Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Corriere della Culture

What is news in Italy?
Answer: Whatever makes it past the government and Berlusconi media "censorship."
Censorship both self-inflicted and power-inflicted.

In case you think I jest, Freedom House in 2009 ranked Italy as only "partly free" in terms of media censorship. For novices: The prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is a media mogul, and what he doesn't own, he oversees as PM.
This is a very complicated and nuanced scene, and not the focus of my posting today, although Italy's recent persecution of YouTube - and the ramifications of that - are breathtaking.

Back to the Corriere headline: I do love to read the Milan-based news media Corriere della Sera, or Evening Courier if you must, since the former is so much more poetic.

Today's headlines in the English language version of "Corriere" cannot fail to attract attention, although the writing in some is tedious.

"Dell'Utri Found Guilty - Forza Italia Not Involved."
The hed does not do this lady justice, as the mafioso political crime verdict story says so much about the criminal justice system in Italy. For further information, read "The Monster of Florence."

"Pope Attacks Belgian Magistrates Investigating Paedophilia Scandal."

Friday, June 25, 2010

Corner of Via dei Serragli and Lungarno

Sometimes at random moments I find myself transported to the corner of Via dei Serragli and Lungarno.
Sometimes I am eating a dark chocolate gelato.
Sometimes I am watching customers - two or three deep - milling before the glass cases at the gelateria, overwhelmed by the choices.
Sometimes I am leaning over the bridge ledge, or even sitting on it, watching the River Arno slide by.

But always it is dusk, the city of Firenze spread out around me, warmed by those last golden hues.

Firenze is an easy city to love, a hard city to leave.
In four days I will be there again, struggling with my Italian, tripping over the cobblestones I simply cannot navigate in heels (so embarrassing), greeting the used bookstore owner with a cheery "buongiorno" (does he ever sell anything?).

Most of all, I get the guilty pleasure of exploring a Renaissance gem over 7 weeks. It will all seem new again, I am sure.

There are also dark things to mull over, like the rude shopkeepers, like the $300 traffic ticket I am still fighting from last summer. I got it for picking up a rental car in the Firenze historic district and dropping it off again. Why haven't they dropped the ticket, you might ask? Hey, it's Italy.

I leave for Firenze optimistic. About what a different culture teaches me. About having some time to think. About...

...what new thing I will spot at the corner of Via dei Serragli and Lungarno. At dusk.