A tropical storm
Plus, bad news for the Zan law
A rare hurricane has hit southern Italy, bringing 100km per hour winds and flooding to Calabria and Sicily. The phenomenon known as a ‘Medicane’ has already killed two people, and over the next few days Palermo and other southern cities are at risk of being hit. Catania has been particularly badly effected so far; and, as videos like the below show, entire swathes of the centre were underwater earlier this week. This is an unprecedented event. Storms are common across Italy at this time of year as the hot air from North Africa collides with cold currents. Hurricanes, though, are another thing altogether. The characteristics of this kind of violent weather event are - generally - only seen in oceans, and not in closed seas. People often point to heavy rainfall as an emblem of climate change based on purely anecdotal observations. The reality of a tropical phenomenon making its way into the Mediterranean, though, is undeniably worrying. Coming shortly on the back of record temperatures in Syracuse (the city hit 48 degrees Celsius this summer) it’s a sign of how the environmental emergency is going to impact on Italy in the short and medium term.
The Zan law has no future. At least for now. The proposed legislation was supposed to enshrine hate speech against LGBTQ+ communities, women and disabled people as constituting a new kind of crime. On Wednesday afternoon, however, when the second chamber voted on it, two centre-left senators abstained and 16 voted with the centre right meaning, essentially, that the law has failed. This result is, I think, an appalling demonstration of these so-called democrats’ moral bankruptcy; but there are two other things to bear in mind. The first? That the church lobby always had the power to stop this. With the Vatican against the law it was indeed almost impossible it would go through. The second and most important thing to remember, though, is that the majority of Italians actually support Zan: around 54% according to the latest polls. People will point to this result a symptom of Italy’s still-dominant social conservatism. In fact it’s evidence that, as is so often the case, the institutions are lagging behind a changing society.
I’ve done a couple of interviews about The Invention of Sicily recently that I want to flag up here. The first, which was published a few weeks ago, was a discussion with the Polish writer and activist Michał Pytlik about meridionalism, the mafia and the refugee crisis. I also had the chance to go deeper into issues about the so-called “southern problem” than I do in the book. The piece was published in Polish on Krytyka Polityczna and in English over at Tribune Magazine. Another one I enjoyed was a radio interview with the humanist thinker Philip Adams on his show Late Night Live over at ABC. It was an honour; though I did make an awkward joke about the blasphemy of pairing fish and cheese at one point that I now rather regret… you can listen here or via your usual podcast provider.
Arts and culture: existence precedes essence
The XIIIth edition of the Florence Biennale is being held from 23 to 31 October 2021 in Florence’s Fortezza da Basso with the theme ETERNAL FEMININE | ETERNAL CHANGE. The curatorial idea is to probe a key binary that structures female identity around the world: on the one hand, the eternal mother, the deity, the source of order in nature, purification and unity. On the other? Dynamism, change, complexity, multidimensionality, self-expression and revolution. The exhibition brings together work by 450 artists in response to questions including: What characteristics outline the immutable essence of femininity? What aspects have changed in today’s society? How can femininity be represented in contemporary art? And how can art and design contribute to reducing gender inequalities? For more info and tickets, check out their website.
Last week the TLS published my review of Andrea Camilleri’s posthumous novel Riccardino. The book was planned in 2005 as the finale to the Montalbano detective series, and to be honest - if that was the purpose - it does a pretty weird job of it. Instead of tying up loose ends, the author plays a load of postmodern games entering the text in deus ex machina fashion, setting up a web of intertextual references and even re-inventing Pirandello plots. It won’t be for everyone. But it does make more sense than this summary sounds. For my in-depth take read the (paywalled) review here. If you’re interested in the book, buy it from the publisher.
Recipe of the week: chestnut gnocchi with taleggio sauce
I’ve been eyeing up this recipe for a while - for years in fact - so I thought this week I’d finally set myself the challenge of cooking it. Gnocchetti di castagne su fonduta di taleggio e noci. Rich and creamy, sweet and umami… this has got serious potential I think. Making potato gnocchi isn’t too tricky, but I have to say the variations with pumpkin or carrot etc have always caused me a bit of a headache in getting the right texture. I’ll be following the guidelines from giallo zafferano, English version available here, which seem almost unnervingly straightforward… fingers crossed they turn out OK.
That’s it for this week - as ever I do hope you enjoyed this instalment. If you haven’t already, please do follow the ‘Week in Italy’ Facebook page, or my twitter, for a few extra links and easy-access to the substack archive. If this email was forwarded to you, or you’re accessing on the web and would like to receive further updates, you can subscribe using this link below. Thanks!
About Me
My name is Jamie Mackay (@JacMackay) and I’m an author, editor and translator based in Florence. I’ve been writing about Italy for a decade for international media including The Guardian, The Economist, Frieze, and Art Review. I launched ‘The Week in Italy’ to share a more direct and regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds.
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