Salvini? Squadrismo? What?
Plus, a political monster and reflections on language-learning
On Tuesday evening Italy’s Transport Minister, Matteo Salvini, signed a six page injunction to limit the remit of a proposed round of CGIL and Uil strikes due to begin tomorrow, Friday 17 November. According to the document, industrial action will only be permitted between the hours of 9.00 am and 13.00 pm in order to ensure a “comprise” between the “right to strike” and the “right to mobility.” Individuals and unions that continue to strike beyond these hours will, apparently, face fines and disciplinary action. Maurizio Landini, General Secretary of CGIL, has rejected the terms. As he put it in a press conference: “This is a serious move, limiting the right to strike, and it simply has no precedent… We will go on. We are forced to take this action because the government refuses to listen to workers.” Pierpaolo Bombardieri, leader of Uil, had even stronger (and more colourful) words to offer, labelling Salvini’s manoeuvre an act of “institutional squadrismo.” Crikey. The battle, in other words, is on. The unions are currently seeking a legal verdict to protect their members, appealing to their constitutional right to industrial action (guaranteed by article 40). Salvini, meanwhile, is citing “Legge 146 (1990)” which vaguely prevents strikes from “damaging the economy unduly in times of crisis.” Whatever the result of that dispute, further action is scheduled in the coming weeks. Rolling strikes will take place on 20 November in Sicily, 24 November across Northern Italy, 27 November in Sardegna and 1 December across the south. We travellers face a winter of disruption then. But the real story here is surely the government’s worrying, and potentially unlawful, clampdown on democratic rights. Reuters has more info.
Opposition to Georgia Meloni’s government is growing, but not necessarily from the corners you might expect or hope for. This week a ragtag band of radicals from the extreme right and left announced they are coming together to form a new political party to contest the current administration. On 26 November, the “Forum of Italian Independence”, will officially launch in Rome’s Midas Hotel — birthplace of the Italian socialist party. This is a real Frankenstein affair. Founding members include Gianni Alemanno, the conservative ex-mayor of Rome, Francesco Toscano, a prominent far-right journalist, and Marco Rizzo, an unreformed Stalinist and honorary leader of the Communist Party. According to their jointly signed press release, “Georgia Meloni and Elly Schlein say the same things about all the key issues.” The party’s aim, with this so-called “fact” in mind, is to “free” Italians from “the old prejudices” and finally make Italy “an independent nation” via an agenda that includes opposing NATO, Ukraine, the EU, Israel and, yep, you guessed it, Covid vaccines. Does anyone need this? No. Obviously not. But in the current climate, with passions so high, and capacity for collective reason so evidently impoverished, one suspects this new alliance will succeed in picking up the paltry 3% they need to get a seat in Parliament.
As I’ve reported many times before, Georgia Meloni has gone to great pains to assert her influence over the country’s key media and cultural institutions. Top of her agenda has been the national broadcaster RAI which, as of 2022, has been directed by a pro-Putin, far-right sympathiser called Giampaolo Rossi. Well, it turns out, Italian audiences are rejecting “the new RAI” in droves. According to insider testimonies, Rossi’s management has been suffocating and unbearably prescriptive. Several of the channel’s most iconic presenters - Fabio Fazio, Luciana Littizzetto, Bianca Berlinguer, Lucia Annunziata and Corrado Augias - have all recently jumped ship after decades working with the broadcaster. The consequences for viewing figures, and public perception, are serious. RAI is now at a historic low in terms of nightly audience share. Most shows are struggling to break the 3% mark, and some have even seen their audiences half over the past year. On average, state-owned media is estimated to have lost 250,000 regular viewers over the past 12-months. One aspect here is digital competitors (Netflix and so on). But the fact remains that Mediaset’s endless CSI re-runs are still attracting far more viewers than the main current affairs talkshows. RAI has always been a pillar of political influence in Italy. But with Georgia Meloni failing to harness its power, Pier Silvio Berlusconi - with his private media Empire - is in a stronger position than ever to influence public opinion.
Arts and culture: the joys of subterfuge
On a lighter note: the Irish novelist Naoise Dolan published a beautiful feature in LitHub this week on the joys, anxieties, challenges and intellectual revelations of learning a new language. In the piece, Dolan details her recent experience on a writing retreat in Tuscany where she tried (and struggled) to come to terms with Italian. Her honesty here is striking, and for me at least entirely relatable. She writes about her discomfort, her ambition, her own laziness. Her frustration with grammar. She details her embarrassment at being unable to communicate with friends and colleagues, the rush of breaking through into new linguistic terrains. The feeling when you start to enter the musicality of Italian, to really feel the rhythms. I know that several readers here speak, think and work in a second or third language - so I highly recommend this deep and intimate reflection on the topic as a pleasantly human respite from the political disasters we’re all living through. Here’s the link.
This week marks the international release of Giuseppe Piccioni’s latest movie L’ombra del Giorno (ENG title: The shadow of the day). In a sense, the film might seem to be just another interwar ‘birth-of-fascism’ drama. But it stands out, frankly, because the cast is both atypically beautiful and significantly more talented that you might usually expect from these kinds of generic dramas. The plot goes something like this: hunky, brooding restauranteur Luciano (Riccardo Scamarcio) is trying to keep his head down and focus on his business when he falls in love with an enigmatic, ‘dangerous’ young woman called Anna (Benedetta Porcaroli). Secrets are revealed, shots are fired, amore flares-up, prejudice melts away, tragedy (inevitably) ensues. So what, you might ask? Well, first off Piccioni is a capable director. While his plots are cheesy he does know how to capture the look and feel of old school Italian cinema; and I think there’s something disciplined and rigorously structured about his approach that takes the work beyond mere nostalgia. Check out the trailer below, or Peter Bradshaw’s review here, if you still need convincing.
Recipe of the week: potato flatbread with anchovy butter
Some unusual Italian-Irish fusion for you this week, courtesy of the always-reliable Rachel Roddy. This week the Rome based author published a fascinating sounding recipe in her regular Guardian column for a ‘potato flatbread with anchovy butter’. The basis for the dish is the ‘farl’ a starchy pancake-like dish which is apparently commonplace on Celtic tables. Here, however, Roddy takes inspiration from the north Italian torta di patate and the friulian frico to offer the hybridised brunch treat you’ve been dreaming of. I haven’t made this yet, but I do love potatoes, and the addition of anchovy and egg - typically Riviera-like flavours - seems an ingenious combo to me. If you’re looking for a quick Saturday fry up - something oily and fatty to bring in the weekend - this should be a strong contender. 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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