New Year's Gunplay
Plus, young farmers and a short film about Gian Lorenzo Bernini
2024 started off - quite literally - with a bang for the attendees of a Fratelli d’Italia NYE party, when a gun went off injuring one of the revellers. Yes. You read that correctly. The festivities, which took place at the residence of the MP Emanuele Pozzolo, were supposed to be low key. At midnight, however, during the fireworks, “one of the guests” shot an LR22 handgun into the air several times. The pistol then fell to the ground. A bullet was released from the chamber and hit the leg of a 31-year-old electrician, Luca Campana, who was subsequently hospitalized. Meloni, who wasn’t present at the gathering, was furious and stepped in quickly to “suspend” Pozzolo from FdI, reiterating her anger that “any Italian, let alone a politician, let alone a member of my party,” should neglect the “legal and moral responsibility” of bearing a weapon. The debacle, though, comes at a particularly sensitive moment for the PM given that the Senate is right now debating a government-sponsored Bill to liberalise gun laws [which includes a clause to permit the sale of firearms to 16 year olds]. With Pozzolo facing a fine and possibly even prison time for carrying and firing a pistol at a public event, FdI’s flagship policy looks less and less likely to pass. A silver lining, certainly [though sadly it will do little to address the already excessive circulation of civilian firearms in the country, sadly]
Giorgia Meloni is looking a little tired. Over the Christmas break the PM was confined to bed due to an unspecified “inner ear infection”, and she’s been out of sorts ever since, apparently. One can hardly blame her. On top of the Pozzolo affair, the PM has been at the centre of accusations of nepotism and clientalism, and several of her closest governmental allies have been implicated in scandals. Matteo Salvini is being investigated for involvement in a money laundering operation and Vittorio Sgarbi, the Junior Culture Secretary, has been accused of nothing less than stealing a Renaissance painting (!). Meanwhile, the nation is facing several crises at once. Hospitals are at breaking point, due largely to an inefficient vaccination campaign against the lethal H1N1 flu strain. Energy prices are set to rise again in February, this time by 9%, with strikes likely to follow. Meanwhile, neo-fascists are marching, freely, in the streets (again). When she returned to Parliament last week, Meloni delivered a rambling three hour speech, defending herself against a host of real and imagined foes. Halfway through, as she ran to the bathroom, she was caught with her microphone on mumbling, “I really can’t do this.” An inauspicious start to the political year if ever there was one… and a mere taste, surely, of what’s to come.
Silvia Martelli, best known for her work with the newspaper ilsole24ore, has published a lovely little piece for the Guardian about an apparent boom in young Italians moving away from the cities to the countryside to set up new, innovative, 21st century farming businesses! In this unusually optimistic take on young Italians’ future prospects, Martelli speaks with a handful of the 55,000 under 35s who have chosen to work in the agricultural sector. OK. In a sense, the number is actually pretty small: but the heart of the story, and what makes it so interesting, is not the data itself but the qualitative nature of the testimonies. Based on Martelli’s analysis, many of these young entrepreneurs are thriving thanks to their training not only in traditional farming methods but also in marketing, digital tools, social media, graphic design and so on. It’s easy - I think - to idealize rural work as a kind of romanticised “back to basics” lifestyle. This piece breaks with that stereotype and instead presents a realistic case-study of how young people - through their blood, sweat, tears and creative skills- are actually finding meaningful and economically sustainable ways to reinvent the country’s agricultural heritage. Here’s the link.
Arts and Culture: Decoding Tradition
The YouTube channel ‘Great Art Explained’ has just published a fascinating little documentary about the life and work of the great (late) Renaissance polymath Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Best known for his magnificent sculpture of ‘Apollo and Daphne’, which is currently displayed in Rome’s Villa Borghese, Bernini was actually responsible for designing some of the most distinctive buildings and architectural features that now characterize the Italian capital’s urban topography. From his work in the Vatican, on St Peter’s Basilica, to the fountains of Piazza Navona, not to mention countless early Baroque churches, Bernini’s vision continues to define “that Rome vibe” to this very day. The presenter here - James Payne, a UK curator and gallerist - does a great job of situating Bernini’s art within the socio-political context and religious/institutional power struggles of the 17th century too. All in all: this is a neat 30-minute watch that’s well-worth your time I reckon.
I spent a good portion of the winter break catching up on albums I’d missed over the course of 2023. To be totally honest, I found a lot of the Italian stuff pretty disappointing and overhyped. That said, I did find one exception amidst many mediocre releases: Daniela Pes’s debut album SPIRA was a really pleasant surprise. Pes, a singer songwriter who was born in 1992 in the Gallura region of Sardinia, is part of a new wave of folk revivalists who are making music across the island. Her fascinating album, sung mainly in the Sassari dialect, combines Northern Sardinian traditional melodies with ambient soundscapes, gentle synth lines and the occasional pop hook here and there. Even within Italy, Pes is still very much confined to the indie scene: her tour schedule is made up almost entirely of South Italian dates in small venues and bars. But I for one think she deserves way more attention. So check out her album here — a perfect listen for moody, introspective January days.
Recipe of the week: Rigatoni alla vodka
Rigatoni alla vodka is one of those recipes that captures the spirit of an era. First served in the U.S in the 1980s, the dish was a glitzy American-Italian treat, a huge hit in red sauce trattorias around the world, before it fell into decline in the mid 00s. It’s a shame, because - frankly - the recipe is delicious, and while it won’t please organic cucina povera traditionalists the dish is, by now, a classic in its own right — at least in a strange and distinctly postmodern way. But I digress. If you don’t like vodka, please don’t be put off trying this recipe. Honestly, I hate the stuff too. But the fact is, name aside, the sauce here is actually more of a garlic and cream sugo, brought together by a disconcertingly large quantity of tomato purée [which replaces the expected pelati or passata]. The alcohol falls into the background here, the vodka-taste transforming into a deep, peppery spice which balances out the sweetness of the other ingredients. Some chefs, like Joe Trivelli, suggest using penne. Personally, though, I prefer Claire Saffitz’s proposal for rigatoni, which keeps the recipe closer to its more traditional Roman cousins, amatriciana, gricia et al. Here’s the link, via Bon Appetit.
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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