Just some days ago I stumbled in a colleague’s piece at an online review I cooperate with. Allegedly, it analyzed the actual relationship between the Catholic Church and the Republic of Italy - which happen to both have their ideal, historical and administrative capital city in Rome.
Even if admittedly factious – consciously misinterpreting some facts and ignoring others – such reading raised in me a bunch of perplexities. Because the article was actually well written (even if kind of pedantic).…

Three days in Naples usually grants you an experience hardly definable other than ‘great’: the charming breath of a past European capital hits you with its magnificent palaces, breathtaking views, irrational toponymy and intense decay. How not to mention the food. Even me, kind of post-anorexic-modelish-weight-obsessed-milanese-guy, I am simply overwhelmed by the eclectic chain of wonderful tastes continuously offered. Pure food lust prevails over usual inappetence, eating becomes a moment you’re eager to see arriving – and you actually keep…

Manila, the 29th of April 2008

As far as I can remember, I have always been a convinced supporter of the European Union. Even when this implied, for Italy as for many other countries, the amazing rise of prices following the introduction of the Euro; or when, doing a stage in the Commission, I realized the incredible waste of public money and the astonishing amass of unproductive (and poorly-paid) bureaucracy living in it; despite the constant attempts of France to see…

Right before starting to write, on a (supposedly) prestigious social-web-network it occurred to my eyes to stumble on an unpleasant sight. Commenting on the results of the Italian general elections held in the last two days, a sincerely pitiful Swedish lady (or at least, one with a name that sounded like Swedish) expressed her genuine scarcity of understanding for the last choice of the Italians - which has been to give a quite vast majority to Mr. Berlusconi and his…

Many Italians keep thinking France as something necessarily ‘bigger and more important’ (in what, specifically, is not exactly clear). Thus, they automatically recognize to the neighbouring country a sort of ‘superior role’ out in the world and in Europe. While the first thought may be true under some aspect, the following recognition is - nowadays - a critical mistake based on an unbalanced evaluation between the French history (unarguably one of the most influential in Europe throughout the last millennium…