Citizens Assemble
Plus, Italy takes on Amazon, and reading between Livorno and Bristol
It’s been a busy week here in Florence with the Conference on the Future of Europe coming to town. The what? I hear you ask. I don’t blame you. CoFoE, as the Brussels bubble folk are calling it, was set up by the EU, on the initiative of the French government, in order to try and tackle the democratic crisis on the continent. It has not - so far - been deemed a great success (and the fact almost nobody has heard of it is an indictment in itself I think). That said, there are a few aspects that could interest readers here. The most exciting part as far as I’m concerned is the ‘citizens panels’ which will see 800 people, randomly selected, meeting in cities across Europe: Dublin, Natalin, Maastricht and, yes, Florence. They will then deliberate on key issues from the climate crisis to migration and offer formal, concrete recommendations which the institutions have pledged to take seriously. Nobody knows quite what will come of all this, but it is, at least, an interesting experiment. Sadly, given the noble aim, there’s a lot of dense technical language surrounding this process. For that reason I helped co-author a piece for La Repubblica earlier this week, which tries to explain the most salient points for those who are not so familiar with EU-argot. You can read it on their site in English or Italian.
Sticking with Euro-politics for a moment, there’s been a lot of talk about Mario Draghi in the past week from those who are trying to read the tea leaves about the (actual) future of Europe. Politico published a provocative profile labelling the Italian Prime Minister “The most powerful person in Europe” which seems a little hyperbolic, at least to me. Their argument is that, together with Macron and Olaf Scholz, Draghi represents a kind of revitalising energy for establishment politics, potentially setting the EU on a path away from old school neoliberalism and towards something new. It’s an optimistic take, and certainly worth balancing with other opinions. Indeed, elsewhere on Politico, a mere click away, one can read about the failed sale of the Monte dei Paschi bank to UniCredit, in a piece which takes the reader inside the government’s need to flog “the world’s oldest bank” before a Christmas deadline, or else face possible disciplinary measures from the ECB. It’s a good reminder I think that - recovery fund or not - Italy is still facing serious long term structural problems in the economy.
Some brighter news re: the battle to reign in the powers of big tech. Italy’s antitrust authority announced this morning that they have fined Amazon 1.1 billion euros for having established an unethical monopoly in the world of e-commerce. The case, obviously, has little bearing on the key issues of workers’ rights or the abuse of customer data, but to my mind it’s still good to see the institutions taking action here. Some commentators have even seen the move as having global ramifications (!) Certainly, what one can say, is that as more and more European countries increase their antitrust actions they are, implicitly, putting pressure on the Biden administration in Washington to make good on their promises to take even more decisive steps about this matter in the U.S. In the long run, if other states act, that could (yet) prove decisive.
Arts and culture: Down and Out in England and Italy
My friend John Merrick, a writer and editor (including my Sicily book among many others) published a great review of an Italy-related novel this week. Down and Out in England and Italy by Alberto Prunetti is a semi autobiographical text exploring “what it's like to leave an Italian steel town only to find low-paid kitchen jobs in England.” The cities in question are both, incidentally, ones I know well: Livorno and Bristol. According to the review, the book is concerned with working class life, writing, politics, and intergenerational tensions. As John puts it, it’s the story of people employed in a “not-so-authentic pizzeria in Bristol in England’s South West alongside a motley crew of Italians, Latin Americans, and other assorted migrant workers. Slinging pizzas in [a] “purgatory of unhappiness and second-degree burns.” The piece, by the way, is filled with passages just as eloquently phrased as that, so do give it a read over at Jacobin. The novel itself is available from Scribe.
If you’re reading this from Florence then hello! I’ve got an event on next week at Saint Mark's English Church on Via Maggio that might be of interest. From 18:00 I’ll be sitting down with Baret Magarian for a chat about The Invention of Sicily, followed by a Q&A and general discussion on issues related to the book. Afterwards we’ll be heading, I’m sure, for drinks, dinner and more chat. So if you’re in town and want to come along, please do join us. Here’s the link to the Facebook event. I hope to see you there to meet in person! If not, if you’ve got any friends you think would be interested, it’d be great if you could spread the word…
Recipe of the week: Canederli in brodo
I’ve been really into my mountain food this week, and seem to have found myself entirely preparing stuff from Trento-Veneto and the Dolomites. Our house has had gulash and polenta on the menu for several days now along with spatzle with mushrooms, and quite a bit of hearty soup. The most fun and surprisingly easy dish to sort out, though, was canederli (the Italian name for Knödel). These are basically store cupboard bread dumplings filled with speck and parsley then served in a hot broth. We had some chicken stock in the freezer so I thought this would be a nice way to use it up and - yep - it did the trick. The mix for these was sorted in about 30 minutes and it took no time at all to make the balls. I followed the ‘Great Italian Chefs’ recipe and highly recommend you do the same (if you don’t eat speck I reckon these would be just as good with some dried porcini in there; though I’ve heard some sautéed leeks are pretty good too).
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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