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Finding Funds for Scholarly Projects about History of Pistoia

Many of the recent books about the history of Pistoia have been written by American scholars. One of these is William J. Connell of Seton Hall University. His next project is to produce a critical edition of a 15^th century history of the city written in Latin. This would be a precursor to Italian and English versions of this book. Where do you find money to fund this project? In Italy you approach the local banks that are the most likely ones to fund cultural and historic efforts through the banks’ foundations. I went to a meeting when Professor Connell presented his project to a local organization interested in the history of Pistoia. Representatives of the local banks were present. Because Tuscany was for so long a region of city-states, the interest in local history here is much higher than in the USA.

Headline Story

“Five Year Old Escapes from Nursery School: Is Discovered by Pedestrian along the Street:” The kid went to the bathroom and climbed out a window. Nursery schools everywhere have procedures for keeping an eye on the children and preventing them from wandering off. Still I assume that every so often one of them gets away for a while. I don’t know if this would be front page news in the USA, but in child-crazy Italy, it is The next day there were follow up interviews with the child’s mother and the pedestrian who found him.

This Week in Italy 362

Unfortunate Italian Export to the USA

I have often noted that everything bad from American culture finds its way to Italy. Fortunately the opposite is not true. Recently, however, one deficient aspect of Italian life made a noticeable appearance in the USA – politics as theatre. A commission of the US House of Representatives declared that the killing of Armenians by Turkish troops in WWI was genocide. I personally think this is true, but I also think that having Congress make declarations about disputed historical facts (a century ago) in foreign nations is about the best example ever of a Congressional waste of time. Nobody who denies this genocide is now going to change his or her mind because the US Congress has spoken.

Pope as Saint

When John Paul II died, there were signs in the funeral procession saying “Santo Subito” – make him a saint right away. The sanctification process began. One element of it is to verify miracles done by the candidate. Last week one of the claimed miracles of John Paul II, a healing, came under question because it was suggested that the disease may have come back to the person healed. Some see this caution as a mode to slow down the process lest it appear that one can be on a “fast track” to sainthood merely to satisfy a popular demand.

Updates from Last Week’s Newsletter

The struggle is still on to deal with one of the two candidate lists of its largest party that had been blocked by the courts from the ballots for regional elections. The government issued an emergency decree suspending the rules. The decree is euphemistically called an interpretive decree—how do you “interpret a deadline?” This decree must be approved by Parliament within a certain period, but the election will take place before that period comes to an end. In at least one region, however, a court blocked the decree saying that the election rules are a regional matter, not a national one. If you read the papers today, this seems to be an insoluble problem, but “the last minute,” when such problems are typically solved in Italy, has not yet arrived.

Meanwhile, the local educational officials in Pistoia denied the report that the regular inspection of the “Nursery School of Horrors” was preceded by notice to the school of the date of the inspection. The education office said that such advance notice is never given and was not in this case. My earlier expressed cynicism remains.

Another Example of “You Can Say Almost Anything in Italy” without Fear of the Consequences

A friend sent me an article about Silvio Berlusconi criticizing films and TV shows that fictionalized the Mafia because they gave Italy “a negative image abroad.” Of course prime outlets for viewing such shows in Italy are Mr. Berlusconi’s own TV networks. I loved the comment of the author about the response to this paradox “In baroque Italy, where image and reality are so intertwined that the term hypocrisy seems inadequate, many did not even blink.”

New York’s Governor David Patterson is Black, but as almost all Black Americans he is of mixed ethnic background. To me it is certain that some of that background is Italian. When charged with illegally taking World Series tickets as a gift, Patterson said they really were not a valuable gift for him because he is blind and couldn’t see the games.

Pistoia in the National News

Pistoia got a lot of national coverage for the Nursery School of Horrors, but recently on the nightly TV news it got more benign treatment. On what must have been a slow news day, the news had a story about strange street names in Italy such as “Avenue to Nowhere.” Pistoia got included for the street “Have (some) Patience.” You could look at the street sign as announcing a rather unusual street name or as giving good general advice.

At my local grocery store, the owners gave me the legend behind this name. Five hundred years ago one of Pistoia’s famous feuding families was the Cancellieri. One night two members of this extended family encountered each other in the street, but it was so dark they did not recognize each other. Anyone not immediately recognizable as a friend was an enemy and a swordfight ensued. Then suddenly as one of them knocked down the other and was about to move in for the kill, he noticed for the first time that the guy on the ground was a friend, not a foe. Excusing his aggression, he advised the other to “have patience.”

There is another, less bizarre, explanation for the name. It is said to come from the motto of the Rossi family in Pistoia which was” People do change/ Why? For the better/ Have patience.”

Problematic Photo Exhibit

There is currently an exhibit in Pistoia of photos from the book about which I have written previously, Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town. The former wife of the author and her family (from Pistoia) are arguing that they did not give permission for their photos to be used in the book. As you might guess, gaining such permission is a far more complex process in Italy than in the USA. As a result, copies of the book available to be sold to those viewing the exhibit cannot be sold. It may be difficult to resolve this issue before the exhibit closes in middle of April. The author’s wife and family are not the only ones upset with the author. In the book he mentions causally that a friend of his in Pistoia owns 12 houses. This does not seem to be an esoteric revelation, but in Italy owning 12 houses in fact often does not mean that one owns 12 houses according to the land title and tax records.

Explaining the Lack of a Strong Ethical, Civic Sense in Italy

There are two major explanations for this lack. They are not mutually exclusive, and of course, other factors may enter into the explanation beyond these two.

The first is the role of the family in Italy. It is so pervasive that political power, business influence, and other types of prestige are seen as a means to help and aid family members rather than as a way to serve the common good. This makes it difficult to establish a meritocracy since positions don’t go to those who are best but to those who are best connected. This general phenomenon exists in all nations, but is stronger in Italy than in most other counties.

The other main explanation is that Italy was the last major European nation to be unified and freed from foreign domination. Prior to this point, Italians saw the government as a “foreign” enemy to be resisted directly or indirectly. This view of government as “the enemy” still exerts a powerful force in Italy so that obedience to the rule of law (which often embodies ethical codes and civic duties) is not high.

Educating the Children of Illegal Immigrants

In the USA, the issue has arisen as to whether children of illegal immigrants have the right to be educated in public schools. Of course, if such children were born in the USA, then they might be American citizens and have more rights than their parents. In Italy, merely being born in Italy does not convey Italian citizenship. An Italian court did not rule directly on the question of whether such children had a right to be educated in state schools. Instead it ruled that an illegal immigrant could be expelled even if his or her children were enrolled in Italian schools. In short, the immigrant’s right to stay in Italy was not enhanced by the fact that the children were enrolled in Italian schools. From a legal viewpoint, the ruling seems obvious, but it is an example of the conflicted views towards immigration in Italy that the ruling stirred controversy.

Watching the Media

About 15 years ago I remember a headline on a supermarket tabloid that read “Bob Hope Near Death: Says ‘I’ll Be Playing Golf With Bing Soon.’” He did not die. About a month later there was another headline “Miracle Cure Saves Bob Hope.”  I was reminded of this when I saw first a headline in the Pistoia paper announcing the imminent breakup of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The source cited was the British scandal sheet News of the World. The break up did not happen.  Last week there was a story in the same paper about Brad and her kissing and hugging each other in public in Paris.  A lot of Italian newspapers are a strange blend of The National Enquirer (some of the news coverage) and The New York Times (the cultural and arts coverage).

Attracting Study Abroad College Students to Pistoia

When students come to Florence to study, they have weekends and few extended breaks to travel.  Of course other Tuscan cities like Lucca, Pistoia, Siena, etc would love to attract them as tourists.  These students however grab low cost air flights and go to London, Paris, Berlin, etc. The organization I work with, Made in Pistoia, is trying a different approach. We have set up and tested with one university a program that brings the students for a day to Pistoia, as part of their academic program, primarily to meet and work with local artists and artisans. The students they have the object they made as a souvenir of the visit that also include a quick tour of the city.  This program is shown on Youtube on two videos with the name Made in Pistoia. We plan to present it soon to the association of study abroad programs in Italy.

When Something Bad Happens, Somebody Benefits

After Silvio Berlusconi was hit in the face by s small statue hurled at him in Milan, he had to go the dentist to get his ever-present smile repaired. The dental hygienist who worked on his teeth was a hot looking number who apparently had been a local TV dancer at one time.  Now he has put her on the slate of his party for the regional assembly elections. As far as anyone can tell, she has no prior political experience. If Monica Lewinsky had lived in Italy, she would be Parliament by now.

My Dream Lover, Michelle Hunziker

My favorite Italian TV babe has made a commercial shown on Italian TV with John Travolta.  The theme is that she swept way with excitement at meeting him.  Now what she sees in this Scientology Simpleton is a mystery to me. She probably is only acting in the commercial. If she could just meet me, I am sure she would not have to act at being swept away……

Avoiding a Brutta Figura  — Don’t Ever Send a Dozen Roses

I bought some flowers as a birthday gift for a friend.  I choose six flowers and told the florist to assembly them as a gift bouquet.  He told me that if they were a gift I needed either to buy at least one more or put one of the six back. The reason – for a gift the number of flowers should be odd, not even.

Redefining Rape

In the not to distant past, the treatment of rape cases by police departments in the USA was primitive, sexist, and insensitive. An example of this was the nickname given at times to the Rape Squad — The Failure to Pay Squad. I was reminded of this nickname recently when Italy’s top court ruled that failure to pay a prostitute after she provided her services was rape, not simply a breach of contract. In the USA (I don’t know about Italy) you cannot sue to enforce an illegal contract which is what an agreement to pay to a prostitute is. So calling it rape may be the best solution.

Politically Unacceptable Judicial Decisions

When I was in law school 45 years ago, a judge in New York State ruled that quirky divorces obtained by New York state citizens in the Dominican Republic were invalid.  This was at a time when it was difficult to get a divorce in New York state courts. I said to my roommate that this decision may be legally correct, but it was politically unacceptable to tell thousands of  people in New York that their divorce (and often subsequent remarriage) was invalid.  Sure enough the decision was overruled upon appeal.

The big news in Italy this week is that in the two largest regions of the country, the courts have ruled that the petitions filed to put the list of candidates of the largest party on the ballot (for regional elections) are invalid.  In one case the petition was filed too late; in the other it has too many invalid signatures. In fact the two courts involved may be correctly applying the election law, but I very much doubt that these candidates will remain off of the ballots. Stay tuned.

The Nursery School of Horrors

This is the famous nursery school in Pistoia where the children were abused. The news this week is that when the appropriate local government agency inspected this school, they notified the directors in advance of their visit.  From what I can tell from the articles, such advance notice was the common practice. No government official did a special favor to the owners of the nursery school. It is a common practice, but obviously not the best one.

Update on the Meredith Trail in Perugia

In the appeal process the judges at the original trial have to provide a rationale for the sentences given to the accused. This was released this week. The killing was not seen as premeditated murder but as an event that grew out of a sexual adventure gone astray.

This Week in Italy 360

The Vocabulary of Everyday Objects

This can be a noticeable difficulty in mastering a foreign language. Vocabulary lists in instruction books rarely include the equivalents for everyday things like a thumbtack, a toenail cutter, or a shoehorn.  I was trying on some shoes when the lady gave me a shoehorn. I asked what it was called in Italian and she said at first “calzatoio” which is derived from the Italian word for socks. Then she added “or in a more crude way, a horn (corno).”  Same word as in English, but with a different flavor. The reason is that in Italy the horn is the sign for a cuckold.  I could not find the origin of shoehorn in an entomological dictionary on line, but I did discover that in English too the horn originally signified a cuckold. 

Athletes as Role Models

In Italy top athletes are celebrated and often endorse products. They are not, however, generally held up as role models for children or other adults. The Tiger Woods scandal certainly is covered in Italy (The media everywhere love such a spicy story.), but an abject, public, mia culpa as Tiger’s might not have been as necessary in Italy as it was in the USA. Of course, the difference between Italy and the USA would reflect two factors: (1) the lack of necessity in Italy for an athlete to act as a role model and (2) the more tolerant attitude in Italy toward sexual dalliance.

San Remo Festival – The Controversy at the End

I wrote last week about the controversy of the dropping of Morgan from the Festival list after his admitted daily drug use. On the last night of the Festival the three finalists were announced.  They are selected mostly through vote via telephone of the viewing audience.  At this point members of the very large orchestra that accompanies the event began to whistle and threw their musical scores on the ground. They had favored one of the vocalists who did not make the final three. On of the three finalists was a prince from Italy’s former Royal Family.

That Wacky Italian Justice System Makes the News Again

The conviction of two Google executives for not removing an offending video from the company’s web site made news around the world. Italy may be the only western nation where a court would have made such a ruling.  Don’t worry. The conviction will be reversed upon appeal.  That is about 99% certain.

Meanwhile, remember the case of the British attorney who was convicted in Italy for hiding an illegal payment from Silvio Berlusconi.  I noted at the time it started that the  Italian statute of limitations (ridiculous in my view) would run out before he ever went to jail, and the case would be terminated. That happened this week.

Of course in every nation you can find examples of silly judicial decisions.  They just seem to be much easier to find in Italy.

Another Victim of the Recession – the Archbishop

First allow me to review the facts I have written previously about Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo from Zambia.  A few years ago he married a South Korean woman. He was called back to Rome and told either to renounce the marriage or be relieved of his clerical duties. At first, he agreed to renounce the marriage, but then reneged.  He was defrocked by the Pope.  He formed an organization to promote the idea that the Church should allow priests to marry.  He also put together a singing group performing traditional African songs that appeared at a Gospel Music festival near Pistoia. The group made at least one CD.

Now he is seeking divorce. He says that he cannot afford to have a wife because he no longer has his income as an Archbishop. I guess the CD sales were not overwhelming.

A Well Done Piece of Work

I sometimes look at the English versions of brochures for hotels, bed & breakfast places, restaurants, etc.  They almost always contain errors.  Recently I was at a meeting of tourist entities, and looked at a few of these items. I found one in which the English was perfect. I went over to the owner of the hotel and congratulated her on the excellent English translation. I suggested that she must have used an English native speaker for this task (which few Italians do).  It turned out that she was a Canadian married to an Italian and had written the brochure herself.

Earthquake Follow Up

I have written about how the government did a good job of providing temporary housing for the victims of last year’s earthquake in Abruzzo. I also noted that this was the first phase of a multi-phase plan which called for rebuilding the structures destroyed and eventually moving people back into their original homes. I expressed doubt that the whole process would go as well as phase one did.  Now there are public protests in L’Aquila, the main city hit by the quake, because the rubble remains in the street and little has been done on reconstruction.  The contracts for what has already been done in L’Aquila are part of a national corruption investigation. Berlusconi has milked the progress to date for endless publicity purposes, but as the earthquake fades into the past, you can be almost certain that the rest of the project will go VERY SLOWLY and the people in temporary housing will find it to be quasi-permanent.

Car Colors

Recently I saw an advertisement for a new Toyota model in Italy that comes in only two colors.  Although there may be a large range of colors of cars available in Italy, in fact cars on the street show a restricted typical range.  White, black, silver, blue and brown are probably 95% of the cars.  You rarely see bold colors despite the fact that in garments Italians often wear bold colors. Someone told me that a white car has a .lower price because it cost less for the manufacturer to paint it.

The Cachet of Things American

 I noted once that people going to the USA from Italy would not be in love with American coffee, but still a major coffee brand in bars in Italy is New York Coffee. I got a flyer about sales items at a local supermarket.  One of them is Pizza Americana. The use of things American to promote food items in Italy has no logic, but maybe it works.

The Origin of the Italian Accent When Speaking English

I had always assumed that the typical Italian accent among English speakers in Italy was the result of Italian being their native language.  Now I am not so sure. At church a woman from Florence led a discussion group. She spoke English with an obvious German accent. After the session, I asked her when she came from. She said both her parents were Italian.  It turned out, however, that her father was a diplomat, and she had gone to school in Germany where she learned English. So her German accent in English obviously came from her instruction there – not from her native Italian tongue.  Most English instruction in Italy is given by teachers who still have an Italian accent.

Train Service

In Italy the regional trains have only one class of service, although they had up to three in the past.  The Intercity and Eurostar trains have first and second class tickets.  Now on the high speed Eurostar trains, the system is proposing four classes of service. With the high speed trains the rides are now shorter. For what reason would somebody pay more to move from fourth to third class, from third to second, or from second to first?  On airplanes first class tickets become more desirable as one takes a long trip. I know people who will only fly first class across the ocean, but they don’t necessarily buy an expensive first class ticket to fly from Chicago to Cleveland.  Maybe this new system will be a grand success, but I doubt it.

Posted February 20, 2010

Curriculum Reform

With a national education system, curriculum reform at the elementary and secondary levels in Italy comes from the national government. The latest reform is decreasing the time given to geography and art history to provide time for more emphasis on some other subjects such as foreign languages. Regardless of whether this is good or bad, one thing is certain. When the other side of the political spectrum next comes to power, as it surely will, it will change the curriculum again.

Homework — Italian Style

In Italy the school day ends around 1. Students are given, however, a lot of homework. Unlike the USA, where homework usually is to reinforce what has been learned in class, homework in Italy often contains new concepts that have not yet been covered in class. The expectation (of students, teachers, and parents) is that parents will help the students complete their homework. This is not that parents will simply monitor that homework is completed, but that they will be involved in its completion. I will let educational experts argue about the pedagogical value of this practice. One thing is clear – this is one of many aspects of Italian culture that inhibit the growth of independence among youth.

Love – Italian Style

Valentine’s Day is not a big deal in Italy. It exists, of course, but is more muted than in the USA. (I heard on the radio that it is a big holiday in Japan where the women give chocolate to the men!) Anyway, the local library did get in the Valentine Day spirit. It has a four page brochure on library materials concerned with the theme of love. Included were “how to” manuals, accounts of actual love stories, books on the philosophy of love, poetry selections, and a few of the many films with this theme. Love is a big topic in Italy – many items in the library collection.

The other side of love in Italy is infidelity. Now a statistic might say that 50% of men in the USA and 50% of the men in Italy at one time or another are unfaithful to their wives. (I am making up these numbers.) Still this 50% would include both a man who was unfaithful one time and also a man who had an open mistress for 20 years. In Italy the long term mistress and the open extra-marital affair seem much more common than in the USA.

Divorce – Italian Style

Although Italy’s divorce rate is low by European standards, one-third of Italian marriages end up in separation. In Italy separation is less likely to be followed by divorce than elsewhere. Divorce is expensive. The average time to obtain a divorce is seven years.

Radical Party Embraces American System

The radical party is on the far left in Italy; the far left traditionally looked to Communism rather than Capitalism for its inspiration. I got a flyer from local Radical candidates calling for, among other things, the adoption of political reform “Americana.” This includes direct election of the egad of the government (rather than this job going to the leader of the winning coalition), elections in which candidates run against each other one-on-one rather than voting for party lists, and the use of referendums and popular initiatives proposing laws or overturning those already past. The American political system functions better than that in Italy, but I’m not sure this is a result of the superiority of the American system. Given the current attitudes of Italian politicians toward the people and vice versa, I’m not sure a changed system would work better.

Talking About Changing the Political Atmosphere in Italy

A friend in Italy wondered why the Italian people are not in the streets protesting how the government in general functions. Of course, there are frequent demonstrations about specific issues. I call these “politics as theatre”; nothing comes of them. There is nothing like the Tea Party movement in the USA. The closest things was comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-government “F*ck You Day.” It got notoriety for a short time, but passed into the background. Italians may be disgusted with how government functions, but in general they are happy with their family, their friends, their lifestyle, etc. I think there is an underlying conservatism which fears that a large scale change in how the government operates might somehow spill over into other areas of Italian life in undesirable ways. So anti-government feeling mainly is expressed by not paying taxes and not obeying laws one does not like.

A Little Update on the Latest Scandal

I wrote about how the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency is under investigation for corruption in awarding government contracts. A friend explained that this agency, because it deals with responses to emergencies, is allowed to bypass the full set of procedures and bureaucracy in Italy in order to take quick action. These procedures can take a long, long time. Consequently when the government has a project that needs to be done quickly (or someone wants it done quickly), it is sometimes assigned to this agency even though the situation does not fully qualify as an emergency. Now some contracts that were on the fast track through this agency are being questioned.

As an interesting sidetrack to the investigation, there are rumors about the head of the Civil Protection Agency and his preferred masseuse at the sports center he frequently visits.

Italian History

I’ve finished watching the set of lectures on DVD titled “The Italians Before Italy.” As expected these illustrated how many of the current problems in Italy can be traced to the hundreds of years in which the Italians fought both each other and foreign invaders. The professor, however, also emphasized how the greatness of Italy grew out of these same factors. In his view the Renaissance flourished in Italy because of the rivalries between the various city states and principalities. A city state showed its superiority not simply through military conquest but through its buildings and the art that filled them.

San Remo Musical Festival

This week long gala of Italian music began this week. . It is almost always subject to some controversy which is shamelessly used to build interest in the event. This year it is the case of Morgan. He is goofy looking Italian singer who does, however, speak good English. He must have lived abroad for a while. A few weeks ago he admitted that he uses cocaine every day, but not to get high but to treat his depression. A polemic broke out and the sponsors of the Festival dropped him from the participant list. I should have been suspicious when they reaffirmed this decision in the media two or three times. Repeated reaffirmation of a decision in Italy is a strong sign that it will be overturned. The female Master of Ceremonies for the event then announced that Morgan would be there even though the producers of the event continued to say no. It turned out that “would be there” meant that a video recording of him singing would be shown, but he would not be present. Morgan, however, refused this compromise.

Removal of a Cooking Show Host

Italian TV has lots of cooking shows. A well know host of one was removed this week when he suggested that a certain recipe would be better with cat meat. The suggestion is so silly that you would think it was made in jest; perhaps it was. Where would one get cat meat in Italy? I was told, however, that during the dark days of WWII, when food was scarce in Italy, stray cats became scarce too.

Posted February 13, 2010

Supporting the Children

I’ve written recently about the radical suggestion that parents be allowed to send their children out of the house after they reach 18. In Italy parents have a lifetime legal obligation to support their children (if necessary) and vice versa. Recently a 40 year old engineer in Milan sued his father, a famous surgeon, claiming that given the father’s wealth, he should give the son an allowance of at least 2,000 Euro per month. The son also asked for 57,000 Euro in back payments. The court held that with the son’s professional status, he should be economically independent. The son appealed the decision and lost the first round of the appeal, but he is taking the case to an even higher court.

Taking Notes at a Lecture Series

I have enrolled at an adult education center for a series of lectures on the Italian independence movement of the 19th century. Taking notes at a lecture in a foreign language can be difficult because (unlike taking notes of a lecture in one’s own language) it is hard to be writing notes of what was just said and also listening to what the speaker is currently saying. It is less of a problem in Italy, however, because the speaker always repeats each idea at least two times.

Italian Health System

As I have noted before there is a national health system in Italy, but it is administered on a regional basis. The health system of Tuscany, of which I am a member, is considered one of the best in Italy. I am certainly very satisfied with my care.

Fiat vs. the Government

Fiat wants to close an unprofitable plant in Sicily. In the past the Italian government gave subsidies to Fiat. This wasn’t just as a one-time bail out as has occurred in the USA, but was an ongoing practice whenever the company got in trouble. Under the rules of the European Union, this cannot be done as in former days. Still the government can help as it did with a recent “cash for clunkers” program that boosted Fiat sales. So the government’s argument is “we helped you, now you help us by not closing this plant so unemployment does not increase.” Fiat counters that “cash for clunkers” was really a subsidy to consumers, not to the company directly.

The idea that a company needs to shut down unprofitable plants in order to meet its legitimate goal of earning profits for shareholders, does not resonate in Italy as it does in the USA. One might make the analogy that in Italy, the government sees itself as a shareholder simply by the fact that it has helped sustain the company in the past. Similarly in Italy, the unions argue that it is the company’s obligation to sustain employment even if this is not the most profitable path. In the USA, the argument is “the best way to sustain employment is to have profitable companies that then hire people.” In Italy it is “the best way to sustain employment is to put sustained employment as a goal ahead of profits.”

Ski Accidents

In one weekend eight skiers and snowboarders were killed by avalanches in Italy and many others were injured. These folks are skiing outside of the resort areas. Apparently the very act of skiing or snowboarding in many such areas can start an avalanche. There was a film shown on TV (probably made with a cell phone) that showed some snowboarders being buried by an avalanche. Their bodies were not found. I don’t know how often similar accidents happen in the USA or elsewhere. Is this kind of behavior common among skiers everywhere or is it more common in Italy?

Berlusconi vs. the Mafia

The Berlusconi government brags that it has arrested many more Mafia bosses than its predecessors. Meanwhile in a proceeding in Sicily, the son of a former Mafia linked major of Palermo has testified that Berlusconi’s political party (that began in the 1990s) had made an agreement with the Mafia. It is hard to verify such claims. One thing is true: Berlusconi’s party has almost all the legislative seats from Sicily. If his party is also strongly anti-Mafia, the fact of its political power in Sicily would indicate that the Mafia is not as strong there as is often claimed. Perhaps the Mafia is as strong as claimed but for some reason is not exercising much influence as it could in political matters. Perhaps the Mafia is as strong as claimed and in fact supports Berlusconi’s party. The answer will never be clear in Italy.

Super Bowl in Italy

The Super Bowl ends at about 4 am Italian time so the newspaper accounts of it are in the next day. Of course TV reports the results the day after the game. This year it got extra coverage because of the story of the Saints and the rebirth of New Orleans. I found most interesting the attempt of the article in the newspaper to explain the failed tactic of an onside kick with which the Colts began the second half. It took a paragraph to do so.

Middletown Explosion

The explosion at the power plant under construction in Middletown, CT got coverage in Italy simply because it was a major news story. It also got coverage because Middletown is knows as “the little Sicily of Connecticut.” Forty percent of the residents of the city have Italian roots.

Vacillating Political Fortunes

Last week I wrote about the head of Italy’s Civil Protection agency who was first reprimanded for the remarks he made about the American relief effort in Haiti and then proposed for a promotion to cabinet minister. His fortunes took another turn this week. He is being investigated for corruption in the awarding of public works contracts.

Atrocities at End of World War II

In the area where Italy borders what was Yugoslavia, at the end of World War II, there was some vicious settling of scores as the Communist partisans conquered the area formerly held by the Italian Fascists and then Germans. Many of Italian descent lived in this area. Up to 10,000 people were killed. Obviously some were Fascist sympathizers, but many were innocent civilians. A section of Italy adjacent to this area was granted to Yugoslavian by the peace treaty and the Yugoslavs, and the Yugoslavs expelled the native Italian population from this area. This terrible situation received little discussion after the War in Italy. The Communists Party, strong in Italy, did not want to talk about what their comrades had done in Yugoslavia. The Center and Right of the Italian political spectrum did not want to talk about the Fascist cruelty that had provoked the Yugoslav anger. Concerning World War II in Italy, all anybody wants to talk about is the brave Italian partisans who fought the Germans and the Fascist Italians from 1943-45 and the suffering of the Italians caught in the crossfire of this conflict. Now finally the media is discussing these events although I still don’t know if they are mentioned in the school history books.

Posted February 6, 2010

Bad Cop/Good Cop – Italian Political Style

The guy who heads Italy’s Civil Protection agency (that responds to crises) went to Haiti and said some very unkind things about the American relief effort there. Secretary of State Clinton sharply criticized him. He was then (perhaps in response to pressure from the USA) publicly reprimanded both by Italy’s Foreign Minister and Berlusconi himself. So you would think this guy’s political star was in decline, but one week later Berlusconi announced he that was promoting him to be a Cabinet Minister.

The Biggest Business in Italy?

An article appeared, not the first, saying that the Mafia is Italy’s number one business. Of course, how does one determine the gross income of the Mafia? It doesn’t publish financial statements. I have no idea if it is Italy’s number one business, and I don’t think anyone else does either.

Italian Regionalism

I saw a film, The Man Who Will Come, which was especially easy for me to follow. It had Italian subtitles. Why would a film made in Italy have Italian subtitles? Because the dialog was in the Milanese dialect (The year was 1943.), and Italians can’t understand this dialect either. Earlier that evening, I had attended a reading from the works of Luigi Pirandello which was conducted partly in Sicilian. The last film I saw prior to The Man Who Will Come featured actors talking in the dialect (or perhaps more correctly the accent) of Livorno. Regionalism has declined in Italy over the past 100 years, but it is not dead.

The Freccia Rossa (The Red Arrow)

This is the name of the high speed trains that go over 180 miles per hour. I took one for the first time round trip from Florence to Bologna. A trip that before was one hour is now 37 minutes. There was one slight problem, however. The return train was over one hour late getting to Florence. It was 15 minutes late leaving Bologna and stopped half way through the trip for an engine problem that took some time to correct.

If a Eurostar train (of which the Red Arrow is one) is more than one hour late, the passenger is entitled to a partial refund of the ticket price. (It used to be a partial refund if it were over 30 minutes late.) I went to check on the refund for this trip from Bologna. I was told that you have to wait at least 20 days before making the request. Why 20 days; for the data to be entered into the computer. Twenty days seems quite excessive for such simple data entry. Of course, the hope is that you will forget about the refund (or lose your ticket) before the 20 days are up – just another example of the institutionalized “dishonest cleverness” in Italy.

Sick Days for Employees in Italy

If you call in sick in Italy, your employer has the right to send a doctor to your house to confirm your illness. You might think this would limit the number of bogus sick days taken by employees, but I am willing to bet that the average Italian worker takes many more such days than the average American one. The attempt to verify sick days is just another rule that the Italians find ways to evade.

The Tramvia

This is the new surface rapid transit system being installed in Florence. The first part of it will start to run this year after seven years of construction. Someone wrote into the paper to note that Florence’s sister city, Edinburgh, also has put in such a system (even larger) and is competing it after two years. Although I don’t know all the ramifications of being a “sister city,” I’m sure the folks in Edinburgh are glad it doesn’t imply similar levels of efficiency.

Something that Functions Well in Italy

Taxi service. Italian taxis are more expensive than in the USA, but they come quickly and efficiently get you to your destination. For some Americans the ride though an Italian city in a taxi can be a little scary as the driver dodges in and out of traffic.

McItaly Menu

McDonald’s restaurants in Italy often have an espresso bar as part of the establishment. Some have pizza (which once was test marketed in the USA at McDonalds but I believe abandoned). The latest is the McItaly menu which features a sandwich made entirely from Italian ingredients: the beef, the bread, the sauce, the vegetables, and the cheese – all from Italy. How can any Italian resist?

Soccer Scandal

Another example of the ocean of difference (if not more) between Great Britain and Italy. In Great Britain it turns out that the captain of the national soccer team (who is married) had an affair with the fiancé of one of his fellow Chelsea teammates. Britain, like other European nations, has a government minister for the area of sport. This guy is questioning whether the captain should keep his job. The issue is not whether the captain has lost the respect of his squad members, but whether he is morally fit to keep the post that represents the nation. Ultimately the coach of the team, an Italian, removed the captain, but it is hard to know if he did this under political pressure or for the good of the team. In Italy there would not have been much political pressure, if any, for such an issue.

By the way, the woman involved has now admitted sleeping also with four other members of the Chelsea team. How about the poor guy who was engaged to her?

Speaking Some More of Sports and Sex

Golf is played in Italy, but is not nearly as common as in the USA. Italy has 1/5 of the American population, but I think the USA as 50 times (if not 100 times) more golf courses. The Italian landscape is not ideal for golf courses. Still the Tiger Woods story gets good press coverage here. Two of his lovers have been interviewed by the Italian media. One, an American, gave Tiger a score of 9.5 in the bedroom, although she added that he is not sick with sexual addiction, just a pig. The other, an Italian, gave him a 7.5 in bed, and added that he paid her $15,000 a night.

Are standards of sexual performance more stringent in Italy? A word of explanation. After each soccer game all the players get a score in the press from 0-10 for their individual performance. In fact, however, I’ve never seen a score of over 8 or less than 4. So the Italian babe may have been influenced by the rating system for soccer players. In any case, after receiving $15,000 for one night’s work, out of a sense of gratitude if not veracity, she should give poor Tiger a good rating.

After the Elliott Spitzer and Tiger Woods scandals, one thing is clear to me. At its bottom end the world of prostitution may be a dangerous drug and disease infected place where some women are trapped by physical or economic compulsion. At the very high end, however, prostitution is clearly a lucrative choice, not a compulsion.

Posted January 30, 2010

Shortening Judicial Processes

I mentioned a proposal of the Berlusconi government that would set a limit on how long criminal proceedings in a case could continue – the proposal is ordinarily for six years. This has raised a cry that under this new law many current cases would have to be dismissed (because they cannot be concluded within the six years) and thus guilty parties will go free. The obvious answer to this dilemma is to have the new law be prospective only and apply only to cases begun after the new law was passed. The opposition claims, however, that this law is motivated by the desire of Silvio Berlusconi to escape from at least some of the many cases already brought against him for his business transactions. Of course Berlusconi’s party denies this, but by not simply making the new law prospective only, his party lends credence to the claims of the opposition about the “real” purpose of this reform.

The Italians before Italy: Conflict and Competition in the Mediterranean

This is the title of a 24 lesson university course on DVD that a friend kindly sent to me. This is one of many such courses published by The Teaching Company. The presenter is Professor Kenneth Bartlett of the University of Toronto. His emphasis is on Italy from fall of the Roman Empire until the 17th century when the Italian peninsula was overrun and subjugated by various foreign powers. He tries to illustrate how various elements of Italian life today have their roots in the historical experience of this period. He often mentions specific aspects of Italian life and culture that I have noted in my newsletters.

More on Throwing the Kids out of the House

I wrote about the politician who suggested that parents be allowed to put children out of the house at age 18. The immediate response was “where will they go with no money and no job?”. Now he has come up with an answer – government payments of 500 Euro per month to jobless children thrown out of the nest. How does government pay for this? His solution – eliminate the possibility of some workers to retire at age 55 and apply the savings in pension funds to the subsidies for the young. A sure fire way to accelerate the War of the Generations. No politician saluted his original idea, and this new embellishment on it also drew zero support, but the proposer got a lot of publicity.

Bill Gates vs. Berlusconi

Bill Gates complained that Italy has not come through with the aid for poor nations that Silvio Berlusconi promised him Italy would provide. Gates called Italy one of the stingiest western nations in helping poor countries. Promises everywhere from politicians are always suspect, but maybe Bill did not realize that in Italy they mean even less than elsewhere (and, if possible, still less if Berlusconi is making the promise). No Italian newspaper would ever have noted that the promise was not kept. This made the news in Italy only because Gates complained.

Trivia Question

Who is the most famous American who ever lived in Pistoia? Of course, you might say Bob Nordvall, but this is wrong. Bob Dole was in the hospital in Pistoia during WW II recovering from wounds, but this might not qualify as living in Pistoia. The answer: Kobe Bryant (number one star in the National Basketball Association) who father was a player on the Pistoia basketball team (as well as some other Italian teams) when Kobe was a youth. In fact, Kobe was quoted in the paper as saying he hopes to return to live in Italy some day.

What Do George Clooney and I Have in Common (besides incredible good looks)?

We both sleep (or he will soon be sleeping) on beds made in Pistoia. George just purchased a hand made bed by an artist in nearby Quarrata for 25,000 Euro as the marital bed for him and his fiancé. I’m sure they won’t use it until after the wedding. My bed is a little more modest. I’m not sure it was made locally, but for the sake of argument I will assume it was.

Death of J.D. Salinger

Salinger is extremely popular in Italy. The Italian title of The Catcher in the Rye (which title really can’t be translated into Italian) is The Young Holden. The youth section of the old library here was called the Holden Zone. I think the percentage of Italians who have read The Catcher in the Rye is higher than that in the USA.

The Problem of Immigration – A Quick Summary

I’ve written at times about how Italy seems to have especially difficult problems in controlling illegal immigration. It may be useful to give a brief summary of these. First, there is the long coastline facing Africa. This problem affects Greece, Italy, and Spain. (Similar to problem in USA of the long border with Mexico.) Given this geographical difficulty, it would take an efficient border control effort to deal well with the problem; Italy does not have this. Once people are in the nation, the judicial system has no easy way to get rid of them; orders given to illegal immigrants to leave Italy are simply ignored. Italy does not put them on a plane to home. There are conflicting feelings among the population about illegal immigrants – some want to send them back, others are sympathetic to them and want Italy to help them. Italy has a generally warm climate so immigrants can more easily survive in substandard housing. Of course, some businesses are happy to have the low cost illegal labor.

Recently there was a big crackdown on illegal Chinese immigrants and their businesses in nearby Prato. If past experience is any guide, this will turn out to have been a temporary Big Show with no follow up.

Posted January 23, 2010

The Political Benefits of the Ridiculous

In Italy politicians will often say something ridiculous or at least highly controversial in order to get media coverage. Since politicians are not held liable in Italy for what they say, this mode of gaining publicity has little risk. The latest was the government minister who suggested a law allowing parents to throw the kids out of the house after they reach age 18 (which is the law in the USA). This runs so much against the grain of Italian tradition that the public response was highly negative. People said “where would the children go without a job or even the prospect of work”?

Of course the minister was not proposing that parents had to send the children out of the house –only that they be allowed to do so. Still it is an idea too radical for Italy.

Bettino Craxi

He was a dominating Italian politician of the 1980s – the first socialist to be prime minister. He moved the Socialist party from the left to the center of Italian politics. Since during his tenure as Prime Minister the economy prospered, many Italians have fond memories of him as a leader. He was implicated in n the large scale investigation of political corruption in the early 1990s (which, among other things, led to the dissolution of Italy’s largest political party). In 1993 he was forced to resign as party leader because of allegations of corruption. He fled to Tunisia and was twice sentenced in absentia to prison terms in Italy before dying in Tunisia in 2000.

At the 10th anniversary of his death, there were ceremonies celebrating him and his life. Prominent current political figures attended these. If you watched these events on Italian TV, you would think that he was some kind of political hero. The explanation for his reversal of fortunes among the politicians praising him was that in a period of astounding revelations of political corruption he wrongly became the “poster boy” for corrupt politicians (almost all 0f whom were involved in the illegal system of campaign financing) and was given overly severe treatment. I don’t know enough of the details of the period to evaluate this claim.

Still as I’ve pointed out before, the norms of political morality in Italy are not those of most western nations. What is interesting in retrospect of the scandal of the early 190s is that politicians were shown to be doing what most Italians thought they were doing anyway. Somehow, however, the idea arose at this time that Italy could turn a page and rid itself of widespread political corruption. To say the least this idea was overly optimistic.

Charles DeGaulle Airport

In response to my complaints about the large size of this airport and the resultant difficulty in changing terminals, a reader pointed out that the airport now does have a rail rapid transit system between terminals. Unfortunately it did not run between the terminals of my recent flights in and out of the airport. Perhaps if this system is extended throughout the airport, the inconvenience of changing terminals will lessen. In fact, I took the rail system one time before at this airport; the train had an unscheduled five minute stoppage between terminals. It was still better than the bus system.

Pistoia’s Soccer Fortunes

I’ve noted that Pistoia’s squad has been demoted to the semi-pro level of the soccer leagues. At this level the team is prospering. Of course few cities as large and prominent as Pistoia play at such a low level. I’ve never heard of mot of the other cities in this league.

Fake Dentists

According to media stories, Italy has many thousands of unlicensed and not properly educated dentists. Why so many “fake” dentists? As I’ve mentioned before dentistry is not covered under the national health plan (either totally uncovered or covered with so few dentists that people must use private ones). Dentistry here costs about what it does in the USA. So it is quite expensive in terms of the income of the average Italian. The “fake” dentists offer much lower prices.

Manipulating the Media

I’ve mentioned before that the government has done a good job of completing the first phase of a mufti-year plan to house the victims of last year’s earthquake in L’Aquila. Sivlio Berlusconi has not been shy (He is never shy.) to claim full credit for this achievement. He has already made 25 visits to the city since the earthquake. The recent visits all have the same staged scenario—grateful citizens praising Silvio for his wonderful works. A good example of the low quality of the Italian media is the fact that these recent visits are treated as major news stories.

Getting my New Permesso

It’s always an adventure when I go to police office to get this document. On the door of the office is a paper telling the window to get the document is open at 8:30 am on certain days. The paper says that at 6 am one can come to the office to get a number for one’s place in the line after 8:30. I arrived a little after 6 to discover that the numbers were no available until 7:30; the announcement on the door was outdated, but nobody had bothered to change it. For the first time they have a machine that disperses the numbers. I was the first person to get a number on this day.

This year I am seeking a longer term permesso for which one qualifies after living in Italy for seven years. When I completed the form, I had an Italian friend help me because I wanted to be sure I did it correctly.

At the police office, I got my new permesso, but it was only for one year, not the semi-permanent one I had requested. Of course, I asked why. The lady said that I had not submitted a number of documents required. I asked where the list was in the application form of these documents. She said that she did not have the full applications packet; this could only be obtained at the Post Office. In any case, since I did not submit the documents, somebody at the immigration office changed my request to one for a one-year permesso. Of course, they did not take the other possible path –notifying me that my application was incomplete until the documents were submitted.

I don’t recall the list of documents being in my application packet. I may have overlooked it. It may have been omitted in the packet. Neither I nor my Italian friend noticed this list.

There was even a minor problem getting the one-year card. When I got my Visa to Italy in 2002, I had to be fingerprinted three times in the USA because my fingerprints were so faint that they could not be read. This was done with ink. Now they have an electronic fingerprint machine. The machine too could not read my prints. It took a number of tries before we were successful.

Local Political Battles

There are demonstrations in front of Pistoia’s courthouse on behalf of a group of far left young activists who are being tried for attacking the headquarters of a group of far right young activists. There was a lot of property damage in the attack; I can’t recall if persons too were injured. Now the position of the demonstrators seems to be this: (1) We are good guys; (2) they are bad guys; (3) therefore we are justified in attacking their headquarters. Too bad President Nixon didn’t think of this argument didn’t during the Watergate controversy.