Tourist trappings
Plus, ius scholae and Alessandra Mango does the pizzica
Dear readers – welcome back to the Week in Italy! I hope you’re all well and keeping cool during these still-sweltering August days. I’m back in Florence and recharged after an energizing trip down to Ustica and Levanzo; two islands that should definitely be on your radar if you’re looking for a last-minute beach break. I had a great time, far from the Amalfi crowds, getting lost among volcanic rocks, cacti and palm trees; communing with cats, dogs, lizards and snakes, and swimming in some of the most gorgeous sea I’ve ever seen in Italy. Ustica, in particular, was a revelation, “quiet, clean and sparsely populated” to quote this Guardian piece. So I 100% recommend you check it out before the word spreads (too far)... But basta! Enough vacation talk. Italy’s finally getting back to full speed. After two months of trains grinding to a total halt, air con battles, and even a ‘beach club strike’, the rientro has truly begun. What better time, then, to reflect on the economic realities of tourism? The other day, catching up on the news, I encountered a graph which clearly outlined an under-discussed reality about the sector: namely, that, all too often, tourism just doesn’t pay workers’ bills. I mean check it out. The blue line below shows a general increase in hotel prices (+60% since 2012.) The red line shows the average wage for workers in the sector. Absolutely static. I know this is hardly surprising, and the story is the same every year. Nevertheless, I think it’s important to keep these numbers in mind when ministers like Daniela Santanchè start extolling how “successful” the season has been. Yes, we all know that tourism benefits Italy. But who, we might better ask, is really cashing-in on the phenomenon?
On a related note: just before the summer break the Italian government snuck in a reform proposal which could have major implications on your own hotel bills. The so called “August decree” proposes to enlarge the scope of the ‘tassa di soggiorno’ (the tourist tax) to be applicable not only in major destinations but in all 7903 Italian comuni. Not only that, the government also plans to raise the total fee. If you book a room for 100 euros per night you could therefore soon be paying an additional five euros in tax. If your room is 300 per night, you’ll be looking at a possible fifteen euros. Luxury hotel guests may soon be paying up to 25 euros per night on top of their room price. Federalberghi, which represents the sector, worries the tax increase could put clients off, making the country less competitive with France, Austria, Spain etc. The government, meanwhile, argues the extra funds could be used to clean up the streets and subsidise garbage collection. Personally, I think that’s a pretty convincing argument; particularly when we’re talking about the upper end of the market. Nevertheless, as with the graph above, one does have to wonder if this new pile of money will really end up being invested into public services on whether it may mysteriously disappear into other pockets… take this news, as ever, with a pinch of salt.
Citizenship reform is going to be one of the big issues on the political agenda this autumn, and with good reason. As things stand, Italy adheres to the principle of ius sanguinis; i.e. that citizenship is passed on by ancestry or ‘blood’ relations. As a result, right now, 900,000 “foreign minors”, who have lived here throughout their childhood, do not officially qualify as “being Italian.” Campaigners have been pushing to reform this shameful system for decades. Now, after many setbacks, the PD is advocating for a system of ius scholae, which would ensure all those educated for at least 5 years before the age of 12 are automatically eligible for citizenship. I don’t have space here to go into the nuances of this imperfect proposal. What’s interesting this time around, however, is that Forza Italia (FI), a key player in the right-wing government, now seems ready to support the reform. This is an encouraging development, something that could both break with the status-quo, and force serious divisions within the ruling coalition. Nevertheless, the brutal fact remains that even if the reform is passed only 1 in 3 foreign minors will qualify under the new system. Is this really the best the political class can offer? I don’t think so. For more details check out this piece over at InfoMigrants.
Arts and culture: The Sound and the Fury
If you’re a fan of Italian literature you may remember the buzz around Antonio Scurati’s M: Son of the Century, a fictionalized biopic of the young Mussolini which won the Strega Prize back in 2019. Well, perhaps inevitably given the book’s success, SKY has gone and made a TV adaptation. The director, Joe Wright, claims he set out to “sometimes” allow the audience “to be seduced by Mussolini and to get excited by what he’s doing” as a way of combatting what he sees as a kind of shallow moralizing on the part of anti-fascists. This is an extremely risky, and potentially problematic proposal if you ask me. A high wire act indeed. Based on the trailer below, unfortunately, I have to say the show actually looks quite… banal? The filming is so overstylised that 1920s Italy seems, for some reason, to resemble Batman’s Gotham City. Luca Marinelli looks to be an unconvincing Duce and the whole tone seems stilted, melodramatic and superficial. Critics are already panicking that this series could backfire and “dangerously” romanticise the Italian far-right. The more likely scenario, in my view, is that this will end up as a Peaky Blinders-style trash fest, offering audiences sex, violence, cringy monologues and little else. My advice? Give this one a miss, and check out the book instead.
The Notte della Taranta is one of the biggest folk music festivals in Europe. Every August, since 1988, numerous comuni across Puglia have been hosting a series of concerts dedicated to the pizzica, a subgenre of the local tarantella in which musicians and dancers perform a “hysterical”, and “feverish” ritual which is supposed to evoke the ubiquitous wolf spider’s bite. Traditionally, this ritual was about catharsis, energetic release, and, as the anthropologist Ernesto De Martino has expertly-documented, sexual repression (and to a certain extent that’s probably still the case.) History aside, this year’s festival was a big one. Over 50,000 people attended the main event in the town of Melpignano and half a million watched along on RAI TV. Numerous local stars took to the stage and offered impressive performances. Most coverage, however, has been dedicated to the Sanremo winner and Eurovision star Alessandra Mango’s fabulous rendition of the Puglian song ‘su piccinna.’ Check it out below for some pitch-perfect singing and fab dancing to the quintessential sound of the Italian summer.
Recipe of the week: Tonno in agrodolce con cipolle
Believe it or not but my trip down to Sicily was a fairly frugal affair when it came to food. OK, yes, I admit, there were the cannoli. There were the granite, there were arancine a plenty. Granted. But other than these treats I spent most of the time feasting on simple meals of tomato salads, almond pestos, lemony braised vegetables and fruit. The one exception, obviously, was fish. Sicilians are, I think, some of the best in Italy at prepping piatti di mare – and down in Levanzo this was confirmed once again. The island only has two restaurants, but one of them – Bar Arcobaleno – served me one of the best tuna dishes I’ve eaten in my life. The dish, which was presented cold as part of an antipasto spread, was similar to the Venetian sarde in saor, but meatier tasting, more balanced in its agrodolce flavour. I’ve been searching in vain to find the exact recipe, but to no avail. It seems to be, simply, too local. The closest I’ve found so far is Ada Parisi’s oddly translated offering over at Siciliani Creativi in Cucina which I hope might yield a similar result, but I’m not totally convinced. I end this note, then, with a plea: if you’ve ever enjoyed a dish similar to Sicilian tonno in agrodolce, and you’ve got some home cooking tips to share, please do let me know!
I’m Jamie Mackay, a UK-born, Italy-based writer, working at the interfaces of journalism, criticism, poetry, fiction, philosophy, travelogue and cultural-history. I set up ‘The Week in Italy’ to make a space to share a regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds, to explore politics, current affairs, books, arts and food. If you’re a regular reader, and you enjoy these updates, I hope you’ll consider becoming a supporter for EUR 5.00 per month. I like to think of it as a weekly catch-up chat over an espresso. Alternatively, if you’d like to send a one-off something, you can do so via PayPal using this link. Grazie!