Interesting to hear this, though not a great surprise. Italy does seem to move very much at its own pace. Still, if both public and private sector move too slowly, they will be left behind by other more proactive countries.

Still, I’m not expecting any radical changes here!

Thanks for popping in, and I’ll hop on over to your new site.

Best,

Alex

Thanks for commenting. It is sad news for Italy – and you are right that Italians seem to dislike order, although they do seem to want it as they complain incessantly about the lack of it! Italy is not at all united, and still seems to be a series of little principalities. The only Italians who feel Italian are those Italians who no longer live in Italy! To an extent, the disorder seems to be promoted by Italian governments because organisation would mean accountability, and accountability would mean that spiriting away large sums of money would become difficult. And no one does anything in Italy if he or she thinks there will be no money in it.

As for Italy not having the cash to invest in tourism, this is the impression Italy wants to give, but Italians all seem to be remarkably well heeled to me. Cars, mobile phones, nice clothes, exotic holidays, two or three houses – heck I don’t think there is any real shortage of money here. And there are some damn good Italians who really care about Italy – but just why Italy seems to remain a mess is not all that clear. Too many interests, I suppose.

Italians, and I’ve said this before, do not realise just what a jewel they possess, and with better management, the country could become the world’s number one tourist destination – and solve its economic problems too. Yes, tourism would cause problems for certain sites, but with a little thought and planning, money raised from tourism could be used to overcome any potential problems which might arise.

Really Italy should outsource the management of the country to the Germans or the Austrians!

Thanks for dropping in,

Alex

The corruption and waste and mismanagement and acceptance of chaos and sham governments filled with sham politicians can be hard to take…trust me…I am a citizen of the United States, I know. But isn’t more than romantic drivel to say that those who love and care deeply about Italia also have some type of fatal attraction to the lack of real order, to the chaos, to the ’show’? I also wonder, in fairness, if the standard of living in these other nations isn’t higher than in Italy, and if those countries have more money to spend on promoting tourism.

I’m not at all disagreeing with the notion that the Italian government is corrupt and that its inability to set priorities and act effectively to improve the lives of its people–and to protect its countless priceless historic and artistic treasures–is shameful…it is. But I’m not convinced that my own nation, if entrusted with protecting AND promoting such an enormous number of sites and treasures would rise to the challenge. And wouldn’t more tourism actually jeopardize further the preservation of key sites? Just some thoughts.

My site about good weather http://naszesydney.blogspot.com/