The cash battle in Italy

In the United States and in many other countries, you will pay nearly everything with your credit card. In Italy, however, cash is still king, especially between older people. According to someone, this national custom should be reversed by law in order to register transfers of money and thus tackle tax avoidance, a major Italian … Continue reading →

Are Italian phones the most bugged in the world ?

While distracted by its own internal troubles, Italy is trying to handle the NSA tapping scandal like the other European countries. However, wiretapping was a problem in Italy much before. According to statistics, the Italian telephones are between the most bugged in the world, due to the widespread use of wiretapping by the District Attorney’s … Continue reading →

Cutting the air in Italy

Cuts, cuts, cuts. For years, Italian Budget Laws have been mainly this. For years, politicians of every party have been promising this. Some observers warned that the cut storm is depressing the economy further. And yet apparently, it is not still enough. Today, the Deputy Director General of the Bank of Italy, Mr Luigi Federico … Continue reading →

Does Italy have a pessimism problem ?

Italy is in crisis. Even before the financial crash, its economy was lagging. Demographically the country is collapsing, something that the Vatican has been denouncing for years; despite that, it is less than ready to welcome immigrants. The whole world mocks the dominance of politics by Silvio Berlusconi. All of this is worsened by a … Continue reading →

Italy, new wave of privatizations incoming ?

Italian Minister of Economy Maurizio Saccomanni announced yesterday on live TV that the Government is considering the possibility of new privatizations. During the Cold War Italy run a mixed economy where the State was the apex of a massive network of corporations and economic entities. In the Nineties a massive wave of privatizations allowed Italy … Continue reading →

Italian judiciary system under fire

Article 69 of the first Italian Constitution, enacted after the 1848 revolutions, stated: “Judges appointed by the King, with the exception of lower rank ones, cannot be removed after three years in charge”. This was supposed to mean that the judiciary power was independent from both the legislative and the executive power. However, the 1848 … Continue reading →

English-language cinema obsessed with Kercher-Knox case

After a first movie about the Kercher-Knox case, another one is incoming. The title is “The face of an angel”, and the director is Michael Winterbottom (“The killer inside me”). The Italian-British movie stars Kate Beckinsale, Daniel Bruhl and controversial topmodel Cara Delevigne. What will be the verdict of the script this time: guilty or … Continue reading →