The Dark Heart of Italy

Before leaving the States, Jack Stephens gave John this book written by a journalist living in Italy: The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones. I couldn't put it down. It was well written and explained a great deal of what I was experiencing around me. Some of it I probably should have known already, like what happened in Italy during WWII, but some of it can only be known once you really know and understand the language, which is a long ways off for me. Anyway, this is not the typical kind of book I read, but Jones was so interesting, I raced through it quickly.

This is my rather loose interpretation of a few of the points. During WWII, Mussolini and the Fascists came to power. At this point there was still a royal family here, and many people still respected the king's leadership. The King, unfortunately, switched sides a lot, confusing his partisans as to whom to support. Once the allies rolled through Italy on their way to fight the Germans, there was a power vacuum, and what happened was that the Fascists and the Partisans turned against each other. This was the beginning of Italy's next 40 years of Civil War (some might say it's ongoing) . The Allies didn't help things too much, because they were so busy trying to keep the Italian Communists out of power that they let most of the Fascist government, guilty of abominable crimes during the war, right back into power. Through the 60's and 70's there were terrorist bombings by all parties and they've become known as the years of lead (anni di piombo). If you saw that great Italian mini-series, Best of Youth, it was largely about how families were torn apart by politics during this time. Basically all the parties blame all the other parties for the bloodshed still.

So in the 90's, successful businessman Silvio Berlusconi proposes a new anti-establishment party, claiming it will be a clean slate because he has his own money and doesn't need to be bought. Berlusconi made his money first in construction, and then in TV stations. He owns the only channels that compete with the State owned stations (by finding his way around a law that prohibited anything other than local stations, Berlusconi just set up local stations everywhere with the same programming). To back up a bit, according to Jones, Italians respect nothing more than money. If you've got money, you must be cunning (furbo, to say someone's cunning you run your thumb down your cheek like a knife cut), which is the cat's meow. So whether Berlusconi's methods were clean as he became a successful businessman doesn't really matter at all. He was smart enough to beat the system and make a lot of money, and he slid into power easily. So now this guy is head honcho of the government, he owns most of the media (he also owns newspapers, or they're in the family), and he owns a soccer team (the only other matter of power in Italy). He's basically the new Mussolini, and he quickly went about changing the laws to protect his interests (mostly to get court cases against his allegedly dirty business practices thrown out).

Basically, this is just a taste of how ugly Italian politics are. It's not just Berlusconi, most of the other heads of parties also own newspapers and soccer teams. All the power is held by just a few. What it's done is create a culture in which everyone is out for themselves and their family. That's why Italians rarely tip. They don't understand why you would enrich anyone where it won't come back to you. It's also why Italians don't pay taxes. What it does explain is why Italians can be incredibly generous to the people they do know.

There's a lot more in there, about religion, about the illegal building that's happening everywhere and spoiling the countryside, about the beauty of the language. John and I try really hard not to leave tips now, but it's engrained in us. I don't think I'll ever be cunning or furbo enough to really understand it all or fit in. But then again, we are paying our American landlady for this place in cash, so perhaps an American can be converted.