thisweekinitaly.com

 Italian News on American Radio

 I heard a story on NPR (which I receive on satellite radio) about the current political crisis of Silvio Berlusconi. It started out with an operatic aria – the one from Mozart’s Don Giovanni in which Don’s servant sings a catalog of all the women his master has conquered. A very high proportion of stories about Berlusconi in the foreign media treat him as a comic figure. Many Europeans disagreed with the policies of George W. Bush, but Bush himself was not seen as a joke.  Most Americans know very little about the policies of Berlusconi; he is known almost exclusively as a laughable buffoon.

 American Film That May Have Left Italian Audiences Scratching Their Heads

 I saw the American film Last Night at an Italian cinema. Quite simply the theme was about an American married couple who both agonize over whether to commit adultery with a person to whom one or the other is attracted.  It all takes place within 36 hours. Italians watching the film would think “why all this moral agonizing; this is no big deal.” It would appear to be another illustration of the puritanical ethos of Americans.

Here is an interesting feature of the film. In it one of the characters is French. I assume on the original soundtrack he speaks with a French accent. In the dubbed Italian version he speaks Italian, of course, but also with an accent that signals that he is not a native Italian so viewers know that in the original this actor is not speaking English in the same way as the others.  Dubbing in Italy is a very sophisticated art.

 Opening of Art Exhibit

 I went to the opening of an exhibit at the museum of contemporary art in Pistoia. It is an exhibition of views of Italy in various media by a group of international artists. The event was to start at 4 pm.  At 4:30 the mayor finally appeared and began the ceremonies.  A few others talked and it was 4:50 before the doors opened to the public.  One of the introductory speakers made an interesting point.  He noted the commonly known fact that Italy has the highest percentage of any country of the world’s artistic patrimony. He spoke of the duty of the nation to preserve this heritage.  He went on to note that the rest of the world expects Italy to meet this obligation.  This is not simply a national priority but an international one. Unfortunately the rest of the world is unlikely to contribute funds for this purpose.

 Corrections

 I was right when I wrote in newsletter 389 that Italian shoes sizes come only in lengths, not widths. A friend tells me, however, that different manufacturers often have different standard widths in their shows. So not all size 37 shoes are the same width.  You have to try on various shoes to check the widths.  Still I doubt that any manufacturer has a standard width that is an A or a D. So for very wide and narrow feet, you have to find special shoes.

In newsletter 390 I said that the former boyfriend of Gianfranco Fini’s current companion was also a politician. In fact he was a leading industrialist.  I don’t take back my statement that he is unattractive.

 Remember Woody Allen’s Film, Radio Days?

 In it some little  boys accidentally see a beautiful young woman undressing through an apartment building window.  Later they are amazed to see this same woman in their school classroom as a substitute teacher. For the record, I want to be clear that I never saw a woman like her as a regular or substitute teacher when I was in elementary school.

 Anyway, in Milan recently a controversy arose about whether a regular teacher was too beautiful to be a teacher. She is a former Miss Abruzzo.  Videos of her  were posted on the internet (from her pre-teaching days) in a comic sketch wearing a bra and tight fitting hot pants as well as photographs of her posing in an American police uniform.  The school officials stood behind her as a well qualified teacher whose performance was fine. Only one set of parents withdrew their child from the school.  There was an editorial supporting her in one of Berlusconi’s newspapers – no surprise in that.

 The Old Catholic Church (contd.)

 I wrote in newsletter 388 about this breakaway church from the Roman Catholic Church that seemed to be church that would be attractive to Italians who leave the Roman Catholic Church. Almost all the major practices and polices of the Roman Catholic Church that some Italians find objectionable are different in the Old Catholic Church. Last week I attended a discussion led by a priest of the Old Catholic Church. I asked him if many disgruntled Italian Roman Catholics joined his church. He replied that for most Italians the Roman Catholic Church = the Christian Church.  This idea is built into Italian culture. So the Italians don’t even think of looking for a different Christian Church if they stop being practicing Roman Catholics. 

 An older American woman friend of mine provided an illustration of this point. Forty or fifty years ago when she was dating the man who would become her husband, his mother asked her “are you a Christian”? She replied “yes,” but her answer, although correct, was also a bit disingenuous. She knew the mother meant “are you a Catholic” whereas my friend was a Protestant.

 Finding the Right Recipient for a Tantalizing Offer

 I saw in the paper that a beautiful young woman actress in Germany offered to the man who is the President of Germany one night of free sex with her if he would put an end to the use of nuclear electrical power in Germany.  I assume the offer was not accepted.  Italy is about to resume building nuclear power plants after a 30 year ban on nuclear power.  Comedians in Italy lost no time in suggesting that this lady, if she wants to stop nuclear power, should give a call to Silvio Berlusconi with her offer.

   ”This Time it is for Real”

This is a quotation from Zsa Zsa Gabor immediately after one of her many marriages. The political crisis of Silvio Berlusconi, which has been announced many times before, may be for real this time. If his government does not fall within the next few weeks (as is possible), I predict that he will be out of office (at least for a while until new elections) within a year. I don’t see this solely as the result of his political opposition but partly as orchestrated in some way (I am not sure how) by the power elite in Italy who are increasingly upset by the paralysis of his government in making needed reforms.

 It is interesting to talk to citizens who support Berlusconi. Their main claim is that his programs and ideas are better than those of his opponents. This may be true. He may be the best choice as the lesser of two evils. Often, however, his supporters also claim he has done a good job. This is obviously false. A successful leader has (1) good ideas, (2) implements them, and (3) the nation benefits. Berlusconi has been in office longer than any other post war leader and with a good majority in Parliament. Few of his ideas have been implemented, and Italy has remained static for the last 15 years. As I’ve noted before, some say that nobody can be a successful leader in Italy. That may be true. In any case, however, Berlusconi has not been a successful leader.

 School Uniforms

In the five years of elementary school in Italy, the students wear a uniform called a grembiule or grembiulino which is a sort of smock worn over their regular clothes. It is said that these were instituted so there would be no distinction in dress between wealthy and less wealthy students. At one time these outfits were black, but now they come in various colors. In some schools different classes wear different colors. After elementary school the students dress in the usual grungy Italian youth style which probably also serves the function of not distinguishing between more and less wealthy students.

 I bought a grembiule for my granddaughters thinking that it would probably fit the older one (6) now and the younger one (4) later. When the younger one, however, saw the picture of Barbie sewn on the front, she appropriated it immediately even though it is a little large for her. I attach a photo of her in this dress.

 False Priest

 I’ve written about false dentists in Italy. There have also been false lawyers and doctors. This week there was the story of a guy who for 20 years served a summer supply priest in a small parish but was not ordained. There was a comedy film in the 1940s about four couples who were married by a pastor or judge who did not have the authority to do so. So what do they decide to do now that they were never legally married? Fortunately this priest never performed any marriages.

 The Old Man Rich in Property but Not Cash

 In my newsletter 388 I told an Explanatory Fable about an old man (Italy) who had a lot of wonderful property but did not have the cash to take care of it. Last week in Pompeii the House of the Gladiators collapsed. The President of the nation, Giorgio Napolitano, called it a disgrace. I did not have to wait for long for an example to illustrate my point.

 Update on Big Case

 I wrote in newsletters 386 and 387 about a big murder case in Italy in which the uncle of the victim originally confessed to having killed his niece to cover up his sexual molestation of her. The uncle later said his daughter was an accomplice in the murder. The daughter supposedly was jealous of the victim because of time the victim spent with the daughter’s boyfriend. Now the uncle says that the daughter killed the victim, and he was only an accomplice who helped dispose of the body which eventually was found. The daughter still denies everything. There is some indication that the wife of the uncle and mother of the daughter knew what had happened. I think we have here what is called a “dysfunctional family.”

 A Italian Film Experience Not Duplicated in the USA

 I had an experience at a film recently that has occurred before. This film (A Tranquil Life) was about an Italian who fled his past and went to Germany where, as you well might expect, his past catches up with him. Some of the dialog was in German for which there were Italian subtitles. This was an advantage for me. Much of the rest of the dialog was in the dialect of Campania where Naples is located. Not surprisingly, I cannot follow this dialog. If an Italian who speaks English sees an American film where the actors speak in a heavy southern accent, the Italian might well have trouble understanding them. What is different in Italy is that my Italian companion from Pistoia at the film also could not understand a lot of the talking in the Campania dialect. In the USA, I never see films in American English that I cannot understand regardless of the accents involved. It is the difference between regional accents in the USA and regional dialects in Italy.

 Family Values

 There was a big conference in Italy on problems of the family. Many political luminaries attended although, in a rare show of good taste, Berlusconi did not come. The Minister for Family Affairs announced a plan to pay a subsidy to Italian families for each child. This may be a good idea, but if it is intended to boost the birth rate, it is sure to fail. The low birth rate is caused by a number of factors such as late age at marriage, the necessity for two wage earners in the family, and the ever increasing cost of raising a child. A little subsidy will not reverse these conditions.

 Gianfranco Fini, who is leading the revolt within the center right coalition against Berlusconi, was there. Recently at the convention of his political party in the front rows (I thought I saw them sitting together but was told I was wrong) were his wife from whom he has long been separated and his younger companion with whom he has some young children. The presence of the two so close together may indicate that he is a good politician. I figured like many powerful men in Italy, when his wife reached middle age, he traded her in for a younger model. It turns out, however, that their separation occurred when she took up with a big soccer star in Italy.

 A little note about Fini’s current girlfriend. She formerly was engaged to another Italian politician Whereas Fini is tall and handsome, this other guy is short, fat, and bald, but he claims that he gave her lots of money before their “romance” ended. Italian doesn’t have a single word for “gold-digger.” You have to translate it with the phrase donna unicamente interessata nel denaro – a woman interested only in money.

 Political Parties in Italy

 Last week I called Berlusconi’s party his “personal fiefdom.” This is not an uncommon phenomenon in Italy. In the 1990s. many of the major parties were disbanded after a big corruption scandal. Other parties were reorganized. Since then a number of new parties have arisen that were started by a single individual and are associated almost exclusively with that person. This is more common in the center right part of the political spectrum. These parties have a structure, members, office holders, organization, etc. but if the main leader would die, the party would shrink drastically if not disappear.

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Reminder

 In last week’s newsletter, number 388, I twice referred to something I had written in an earlier newsletter.  All prior newsletters are collected at the web site www.thisweekinitaly.com  .  The web site even has a “Search” function for anybody who wants to check prior newsletters for a specific topic. If for some reason you do not receive a copy of the newsletter via e mail one week, you can always go to the web site to see it. To receive the newsletter via e mail (for those few readers who already do not) simply contact bobnordvall@hotmail.com

 Autumn Colors

 Tuscany does not have the brilliant autumn foliage colors that you see in the northern United States.  I believe the reason is that you don’t get the quick change of temperatures from warm to cool in the fall in Tuscany. Nevertheless, on a recent bike ride outside of Pistoia, in part through the area of large plant nurseries, I came across some colorful trees of autumn.  At first, I was sorry that I did not have my camera. Then I remembered that my cell phone has a camera in it. So I am attaching a few photos taken with this cell phone camera.

  Quo usque tandem abutere, Catalina, patientia nostra?

 For my few readers whose Latin is so rusty that translating this famous phrase of Cicero is a problem, here it is “How Long Catiline will you continue to abuse our patience.” I thought of it when reading about the latest scandal of Silvio Berlusconi; one that seems more serious than usual despite the propensity of Italians not to take account of a politician’s personal life in deciding whether to support him.

 This time it involves his “relationship” with an underage Moroccan immigrant girl, Ruby, whom the police were investigating for prostitution and theft. Berlusconi called the police while she was being questioned and said she was related to the President of Egypt (a lie) and asked that she be released. Ruby told the police she had attended a dinner at Berlusconi’s house. Eventually she was released to the custody of Nicole Minetti, a former showgirl and Silvio’s dental assistant, who now is a member of the regional parliament of Lombardy after being put on his party list  by Berlusconi. No, this is not a joke.

 The story gets better. Berlusconi defended his actions as motivated by the desire to help  a needy immigrant girl.  The few Italians who believe this are either in a mental asylum or severely mentally retarded.  The main issue in the controversy is not his morals, but the impropriety of his calling the police.  It is beginning to dawn on more and more people, nevertheless,  that what has been seen as indiscretion or idiosyncrasy on Berlusconi’s part is really an illness of sexual obsession. It is hard, however, for his political allies to remove him as head of the party and government and name another leader because the party is Berlusconi’s personal fiefdom.  It is a house of cards that would fall apart upon his departure.

 When will the Italian people say “enough” to Berlusconi’s antics?  Maybe he is in the position of the Edward Edwards, the rogue politician from Louisiana (who finally ended up in jail) who said before one election “the only way I can lose this election is if they find me in bed with a live boy or a dead girl.”  My guess, however, is that powerful industrial and church leaders in Italy today are talking secretly about how to get rid of Berlusconi so that a power elite may find a way to ease him out. 

 The Italian Image Abroad

 The host of an Italian TV discussion show has written a book about Italy’s possible decline to the level of a second class nation. He made an interesting point in describing his research. When a foreign  international businessman is assigned to work in Italy, he often has a rather unflattering stereotype of Italian men in mind – loud, boisterous, a lady’s man, a bit lazy, etc. On the contrary he finds his Italian colleagues to be serious, intelligent, serene, etc.  Of course no national stereotype accurately describes a diverse population. One of my Italians friends thinks that the stereotype abroad of Italians is based upon a distortion of traits more typical in the south than in the north. One thing is clear to me, the antics of Berlusconi certainly reinforce this negative image abroad.

 The Lady’s Feet

 I saw a well dressed older Italian lady in a shop.  Although it is fall, she was wearing open sided summer  shoes. Stylish Italians rarely wear clothes that are out of season.  When I looked closer, I noticed that her feet extended a little over the sides of the shoes.  Her problem was that she has wide feet in a country where shoes come in only one width. The only choices are to go to the few places where you can buy wider shoes with a restricted selection or wear soft sided athletic shoes.

 A Trip to Udine and Trieste

 I was happy to get the opportunity to see these two northern Italian cities that I had never visited.  Trieste is a city with a more international past than is typical in Italy; it was duty free port.  The Austrian influence was more obvious in Trieste than in Udine.  In Udine the Venetian influence was more apparent. Some of the major buildings had their ceilings pained by the Venetian painter Tiepolo. Near Udine I saw an excellent art exhibit of the works of 19^th century Scandinavian artists with a special emphasis on the Norwegian artist Munch.  As always in the north of Italy, the cities are much cleaner than they are further south. Udine and Trieste are often mentioned in lists of the best places to live in Italy.

 A School for Girls – Unusual Requirement  for Admission

 In late medieval and Renaissance times, education for girls not of the upper class was very rare.  At Udine two elderly woman established a school for such girls. Its goal was to teach them skills they could use to earn a living so they would not turn to prostitution which was typical for such girls at that time.  For this reason at age 12, the school admitted the girls who were the most beautiful since these were the ones most likely to be sent by their families into the world of prostitution.