Notes from Rome, part 1

From the news I had heard in England I already knew Italy was in hot waters.  I had a deep-seated conviction that the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano and the Prime Minister, Mario Monti had rescued Italy from the brink of a precipice.  But I wasn’t aware of how deep the chasm was, very deep indeed.

The new government was repeatedly accused of lacking democracy because it  had not been voted in by free elections.  But Italy had desperately needed sweeping reforms and new laws, to face the crisis with which the Berlusconi government could not cope.  And I am pretty sure that if Italian people had been called to vote, the majority would have still voted in the right wing that brought Italy to such disaster.  Besides, what Giorgio Napolitano did was within the rules of the Italian Constitution as he has to vouch for the security of the Italian State in case of emergency, and the present government was voted into office by Parliament itself.

Political parties decided to not take part in the coalition because of this manoeuvre.  Cuts, pension reform and property tax would be very unpopular and would lose votes to political parties. But this was the only way to avoid ending up like Greece, or bankrupt.

Some examples: in this blog (Holiday Journal 2011, part 6) I said how cheap it was to dine at the Senate restaurant.  Not any more.  Prices have dramatically risen.  In the past senators paid only 13% of the actual cost: now they pay almost full price.  They could have dinner for a few euro in the past: now they need to pay from twenty-five to forty-five euro.  Half of the waiters and cooks have been dismissed as the customers have been reduced by 50-70%.

Pensions will be only contributory from now on, not at wage level or based on the last wage received as it was in the past.  No more ‘baby pensions’, when people could retire after having worked only twenty years and get a pension from then on ( e.g. if they decided to retire when they were forty they could do it and still get a pension).  Just think how much the State is going to pay for people who retired when they were forty or fifty, as now they will probably live to eighty or ninety years old.

Berlusconi abolished the tax on property (ICI), or Council Tax, in 2008.  Part of this had already started in 1992 when no-profit associations and churches were exempt from the tax.  Things became confused when in 2005 Berlusconi stated that even if there was a commercial activity when it was linked to charity, culture, religion or education, they were exempt from the tax as well. The main source of charity, religion and religious education in Italy is the Roman Catholic Church, and it is often linked to small but also huge profits, depending on what kind of ‘commercial activity’ is going on.  Needless to say, the Church owns large properties, especially in Rome, sometimes palaces and villas or apartments inherited from people they assisted, then hospitals, schools at different levels, and so on.  Now the new government has reintroduced the tax on properties with a different name (IMU);  there is a fifty Euro discount for each child under twenty-six who still lives at home, which is pretty common I suppose.  I wonder if the Church will be affected by this tax or will still keep its benefits.

Tax evasion: a big Italian thing.  They are tackling it in spite of avoidance and resistance. It is common in the people's mentality to cheat a state to which they feel hostile, and all abet each other.

Mario Monti has eighteen months before elections.  After the political, economic and moral crisis of the Berlusconi era new perspectives and solutions are needed.  Of paramount importance is the reformation of politics and political parties, where an ethical attitude and the aim to serve the country should be central.  I also read about a proposal to give more powers and funds  to the European Parliament, maybe because they don’t trust the Italian one. Exactly the contrary of what the majority of British people think.  I feel this is a traditional mistake made by Italian people, to allow foreigners to rule for them because they are not able to do it or don’t want the responsibility themselves.  It is a shame.

A great Italian journalist, Giorgio Bocca, died on 25th December, aged ninety-one.  He had been a partisan in WW II with Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Freedom); he reported and commented on all the main Italian social and political events from the end of the war until now, mainly from the pages of la Repubblica and L’Espresso.  He was quite a free thinker, a tough, open-minded  man coming from the north west of Italy.  He dreamed and believed in a different Italy, and fought for it till the end.

Other news: ordinary shops were almost empty with a drop in sales of 15-20%, but designers and luxury shops had people queuing outside.  It means that rich people are still rich, while middle class and poor people are even poorer. Corriere della Sera reports that ten thousand euro coats in via Condotti sold in the blink of an eye. How can you pay ten thousand euro (£8,230) for a coat? I don’t even earn as much in a year.

Books still sell though, maybe because they aren’t so expensive and are a good present anyway, as well as high-tech items and CDs.  A reprint of a cooking book published in 1942 by Lunella De Seta about cooking in war time had a great success.  It teaches how to avoid wasting food, and re-use leftovers and stale bread.

And what do some Italian people do when they can’t afford Christmas presents?  They steal them.  Several newspaper articles report ordinary people caught red-handed with teddy bears, video games and dolls hidden in their bags and under their coats. The credit crunch makes the thief.

There was even a 15% drop in the sales of Lotteria Italia tickets, the annual popular lottery whose draw day is on 6th January.

The traditional Christmas film series, called Cinepanettone (panettone is the traditional Christmas cake) Vacanze di Natale a Cortina (Christmas holidays in Cortina) with Christian De Sica, was a bit of a flop this time after twenty years of popularity. The stories deal with rich, rude Italians always on holiday, selfish, farting people chasing girls and money, with no morality and no standards, except for a vague attachment to the family.  But the world has changed and they don’t make people laugh any more.

Maybe we are finally less gullible, fed up of easy dreams.  And Christian De Sica looks like he really is: too old and outdated under the suntan.  Like Berlusconi.

At Termini railway station a gigantic Christmas tree had hundreds of letters to Father Christmas where people asked to have the opportunity to retire before dying or enclosed the photocopy of their pay slip pleading for help.

Immigrants seem to offer lower prices in this economic crisis. Greengrocers' shops run by north Africans are everywhere.  They have cheaper prices and long opening hours.  In Chinese shops you can buy a watch, a toy or a jumper for a few Euros.  Beautiful, fake fashionable bags are sold by Africans in the city centre streets.  And are you fed up of queuing in public offices?  You can choose to employ an immigrant, whose job is to just pick up the queue number and wait for the client who needs it.  For a few euro he can even hand in your documents if you are busy.  He can save your day.

There were more tourists in Rome in 2011, an increase of 10% compared to 2010.  I believe it: look at the weather!