Is the writing on the wall? 3rd luglio 2011

Is the writing on the wall? 3rd luglio 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/silvio-berlusconi/8546227/Silvio-Berlusconis-party-loses-key-Milan-election.html

Famous last words? Not tempting fate? Do not wish for what could come true? All this things bounce off dear Silvio like lightly bouncing things. This week the centre right coalition lost two key seats in the local elections - Silvio's heartland of Milano and also Napoli. Disaster you might think, that would kick most democratic PMs out of their seats, but Silvio it would seem. He has two year left to go and imagine that despite everything he will stay in until the end. Gotta admire his balls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification

Yesterday it was the national day. This year it is the 150th anniversary of the founding of Italy, well the Italian Republic. The unification of 20-something independent states, speaheaded largely by Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The anniversary was celebrated on March 17th 2011, so the national day seemed to be rather understated. A bit of rain, a small wind orchesstra performing in Piazza Salimbelli, playing some classical music, followed by the national anthem, but generally rather understated.

Italians are passionate people: passion about food, family, football (always things with F??), but are rather reserved about national identity. The north hates the south and has much greater rivalry than what I've seen anywhere else. Not only does the north hate the south, but the regional rivalries are just surprisingly huge. I'm not talking about Derby v Leicester, or Yorkshire v Lancashire, but it permeates every village, every city and every region. Recently we bought the Jamie Oliver DVD when he toured Italy, and the associated book.

I found the series amazing, very watchable (and shorter than Into the Wild in a previous post) and really very truthful about the differences between the regions of Italy. He said and he found that no matter how amazing the food was that he made in one town, he only had to go a few miles down the road and make the same dish and the Italians would hate it because it was different to the way it was made their and most importantly, different from how "nonna" - grandmother - would make it. In fact, in one shot he is making some roast meat and the nonna smells it and says "E puzzo!" - "it stinks!" - classic italian behaviour. They love their region, but as a nation they are not quite there yet. The south hate the north for having all the money, the north think the south waste all the money given to them and the Sud-Tyroleans wish they were not part of Italy.

Is the writing on the wall? For Berlusconi, it is on the wall, but the wall is high and the writing is small compared to the power he has at his fingertips so it will take a while. For me - who knows?

Ciao for now!