Zero Tolerance

June 24, 2008 · Filed Under Italian TV · Comment 

I watched an interesting fly on the wall type documentary the other day entitled ‘Tolleranza Zero’ - ‘Zero Tolerance’ (Yes, at times Italian and English are extremely similar).

This program was shown on La7, one of Italy’s public TV channels, and was about, as you might expect, how the Italian police are dealing with crime in and around Milan in Italy.

What came across to me was the high level of professionalism exhibited by the sometimes maligned Italian ‘polizia’.  The ‘polizia’ is not the same as the para-military ‘carabinieri’, by the way, although the polizia does have a similar function. For more information on Italy’s many police type bodies, you might like my old post called ‘They Got Guns‘.

Certainly the Milanese polizia appear to be doing their job, and doing it rather well. Indeed, the recent proposals to put soldiers on the streets in Italy appear to be something of a slap in the face for this organisation, which is something of a shame.

Still, politicians who don’t interfere wouldn’t be good politicians, now would they?!

As an aside, the few documentaries which appear on Italian TV, usually far too late in the evening, are, for the most part, very well made.

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Stocking the Shop

February 25, 2008 · Filed Under Me · 2 Comments 

Rooting around on Amazon trying to find things to add to the two shops I recently added to this blog has been proving to be an interesting exercise. I’ve started to add an ‘Italian Regions’ section and I’ve discovered that there are not that many books about the northern regions of Italy. Tuscany, as you may imagine, has had plenty of books written about it, whereas Trento, where the majestic Dolomite mountain range can be found, has not generated any where near as much literature.

I suppose I can understand why in that I imagine that northern regions are possibly a bit too mountainous for many, and that those looking to move to Italy tend to aim for the areas with a milder climate. Personally, I would think about living in the northern areas, and especially the some of the more mountainous zones, however, having seen areas such as Tuscany, Umbria, and the like, I can understand why such areas are able to attract the attention of those looking to set up a new life there.

I have not, so far, got to trawling for books about Sicily, but I am curious to see just how much has been written about the region. This evening we watched a rerun of Montalbano, which is a series of stories about a police commissioner who is based down in Sicily. I had not seen this particular episode before, and it was as fascinating as ever. The landscapes, and the interior shots of enormous homes that do not appear to have been decorated for at least a century.

The more I watch the Montalbano series, the more I am intrigued by Sicily. It almost appears that the place is stuck in a time warp, indeed, if it were not for the fact that Montalbano dresses in a reasonably modern kind of way and knocks about in a beaten up old Fiat Tipo, the whole series could take on the air of a period drama set in the first part of the 20th century.

Then, but I’m not sure this is deliberate or not, there are the car-less streets, which are at a stark contrast with the car-lined streets of Milan. Sicily looks to be an odd place, and even my other half, who has been there (and has Sicilian origins), will only say that I really need to go there to see how it really is. But she does seem to be hinting that the Montelbano tv series really is rather close to reality.  This reaction only serves to intrigue me yet further.

One of these fine days I shall go down there, and in the meantime I might even buy a book of photos of the island from my own shop.

Italy holds an odd attraction for me, its horribly frustrating at times, but living in Italy is a bit like living on the edge of a huge and mysterious forest. At first, your curiosity draws you into this forest, and, after a while, you find another forest within that one, and this forest is equally mysterious and enthralling. Next there is another forest, and so on.  Eventually you become lost in this web of forests, well not so much lost, as trapped, or, rather, imprisoned within your own fascination.

Italy is such a series of forests. Initially, it’s suave tentacles writhe temptingly around your feet, but then, and ever, ever so slowly, they start to rise until they envelope you, and finally they start to penetrate, and continue penetrating deeper and deeper until they finally reach into and touch your very soul.

That’s it, once you’ve lost your soul to Italy, you become condemned to spending life in the enchanted boot.

I believe my soul has been defiled.

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Mugging in Milan

February 21, 2008 · Filed Under Milan · 2 Comments 

This post has been updated to make it more accurate - Alex Roe, 22.02.1008.

I was rather worried to learn from the guy I work with that he had been mugged a couple of weeks back.

As if mugging in any circumstances were not bad enough, this case is worse. You see, this guy was attacked in the centre of Milan in the Duomo underground stop, on a Sunday, and while he was with his little daughter.

Apparently, while he was getting on a train, he was brought down rugby style, and then held down while an accomplice stole his wallet from his back pocket.

As you do after such an event, you head off to the nearest police station to report the miscreants. And as he arrived at the police station, my friend found himself in the midst of a whole group of people who had also been victims of what was a well organised and executed mass mugging.

The other victims were a mixture of foreigners and Italians alike, and many had lost money, credit cards, and important personal documents. The muggers, and there were five or six, my friend told met, were in their mid-thirties and may have been Italian.

In view of the brazen nature of these attacks, it should have been possible for the police to have caught up with the criminals. No such luck.

My friend suggested that the police use the CCTV system to identify the perpetrators, but was surprised to discover that the underground station video surveillance cameras were not working on the day of this rash of nasty attacks. Great, not.

In view of this potential problem, and I don’t know if action has been taken, it would be a good idea to carry two wallets if you venture into the centre of Milan via the underground railway system, the yellow line, at the moment. Put one in your back pocket, in which you can put 10 Euros or so, and hide the other in a less obvious place. Then, in the event of a mugging, at least the thieves would think they had got what they were after.

On no account try to remonstrate with these interesting gentlemen. Unless you are Rambo, you will most likely come off very badly.

Just watch you back, and keep your eyes open for signs of unwanted attention down in the underground stations, and, if something does raise your suspicions, keep your wits about you.

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