Italy - From Bad, to Much Worse
It’s been an eventful but tragic week in Italy, but it looks as though things here are going to go from bad to worse, much worse.
Work Related Deaths
Quite a number of people have, alas, lost their lives at work this week. First, there was an incident in Sicily which led to the death of six workers. Then, near Milan, two illegal immigrant Egyptian building workers died when the scaffolding they were on collapsed under them, causing them to fall around 20 metres. Finally, two other unfortunate individuals died in work related accidents in Sardinia and Sicily.
Technically, it is safer to go on a tour of duty in Iraq then it is to work in Italy. Italy’s politicians are humming and aahing as usual, but have not decided what, if anything, to do about this poor state of affairs.
Corruption a Go Go
Berlusconi is pushing through his anti-phone tapping measures, and in doing so, will make Italy an even easier place in which to pursue corrupt practices.
The new anti-phone tapping legislation is very much old school Berlusconi, in that the new law is really designed to keep all his friends immune from just about any form of prosecution based on accusations of corruption. Italian law enforcement agencies, and the magistrates whom Berlusco detests, will now find it just about impossible to gather enough evidence to bring people to justice.
Even Less to be Spent on Road Accident Prevention
The changes to the ICI property tax, meaning that less income will be generated local authorities, will lead to even less being spent on preventative road safety measures in Italy, which already suffers from some of the highest fatal road accident levels in Europe.
Apparently, Switzerland spends 25 Euros per capita on road safety, France 23 Euros, Belgium 10 Euros, and the UK 5 Euros per head.
Italy, on the other hand spends around 1 Euro per head, which will fall to 70 Eurocents, after the revisions to the ICI system are implemented.
Naples
The out of control refuse mismanagement situation down in Naples continues to smoulder away. And the unhappy state of affairs really is starting to trash the reputation of the ‘Made in Italy’ brand.
The reawakening of Fascism?
Last, but by no means least, in a fun move by Italy’s intelligentsia, the government has decided to use to the Italian army to enforce law and order at street level.
Around 2,500 troops in full battle dress (possibly a slight exaggeration…), are to be used to patrol the streets of Italy’s major towns and cities in order to combat increasing levels of crime.
The expression ‘martial law’ springs to mind.
Gordon Bennet, if this is what a strong government in Italy gets up to, bring back the lesser of two evils, good old weak unstable Italian government. I nearly fell over when I read about this.
Talk about extreme overreaction.
Not All Italian Websites Look So Bad
At the risk of being accused of being a pot calling a kettle black (Yep, I know this blog is getting rather cluttered), I have to say that after doing a little web based research for my latest project, my Italy is in Italian contemporary art site, I’ve come across some rather good looking, and, generally, well written English sections of Italian websites. Well, a family of them actually.
These sites form part of a mini-network run by the Ferragamo family, of the fashion house “Salvatore Ferragamo”. WIth the possible exception of the Viesca Estate site, all of the others are very slick.
I know they are at the top end of the market, but even so, it’s good to see what can be done. OK, so these people have money, of that there is no doubt, but, to their credit, they appear to know how to spend it rather wisely.
I hope they won’t mind too much, but I’ve stolen the list of links to each of these sites and popped them below, so you can have a quick gander, if you so desire.
Fashion
Salvatore Ferragamo - Fashionable clothes
www.ferragamo.com
Resort & Hospitality
Lungarno Hotels
www.lungarnohotels.com
Resort and Winery
Il Borro
www.ilborro.com
Marine Industry
Camper & Nicholsons Yachting Ltd - motor cruisers to dream about.
www.cnyachting.com
Nautor’s Swan - Lovely yachts - exploring the boats virtually is a pleasure.
www.nautorswan.com
Prestigious Rental and Villas
Il Borro
www.villailborro.com
Viesca Estate
www.viescaestate.com
As for this here blog, it’s going to get a facelift shortly.
Rubbish in Naples, Dioxin in Mozzarella, and now Toxic Wine
The ‘Made in Italy‘ brand is suffering something of a buffeting at the moment. The latest famous Italian product to come under the spotlight is that of wine.
Apparently unscrupulous producers of dirt cheap Italian reds have been popping a little acid into the mix. So the next time that cheap red appears to have a bit of an acidic taste to it, you know the reason why! Just joking.
Apparently there is no danger to human health, but this will be of little consolation to the many Italians who drink wine as if it were water. Even one of Italy’s most prestigious wines the famous Brunello di Montalcino has been tainted with accusations of falsification.
One wonders what will be next. Putrid pasta? Rotten risotto? Botched bread?
At this rate the poor Italians will have little to eat, or drink. And, if this pattern continues, soon they may have to give up the proud claim to having the best food in the world.
Strange to be hearing all these revelations right before the Italian general elections, is it not?
DIESEL
Nope, I’m not going to waffle on about eco friendly fuels, but in my continuing micro-attempt to raise the feel-good factor for Italy in these troubled times, I’m going to have a look at an Italian brand, which, at first, for quite a few years, I did not know was Italian. Not a surprise; I did not even know how to pronounce Versace until a more fashion conscious friend corrected me. Read more
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