There are now just three days to go before Italians head to the polls in a contest that, as has been widely reported, looks set to propel Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia to power at the head of a far right coalition. Obviously this is a grim prospect. But with surveys now forbidden and the campaigns coming to an end there’s little left to say now before the results come in. I wrote a ‘curtain-raising’ op-ed for The Guardian a few days ago which was published here for anyone that’s interested. And I stand by every word of it. Meloni is a far-right ideologue who is playing coy in an effort to win over moderates; her success reflects the long term erosion of democracy more than overt neo-fascism, and while her probable government will almost certainly only last a few months it will still pose a real danger to democracy. Elsewhere on The Guardian I’ve seen others propagating a similar opinion. Julian Coman has published a really insightful piece about Sesto San Giovanni in Milan; a ‘swing neighbourhood’ that has moved from communism to ultraconservatism over the past few decades, which I really recommend reading. Elly Schlein, my favourite member of the Partito Democratico, has also done an interview where she insists on the need for the left to reconnect with trade unions, workers, schools, teachers, migrant activists; and I also find her anti-fascism, feminism and environmentalism inspiring. Once the dust settles from this weekend’s inevitable defeat - who knows? - perhaps Schlein will even find herself in a strong position to take on the PD leadership…. under the circumstances, clutching at straws, her principled approach even seems like the smallest glimmer of something called hope.
Whatever actually ends up happening on Sunday evening, one of the things you’re going to want – or need – to know about is the electoral system itself. That’s why, ahead of the vote, I wanted to share this rather wonkish but useful explainer video by CNBC (below) which sets out the ballots for the two chambers, and clarifies the weighting of votes in relation to the various coalitions, in as clear a fashion as is, frankly, possible. The long and short of it is this. If any coalition passes around 43% of the popular vote they will, due to the ‘rosatellum’ law, and a cut to the total number of parliamentarians, be able to obtain roughly two thirds of the seats in both the Senate and the Camera. The scale of Meloni’s likely victory is therefore crucial. In the worst case – if her coalition passes 44% – they could obtain a supermajority and pass legislation virtually unimpeded. If, on the other hand, Matteo Renzi and Carlo Calenda’s ‘Third Pole’ alliance is able to score about 15% it could, in theory, derail the formation of a right-wing government by enticing Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini to jump ship and re-instate some version of the Draghi administration (which, after all, they were supporting until just two months ago). The whole thing is, basically, a mess; but the CNBC video does a surprisingly good job of covering, at least, the barebones mechanics of the vote to come. So check it out below before the weekend and get ready for a long few weeks.
The autumn rains are arriving in Italy, and the implications are – like everything weather related in 2022 – pretty concerning. After a year characterised in large part by high temperatures, and the worst drought in decades for the North of the country, the risk now, as temperatures begin to drop, is that of “extreme phenomena”. The Mediterranean is currently three to four degrees above its usual seasonal average, and the implications are not good. Rain is normal in Italy in late September as colder currents hit the hot mass of late summer air. This year, however, forecasters are predicting hurricane level winds and extreme deluges, mainly in the west of the country. If this sounds fanciful, well… it’s already begun. Last Thursday and Friday a cycle of storms hit the Marche region during which 420mm of rain– one third of the year’s average – fell in just nine hours. The province of Ancona was particularly badly hit: 11 died and many dozens have been made homeless. Flood warnings are now in place in Piemonte, Liguria and North West Tuscany and the risk is deemed sufficiently serious that even the politicians are talking about it – and climate change – on the campaign trail. Now that really is something…
Arts and culture: snapshots of La Serenissima
Ange Mlinko, the American poet and critic, has a new book out calledVenice which has piqued my interest. Venice is a hard city to write about. It’s almost as if the city is too beautiful, too iconic to invite original observation. OK Calvino succeeded in Invisible Cities by abandoning all concrete geographical markers; and Jan Morris did an excellent job in her personal history of the city by prioritising her own intimate, subjective voice. But few others have pulled it off. It takes real skill to see through the obvious images – cats, boats, carnival masks – to identify codes and realities beneath the surface of the place. Mlinko’s collection, nevertheless, aims to do just that, to give form to the ambiguities and juxtapositions of this beguiling city; balancing musicality and harmony in form with the realities of over-tourism and threat of environmental catastrophe. Some of the lines quoted in the TLS review – e.g “a dragonfly would gondolier / through the misted air” – are beautiful and suggest a playful, curious gaze at play. I’m looking forward to discovering more over the weekend when I plan to dig into the full collection. Click here for more info.
The Polish filmmaker Aga Woszczynska is about to release her debut feature Silent Land which is set in Italy, in what looks like Sardinia. I have no idea what the precise plot is, but I’m obsessed with the trailer. The clip below shows a couple in a villa, on holiday, somewhere near the sea. But the vibe is a bit off to say the least. First, the pair finds the pool is empty due to a water shortage. Then our lead woman finds herself enamoured to some degree with the handyman. Next, at an unspecified distance, the police come to be involved investigating an accident or possible murder. I’m trying to avoid reading the reviews in any depth but from what I can gather – and it’s clear in the clip too – this is more than the usual romantic affair stuff; there are deconstructions of national identities at work, flipping of gender roles, interrogations into deep history and more. Part art house flick, part B movie drama; a romance, thriller and allegorical tale all at once, this looks like my kind of movie - and hey, who knows, perhaps it is yours too. So here’s a preview.
Recipe of the week: the best rigatoni all’amatriciana
Of all the four classic Roman pastas the amatriciana is arguably the most neglected. Less well known or appreciated than the carbonara or the cacio e pepe, less coveted by purists than the gricia, it’s easy to see it as a kind of middle ground dish. Good but not worth coveting in its own right. And yet, I have to say, it’s one of my absolute favourite pastas bar none. It’s true, slopping some bacon around in a tomato sauce can end up like bad canteen food. But if you take care to buy some decent canned tomatoes, aged pecorino romano and proper guanciale, it’s a dish that really does sing. This week, driven by a sudden craving, I decided to cook up a new recipe from VICE Munchies which didn’t disappoint. The chefs Francesca Barreca and Marco Baccanelli - from the restaurant Mazzo - use rigatoni instead of classic spaghetti, chop the cured meat thin so it gets stuck in the tubes, and, more controversially, they add onion too. The video is in Italian only, I’m afraid, but the whole process is pretty self-explanatory and I reckon most readers here should be able to give it a go based on the visual cues alone. If you eat meat I highly recommend you do so because this one, trust me, is a vera bomba.
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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