is not considered an Italian dialect, but a separate language. I asked the owner if young people still speak Venetian. He said that they learn and speak Italian at school, but Venetian is still the common language in the home. I was rather surprised because besides at school, Italian is the language that young people hear in the media and in their music.
Participating in a Work of Art
I think I participated in a work of art at the Biennale. In the American Exhibit, viewers were asked to take a large poster from each of three piles. One poster simply had a black frame printed on it. A second had printed in small letters, two times, in the middle of the poster “Veterans Memorial Exhibit,” and the third had what appeared to be a blurry blow up of a black and white photograph of ocean waves. None of these had much apparent artistic content or value. People, including me, dutifully picked up one of each. They were not the same size and difficult to roll up and carry easily. The trash baskets outside the exhibit area were full of discarded posters. So I think the unstated title of this conceptual art works was “Tell them it’s art, Give it to them free, and People will take anything.”
The Armenian Monastery in Venice
It is on the Island of San Lazzaro. We took a tour of the complex. It is more than a monastery; it is a major depository of artifacts of Armenian culture, books manuscripts, and art works. The tour was conducted by a monk/priest who spoke many languages. The monastic order is Roman Catholic but it uses the same liturgy (in Armenian) as The Armenian Apostolic Church which is “catholic”, but neither Roman Catholic nor Eastern Orthodox Catholic. You can bet than any extended discussion of Armenian culture will include many references to the suffering of the Armenian people of which the Turkish genocide of the early 20th century is only one chapter.
One of the nice things about living in Italy is that you get to go to major cities more than once and explore sites that the short-term visitors rarely see.
New Coke Cans
The Italian Coca-Cola company has introduced a new taller, slimmer, can for its products. Both the new cans and the old style ones hold the same amount, one-third of a liter. I’ve been told that the new cans carry a higher price than their predecessors. People tend to estimate that a taller, thinner can holds more liquid than a shorter can. So the new cans are a way to hide a price rise by giving the false impression that both the price and the contents have increased. Maybe these new cans are also being introduced in the USA; if so, I wonder if the price will also be increased there.