The Economic Crisis in Italy

Nothing illustrates the state of the Italian economy more clearly than the plight of the marble yards in Pietrasanta.  Once they were full of sculptors from all over the world and the skilled artisans helping them.  They worked alongside other artisans making commercial objects out of marble - fireplaces, statues for churches, floors, bathrooms - and it kept the town alive.  But over the past few years more and more marble yards have closed and there are fewer and fewer places for sculptors to work.  Recently the pace of change has accelerated.  Last September the yard Neil worked in had to close when the owner decided to sell the land for a block of flats.  He and a few other sculptors found a new studio in a beautiful location with good working conditions - it all seemed set to continue happily.  But the owner has been hit by the economic downturn during the summer - no one can afford fireplaces, or marble floors, garden statuary, and even the church is cutting back on renovations.  Yesterday, Friday, the sculptors were suddenly told that the space had been sold and they had until Sunday to remove their work.  Temporary space will be made for them on another part of the site, but it's been a big shock.

Packing Up

Ready to go

The newspapers are full of gossip stories about the private life of Silvio Berlusconi and rumours about his business dealings, but he remains the most powerful man in Italy, despite the fact that the country has one of the biggest national debts in Europe.   We are watching our Italian friends struggling to make a living and hope that Italy will survive.  The cartoon below is doing the rounds of the bars at the moment and really sums up the ordinary Italian's attitude to SB.    It's called 'the Trouser Salute'.

The Berlusconi Factor

Italy had elections at the beginning of the week and every Italian we know was hoping that Berlusconi’s party would be voted out. This time ..... everyone said, surely? But no. His party have been voted in again.
To outsiders, it’s all incomprehensible. This is a man who, anywhere else in Europe, would be regarded as a joke. He’s over 70, has improbably luxurious and suspiciously black hair, and is rumoured to wear make up. He has the manners of an arriviste (snubbing Angela Merkel, being rude to the Queen), and the private life of a pop star (including the girls). Elsewhere in Europe he probably wouldn’t be allowed to be in government, since he owns most of the media, television, radio and newspapers (which he used to saturate election coverage for his party), and a king-size portion of the industrial sector. In the recent court case involving the British lawyer, David Mills, where there were allegations that someone somewhere had been bribed to do or not to do something, Berlusconi dealt with it by altering the Statute of Limitation, so that the case was ruled out of time. The government also passed a law making him personally immune from prosecution.
All is not well in Italian political life. Poke a stick in shallow soil and all sorts of unpleasant things come wriggling out. Friends tell us that any stick poking risks being rewarded by a visit from the Guardia di Finanza - who are a kind of tax inspector with guns and far-reaching Orwellian powers. As most of Italy operates ‘on the black side’ of the economy, this is a pretty serious event and the Guardia di Finanza are more dreaded than the Carabinieri. It’s difficult here to keep on the straight and narrow, with tax at 50% or more even for poorly paid workers, and an impenetrable bureaucracy that can take months (or even years) to implement something simple like opening a bank account. Posting a letter to England at the Post Office involves queuing for an hour and then watching the cashier fill in three pieces of paper before issuing you with the stamp. 70% of the population still have no access to the internet.
But having said all that, I love the country - its craziness, its landscape, its fantastic people, not forgetting the food and the wine. You end up keeping your head down, like everyone else, and just getting on with your life, leaving the politics to someone else. And that’s why we’re left with Berlusconi.

And now .... I must go and make a pot of Italian coffee for those lovely gentlemen of the Guardia di Finanza, who are probably about to arrive at any moment.....