Italianate

Shelly of At Home in Rome is back with a post about some very Italian concerns:

1. Air conditioning “fa male.” It’s just generally “bad for you.”

How did I live nearly three years in Phoenix, Arizona, without dying? (Italians are so attached to this one, I’ve no doubt I’ll get at least a few angry comments telling me that it does “FA MALE” and explaining all the reasons why. I give up.)

2. Sweating.

There’s a whole encyclopedia of italianate on sweating. If you sweat, you have to change clothes before it evaporates or you can get pneumonia. Don’t stand in front of a fan if you’ve been sweating. God forbid the air conditioner.

3. Wet hair.

Not using a hair dryer can cause any number of ailments, not the least of which is a migraine in the exact spot where you neglected to dry your hair. However, for example, when my husband didn’t dry his hair thoroughly the other day and I pointed out this grave error, he merely laughed and said, “But it’s summer, that’s different.” Doh!

There's more... and her readers remind her about the Italian obsession with the fegato (liver).

Love it for the filth?

Via the Telegraph:

Claudio Velardi, 53, took the job of luring tourists to Italy's dirtiest and most criminal city at a time when Neapolitans are rioting over the mountains of rubbish lying in the streets.
The crisis, which arose after the city's dumps became full and collections halted, continues to worsen.
Last week, piles of rubbish reappeared on the streets of the city and the European Commission threatened to take court action against Naples for failing to resolve the matter.
The images of burning rubbish, together with the city's crime problems, have led to a steep drop in tourism, with some hotels reporting a 30 per cent fall in bookings.
Mr Velardi, a public relations expert, has outlined a strategy to sell the city without gloss.
"Naples has never been a clean city," he said. "It has always been a hotbed of viral diseases, of hepatitis. I am better off than many Neapolitans, but even I have a bad liver because I had hepatitis as a child."
Mr Velardi said tourists should love Naples for the unexpected pleasure of finding beauty and filth crammed together.
He added: "If I go to Rio de Janeiro, I know there are favelas (slums). This city is also chaotic, but is beautiful and characterful.
"We have no intention of turning Naples into Frankfurt. What is more, the hoteliers say that no one complains about Naples when they come to leave the city. It provides happy memories.

The unexpected pleasure of finding beauty and filth crammed together?

Italian Politics...

Via the Telegraph:

Silvio Berlusconi has stumbled badly in the Italian election campaign after telling a woman to solve her financial problems by marrying a millionaire.
The gaffe came during a Thursday night television show when a 24-year-old woman asked him how she was supposed to get a mortgage or start a family without a permanent job.
"You should perhaps look to marry a millionaire, like my son, or someone who doesn't have such problems," the perma-tanned billionaire told Perla Pavoncello. "With that smile of yours, you could even get away with it," he added.
His comments attracted criticism from Italy's unions and from Walter Veltroni, his opponent in next month's election.
"There are lots of things you can joke about, but the problems in Italy's economy are not among them," said Mr Veltroni. Mr Berlusconi responded by saying that Mr Veltroni "does not have a sense of humour".
Italy has a grave problem with youth unemployment, which runs as high as 40 per cent in areas such as Naples. Many Italian employers also only offer short-term contracts to youngsters since it is nearly impossible to fire employees.
Before the gaffe, public frustration with the failure of Romano Prodi's government has resulted in a commanding lead of up to 10 points in the polls for Mr Berlusconi whose new nickname is "psycho-dwarf".

It's moments like this which occasionally make me think I should play closer attention to Italian politics.

The Italian Approach

This will, no doubt, become a classic example of the difference between the Italian and the 'Anglo-Saxon' approach to morality and law:

In a victory for Italian adulterers, the country's Supreme Court has ruled that it is acceptable for wives to lie in order to cover up an affair.
The court said that a 48-year-old woman from Orbetello in Tuscany, named only as Carla, was within her rights to lie to police over having a lover.
The case arose when her boyfriend, Giovanni, was arrested by police for making abusive phone calls to her husband, Vincenzo.
When the police asked Carla whether she had lent her mobile phone to her lover, she said she did not have a lover and that she had not lent him her phone.
In court, her lawyers argued that she was trying "to save herself from a grave and inevitable stain on her honour".
Her defence said that she was in the process of separating from her husband and that the admission that she had taken a lover could be used in the divorce proceedings against her.
"Her husband has already threatened to bring up testimonies from lovers against her," said her lawyer.
The judges of the Supreme Court agreed, saying that "the fact of having an affair is a circumstance that could cause damage to her honour in the minds of her family and friends."
They added: "It is clear that one does not deny the loan of a mobile phone to police unless one has a serious reason to do so."
The Supreme Court, which is made up of elderly male judges, regularly causes uproar with its controversial judgements. They include the ruling, which was later rescinded, that a woman could not be raped if she was wearing tight jeans, since they could only be removed with her consent.

What a bishop is supposed to do...

Kudos to this Italian (Sicilian) bishop for taking a stand. He's putting more than a cosy relationship with certain politicians or his personal comfort on the line:

An Italian bishop has been given an armed escort for the first time in more than 20 years after he defied the Mafia by refusing to celebrate the funeral mass of a Godfather.
Bishop Michele Pennisi, 62, stood his ground against the Cosa Nostra and said that he would not allow the funeral of one of its bosses, Daniele Emmanuello, 43, to take place in his church in Sicily.
Within days of making the ruling he was the target of a poison pen campaign and posters and flyers of him appeared overnight containing threats against him.
Emmanuello, 43, was the Godfather of his family and had been on the run for more than ten years before he was tracked down by police to an isolated country farmhouse at Villarosa near Enna two months ago.
In the shoot-out with police he was gunned down and as he lay dying officers pulled from his throat pizzini, or little notes, that he had used to pass on orders to members of his crime family.
[...]
Bishop Pennisi said: "The Lord will protect us and free us from the Mafia and from the pizzo [protection money payments].
"I have been the target of threats and insinuations from the beginning, and I did not wish to respond to and give further ammunition to these people.
"However the police have told me not to underestimate these people and as such I have been assigned protection - I understand the last religious figure to do so was the Bishop of Palermo in 1984.
"The flyers said that I was a servant of the State because I had refused to allow Emmanuello's funeral to take place in my church.
"I believe this was the right decision - my mission is against the Mafia and I have always believed that between the Mafia and Christian values there is no compatibility.
"It is the Christian duty of everyone to fight crime and make these so called men of honour become new people.
"I assured the Emmanuello family of my spiritual help but that I was not going to allow the funeral to take place in the church.''

More Young Italians Live at Home

This report from ANSA deals with one of the peculiarities of Italian contemporary society:

(ANSA) - Rome, January 31 - An increasing number of young adult Italians remain with their families because of low wages offered for entry level jobs, according to a new report.
The socio-economic think-tank Isae said that the number of young adults staying home had climbed by 6% in 13 years and today about 75% still lived with their parents.
According to Isae, 68.4% of young adults lived with their parents in 1991 while in 2004 this percentage rose to 74.1%.
In 1991, the think-tank pointed out, first job salaries were 83% of the average national salary, while in 2004 they were only 74%. Last October Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa sparked polemics when he referred to the young adult Italians living at home as ''big babies''.
''Let's get these big babies out of the home,'' the minister told a parliamentary committee in regard to a budget measure to set aside funds to help young adults pay the rent on a place of their own.
''We need to encourage young people to leave home. If they don't, they just stay with their parents, they don't get married and they don't become independent,'' he said.
Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi recently has spoke on the need to improve prospects for young people in regards to both salaries and job security.
''If they expect to have a salary which is lower than in the past and have to battle continually with job insecurity, they will lower their spending permanently,'' he said.
Low salaries and precarious working conditions also prevent young people from leading independent ''adult lives'', Draghi added.
The economic reality of why young adults stay at home is in contrast with the stereotype of young Italians living at home for the comfort and security.
This stereotype was the basis of a successful 2001 French film, Tanguy, about a 28-year-old college graduate who fights his parent's efforts, even in court, to get him out of the family nest.
The film was inspired by a real Italian court case won by a son whose parents tried to force him out of their home.
In Italian marriage vows couples promise to maintain their children until they fulfill their aspirations. This concept is recognised by the country's constitution which does not set a time limit on this obligation.

It's a live issue whether this trend is a cultural or an economic one. One of the interesting canonical implications is the extent to which the traditional Italian mother-son relationship, combined with economic forces keeping young Italian men living with their parents is actually decreasing the capacity of Italian men to consent properly to marriage.

News from Naples

I wish that I had this news from a more reliable source than the Telegraph, but this is interesting and possibly worrying:

An appeal for divine intervention in the rubbish crisis in Naples appears to have failed after a phial said to contain the blood of the city's patron saint failed to liquify.
For several weeks the city has had to cope with thousands of tonnes of uncollected rubbish because of a dispute about disposal.
In a prayer vigil to solve the crisis - led by Crescenzio Sepe, the city's cardinal - thousands gathered in Naples's historic Duomo to pray to St Gennaro, who died in 305AD.
As part of the ceremony, a phial containing the saint's blood was put on display and venerated by worshippers.
The phial of dried blood is usually displayed on the first Sunday in May, when it is reputed to turn to liquid, ensuring the city success and safety.
But it is also brought out in times of crisis - most recently in 1979 when the city was in the grip of a cholera epidemic.
Worshippers at the vigil, which began on Friday, were asked to pray to St Gennaro for help but after three days the "miracle of the blood" has failed to happen - prompting increased fears for the future.

Prodi Resigns

Via the Times, more proof that politically Italy is a joke:

Silvio Berlusconi was poised to make a remarkable political comeback last night after the collapse of the Italian Government led by Romano Prodi.
Only 20 months after defeating Mr Berlusconi in a close-fought general election, Mr Prodi, 68, fell from power in a senate confidence vote, losing by 161 to 156. The Prime Minister went immediately to the Quirinale Palace to tender his resignation to President Napolitano.
An exultant Mr Berlusconi held a celebratory champagne party at the Palazzo Grazioli, his residence in the historic centre of Rome, after hearing the news. “We need to go to the polls in the shortest time possible without delay,” he told reporters.
However, the ambitions of the flamboyant media tycoon, whose centre-right political movement enjoys a comfortable poll lead, may yet be frustrated by the President, who will begin consultations today on how to proceed. He could decide to appoint a caretaker administration to overhaul the Italian electoral system before new elections are held. Walter Veltroni, the leader of the largest party in government, argued last night that early elections would “push the country into a situation of dramatic crisis.”
Mr Veltroni, regarded as Mr Prodi’s successor in waiting, is said to want an interim administration and a new electoral law to give the Left time to prepare for the battle with Mr Berlusconi.
Mr Prodi, fighting to stay in power against the odds, had opened the confidence motion debate in the senate by appealing to senators to back him so that he could complete “urgent reforms”. In a reflection of the tense atmosphere, a senator from the Christian Democratic faction — the party that sparked the crisis by deserting Mr Prodi’s coalition — fainted after being assaulted by fellow party members when he declared that he was supporting Mr Prodi after all. In extraordinary scenes, Nuccio Cusumano was spat on and insulted and had to be taken out of the chamber on a stretcher. He later returned, but his vote was not enough to save Mr Prodi.
President Napolitano can now call new elections, appoint an interim caretaker government or ask Mr Prodi to try to reform his coalition, as he did when the Prime Minister lost a senate vote a year ago on the deployment of Italian troops in Afghanistan. Potential candidates for the post of caretaker Prime Minister would include Mario Draghi, the widely respected governor of the Bank of Italy.
Mr Prodi, who had gone ahead with the vote despite the prospect of defeat, said that he had done so in the spirit of the founders of postwar Italy, who had devised a democratic constitution whose 60th anniversary is being celebrated this week. This provided for votes of confidence to confirm or dissolve governments, and not for “extra-Parliamentary crises”. He said that Italy could not afford the luxury of a power vacuum.
Opinion polls indicate that the Centre Right would win elections handsomely. Mr Berlusconi has already fought four elections as centre-right leader, winning two of them, and a fifth election bid for the premiership would be an Italian record. Mr Prodi’s problems were sparked by the resignation last week of Clemente Mastella, head of the UDEUR Christian Democratic faction, as Justice Minister after magistrates began a corruption investigation involving him and his wife, Sandra. Some on the Left have accused the Vatican of persuading Mr Mastella to sabotage the Prodi Government — the 61st since the Second World War — because its policies on issues such as abortion and gay civil unions are against Roman Catholic doctrine. Vatican officials and Mr Mastella deny this.

Turin holy water theft blamed on Satanists

Via the Telegraph:

Satanists have struck at one of Turin's most famous churches, stealing a vial of holy water and a missal, or prayer book.
The items were taken from behind the altar at the Chiesa della Gran Madre di Dio, or Church of the Great Mother of God, at the end of last week.
A source at Turin police said a special team of carabinieri military police are investigating the break-in, and that the "most likely explanation" was that "the items were stolen to be used in a rite of black magic".
The holy water, from the river Piave, was in a crystal sphere which was around 14 inches wide. It was mounted on a marble base. The missal was around 20 years old and was lying on a prayer stand.
Father Sandro Menzio, the priest in charge of the church said the job had been done by professionals.
"They forced open exactly the right door and took their targets in the most rational way. They also avoided setting off the alarm. The things they stole were just symbolic, so it is difficult to find an explanation for their behaviour," he said.
Experts in the occult said the church, which was built in 1814 to celebrate King Victor Emanuel I's return to Italy, is one of the most important sites in the cosmic battle between white and black magic.
Sitting on the banks of the river Po, it forms one point of a "triangle of good" and is linked to other points in Lyons and Prague.
Twin statues stand at the base of the stairs leading up to the doors of the church, representing Faith and Religion. The statue of Faith holds a chalice in its hand and is looking at the location of the Holy Grail, which is buried in the city, according to legend.
"This church is full of important symbols to practitioners of the occult," said Giuditta Dembech, the author of Turin: Magic City.
"But only the theft of the prayer book makes any sense. You can organize a black mass with the prayer book, but I do not know what the thieves would do with the water."
She added: "For the objects to have any power for Satanists, they would need to come from a church, and this is one of the most important magical sites."
Turin is said to lie on the 45th parallel, an invisible line that runs around the globe and is halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. But a "line of evil" also intersects the city, and connects it to London and San Francisco.
The city allegedly has the highest concentration of Satanists in Italy.
The Piazza Statuto, a short way away from the church, is a shrine to devil-worshippers, who believe that the gateway to hell lies underneath. Thousands of criminals and deviants were executed in the piazza in Roman times, because it was believed to be a cursed place which often lay in shadow.

There is certainly a stronger awareness of Black Magic and Satanism in Italy than there is in most of the Western world. I'm not quite sure what to make of this story, however. It seems strange that Satanists would limit themselves to stealing an altar missal and a vial of holy water. It is certainly to the Italian Church's credit that it's very aware of Black Magic, however, there also seems to be a tendency amongst some Italian clergy to blame everything on Satanism and Freemasonry.

Ruini - Show support for the Pope on Sunday!

The Italian press is reporting that that Cardinal Ruini, the Pope's vicar for the Diocese of Rome, is encouraging the faithful to give a large show of support for the Pope by attending the Papal Angelus at noon on Sunday. Needless to say, there's no way I'm missing that.

Mainstream political opinion in Italy is almost entirely in support of the Pope with reference to the whole Sapienza debacle. Even those who do not agree with him see this as a defeat for the principle of free speech. Amongst ordinary Italians there tends to be an attitude of great embarrassment that the Pope seems to be more welcome in Turkey than he is in the country's largest university. Some of the signatories of the notorious letter which opposed the Pope's attendance are also trying to nuance their position. They claim that the letter should have been private and that it was 'used' by the protesters in a way that was not intended. The rector of the university is speaking of a 'defeat for reason and secularism.'

Catholic students from the Sapienza university were also prominent at today's Papal audience. They were showing that if the Pope couldn't come to them, then they were going to go to the Pope.

They're worse than I thought...

John Allen does us a great favour by reproducing Ratzinger's 1990 remarks on Galileo. Go over there and read it a couple of times.

It seems to me that the then-Cardinal does not even suggest that he necessarily agrees with Feyerabend. When he says:

If both the spheres of conscience are once again clearly distinguished among themselves under their respective methodological profiles, recognizing both their limits and their respective rights, then the synthetic judgment of the agnostic-skeptic philosopher P. Feyerabend appears much more drastic. He writes: “The church at the time of Galileo was much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself, and also took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo’s doctrine. Its verdict against Galileo was rational and just, and revisionism can be legitimized solely for motives of political opportunism.”

he expresses neither agreement nor disagreement. Rather, reading in context, his emphasis seems to be the fact that there is a debate within secular thought itself regarding the progress made by science since the Galileo case. He goes on to say:

To my great surprise, in a recent interview on the Galileo case, I was not asked a question like, ‘Why did the Church try to get in the way of the development of modern science?’, but rather exactly the opposite, that is: ‘Why didn’t the church take a more clear position against the disasters that would inevitably follow, once Galileo had opened Pandora’s box?’

Ratzinger himself was surprised at the criticism of modern science which has been arising recently.
What's his conclusion:

It would be absurd, on the basis of these affirmations, to construct a hurried apologetics.

He does not suggest that people of faith 'construct a hurried apologetics' based on the reassessment of Galileo by some thinkers. In simpler language, he's warning us, be careful of jumping to hasty conclusions about the relationship between science and faith. And why does he say that?

The faith does not grow from resentment and the rejection of rationality, but from its fundamental affirmation and from being inscribed in a still greater form of reason

And why did he bring up the Galileo case?

Here, I wished to recall a symptomatic case that illustrates the extent to which modernity’s doubts about itself have grown today in science and technology.

The quotation which was hostile to Galileo came from an 'agnostic-skeptic' thinker. The then-Cardinal quoted it, without indicating whether he agreed with it or not. He quoted it to show that there was a debate within modernity. He also warns that those of us who are believers should not exploit this debate for apologetics purposes without thinking it all through - one gets the impression that Ratzinger is very cautious about adopting a position and that there may be significant nuances in any final theological judgement concerning the legacy of Galileo.
Reading the actual words of Ratzinger, it becomes increasingly clear that scientific horror at his 1990 words was a mere fig-leaf to justify an anti-clerical protest on behalf of a bunch of blindly secularist ideologues.

Credit where credit is due

The Telegraph reports the Sapienza controversy very well:

The pope has been forced to cancel a visit to a university in Rome because of fears for his safety.
Benedict was due to address students at La Sapienza University, but called off his trip at the last minute because of a sit-in protest.
The last papal trip to be cancelled for security reasons was in 1994, when John Paul II was due to visit Sarajevo. However, the pope has never been unable to tour Italy in modern times.
Angry students had threatened to blast dance music at the pontiff, and also to dress up as nuns. According to sources close to the Vatican, there had also been "more serious threats".
The official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano, said that "this is a dramatic threat against the papacy, culturally and civilly".
The controversy began after 67 professors at the university signed a letter saying the pope should not be allowed to give the inauguration speech for the academic year.
The professors accused Benedict of being opposed to science, and cited a speech he gave two decades ago. They argued that the pope would have supported the Church's 17th century trial against Galileo for claiming the earth revolved around the sun.
Although there is little evidence in the speech to support their claim, the students lent their support to the cause, and occupied the dean's office, waving banners which said: "The Pope has occupied La Sapienza. Free the Intellectuals!"
The Italian Bishops' Conference said they were "worried" about the state of the university, which was founded by the Vatican seven centuries ago. "There seems to be part of the secular world which does not argue, but demonises and which does not discuss, but creates monsters," said a spokesman for the bishops.
Students rejoiced when the Vatican finally conceded and cancelled the trip, shouting "Get the Pope out !"
However, Renato Guarini, the dean of the university, said he was "bitterly upset" at the tension on campus.
Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, also condemned the students' actions, saying that it had been "unacceptable".

Gah! It's not about Galileo!

BBC Reportage of the Sapienza controversy:

Pope Benedict XVI has postponed a visit to a prestigious university in Rome where lecturers and students have protested against his views on Galileo.
"After the well-noted controversy of recent days... it was considered appropriate to postpone the event," a Vatican statement said.
The Pope had been set to make a speech at La Sapienza University on Thursday.
Sixty-seven academics had said the Pope condoned the 1633 trial and conviction of the astronomer Galileo for heresy.
[snip]
Pope Benedict was in charge of Roman Catholic doctrine in 1990 when, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he commented on the 17th-Century Galileo trial.
In the speech, he quoted Austrian-born philosopher Paul Feyerabend as saying the Church's verdict against Galileo had been "rational and just".

That's the ostensible reason that some of the scientists have claimed for their objections... but really, who gets that upset about such an off-hand remark?
Anyway, the BBC's reportage gets worse:

Fifteen years ago Pope John Paul II officially conceded that in fact the Earth was not stationary.

WHAT? Does someone at the BBC seriously believe that (pace Robert Sungenis) the Catholic Church has been teaching geocentrism until 15 years ago? Granted, some Fundamentalist Protestants have some pretty wacky things to say about biology and dinosaurs, but it takes a serious lack of understanding of mainstream Christian belief to think that it wasn't until John Paul II came along that the Church denied that the earth moved. Sheesh!
Fr Z has a franker and (alas) more accurate take on the situation:

These narrow-minded little brats are probably being pushed by aging hippies, communists, and sexual deviants. Much of the protest seems focused on how "homophobic" Pope Benedict is. Also, apparently the Pope and the Chuch are against science and truth, etc.

Basically, this whole thing is driven by two things: stupidity and lust.

The Church in Italy has been very involved in some matters in the public square. After decades of having no real opposition, the Left is freaking out now because the Church and the Italian bishops are no longer being filtered through the monumentally mediocre and now defunct Christian Demoncrat party. The Church is weighing in on matters like assisted fertilization, civil unions for homosexuals, euthanasia, abortion, etc. The Left and the deviants don’t like this new development at all. Their reactions? Level death threats against the new president of the Bishops Conference and then behave like snotnosed delinquents when faced with opposing views.

The authorities were worried about what image would be created by televising students involved in civil disobbedience confronting the Pope.

Incidentally, this protest against the Pope is said to be based on the 'secular' nature of science. Why aren't the students protesting the presence of politicians at the inauguration of the academic year? Isn't science also non-political?

One of the things that annoys me about the Italians...

... is their proclivity for political excess. I can understand people of various political stripes not agreeing with the Pope or having serious disagreements with the Catholic Church. However, the reaction of some of the lefty students at the Sapienza is laughably over-the-top. This Reuters report and photo say it all:

Students stand over a banner reading "La Sapienza is hostage of the Pope" outside the window of an occupied room at La Sapienza University in Rome January 15, 2008. Some professors and students are protesting against plans for Pope Benedict to address Rome's most prestigious university, saying a speech he made nearly two decades ago showed he had reactionary views on science. The German-born Pope is due to speak at La Sapienza on Thursday at a ceremony opening the 2008 academic year. The inaugural event's theme is the death penalty, which the Vatican and the Italian state want abolished globally. But more than 60 professors have written a letter saying the invitation should be withdrawn because the Pope's views "offend and humiliate us".
REUTERS/Dario Pignatelli (ITALY)

Breaking News: The Papal visit has been called off! More info to follow!

Update: This report was made by the news agency ANSA a few minutes ago:

ROMA - The Vatican "has thought opportune to postpone" the visit of the Pope to the Sapienza University "due to the continuing uprest of these days".

It seems that as part of the protests, the Rector's offices were occupied by students today.
One has to imagine that security concerns and the dignity of the Holy Father were the primary concern here. One suspects that many at the Sapienza University are ashamed what the actions of their colleagues have brought about.
The Pope will, however, be sending the text of his proposed address to the Sapienza.

Matt 10:14: And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.
Edited to add:The American Papist is keeping on top of the story.

Garbage Wars

The situation in Naples as described in the Telegraph:

The Italian army moved into Naples as tensions over the city's mounting rubbish crisis erupted in violence.
Entire districts of the city are lying submerged under more than 5,000 tons of waste. The pile is growing at the rate of 800 tons a day.
No rubbish has been collected in Naples since Dec 21, when the city's dumps reached their capacity.
While the residents are furious at the stink, and the risk of disease, there have also been protests at plans to create new dumps or reopen old ones.
Riots broke out at Pianura, the site of an enormous open-air dump that the locals say pollutes the area with deadly dioxins.
Four buses were set alight during the night and police were struck with a hail of stones as they tried to dismantle temporary roadblocks.
(snip)
Army engineers used bulldozers to clear waste from schools in the Caserta region.
The government called for the schools to be opened, but no students arrived.
Clemente Mastella, the justice minister, said the dead hand of the Camorra, or Neapolitan mafia, was behind the crisis.
"People who set fire to buses are not citizens, but usually people sent by the mafia," he said.
It is in the Camorra's interests for rubbish to build up in the city, since the clans own most of the rubbish recycling companies that would eventually win contracts to dispose of the waste.
In the past, corrupt firms have been found to be shipping waste to China, where it is buried, instead of recycling it.
Mafia families also profit from buying properties in the troubled areas, where prices have become depressed by the continuing rubbish crisis.
In addition, the Camorra is said by the police to bring lorry-loads of waste to Naples from factories in northern Italy for fees that undercut legal competitors, adding to the rubbish piles.

Also, there's a report on the practice of coffee-sharing:

Steeply rising prices for basic foods have inspired a new fad in the south of Italy: "coffee-sharing"
The trend, which started in the tiny Sicilian town of Partinico, involves two or even three people taking a sip each from the tiny cup of espresso.
"It is sociable and it has become a habit," said Alberto Guercio, a regular at Partinico's Bar del Viale.
"I usually go in with a friend anyway, so I offer him a sip. We save money, and we drink less coffee. Everyone knows that too many cups make you feel ill anyway."
Etiquette demands that the first drinker uses one side of the cup, the second person uses the other, and that the third person may drink from the middle.
"It is no longer rare to hear the Sicilian phrase 'menzu l'uno?' ('half each?')," said La Stampa newspaper.
Partinico, which lies around 19 miles from Palermo, has one of the highest rates of coffee consumption per head in the country.
Since the euro was introduced in 2001, the price of a cup has risen by around 40 per cent, to 90 cents (67p).

Life in Italy (for Italians)

I'm frequently asked by visitors about the Italian economy and the standard of living of Italians. Shelly has written a really insightful post about this.

Imagine the disappointment...

at finding one of these in your Christmas stocking. [Biretta-doff: At Home in Rome]
(Although, I'd quite like one of these.)

Italian Adverts

Sexual orientation is not a choice... Or so the residents of Tuscany are being told by their regional government. Hardly the best use of government funds, and probably a pretty dubious proposition from a scientific point of view as well.

Meanwhile, all about Rome is this decidedly disturbing poster from the Ministry of Health. There's something decidedly off about that nurse.
Edited to add: This useful PDF on the Ministry's website explains that the aim of the campaign is to depict 'beautiful health'. This site explains that the picture is of a positive (up-beat?), smiling and communicative nurse. I'm saying nothing, but let me assure you that you don't want to end up in an Italian hospital.

Italian Blog Law

This piece in the Telegraph describes what would seem to be a crazy Italian attempt to regulate the blogosphere.

By G8 standards, Italy is a strange country. Put simply, it is a nation of octogenarian lawmakers elected by 70-year-old pensioners. Everyone else is inconsequential.
Romano Prodi, the Prime Minister, is a spry 68, knocking off 71-year-old Silvio Berlusconi in last year’s election. President Giorgio Napolitano, 82, has six more years left on his term; his predecessor was 86 when he called it quits. In the unlikely event that Italy declares war, the decision will come from a head of state who was a month shy of 20 when the Germans surrendered at the end of the Second World War.
This creaky perspective is a necessary introduction to any discussion about Italian politics with outsiders, I find. If the Italian Government seems unable to adapt to the modern world, the explanation is quite simple. Your country would operate like this too if your grandparents were in charge.
Recently, Italian lawmakers once again took aim at modern life, introducing an incredibly broad law that would effectively require all bloggers, and even users of social networks, to register with the state. Even a harmless blog about a favourite football squad or a teenager grousing about life’s unfairness would be subject to government oversight, and even taxation – even if it’s not a commercial website.
Outside Italy, the legislation has generated sniggers from hardly sympathetic industry observers. Boingboing cleverly reports Italy is proposing a “Ministry of Blogging.” Out-law.com plays it straighter, calling the measure an “anti-blogger” law.
(snip)
I understand the lack of alarm in their tone. We’ve been down this road countless times. Panicky government officials, whether they are in Harare, Beijing or Rome (yes, this is the second time it’s been proposed here), pronounce a brand new muzzle for the internet, and clever netizens simply find a way around it. Even that agitated teen probably has a foolproof way of masking his IP address. And besides, it could easily be argued that a Blogger or Typepad blog is hosted on a server well outside the bel paese, making a stupid law virtually unenforceable. And finally this is Italy, a place where plumbers and captains of industry alike are serial tax evaders. Don’t sweat it, amico. Enjoy the sunshine, vino rosso and tagliatelle.
Maybe it is because of all these obvious points that the draft law is already going through some revisions. If it is ratified – and at the moment it looks frighteningly likely – the Ministry of Communications would decide who must register with the state.

Now, why didn't I think of that?

Via Corriere della Sera:

An Italian man disguised as a priest, and prepared to lock himself in a bathroom for a day, managed to sneak away with dozens of 300-year-old books, drawings and watercolours worth at least 650,000 euros from leading libraries and public archives in Rome. Italian police recovered the items in raids at the man’s home and storerooms. The suspect, a Roman man in his mid-forties, used ink remover to delete identification numbers and library stamps from the items, said General Giovanni Nistri, who heads the Italian police art squad.