Flooding in Tuscany
Plus, Meloni’s cultural agenda and some Fin de Siècle art
First things first: I couldn’t possibly start this week’s edition without sharing a few thoughts on the latest extreme weather disaster to hit Italy, not least because it took place virtually in my own back yard. Last week, on 2-3 November, a huge storm hit Italy causing devastation across the country’s central regions. Tuscany was worst hit. Across Mugello, a few kilometers from where I’m writing this, tens of thousands were left without power for a day or more, with many losing their homes to the mud. According to meteorologists, this was the worst storm for 50 years. A quarter of Tuscany’s average annual rainfall fell in just 48 hours, bringing down trees, destroying cars, injuring and even killing several people. Based on current projections, the damage is estimated to be in the billions. Businesses and livelihoods have been ruined. The worst affected local area is the relatively poor neighbourhood of Campi Bisenzio, a one-time swamp that is now an agricultural and light-industrial zone. While the community has been mobilizing in amazing ways to mitigate the damage, it’s nowhere near enough. And the causes are crystal clear. Soil-consumption in Campi is among the most intense in the country - and NGOs have been raising alarms about inadequate drainage in the area for years now. Last week’s disaster was, in this sense, inevitable. So, please, if you can, donate to the relief efforts or share the fundraiser. The local residents need it... though what they really need, of course, is political action. As dull as it might sound, Italy is long overdue a comprehensive flood management strategy. Events like this are increasing in both frequency and intensity, and as the Protezione Civile has long been arguing, the issue should be top of the agenda for environmental policy makers in the years to come.
The other big news this week concerns migration policy. On Tuesday the Italian government announced it has signed a new deal to build dedicated asylum seeker centres across the Adriatic Sea in Albania. The centres, which will have capacity to hold 3000 people, are envisaged to provide temporary accommodation to refugees rescued from boats off the southern Italian coast. There are too many problems with this deal to list here, but I do want to share some initial reflections before I write this up properly. First, it goes without saying, the agreement will do little in concrete terms to ‘solve’ the refugee question. The new centres only have capacity to hold a fraction of the 150,000ish arrivals who arrive by boat each year into Italy. Second, more importantly, this is an inhumane and politically off-piste move. Albania is not an EU member state. While that’s fine in and of itself, what it means in this context is that oversight of the conditions in these facilities - including the detention status of those inside - will be almost impossible. While few would defend the current EU border policy, this is an unprecedented betrayal of the bloc’s process and its (nominal) commitment to upholding human rights. With these points in mind, frankly, it’s hard not to see Meloni’s move as a political provocation. With EU elections coming up in 2024 the Italian PM seems - once again - to be using the refugee crisis as a campaign strategy; exploiting human lives as chess pieces and riling up controversy for her own government’s benefit. Disgusting, if you ask me. For more information check out this piece on Balkan Insight.
If you know me personally you’ll be aware by now that I’m currently taking some time out from the day-to-day freelance grind to focus on a big campaign for a ‘Permanent Peoples’ Assembly for Europe’ which kicks-off next autumn with a big transnational meeting in Athens. That said, I did make one exception last week when the Guardian asked me to pen an opinion piece on a topic of my choice. I toyed with a few ideas: youth unemployment (and the fact 70 percent of young Italian men and women are still living with their parents). I considered something on Elly Schlein and the plight of the Italian left. In the end I went for a more enjoyable (though still very worrying) story about Georgia Meloni’s cultural politics and specifically her fixation with the Lord of the Rings. You may have read elsewhere about Meloni’s past life in the online nerd world/ultra-conservative blogosphere. Well, last week I took a deep dive into the PM’s biography and unearthed some disturbing details of how the far-right Movimento Sociale Italiano, of which she was once a part, has been appropriating Tolkien’s works since the 1970s to fit its agenda. If you’re interested in how post-fascist “hobbit camps” have been training young radical recruits, and what that could mean for the future of the Venice Biennale, amongst other things, you may be interested in the piece. Check it out in the online edition at this link.
Arts and culture: moments of joy
I’ve always been a big fan of Fin de Siècle French art. That little window between romanticism and symbolism - before modernism definitively entered onto the scene - is a period I find utterly joyous; the flows, the twirls, the softness and most of all the organic elements. Ah! Well, Italy may not be Paris, but there’s still plenty of stuff to get stuck into for fellow fans of this kind of art. I was particularly pleased to read that this autumn-winter two major exhibitions will be taking place on art nouveau and Liberty in Florence’s Museo degli Innocenti and Turin’s Palazzo Madama respectively. The show at the Innocenti, which is aptly titled La seduzione dell’Art Nouveau, is dedicated to the work of Alphonse Mucha, the Czech illustrator, painter and graphic designer best known for his beautiful posters and packaging from the 1890s. The Turin exhibit, meanwhile, is curated with the frame Liberty. Torino Capitale, and as the name suggests it’s a show taken over to local Italian art from the same period; a celebration of the Piemontese capital as a meeting point for artists working in the style. Both are must-sees if you ask me — so if you’ll be in either city over the next few months I highly recommend adding these exhibitions to your itinerary.
Sam Youkilis has long been my favourite Italy-related content producer on Instagram. I say “content” but his channel is actually one of very few that have convinced me that beyond branding and marketing and self interest the platform really can be used for artistic ends. This week, Youkilis’s first book of travel photography Somewhere 2017-2023 was released with Loose Joints Publishing and it will, in my humble opinion, make a perfect gift for any Italophile friends or family members this winter. The book is - in essence - an anthology of his personal freelance work. And the trademark themes are all there: his shots of Umbria, Rome and Naples, of couples kissing, of old people out for the passeggiata. There are coffee rituals, aperitivi rituals, and, of course, a whole section is dedicated to the annual estate italiana. This is poetic photography at its finest. A snapshot of contemporary Italian life that captures the moments and scenes of everyday joy that make this country - for all its problems - such an energising place to live. Order straight from the publisher before it sells out [U.S copies, apparently, are already out of stock].
Recipe of the week: Sicilian cauliflower & chickpea stew with fluffy couscous
Yes, this one’s from Jamie Oliver, but it’s also a brilliant, cheap winter treat — so don’t be too quick to judge! The English chef’s blasphemous approach to Italian food can be cringe-worthy sometimes, I know. But on this occasion - with this dish - he’s hit onto a winner. ‘Sicilian cauliflower and chickpea stew with fluffy couscous’ is a bit of a hodge-podge fantasy of the island’s cold-weather cuisine. There’s nothing traditional at all about this dish. It’s true, I suppose, Sicilians eat a lot of cauliflower. And they also love capers and olives. The couscous, though, is a bit of a stretch. On the island, residents usually reserve this grain for fish dishes, or at a push light summer salads. This recipe, by contrast, is so soupy that it’s bordering on a tajine. Still, I’m no purist. And trust me, the combination of ingredients just works. The vegetables are braised in a lovely pungent broth, and the limited use of carbs means the meal is light and easy to digest without compromising on flavour. I don’t want to overhype this week’s recipe, but it has become a regular staple in my kitchen and for good reason. This is a cheap, healthy, vegan, Italian(ish) dinner that, if you do make it, will almost certainly end up on your winter rotation. So here’s the link.
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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