Ask Questions about Italy and Get Answers

Ah, good question that, Judith – here’s my stab at an answer:

He’s fun, for a politician.
People, Italians, like the fact that he’s extraordinarily wealthy and a self-made man.
He is expert at working the Italian system.
He employs lots of people.
He holds some great parties, with gorgeous girls ready to play to every whim.
There’s no real alternative.
He looks good in a bandanna (!)

Does that answer your question?

Best,

Alex

Hi Jude, or should that be ‘Hey’,

First, I don’t think Sweden is alone in thinking Italy is corrupt and racist. Most of the news about Italy which makes it onto headlines of newspapers and the main titles of TV news is about the dark side of Italy.

I think don’t think there are fascist reigns in a lot of cities! But, there are fascists in Italy, although they exist in France, the UK and Germany, and I’m sure there are a few in Spain too, as well as a few other countries.

As for massive corruption, well, this could be true, and hardly a day goes by without my hearing some example of bribery and corruption. You’ll find a few examples if you hunt around this blog. Are all Italians susceptible to corruption? No, not all, but Italy does have a different concept of honesty from northern European countries, and paying money is also seen as a way to get round bureaucracy and inefficiency. And there is profiteering, and the mafia.

It is true that Italy has been getting a lot of bad press recently, and, as a consequence, has a poor image in the eyes of the world. This is partly justified, but there are lots of good people in Italy too. The corruption exists at the top of the ladder more than anywhere else, but as a result, it cascades down to lower levels. It’s the ‘if he’s doing it, then why shouldn’t I?’ syndrome.

There is also the popularist prime minister Berlusconi who tries his best to appeal to Italy’s masses – and he’s good at it too, after all in setting up his TV channels, he did just that. The trouble is that this approach has cheapened Italy in the eyes of the world. Sabina Guzzanti, who made a documentary on the alleged profiteering which took place after the Abruzzo earthquake, is one of a few people who are not too happy with the way things are going. However plenty of Italians quite like Mr get all the girls Berlusconi, and want to be like him. I suppose Berlusconi appeals to the ‘I’d like to be rich’ feeling most people have, and think that he might help them achieve this aim.

Sabina Guzzanti, Beppe Grillo and a few others are unlikely to make much of a difference in my opinion, because most Italians, while they moan and groan, do not have such bad lives. Italy’s political classes don’t seem to want to do an awful lot. Oh they make lots of noise, but at the end of the day nothing fundamental really changes.

Italy’s image problem, I suspect, is likely to get worse before it gets better. And things move slowly in Italy. I think it is the heat.

Hope this helps you understand Italy a little better. I could write for pages about the country. Actually, I have – there are around 1,500 posts on this blog about many aspects of Italy. Wade through some of it and you might end up understanding Italy a little better.

Best,

Alex

Hi Alan,

Glad you like the new look. Other tweaks will take place – part of the fun of owning your own website!

Now, to the thorny subject of finding work in Italy. To be blunt, it ain’t going to be easy – unless you have a skill which Italian companies are desperate for. Knowing Italian well will make a big difference, although the bigger multinationals don’t always regard knowing Italian to be a priority, but it would not hurt.

Programmers are not well paid in Italy – which is something I’ve written about before: http://www.blogfromitaly.com/italys-poor-coders/

Then there is the area of Italy. Up north, such as here in Milan where I live, you may stand a better chance than down in the depths of the south from Rome down.

Now, I don’t know what you program in, so I don’t know how in demand your skills might be, but before coming here, I’d explore the possibility of working remotely. As a programmer, you may not need to be on-site, so you could do work for an Irish or US company etc via the www, possibly.

Ah English teaching. I doubt you’ll have a problem finding work, though a TEFL qualification will help. Trouble is that English teaching does not pay too well – unless you manage to end up working for the British Council, and the hours can take the fun out of family life too. If you do decide to go down this route, do some research into English schools in Rome (I don’t know anything). Other places to look at are universities, through they are suffering cutbacks at the moment, and business schools – though you will find that good Italian helps enormously – but, and this is quite a big but, you don’t appear to have any teaching experience, which limits your choice of teaching establishments and your earning potential.

Are you on LinkedIn? If not, get on there! If so, then feel free to post a link to your LinkedIn profile in a reply to this comment – you never know, someone might get in touch – this happens surprisingly often on the www.

Does your partner work? Probably not at the moment with one child and another arriving imminently. Even so, once children are around 3 months or so, space can be found in one of Italy’s ‘azilo nido’ – day nursery. There are private nurseries (expensive €800+ a month here in Milan) and public nurseries (cheap and they can be as good as or better than private nurseries – but you won’t find English classes always). There are also waiting lists, and priority lists too, but at least your partner could work mornings, if she wanted to.

Hope this helps a little. Give me a shout if you need to know more.

Best regards,

Alex