Why it's fun to live in the "Old Europe"!

Karpathos is an island located between Rhodes and Crete. It's part of the Dodecanese islands. To get there, we took a chartered flight from Ljubljana (there are also flights from Athens). After slightly two hours we were on splendid sandy white beaches. One minute I was in Italy, then in Slovenia and then in Greece, in like 4 hours' time! Cool!

The island itself is just 49 km long and only 11 km wide with a population of about 6,500 people. Unlike Milos (home of the famous Venus which is found in the Louvre) which we had visited 2 years ago and which is much closer to Athens, Karpathos is rather void of (very) expensive yachts and boats and therefore the surrounding water is simply crystal clear and with practically no traces of boating pollution. In fact, the beaches themselves (with very few tourists in September) can be wonderfully silent as there are few boats which pass by (on one beach there were only five of us one day!). Those who come from Chicago will no doubt find themselves very much at home on Karpathos as it's an incredibly windy island (thus making those very hot days much more bearable).

We rented a scooter and covered some 450 km in just one week, exploring many of the magnificent and deserted beaches. Costs are still incredibly low in Greece. For example, two lawn chairs and a beach umbrella ran as low as just 5 euros and as “high” as a whopping 6 euros. A far cry from what they charge at Ostia! Sights to see include the secluded town of Olympos. To get there, you can either take a boat ride and dock at Diafani and take the 9 km bus ride to the town or you can do what we did and take the "Highway to Hell" road: a 18 km dirt road full of rocks and holes which winds all the way up to Olympos (hopefully, EU funding one day will help the islanders to pave that road thus increasing even further tourism to Olympos). If you're going to take that route, the best way is to rent one of the many small jeeps which are available. The ride is no doubt much more comfortable. The paved road back to the main town (Pigadia, where the main port is located) amongst the high cliffs is worthy of a high-speed chase scene from a Bond movie!

Many locals speak rather good English as many had gone to live in the Boston area and in Canada. Sensing that Karpathos is on the rise tourism-wise, after more than 30 years in North America many have moved back to their native island to open hotels and restaurants (we ate in one for as low as 24 euros). There’s a small airport which is slowly expanding. The one and only terminal for the time being has a luggage retrieval about the size of ones washroom and the duty-free shop is currently located in a container but the plane got us there and back safely and that’s what counts the most. The organization, a Slovenian-Greek cooperation, went off very smoothly. Our hotel, the Amoopi Bay, was exceptionally convenient as it was located right in front of some splendid beaches. There was also a pool-side bbq one evening and with 12 euros you could eat all you wanted to. The surrounding mountainous area is rather barren, almost lunar-looking actually, but nevertheless varied with the odd goat located here and there as you drive by on your scooter. Quite amazing to see just how far the Roman empire once stretched as there’s even an ancient Roman cistern located on the island.

Some of the old villagers also speak rather good Italian. From 1912 to 1944 the Italians had captured Karpathos from the Turks who had gained control of the island in 1830 under the Protocol of London. October 7th, 1944 is an important date as the islanders, tired of foreign occupation, took up arms in the town of Menetes on October 5th and after three days had liberated their island once and for all of Italian troops. Karpathos: no doubt worth a summer-time visit next year (all pics by M. Rimati).

Go ahead, make my day!

Ever wanted to re-enact that famous scene from a “Dirty Harry” movie, you know, the one with Clint Eastwood, where he stares at a punk criminal and says, “Go ahead, make my day”?, when you’re at a red light and a window washer just won't take NO for an answer? It’s come across my mind a zillion times in more than 15 years of living in the “Eternally Chaotic” city, Rome, where one is bombarded by an array of gypsies, Pakistanis, Bengalis and what not on a daily basis.

The latest “polemic” in the Bel Paese now regards a politician in the Florence government: he’s finally said “basta” to window washers that torment Florentine drivers. He’s threatened them with fines of up to 250 euros, three months in jail and the confiscation of their tools (wow, that'll really hurt them by taking away their sponges!!!). Naturally, in Italy where hardly anyone ever takes any law without some type of Machiavellian-like discussion, politicians at a national level are up in arms, starting with the left, which says that the real root of the problem aren’t the “poor” window washers (some take in up to 70 euros per day while others are forced to bring home up to 100 euros) but the racket which runs them. In Rome alone up to 80% are controlled by the Romanian mob (n.b. the phenomenon had started more than 10 years ago with the Poles who had flocked to Rome because of their fellow compatriot, Pope JPII. They were eventually supplanted by the Albanians. That ethnic group has been replaced by Pakistanis and Romanians, especially since Romania recently joined the EU).

There are up to 600 window washers working in Milan and nearly 1,000 in Naples. My own personal experience with them in Rome? Oh, on many occasions I would have wanted to be James Bond in his sleek Austin Martin: press a button on my dashboard and BOOM! They disappear behind a tiny rocket. One memorable incident occurred near the FAO building (the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organisation). A gypsy girl insisted on washing my windshield. I caved in and said ok. I ended up giving her a few cents, perhaps 50. She looked at them and not being enough, threw them right back into the car! I think, atrocious as it may sound, I uttered the word “Dachau” as she walked away…

And they’ll use all sorts of techniques to wash your windows. You activate your windshield wipers? They’ll wash the one in the back! And it’s even worse if you happen to be a woman alone in the car. Some of the window washers come from countries where the woman doesn’t count for much. That means that several NOs! just go in one ear and out the other, so the poor female drivers have to cave in and dish out the money. For me standing at 1m90 (or roughly 6’2”) and weighing some 103 kilos (or about 227 pounds), well, when I say NO! it usually means no (especially for the poor Pakistani or gypsy kid who is half my height and weighs 1/3 of what I weigh!).

The other annoying thing in Rome are gas stations, the self-service ones, which are open all night. You pull up and there sitting on a chair will be an (illegal) immigrant reading the “Islamabad Daily” who for 50 cents will fill up your car. They're not as pushy as the window washers and if you don't want them to fill up your tank, you just do it yourself (one idiot that did end up filling my tank once actually did it while smoking a cigarette! When I told him that he’d blow up along with me and my car, he immediately threw the ciggie away!).

Other fun and annoying things also regard illegal car valets. Yes, if you go to an evening show or even to the hospital to see a friend or relative, you’ll get some moron approaching you and asking you something for a “coffee”. And if you refuse to pay? Well, when you go back to your car you may find your radio antenna broken, or your side view mirror cracked, or perhaps even a tire slashed (or in extreme cases, your car won’t be there when you get back!). Kids in Rome who go out on the town and to discos once complained on a radio talk show that the cops don’t do enough as those who do refuse to pay the valets find their cars quite often destroyed. I call them “mosquitoes” because they can be very, very annoying, especially when you’re parking your car on public and not private property. Again, where’s Clint Eastwood when you need him…

And how are things in tiny Udine? Well, much better I must say: no window washers at the traffic lights, no hookers on the streets and no illegal valets as you go to the Stadio Friuli to see your beloved Udinese (my cousin has been going for about 35 years to the stadium to see Udinese. If someone were to touch his beloved BMW or ask him for money, I think he’d make Bin Laden look like a boy scout. He’d literally go ballistic!).

And what is the irony in this new law that many other Italian cities want to copy from the Florentine example? That court hearings will now be swamped with window washers who have been arrested and in many cases, these same window washers won't even bother showing up for such a "petty" crime (Italy's judicial system and the zillion cases it contains is in a rather disastrous situation. The main tribunal in Rome has been defined a “suk” by lawyers!). I personally find it extremely difficult that several thousand illegal window washers will be tried in Italian courts. I mean, if there are many politicians with much more serious offences on their hands that sit quietly in Rome’s parliament (instead of being locked up in jail), are they really going to throw a 19 year-old gypsy girl in jail for 3 months. I mean, really, in Italy?

No doubt the sudden impact of the new law in Florence has had a positive effect: the window washers have completely disappeared (one town has resolved the problem by dismantling 30 traffic lights and replacing them with convenient roundabouts!). Alas, like many things in Italy, once a law is passed, things will go back to being “normal”, and drivers will be again bothered with window washers. An example? Awhile ago, the government under Berlusconi came up with the point system for one’s driver's license. You drive while talking on your mobile phone and you get points deducted (everyone starts with 20 points). Ditto if you drive without your seat belt and other offences. Well, want to know just how many Italians (even in tiny and law-abiding Udine) still drive while talking on their mobile phones (and sometimes right under the noses of the cops)?

Will Italy ever be a “normal” country?

For my Italian friends out there: a letter from a gentleman (an Italian) in La Repubblica’s letters’ section (19/08/07). You get a good feel of the country by reading the many letters that average Italian citizens send to their local and national papers. You arrive at the conclusion (at least I did years ago) that while Italy may be a “beautiful” country it is by far a “great" country.

“Ageeb tra tutti I paesi preferisce l’Italia…”

Qualche giorno fa, sulla spiaggia dello stabilimento balneare dove trascorro le vacanze, ho fatto la conoscenza di Ageeb, un simpatico venditore ambulante senegalese. Vedendolo abbastanza provato da caldo e fatica, l'ho invitato a sedersi per prendere fiato. E ho ascoltato la sua storia. Ho così scoperto che Ageeb e' un migrante di lungo corso che oltre il senegalese parla decentemente 4 lingue e che nella vita ha viaggiato molto vivendo in tanti paesi.

Alla mia domanda su quale paese l’avesse accolto meglio ha risposto senza esitazioni: l'Italia. Così, sulle prime, ho pensato che forse siamo un popolo più tollerante di quanto sembri, memori di un paese di santi, poeti, navigatori e migranti, e mi sono prematuramente inorgoglito. In realtà Ageeb mi ha spiegato che si trovava più a suo agio nel nostro bel paese perché i controlli fatti nei suoi confronti sono molto meno "asfissianti", "la merce raramente gli viene sequestrata" e "praticamente mai gli e' capitato di vedersi consegnare il foglio di via", diversamente da quanto gli era accaduto nel resto d'Europa, dove aveva trovato forze dell'ordine che sembrano "ossessionate" dal rispetto delle regole e dal senso della legalità (my note: like Canada perhaps or England or Germany??).

E d’altra parte, cosa possiamo aspettarci? Il nostro paese e’ ammorbato da un senso di illegalità diffusa, al confronto della quale Ageeb e le sue vendite taroccata mi sembrano francamente il male minore. Come possiamo pretendere il rispetto della legalità da persone che spesso vengono nel nostro paese con "le viscere in mano", se siamo il paese dell'evasione fiscale, dei falsi bilanci, dell'assenteismo, del lavoro nero, dove spesso il peggiore esempio viene dai membri della nostra classe dirigente?

I was 16 and worked part-time in Winnipeg at the local Safeway grocery store. I was a bagger and was making a whopping 3.30 (Canadian) an hour. Those were really big bucks back then for a teenager. I had my regular pay stub with my tax and pension deductions. This was only 32 years ago. My father instead, upon arrival in Winnipeg from Italy (and with an immigrant visa in his pocket from the Canadian Consulate-General in Milan) worked as a bricklayer prior to working as a physiotherapist. He and other immigrant workers were regularly paid and all had a legal contract. This was roughly 1956, some 51 years ago.

In Italy instead, in 2007, they’re still talking about foreign labourers who work “under the table” and with absolutely no rights such as insurance and healthcare benefits. These same workers usually perish at construction sites. And soccer, Italy’s so-called “national sport”? Well, actually, it’s tax evasion the favourite pastime of millions of Italians (Italy’s highways and decrypt hospitals would be amongst the world’s finest if all “law-abiding” Italians were to pay their taxes, instead the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway, perhaps not more than 300 kms long, is perpetually under construction and the summer-time line-ups are "Dantesque" in nature. I drove on several occasions the Trans-Canada highway from Winnipeg all the way to Montréal. We’re talking about some 2,500 kms, more or less. Never once did I see or hear about parts of the T-C under perpetual repair. And were only talking about a highway that spans the 2nd largest country in the entire world!) .

Will Italy ever be a “normal” country (like Canada perhaps or England or Germany)? I doubt it very much…

Robert Plant, Lignano July 21st, 2007

So, do you know many 59 year-olds out there that can make 20 year-old kids go wild with songs that were written when they weren’t even born? Well, that’s the effect that Robert Anthony Plant, the former lead singer of the world’s greatest (live) rock’n’roll band of the 1970s had last night on about 2,000 people in the tiny arena located in the sea-side resort of Lignano, not too far away from Udine (something else to think that he, Page, Jones and Bonham not only were once part of that great 1973 documentary-film, “The Song Remains The Same" but that on more than one occasion they also sang in one of the world’s greatest indoor arenas, Madison Square Garden!).

I saw Plant 2 years ago in Pordenone. His band back then was pretty well the same one that he used this time round (but Plant with a couple of fewer kilos this time!). And yes, his traditional bushy lion-like mane of blonde hair was also the same as it’s always been since the glorious days of Led Zeppelin when he’d strut around the stage with his shirt wide open.

Half his tunes were in fact from the Zep era, much to the joy of this correspondent and the others present. Some included “Black Dog”, the beautiful ballad “Going To California” and one of my all-time favourite Zep songs, "Gallows Pole"! He concluded, as he did 2 years ago and 4 years ago in Rome (this was the 4th time for me to see Plant, the first back in Montréal in the late 1980s. He was on stage that night with another late, great artist, Stevie Ray Vaughan!) with Zep's epic, “Whole Lotta Love”. He played for about 90 minutes, more or less.

Personally-speaking, the voice was still there, even though with Whole Lotta Love he did a sort of re-mix of the song, sprinkling it here and there with some other tunes within the song itself. And at close to 60 years of age he honestly seemed to have gotten a big turn-on to see those below the stage going bonkers over some of his old tunes!

There’s been talk in the air of him and the other 2 surviving members of the band of getting together for a reunion in honour of the founding member of their record label, Atlantic (with quite possibly Jason Bonhan on drums). Every time I leave a Plant concert I wish I had in some way or the other the power to convince him to get back with his old band. I kept on looking at him and saying to myself, “It would no doubt be THE greatest world tour of the last 20 years!” The voice is still there and as we’ve seen lately, there’s a revival of "old-timers” out there, such as the Police and Genesis. The time would be perfect for them to reunite for one gigantic world tour.

Only one tiny sad note if we can call it that: after the concert we went for a couple of beers right in front of the arena. At 2 am as we headed out of the pub there in front of us was Plant’s long tour bus (with a semi-truck in tow) leaving for his next gig in nearby Slovenia. We looked at the dark-tinted windows and thought, “Here was a man who together with his three buddies would travel the world aboard a Boeing 737 jet with the words “Led Zeppelin” written on the sides and here he was instead going off on a tour bus"! Strange how life can be at times...

One can only dream though of hopefully one day seeing Plant next to Page as they play their last, epic and magnificent encore, “Stairway To Heaven”. At that point, all of us can then go in peace to rock’n’roll heaven (all pics by M. Rimati)!

Oh, why don’t you all just f.off!

Anyone remember Monty Python’s epic film, “Life of Brian”? I think it had come out in 1978 (circa) and had been deemed to be rather blasphemous in nature by the Vatican (George Harrison, a great Python fan, had produced the movie and had actually appeared in it momentarily).

There’s one of my favourite scenes in the movie (and my father’s too). It shows Brian, who is played by the late, great Graham
Chapman, who is desperately running away from the faithful followers, led by that other magnificent actor, Mr. Silly Walks himself, John Cleese, who erroneously believes that Brian is the real messiah. After having fallen into a pit and having stomped down on the foot of a poor hermit, Brian pleads with the followers to bugger off. At one point he looks at them and yells, “Why don’t you all just fuck-off”! Cleese, not at all perturbed, no doubt stuns the Vatican back in Rome and says, “And how shall we fuck-off, oh Lord”? Indeed a priceless scene.

As blasphemous as it was back then, the Cassation court of Italy just handed down a (bizarre) ruling yesterday: that saying “fuck-off” to someone should not longer be regarded as an offence! The court’s reasoning is that the word (vaffanculo) has entered the Italian lexicon for quite some time now and shouldn’t really be regarded as a major swear word. A few years ago a report concluded that Italian youth are amongst the rudest in all of Europe (thanks also to Italian tv which doesn’t “beep” out swear words during prime time), so no doubt this new ruling will only make matters worse.

Just imagine the scenario: a young church-goer is being confessed for her sins. She doesn’t agree with the priest’s penance, and so out of the blue from the confessional yells out, “Oh why don’t you just fuck-off”!

Genesis, the “Turn It On Again Tour”, Circus Maximus, July 14th, 2007

About one year ago I was at the famous Circus Maximus for Italy’s victory in the 2006 World Cup final against France (at one point during the chariot races 2,000 years ago there had been up to 300,000 spectators at the C.M. The emperors after the shows would also pay a visit to the whores in the houses located right next to the C.M.!). Six years ago I had again been at the C.M. for Roma’s epic “scudetto” soccer victory. In the former case they say there were about 500,000 people whereas in the latter case there were about 1 million people. And exactly 10 years after Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Ray Wilson and the “new” Genesis, I would again be at the C.M. for Telecom Italia’s fifth free concert with Genesis, this time complete with Banks, Rutherford and Phil Collins (but no Peter Gabriel).

Some 500,000 people apparently turned up for the show. I was lucky this time as we had tickets in the VIP section, so I got to at least sit on a small table to take pics and to film the entire show (the previous four shows have meant standing for an incredible amount of hours breaking my herniated back!).

The show lasted more than two hours with about twenty-four songs. They opened with “Behind the Lines”, followed by “Duke’s End” and then one of my favourite, “Turn It On Again”. While I profess to not be THE world’s greatest Genesis aficionado, it was nevertheless nice to hear some of the golden oldies such as “In the Cage” and “Domino”. The last two encores were “I Can’t Dance” and “Carpet Crawlers”, no doubt a fav of die-hard Genesis fans. While not a Genesis song per se, I was nevertheless hoping for “Sussudio” as a closing song which would have brought down whatever’s left of the old C.M. (which is not much).

The dream I think of everyone there was that Gabriel would join his three buddies on stage. Unfortunately, no such luck. There’s talk that perhaps two years from now they might team up again. Unlike the four previous editions (Sir Paul McCartney, Simon&Garfunkel, Sir Elton John and both Bryan Adams and Billy Joel together), the show was at the C.M. just because of the massive size of Genesis’s stage (the other four were held right in front of the Coliseum, a hop, skip and a jump from the C.M.): a stage 64 metres long and with a height of some 29 metres plus 90 million small LED lights. The screen was 54 metres wide and 12 metres high. Some 18 semi-trucks were required to haul the material around. Collins? In splendid form, both with his voice and with his drumming, especially with Frank Zappa’s former drummer, Chester Thompson (for this modest drummer, a real treat to hear the both on their “Drum Duet”).

The concert was also special for Rome fans as Genesis concluded their European tour in the Eternal City. There next conquest is now North America (all pics by M. Rimati).

The Rolling Stones, Olympic Stadium, Rome July 6th, 2007

The greatest rock’n’roll band in the world touched down on planet earth, more specifically on the Eternal City, after a 17-year absence from Rome (and I was there for that one too). Two hours of great non-stop music which kicked off with their classic, “Start Me Up”. Jagger, Richards, Watts and Wood were in splendid form, a notch higher than last year’s concert in Milan’s San Siro stadium (perhaps given to Richards banging his head after falling from a tree and Wood with his drinking problems). I was fortunate as I got to sit in the press box of the Olympic stadium, site also of the 1990 World Cup final between W. Germany and Maradona’s Argentina (and I was there for that one too!). The great thing is that I got there using an old NBC pass from when I worked two years ago for NBC and anchorman Brian Williams during pope JPII's funeral and the Conclave. I just went marching up to a security guard who knew English like I know Swahili! The guy panicked and let me by to the second guard, who also let me by. I made my way into the press box where some gracious twenty-year old hostesses again blocked me. They too knew English poorly, and so I got to not only sit comfortably about 200 metres from the stage, but I also filmed it and took about 500 digital pictures!

The concert, which lasted two hours, had the following list:
1. Start Me Up
2. Got Me Rockin’
3. Rock Justice
4. Rocks Off
5. She’s So Cold
6. Ruby Tuesday
7. Can You Hear Me Knocking
8. I Go Crazy (a James Brown song with a truly magnificent Lisa Fischer on vocals!)
9. Tumbling Dice
10. A Richards’s song
11. Happy
12. Miss You
13. It’s Only Rock’n’Roll
14. Can’t Get No Satisfaction
15. Honky Tonk Women
16. Sympathy For The Devil
17. Paint It Black
18. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
19. Brown Sugar

And Jagger? At the ripe old age of 64, he was simply fantastic. A great concert which also had in the crowd Rome’s mayor, Walter Veltroni, and Martin Scorsese who had just shot a film-documentary on the Stones. Jagger hit the nail on the head with what he said a zillion tears ago, “It’s Only Rock’N’Roll (But I Like It)”! (all pics by M. Rimati)

But will he beat people over the head?

Anyone out there remember the (disastrous) 2001 G8 Economic Summit in Genoa? I certainly do because I worked at it as an official note taker. The Black Bloc protesters’ group had ravaged the city, inching dangerously close to the “red zone” where the leaders of the G8 countries were meeting. One young protester, Carlo Giuliani, became a martyr as he was shot dead by a very terrified and entrapped Carabinieri officer (Giuliani was wielding a fire extinguisher over his head and was apparently wanting to smash it over the poor officer’s head).

Mass beatings also took place at a high school by Italian police during the Summit. The head of Italy’s national police force (unlike in North America, the chief of the entire police force sits in Rome) was a fellow by the name of Gianni De Gennaro. De Gennaro had also worked closely with anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone who had been blown up by the mob. De Gennaro has now been implicated in those beatings and has been forced to resign. In his place comes Antonio Manganelli, which translated into English (his last name) means: "truncheons", like the one's used by the police! Indeed a most appropriate name for Italy’s new and powerful chief of police.

The Who, Arena of Verona, June 11, 2007

Freddy (Mercury) would indeed be extremely proud of Roger Daltrey (who?). Daltrey is none other than the lead singer of one of the world’s all-time great rock bands of the 60s, 70s and also 80s: The Who. And why would Queen’s former lead singer be proud? Because Daltrey held true to Freddy’s words, “The show must go on”!

In Verona’s ancient Roman Arena your correspondent took in probably one of the most surreal concerts of his life (now at 152 concerts): The Who’s performance under a torrential rainfall (the first time for me). Surreal because poor Daltrey, supported by his long-time companion and formidable guitarist, Pete Townshend (the only two surviving members of that band, the other two being bass guitarist John Entwistle and that mad drummer Keith Moon), virtually had no voice left by the end of the concert.

After only five songs into the concert and after a tremendous start, the concert was suspended for one hour as we were all hit by a violent thunderstorm and with some rather menacing thunderbolts. I was personally optimistic that the show would go on. And it did but with one hitch: Daltrey's voice, as he himself admitted it, had become "cold" because of the long pause and the humidity provoked by the downpour. His voice literally cracked on certain songs and he was seen to be extremely frustrated and even argued with Townshend as he wanted to literally throw in the towel. The great professionals that they are, they decided, once the roadies worked to clear the stage of all the water, to continue with the show.

They started the concert with “Can’t Explain” and continued with some of their epic songs such as “My Generation”, “The Kids Are Alright”, “Baba O’Riley”, “Magic Bus” and “Pinball Wizard”, a song made famous also by Sir Elton John. But the best was yet to come as everyone in the Arena anxiously waited for perhaps their most famous song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again", a song that was wanted by Michael Moore for his movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11" (but which was diplomatically refused by Townshend). Their fantastic performance of this song at the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley shows Daltrey reaching an incredible peak with his voice towards the end of the song. I personally thought, given the tragic condition of his vocal cords, that Daltrey would miss that peak. Instead, for the immense joy of all those present, Daltrey, no doubt totally exhausted, came through! No encores, no more songs as Townshend hugged his old chum as though to say, “We did it”! Indeed a moving moment for us all as I would say 99% of us truly appreciated Daltrey's incredible effort. And not doubt also Freddy approved from rock and roll heaven.

On a final note, another treat unfolded before our eyes as on drums was none other Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son! This was the second time for me seeing Zak beating away on the drum skins as I had seen him a few years ago playing for Oasis. How ironic: it was Zak that once said that he didn't think that his father was a great drummer, but instead thought that Moon was much better! And here, almost 30 years after Moon's death, Zak ponded away at those drums in an impressive manner, a manner that also Moon would have appreciated. For me another special moment: it was 30 years ago that I saw the entire Who band perform in Canada, and 30 years ago I had been in the same Arena for another great band: Chicago. Quite the (wet) night (all pics by M. Rimati)!

Oh Canada, how lucky you are!

A recent Italian report (May 31st) came out with the world “peace” ranking. Peace in the sense of which countries are the most tranquil out there.

The report, called the “Global Peace Index”, was compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the analytical branch of the world-famous British magazine, The Economist. An Australian philanthropist, Steve Killelea, who is interested in encouraging international peace, proposed the report. The factors which were taken into consideration were: the state of war in various countries, crime rate, religion, level of democracy, welfare, etc. The Index analysed 121 countries, pretty well from A to Z.

The most peaceful country in the world? Not too surprising, Norway. The Norwegians are followed by New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Japan and Finland. Canada? It came after Sweden, which came after the Finns. The most dangerous or least peaceful country in the world is currently—and this shouldn’t be too surprising—Iraq. The U.S.? It came in 96th, just before one of its greatest enemies, Iran. Putin’s beloved Russia? Position no. 118. And what about the Bel Paese, the country of opera, Ferraris, Verdi, fine wine and women and the Vatican, one of the so-called greatest promoters of peace and brotherhood in the world (I say so-called because it is a known fact that just after World War II the Vatican assisted many ex Nazis to escape to South America. One of the most famous was a fellow by the name of Adolf Eichmann who had been given a false passport by a Franciscan monk in Genoa in order to flee to Argentina)? Oh, it came in 33rd.

Mao vs. Marco Polo

The Chinese student community of Italy ain’t too happy with the country which hosts them. An Italian university professor did some blog surfing and came out with some interesting facts by young Chinese students who live and study in Italy. One of the things that the Chinese have noticed is the level of English of Italian university professors. Their conclusion? “They’re level of English basically sucks!”, was the less-than eloquent analysis of Mao’s descendents.

Many also feel that if they want “culture” it’s better to go off to France. Debatable this last observation but one that no doubt would make Mr. Sarkozy extremely happy.

Another interesting observation was the petty crime rate in Italy. Some Chinese students noticed the following odd thing which I personally have noticed for years now: how for example at the Termini train station in Rome (the main one and Italy’s largest) Italians at times will warn foreigners and/or tourists to be careful of pickpockets. The Chinese noted: “Well, if you know who they are, why don’t you do something about it then”! This is very common in Rome’s subway where train personnel will actually warn passengers via the PA system that as they approach the stations there are pickpockets ready to pounce on them. Another case which was noticed by some Chinese students was an Italian fellow who had helped them purchase stamps from an automated machine. Indeed very kind was the fellow, but from the Chinese he wanted 5 euros for his precious “assistance”!

And naturally, the Chinese have criticised Italy’s obnoxious sense of bureaucracy where one spends loads and loads of time filling out endless forms and what not for some of the simplest things in life. As a friend of mine noted recently upon his arrival at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, it took him about 1 hour to rent a car. The reason? Well, the computer had run out of paper…I can only imagine how Joe Blow would react to the same thing happening at the Avis counter at JFK.

This brings to my mind what had occurred many years ago at Porta Portese, the weekly Sunday flea market in Rome. American tourists boarded a tram. The driver warned passengers that there were also pickpockets on board. The Americans asked themselves the same question as the Chinese (and me): “Well, if you know they’re on board, why don’t you do something about it”? But nothing is ever done and several tourists per day in Rome end up losing their wallets and/or passports. I would say in 90% of the cases many go away saying, “Never again in Rome” (I’ve personally had to do with foreign tourists who have been ripped off and have uttered the very same statement)! Not the greatest way to promote the Eternally (Chaotic) City, nor the country itself.

And while perhaps the Chinese are not THE most organised people in the world, it is after all a Chinese university that compiles each year the world’s top 500 universities. Harvard is naturally no. 1. The first Italian university comes in at around position no. 72 and is Rome’s La Sapienza (with some 200,000 students). The University of Toronto is in the top 30. My three universities are all there: Manitoba, Queen’s and Leicester. The university where I’m currently teaching English (and where many profs DON’T know English if their lives depended on it) isn’t even on the list.

So perhaps the Chinese know a thing or two about what they’re talking about. After all, their history is ”only” 5,000 years old, some 3,000 years older than Italy’s…

Radars for Rolexes!

Most of the (civilised) world was utterly shocked at the recent university shootings in the state of Virginia. Italians too were shocked, especially those who love to take the U.S. hook, line and sinker (with the latest fads or movies) but at the same time totally abhor America’s philosophy on guns and also the death penalty. I believe some 35 people were killed by a rather deranged student in the Virginia tragedy.

But just how different are things in Italy? Not too different actually. Up to the time of writing, about 50 people have been gunned down so far in the Naples area because of Camorra-gang wars (the Camorra being the 4th mafia in Italy after the ‘Ndrangheta, Cosa Nostra and the Sacra Corona Unita). The year isn’t even half over and 50 people, some even innocent, have been mowed down by organised crime members in Naples.

Muggings are also a big thing in Naples. The latest incident occurred to an American gentleman from Connecticut who was going for a walk with his wife and some friends after dinner. Muggers in Naples have radars instead of eyes: a 17 year-old Neapolitan managed to spot the tourists expensive Rolex, and proceeded to obtain it through less-than legal means. A fight ensued as the poor American naturally didn’t want to depart with his watch. The mugger got the best of things as he ran off with the tourist’s watch. The poor American instead fell backwards and hit his head on the rather hard cement. And nearly died with a split skull.

As he was whisked off to a local hospital, young Neapolitan punks, who had nothing to do with the mugging, hurled rocks at the hospital in a show of clear defiance to doctors and police authorities. While this may sound shocking to readers, it’s not as surreal as what happened to cops in Naples just around the same period as the mugging: 200 people stoned police cars as five officers attempted to arrest three drug pushers in a mini urban guerrilla war in a neighbourhood of Naples. Some of the “weapons” used were cans filled with liquids that were taken from home freezers by some of the women who participated in the raid! Rocks were also used during the “bombardment” of the police cars. But it didn’t end there: some of the women also went down into the street to face the cops with bats and steel bars. Four police cars were trashed with five cops injured.
Naples is not new to this kind of violence nor to muggings. In 1999 a 77 year-old Japanese tourist was beaten to death during a mugging. That was followed in 2006 by the death of a Canadian diplomat at the hands of a Nigerian mugger (the Canadian’s body was found in a sewer hole). Another American tourist, again in 2006, had his camera stolen. Police caught the muggers but the crowds instead protected the muggers instead of protecting the poor American. And again in 2006 a Norwegian couple were mugged and beaten, luckily not to death, at the train station in Naples.

I personally have been several times to Naples and luckily have never encountered the same problems, probably because I don’t own a Rolex nor would I go around with one if I ever did own one to begin with. I’ve also been to the port of Naples to take the ferry boat to the isle of Capri, and I’ve never had any problems. Some tourists, especially in Rome, stand out like a sore thumb, merrily swinging their digital cameras and what not. It’s just an open invitation to every Tom, Dick and Antonio to rip them off.

Virginia was shocking? I’d say that 200 people, mostly women, attacking cops who are (trying) to do their jobs by ridding the streets of drug pushers, is probably even MORE shocking. Or isn’t it? And the funny thing is that many Italians in the rest of Italy aren't even all that moved by what happens daily in Naples: it's just become common practise. But what happens in a university campus in the States, now that's REALLY shocking!

The honesty of the Americans (and the dishonesty of the Italians?)

From an editorial called “Bonsai” by Sebastiano Messina of La Repubblica, May 20, 2007 (my translation):

The resignation

“Every so often we receive news that makes us understand the difference between Italy and the rest of the world. One recent bit of news is the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz as the president of the World Bank. He was the head of probably the most powerful financial institution on the face of the planet. Bush's former "architect" in Iraq was forced to leave his position after he had transferred his lover from one position to another in the bank and with one hefty pay-raise too (she was already a consultant at the same bank and would have eventually even given the bank's president advice).

Now, for us Italians a story such as this one is totally incomprehensible. It’s incomprehensible for the simple fact that our powers-that-be have always had the sacred right of placing their wives, kids, brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces where they feel like it: in the parliament, in regional councils, at the RAI (the state-run tv network) or even in Strasbourg. And above-all, these very same people never resign: I'm not talking about on suspicious grounds, I'm talking about resigning after a definitive condemnation to six years in jail. No, not even that.

The real fault that Wolfowitz has had is that of being an American. Here in Italy, someone like him would still be firmly in his place. He'd be criticised for something or the other, but for a totally different reason: for a pay-raise, and that's about it”.

According to Transparency International, Italy, along with Poland, is one of THE most corrupt nations in Europe. I can honestly attest to the fact that after 18 years of living in Italy, something like Paul Wolfowitz happening in the upper echelons of Italian politics and finance is TOTALLY unthinkable. In fact, a famous Italian author once said: "Who in Italy ever goes to jail" (only poor sods like African or Albanian drug-pushers, but that’s about it)?

The world’s longest bridge (in Venice?)

Yes, the world’s longest bridge exists, in of all places, Venice! “Venice”?, you might very well say? “But wait a minute, I’ve been to Venice and I haven’t seen the world’s longest bridge”!, you may rightly add. Ahh, but you haven’t looked closely.

Yes, there are only 400 bridges that connect the small islands of what I personally consider to be THE world’s most beautiful city (at least the most unique one, that’s for sure) and there are three that span the Grand Canal. The world’s longest bridge will be the fourth one that will cross the same canal, but it’s not necessarily the length that one must look at. It’s the time. The time? Yes, because that bridge was only begun 11 years ago and it now risks falling down even before being put in place!

The bridge was commissioned by the City of Venice. The architect is Santiago Calatrava, the very same architect that designed the Olympic stadium in Athens (with materials from an engineering company located not too far away from Udine). Engineering experts have come to the conclusion that if the 94 metre bridge will be laid down from bank-to-bank, the pressure exerted from the central point of the bridge (some 52 tons) will be the equivalent on both banks to approximately 75 semi trucks, each one that exerts a pressure of 40 tons!

The “catastrophic” result might be that the banks will cave in, therefore sending the uncompleted bridge into the waters of the Grand Canal (including tourists too). Few know that Venice itself is built on approximately 1 million stilts, and through the centuries with constant flooding, many of these stilts have worn away. Adding a 94 ton bridge on the fragile borders of the Grand Canal certainly won’t help matters much either.

Cost-wise, in 11 years’ time the project has not doubled in cost but tripled: it has now ballooned to a whopping 10 million Euros (an astronomical figure in dollars too)! One solution many years ago was also that of building a tunnel under the Grand Canal, but I personally don’t know if that’s crazier than Calatrava’s project.

Venice is certainly NOT new to these far-fetched architectural follies. For the last 20 years or so Venice has been fiddling around with the “Mose” project, a portable-like dike set-off in Venice’s lagoon in order to combat the constant high tides that damage the former Venetian republic. But as we all know (or at least for those who know Italy well enough), the call of the day is the usual political blah-blah-blah. One can only imagine that other “folly”: Berlusconi’s less-than brilliant idea a while ago of constructing a bridge to connect Messina and Reggio Calabria in the Strait of Messina! That project would have played DIRECTLY into the hands of the local mafias.

I wonder if there’s some way of importing some Scandinavian DNA into the bloodstream of Italians: my memory may fail me, but I believe that some years ago the Swedes and Norwegians built a rather long bridge to connect the two nations. The bridge still stands and was completed in record time. Sort of like Calatrava’s “utopic” bridge!

You can’t always believe what you see (or hear)!

Lately, the Italian media has “ganged up” (again) on Canada because of the yearly seal hunt. They inevitably show brutal images of hunters beating poor defenceless seals to death. And brutal as it may sounds, there’s another version to that which the Italians don’t bother mentioning. Ever.

It comes from the April 7th edition of The Economist and the article, “Canada’s seal hunt. On thin ice. Global warning endangers a grisly ritual”. Apparently, “…in Newfoundland, the province most involved, it (the hunt) benefits only 6,000 people…”. Also, the killing of fluffy white pelts, as The Economist calls them, has been banned for 20 years. But the Italians don’t mention that when they scold Canada on the seal hunt. Nor do they tell us that Canada’s “slaughter” of the seals makes it sound as though they’re endangered, when in fact the seal population has, according the British magazine, tripled since the 1970s! And this year, due to the high mortality among pups in the south, Canada’s Department of Fisheries has reduced their quotas for the hunt to 270,000 seals, from 335,000 last year. Hunting has also dropped due to a lack of ice, and for that we don’t have to thank Canadian hunters but I guess ALL of us, including Italians: it’s due to climate change and global warming.

And when the Italians scold Canadians and their seals, rarely will they say that each bloody summer Italians abandon up to 100,000 pets before going on holiday (in three months’ time too). Who then should throw the first stone?