THE WORST
It is easy and pretty clear what is
worst in Italy.
Politics.
In the years, this country, well known
for fashion and good food, has been held by corrupted governments.
Those of you who come from countries
with a relatively stable political situation would be kind of
confused by the recent Italian political history.
A Republic from 1946, after a
referendum that abolished monarchy and banned any reviving of
fascism, Italy has known too many governments to count them.
Starting from the early '50s, one
party, with an important influence from the Vatican, did the rule of
thumb in Italian politics the Democrazia Cristiana.
But those where also the times when the
Communist parties were becoming stronger because they were closer to
the masses.
This could not be possible in the
country where the Pope lived, so mind manipulation was made on how
the communists were bad and could do bad to the country.
And suddenly it was the 60s, when the
country encounterd a massive financial boom, and everybody felt rich
and happy.
And then it came the 70s and a certain
political conscience came up, youth organised radios and parties
against the status quo. This was the “bloody decade” of political
terrorism that ended with the kidnapping and homicide of the
secretary of Democrazia Cristiana.
Mystery has since then covered that
crime, except for the fact that it lead to a fusion between
Democrazia Cristiana and the Socialist party, held by Bettino Craxi.
In the 90s, it was revealed that the
Democrazia Cristiana and the Socialist party bribed and stole money
from everywhere and everyone, that is in one word, the Italians.
But this was not enough since we, the
Italians, never learn from bad experiences, and so the “godson”
of Craxi, Silvio Berlusconi, decided to found his own party and get
in the game.
Since 1994, except for short breaks in
which the opposition parties made their worst to become less and less
powerful compared to Berlusconi's smile, he rules Italy.
For those who voted for him, he is a
sort of blessing, an entrepreneur who made his own fortune starting
from nothing, could not bring nothing less than success to our
country.
While those who don't like him and wish
and hope for a real opposition to rise up, it seems like living in a
nightmare where funds for culture are cut down while online casinos
and bingo palaces get Statal fundings.
Something is appearing to change,
though, in the Italian spirit in these last months; the usual
gluttony seems to have been defeated by the critical economic
situation in which we are dipped in, so maybe, there will be an
“Italian spring”, soon.
THE BEST
As geographical position, Italy has it
all.
And it was obvious in the centuries,
since this country has been prey to many different people and
cultures: Barbarians, Normands, Greek, Spanish, French, Austrian,
Arab.
Each culture left something of itself
when leaving.
One of the nice things the Ancient
romans did also when conquering new places was to save the conquered
people's culture.That happened also viceversa.
If you go to Sicily, traces of Arab
architecture can be easily found in Palermo or Trapani, and also food
culture: for instance in San Vito lo Capo, a small village close to
Trapani, west Sicily, every year, every September there is the most
famous Cous cous festival in Italy and maybe in Europe. Cooks from
all over Northern Africa and Sicily come over to offer this food
which is easily found in every restaurant of the island.
Italy is right in the middle of the
Mediterranean, which makes its climate moderate in both winter and
summer. Sun is a major blessing in this country, since there are more
sunny days than rainy ones.
Culture is at hand., from ancient to
postmodern.
Indeed, this year, Rome, home of the
Colisseum and St Peter's basilica, has witnessed two great
contemporary art museum openings, which put the Eternal city almost
at a European level.
MaXXi and Macro museums, designed by
star architects Zaha Hadid and Odile Decq, were inaugurated last
March and have a stunning structure and interesting collection pieces
such as Anish Kapoor and Gilbert&George.
