by Martin Solly
The Italians are not brought up with much active sport apart from physical education classes – few Italian schools have good sports facilities – and it is hard to find anyone participating seriously in sport. Beautifully dressed Italian joggers are easily overtaken by the average walker as they flaunt their way around the park on a Sunday morning. Nevertheless, Italy regularly manages to produce world and Olympic champions in a whole variety of sports, from swimming and fencing to rowing and shooting, with both the competitors and their country relishing and making the most of every opportunity for occupying the centre stage.
Culture
Italians have enormous respect for culture. They know the value of their national heritage and that it is one of the main sources of their country’s wealth.
Money is, and always has been, a driving force behind Italian creative art, but it is not the only one. Religion, a sense of beauty, and a gift for understanding the spirit of place are also important. Perhaps the most important of all is the Italian’s innate pride in making something beautiful – fatta a regola d’arte. Things don’t necessarily have to work well, they don’t necessarily have to last, but they have to look good. And if they are beautiful, the Italians will make the effort to make them work well and to make them last.
“Italian life is, and always has been, melodramatic, which helps explain the popularity of operas.”
This is the link between a dress by Valentino, a car by Pininfarina, a glass gondola blown in a small workshop on one of the islands in the Venetian lagoon, a roadside madonna and child, and a plate of fresh pasta.
Italian prisoners of war on the Orkney Islands during World War II were given a Nissen hut to use as their chapel. They carefully decorated the inside, painting it with baroque trompe l’oeil and turning it into a work of art. Sixty years later, ex-prisoners regularly return to make sure their chapel is still beautiful.
Melodrama
Italian life is, and always has been, melodramatic, which helps explain the popularity of operas of the 19th century and soap operas of today. Plumbers can be heard singing well-known arias while they work, and cleaning ladies save their pennies for a ticket to dress up to the nines and attend La Scala. Karaoke enjoyed an incredible boom in Italy, giving ordinary Italians a wonderful opportunity to satisfy their narcissism by being ‘on show’. What could be more fun than singing your heart out in front of your friends and family?
Television
If the Italians didn’t actually invent trash television, they have certainly developed it to a fine art. Even on the three national channels there is a lack of finesse that would be considered really slapdash anywhere else. Viewers are often treated to completely blank screens, and programmes regularly start several minutes later than scheduled. Newscasters are frequently caught reading items that have no relation to what is happening on the screen.
“Viewers are often treated to completely blank screens.”
Italian viewing is mainly made up of films, cartoons and soap operas, which have been imported and dubbed. The dubbing can be appalling: in the love scene from A Fish called Wanda, even John Cleese’s utterances in Russian, which were supposed to excite Jamie Lee Curtis to a frenzy, were rendered into Italian.
On the other hand, the astonishing success of second-rate American soap operas in Italy is largely due to the real passion of the Italian versions, where the dubbing has served to cover up the poor quality of the original dialogue. The Italian version of The Bold and the Beautiful resulted in its little-known American stars achieving cult status in Italy and being better known than the members of the government.
“The astonishing success of second-rate American soap operas in Italy is largely due to the real passion of the Italian versions.”
Most home-grown productions are variety shows which cater for so-called ‘family viewing’ and as Italian children are usually still up and about at 10.30 p.m., they tend to go on interminably all evening, offering the same basic ingredients of quizzes, games and competitions interspersed with song and dance routines and advertisements. The first Italian Big Brother (Grande Fratello) was enormously successful, the third and fourth less so, as the novelty wore off. Other highly successful programmes include the various talk shows in which ordinary people air their personal problems, which are then discussed at length. The problems tend to focus on the national obsessions of love and betrayal, food and football, health and security; and the more heated the debate, the higher the audience ratings seem to rise.
The alternatives for family viewing are dubbed Walt Disney imports and wildlife documentaries. Despite being great Europeans, when it comes to light music the Italians prefer the home-grown variety. Not only does Italy not send a team to the Eurovision Song Contest, but the great majority of Italians have never even heard of it. They prefer their own Italian song contest, which is held in the city of San Remo on the Riviera every February. It lasts a whole week and draws huge television audiences.
“Despite being great Europeans, when it comes to light music the Italians prefer the home-grown variety.”
Other programmes take their cue from Candid Camera and give viewers the chance to see unwitting participants reduced to tears and rage without knowing they are being watched by an audience of millions. In Complotto di Famiglia (Family Conspiracy) for instance, Maria accompanies her husband to an important business dinner for the first time. As the evening progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the glamorous hostess in a tight pink suit is paying too much attention to Maria’s husband. At a certain point she asks Maria to ‘lend her husband to her for a bit’. The husband seems to acquiesce. The ensuing scene is fraught with anguish and emotion, but the programme ends before viewers can see whether or not Maria and her husband manage to save their marriage.
“It combines titillation with a daily dose of the two things Italians enjoy most in life – debunking their politicians and laughing at others’ mistakes.”
Late-night viewing is for adults only, and ‘high quality’ films compete with sleazy strip shows where ‘housewives’ take their clothes off to win bonus prizes. Among the most successful programmes are the gameshow, Affari tuoi, the Italian version of Deal or No Deal and a programme called Striscia la notizia, which devotes half an hour each evening to investigating complaints made by callers, as well as showing and commenting on a cunningly edited collation of recently televised news and events adorned by two skimpily clad show girls whose miniscule outfits just manage to stay on during their dance routines. Presented in this way it combines titillation with a daily dose of the two things Italians enjoy most in life – debunking their politicians and laughing at others’ mistakes.
The press
Italian newspapers are expensive and have a limited readership. Although the average daily circulation is reputed to be under 6.5 million and falling, the actual number of readers is difficult to calculate since many Italians read newspapers available in public places, in the library, the town square or the bar, while others buy more than one newspaper a day.
Most Italian newspapers are serious local papers with a national bent. Others are closely linked to political parties, like Il Giornale to Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and L’Unità to the Democratic Party of the Left. The daily newspaper with the widest circulation is the Corriere dello Sport which publishes nothing but sporting news, reflecting perhaps the real interest of the Italian public.
“The daily newspaper with the widest circulation publishes nothing but sporting news, reflecting perhaps the real interest of the Italian public.”
For gossip Italians buy glossy weekly magazines where they can read all they want about the world of Hollywood and the British or Monégasque royal families. Despite Italy being the birthplace of the paparazzi, there are few juicy stories about the love-lives and scandals of Italian politicians and people in high places, due to a long-standing tacit agreement between the powers-that-be and the press.
Literature
Italy has a fi
ne literary heritage. Famous writers from the past include Dante Alighieri, Boccaccio and Ariosto, while amongst the recent and current are Primo Levi, Italo Calvino, Alberto Moravia, Umberto Eco and Dario Fo. Their works tend to be looked on as ‘great literature’ and, as such, are usually reserved for studying at school, or appreciating on special occasions.
For more general reading, on trains or in bed, the Italians enjoy racy, international, best-selling blockbusters such as Wilbur Smith, Danielle Steel and Dan Brown.
“Perhaps the most successful literary genre in the country which gave the world that much-loved children’s character, Pinocchio, is the comic.”
Some literary genres are colour-coded. Yellow is used for thrillers and detective stories, black for the cronaca nera or crime pages in newspapers and magazines, and pink for romantic novelettes. Italians are not great readers. The fault seems in part to lie with the educational system, but mostly with the ubiquitous television screen: it is hard to read a book and watch television at the same time, and in many houses the television set will be blaring all day and most of the night too.
Perhaps the most successful literary genre in the country which gave the world that much-loved children’s character, Pinocchio, is the comic. Italians adore book-length comics. They are often happiest of all reading the soft porn adventures of their imaginary heroes, like cowboy Tex Willer, sexy fashion victim Valentina, and the off-beat investigator of nightmares and inveterate womaniser, Dylan Dog.
Customs & Tradition
Christmas is traditionally celebrated at home with the family, and Easter is spent with friends: ‘Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi’ (Christmas with your own, Easter with whomever you want). But Easter Monday (called Pasquetta, little Easter) always involves a big family picnic. Never mind that it often rains on Easter Monday (the weather having changed with the Easter moon), this picnic is rarely called off.
“People take time off to do what Italians enjoy most, eating good food and drinking good wine at a leisurely pace in good company.”
Every Italian town and village celebrates its own saint’s day. Milan takes the day off for St. Ambrose, Turin for St. John, Naples for St. Gennaro and Rome for St. Peter.
Most places also have a sagra or festival week devoted to a composer, or food, or a sports event, or an award named after some local poet or politician. These can be on the grand scale, like the great palio (horse race) at Siena, but often they are local affairs, where the people take time off to do what Italians enjoy most, eating good food and drinking good wine at a leisurely pace in good company.
Annual holidays in Italy are mostly taken in August, when the factories in the great northern cities close as the heat of the summer makes city life unbearable, and most families head for the mountains or the seaside to cool down. Life becomes difficult for those who stay behind, as the shops close too, and it isn’t always easy to find the basic necessities of life, while those on holiday do their best to recreate the hustle and bustle of city life on the beach.
“Those on holiday do their best to recreate the hustle and bustle of city life on the beach.”
Other important holidays in Italy include 8th March, when women exchange yellow mimosa and celebrate their pride in being women, 1st May, when half the country is involved in Don Camillo-style first communions and the other half in Peppone-style workers’ parades, and 1st November (All Saints Day), when most Italians take part in serious ancestor worship, visiting their dead in the cemeteries where they repose in multi-decker tombs, stacked one above the other, like so many filing cabinets.
The days before the abstinence of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday are dedicated to celebrating Carnival (from the Latin carnem levare – literally ‘put away meat’), with fancy dress parades and parties climaxing in the Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso) festivities, the biggest of which take place in Venice and Viareggio. The Italian Carnival dates back to the pagan Roman feasts of Saturnalia and Lupercalia. For some, Carnival is a time for dressing up as Harlequin or Pulcinella, or dressing up their children and taking them to the parade and the funfair; for others it is a wonderful excuse for behaving outrageously. But Italy’s traditions are no closed shop, in recent years Halloween has enjoyed enormous success as shop windows have filled up with hollowed out pumpkins and whole neighbourhoods have been taken over by miniature witches and wizards.
Privilege
Many Italians have special privilegi or belong to privileged groups or areas where they pay few taxes, or don’t have to pay taxes at all. Semi-autonomous regions like the Aosta Valley are comparatively happy to remain Italian as long as they continue to receive vast subsidies from central government, only paying, for example, a quarter of the price the rest of Italy pays for petrol.
“Preferential treatment is given to all those in positions of power and authority.”
Italian Members of Parliament and the European Parliament are amongst the highest paid in Europe and also receive preferential treatment wherever they go. The same privilege is given to all those in positions of power and authority, from the members of the local council to the local chief of police. Le autorità (local dignitaries) can count on the fact that for anything that really matters – important football matches or concerts – they have a permanent reservation of the best seats.
The Catholic church
The Italians like to think that Italy is a Catholic country, even if they are highly irreverent towards their clergy and tend to ignore papal diktats, such as those concerning birth control (despite the Vatican’s line, Italy has the lowest birth rate in Europe, with an average of 1.2 children per family). Italians can be very ambivalent about their religion.
“Superficially the church’s power is on the wane, yet in terms of real power it might even be stronger than in the past.”
The exact role of the Catholic Church in present-day Italy is hard to quantify. Superficially its power is on the wane, yet in terms of real power it might even be stronger than in the past. It is present in every parish, in every community and the late Pope John Paul II had an enormous personal following among the nation’s young as was demonstrated by a celebration at the height of the holiday season in Millenium year, when around a million young people gathered in a field just to hear him say mass and to sing a few hymns together. Despite scorching heat and being kept waiting for hours, it was agreed by all to have been a truly memorable occasion, far more fun than most rock concerts. His German succcessor the former Cardinal Ratzinger, despite his nationality, is treated with great respect – after all, as one of Italy’s journalists commented, all Italians are at heart Christian whether they go to church or not. Yet deference for His Holiness did not prevent the biggest Italian fireworks on sale for New Year’s Eve 2005 being nicknamed ratzingers (the Italian for missiles is razzi).
Religion is preferred to be visual and tangible, hence pictures of the Madonna, the Pope, local saints and football stars are pasted everywhere – in public places, private homes, and even on personal computers.
“Religion is preferred to be visual and tangible, hence pictures of the Madonna, the Pope, local saints and football stars are pasted everywhere.”
The Pope (il Papa), is Italy’s only crowned Head of State and because of his position his visits to Italian cities are treated with much greater interest and excitement than those of the President or the Prime Minister. He is the only leader in Italy who can fill a stadium with his fans, and the only visitor le autorità will make an effort to impress, painting the stadium walls white on the morning of his visit, so that no offensive graffiti will offend his holy eyes.
Superstition
The Italians worry about objects, events, behaviour and (especially) people who they think cause, or might cause, them misfortune. Many protect themselves, their cars and their houses with an array of prayers and amulets, and spend huge amounts of money visiting a whole series of astrologers, witches and charlatans, as a kind of insurance policy against ‘the evil eye’.
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p; They also make good practical use of their superstitions. An Italian had a dream that he was sitting with Pope John XXIII listening to an old 33 r.p.m. record. When he woke up he told the dream to his neighbour. Her first reaction was: ‘23 and 33. I’ll play those numbers on the Lotto (national lottery) tomorrow.’ The number 17 is considered very unlucky in Italy: the most plausible explanation is that when written as the Roman numeral XVII, it is an anagram of vixi, the Latin for ‘I lived’, with its implication that I no longer do.
“Church-goers or not, Italians are fascinated by the unsolved mystery element of miracles.”
Many people watch the cycle of the moon carefully, not just because of its effect on the human mind and body, but because of the effect it has on the sowing and harvesting of crops, and on the preservation of food and drink. Thus wine should always be bottled under the right moon; luckily it can be drunk under any moon.
Whether they are church-goers or not, Italians are fascinated by the unsolved mystery element of miracles. When an ordinary mass-produced statue of the Madonna started to cry tears of blood in a back-garden in Civitavecchia in spring 1995, the whole nation became involved in the debate (‘Why did the bishop accept the miracle before the Vatican did?’ ‘Why was the blood male?’ and so on), and le autorità and tradespeople got ready to handle the armies of pilgrims who were expected in the city. In the event, common sense prevailed and only a handful of locals actually showed up at the scene.
“This is the country with the most impressive reliquaries in Christendom.”
However, this is the country with the most impressive reliquaries in Christendom; the country of Padre Pio; the country where the blood of San Gennaro in Naples has liquefied three times a year since 1389. Never mind that there are enough pieces of the True Cross around to build a basilica, or that St. Eulalia (the foster mother of Christ) must have had 13 breasts, relics and miracles are good for keeping the faithful in the fold. Better still, they are good for business.