Holiday Blues - Knowing What to Ask for in an Italian Pharmacy/Chemists

March 22, 2008 · Filed Under Information · 3 Comments 

OK, so you are on holiday or business here, or maybe you have just been re-located to Italy and you, or someone in your family, are feeling lousy.

You want to get something to help you over the worst, but you do not speak Italian, and have no idea what the various medicines are called in Italy. If that is the case, then this may well be the right post for you.

Ex-pats who live here will no doubt have noted that Italian concoctions for treating minor illnesses have names which are all but memorable. To help reduce the pain, so to speak, here are some of the medicines my family and I use to deal with relatively minor health problems. All are available without prescription.

Please note that although we use/have used all of the products mentioned below and have never had any problems, we are not you!

While I have translated the dosages from the Italian instructions, please note that the information below is for guidance purposes only. If you or your child suffer from allergies, then seek medical advice as to possible side effects, although the notes within the packs do give details of these. And I am not a doctor. These are treatments for minor aliments and the information in this post is in no way is to be considered as medical advice. If in doubt, seek medical advice from an English speaking doctor - look here.

OK, here are a few things that might help out: Read more

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Will He Stay or Will He Go Now?

January 23, 2008 · Filed Under Life in Italy · 8 Comments 

This is the question many Italians will be asking each other regarding Prodi’s chances of surviving the confidence vote his government is about to face. Oddly enough, it does appear as though Prodi may manage to hang on by the skin of his teeth. We shall see.

Actually, Prodi is quite highly regarded outside of Italy - as a recent article in the Financial Times pointed out, and certain members of his team have been quietly beavering away and achieving a few things. For example, there has been a crack down on tax evasion, and systems are finally being installed that will make it much more difficult for Italians to avoid paying up. The recent introduction of personalised pharmacy receipts is an example of this.

What is even odder (except for the opposition run Mediaset) is that the media in general seem to ignore any of this government’s achievements, and Prodi is not exactly the ‘blowing his own trumpet type’ either. This does not help too much, especially in the face of media-savvy Berlusco who knows a thing or two about blowing trumpets, and is not at all averse to it. However, with a few notable exceptions, it’s almost as if the much of the nation lacks a good deal of self-confidence, which is strange seeing as there is no shortage of talent here, and many Italian brands are well known at an international level.

Even at a local level, Italy is choc-a-block full of entrepreneurs, and the Lombardy region, I was reading on Wikipedia, can boast one of the highest per capita GDPs in the whole world, higher even than Saudi Arabia! This shows just what Italy and its population can do when they want to.

Just because everyone else is being pessimistic about this country, does not mean that I have to be too, even if I do grumble about many things here. I shall just say that my relationship with Italy is a little like that of the school teacher who knows that his or her pupil can, not could, but can, do better, much better. Not that Italy is ‘my pupil’, but I think you will understand what I’m trying to say.

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Tax Deductible Drugs

January 22, 2008 · Filed Under Life in Italy · Comment 

I went to the chemists/pharmacy today to get some more cough syrup and came across the spanking new system for registering purchases from these places, which I had heard about a few days before. Now, when you pay for your drugs you can also hand over your health card - a credit card sized piece of plastic - and your ‘codice fiscale’ - tax code - will be written onto the receipt for the pills or potions you have just bought. The personalised receipt can then be passed to your accountant who will arrange to have a certain amount deducted from your income. Neat.

This new system has been introduced, I suspect, to cut down on tax fiddles because in the past a receipt for just about anything from a pharmacy could have been written off against income tax. And you can be sure that all manner of face creams and other cosmetics had become tax deductible. With the new system, this will no longer be possible, or rather, it will be more difficult to pull off.

It’s quite a shrewd move on the part of Italy’s expensive politicians, and it may even save the country a few bob.

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