Three Italians Killed In Iraq

Since the inception of the war in Iraq Italian soldiers have been stationed in the southern city of Nassiriya. Today's attack, killing 3, brings the number of Italians killed in action to 35.

Left to right, the deceased are: Franco Lattanzio, 38, of Pacentro (L'Aquila); Carlo De Trizio, 27, of Bisceglie (Bari); Nicola Ciardelli, 34, of Pisa. A 28-yr. old Romanian soldier, Bogdan Hancu, was also killed in the attack, and another Italian is reported to be seriously injured.

There are currently 2,600 Italian military personnel stationed in Iraq. Their mission, Antica Babilonia, is due to end this year.

Famous Italian Eco-Monsters

Lo Scheletrone di Palmaria -- The Big Skeleton of Palmaria (Cinque Terre National Park)

L'Ecomostro di Alimuri -- The Eco-Monster of Alimuri (near Sorrento)

I Tralicci di Vergogna -- The Trellises of Shame (Florence)

La Collina del Disonore di Palermo -- The Dishonorable Hill of Palermo

Campo Felice -- Happy Field (Abruzzo)

Italy and The Eco-Monsters

Post-WWII Italy experienced an economic boom, and in Italian history the ten years that span from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s are called "il miracolo economico" -- the economic miracle. High economic growth (there was a higher economic growth rate in those ten years than there was in the previous 50 combined), and a steep increase in agricultural production, manufacturing, and exports, changed the lives of a generation of Italians, giving them access to goods and services to which they were never before privy. In simplest terms, Italy became a rich country overnight.

Il Miracolo Economico was also host to a building boom, and in that boom much of the ugliness that today surrounds Milano, Roma and Genova was built. However, not all of the building boom happened in or around big cities; much of it happened on the Italian coastline. From Liguria to Calabria, from Le Marche to Puglia, the Italian coastline was developed, and all too often, grotesquely. In a 1957 novel by Italo Calvino, La Speculazione Edilizia, the coastal building boom is called "la squallida invasione del cemento" -- the squalid invasion of cement. More than any other place, Calvino was referring to San Remo, the Ligurian city in which he spent his childhood, and a city whose coastline was destroyed by development.

Today Italians refer to many of the monstrosities built on their coastline as gli ecomostri -- the eco-monsters.

Thursday morning, Punta Perotti, (pictured above and below) the beast of Bari, was put to rest. The beast tortured the Adriatic skyline for close to a decade.
On April 18th, the second day of demolition, protestors packed the streets with dozens of banners that read "Bentornato Lungomare" -- Welcome Back Promenade. The ocean can now be seen from the city.

Bush Calls Prodi; Berlusconi Flips Out

Upon hearing the Italian Supreme Court's validation of Prodi's victory, Bush -- a good friend of Berlusconi -- calls Prodi from Air Force One, and congratulates him on winning the election.

Berlusconi, however, is still hanging in there, refusing to admit defeat, and comes out swinging: "I did not call Prodi and I will not. Why should I should congratulate him; it would be against the interests of the country... ...We are the moral winners of the election... ...I do not believe that these signori will be able to govern. They will only be a parenthesis. They will not be able to ruin our reforms. We will defend our liberty."

Mr. Bush and Sig. Prodi's first tête-à-tête will be in July at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Northern Italians Drink More

To mark Alcohol Prevention Day, Istat, l'Istituto Superiore di Sanita, released yesterday some damning details on the social lives of our Northern Italian friends: the consumption of alcoholic beverages is much higher in the North than the South.

According to Istat, 11.3% of Northern Italians consume alcohol more than 12 times a year, compared to 4.8% of Southern Italians (a country avg. of 7.7%) The Istat report also concludes that 8.4% of the Italian population got drunk last year, and further findings support that alcohol consumption is often linked to mealtime wine-drinking and cigarettes.

Italian alcohol consumption, however, is much less than what it is stateside, where a CDC survey reported that 54.9% of U.S. adults (compared to Italy's 7.7%) have consumed at least one drink in the past month.

The End of the Era Berlusconiana?

It's official. Sort of. But nevertheless, gelato per tutti. Nine days after the last ballot was cast, at 18H00 (Roma) the Italian Supreme Court declared Romano Prodi the new Prime Minister of Italy. Prodi will "wait for Berlusconi's call" (to admit defeat) But post-election chaos seems far from over with Giulio Tremonti, the VP of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and Italy's Economy Minister responding, "a Prodi victory? We don't recognize it." Stay tuned...

Will Italy Drop the Euro?

Yesterday morning, London's Financial Times (FT) skewered Italy in an editorial claiming that Prodi's narrow victory is the worst thing that could have happened to il belpaese, creating a virtual deadlock, and making much-needed economic reforms impossible. The editorialist, Wolfgang Manchau, predicts "international investors to start taking speculative bets on Italy's euro membership within the lifetime of a Prodi government." If Italy is forced to default on its euro-dominated debt, and is unable to adequately service its investors, it could lead to an Argentina-like situation. Manchau's hypothesis imagines Italy leaving the eurozone before 2015. He also cites other major economic problems facing Italy: appreciation of its real exchange rate, rising labor costs, loss of macroeconomic competitiveness, etc. He doesn't liken Italy's problems, however, to France's or Germany's (high unemployment, slow economic growth); he contends rather that Italy's problem is "a lack of readiness for life in monetary union."

L'Unita, a Communist daily writes that FT's reporting "mette fiato nelle trombe", puts air into the trumpets of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party. Alessandra Mussolini (Benito Mussolini's granddaughter) calls the FT article "dead on". The European Union chimes in calling the possibility of Italy leaving the common currency, the eurozone, "impossible".

Prodi comments on FT's article saying "FT is criticizing Berlusconi..." (not me). Nevermind that Manchau wrote: "Mr Prodi offers the wrong kind of reform programme. It consists of of the same supply-side reforms that have failed in other European countries. Since his rag-bag coalition of moderates, socialists and communists will have a wafer-thin majority in the Senate, he may not even be able to deliver on his own insufficient programme. If Italy continues to lose macroeconomic competitveness, a populist movement could well emerge with an agenda for euro withdrawal."

Is Italy blowing in the wrong direction? And if so, will a crosswind come along to billow its sails?

Postpone the Postponement

The April 9th-10th elections finished 6 days ago. Still no result.

Just Chillin': Prodi Crawls Towards Victory

Yesterday afternoon Prodi said he was "serene" -- but political limbo is still the name of the game. The contested ballots are now only 5,266 -- not nearly enough to secure Berlusconi a victory -- and Prodi is now on the home stretch. But the bickering between the two camps continues, with the official outcome not to be certified until, at the earliest, April 18th.

Meanwhile, Berlusconi speaks to his followers: "resisteremo" -- "we will resist."

"Pensavate di esservi liberati di me?"

Ballots found in trash bins in the Roman suburbs. Some claim that they were already counted. Berlusconi is furious. "No one has won the election yet," says Berlusconi. Will there be a recount? There are 1.1 million votes to verify, and Berlusconi was defeated by roughly 30,000 votes. Berlusconi is furious. And then this battuta, this witty remark: "You thought you had freed yourselves of me?"

Prodi: "Berlusconi should go home. It's useless to attempt a postponement".

Nothing yet is certain. Things are still susceptible to change.

Who will win the elezione?

Life without Berlusconi?

Un paese spaccato in due. A country divided in two. These were the words of many. Nothing yet is certain. Things are still susceptible to change. But for now it seems Berlusconi, il Cavaliere, has lost the election...

More to come soon...