I’ve been in Italy for 25 years. For 25 years I’ve been reading the same generic “Italy problem” article. It goes something like this: Gee things are bad in Italy. It is depressed or “underperforming.” Ancient Rome and Renaissance Florence were glorious. Italy is a young country, unified only in the 1860s. Trains once ran on time, but that had a political downside. Recently in … Continue reading Adesso Basta

One day last week, I wasted a lot of time. I’m a pro at time wasting and can avoid gainful work many ways, whether it’s taking on home-improvement and sewing projects or getting lost in online diversions. But that particular day I dawdled on my bike. I was doing errands and “October’s bright blue weather” bathed Milan in sun. Lingering was irresistible. Tired of dealing … Continue reading Hope in Milan

Fall is officially here. In Italy, this brings the cambio di stagione, a national and seasonal ritual in which the previous season’s clothes are moved to the closet high bar while those for the months ahead are pushed down to the more accessible lower one. Anyone can benefit from such a twice-annual exercise, a useful if sometimes painful taking stock of every item in their closet. … Continue reading Cambio di Visione

Sometimes, the best words to describe an event are in a language that is not yours. Take the Italian phrase, E andato storto and how it relates to the Boston Marathon bombings. Possible English translations don’t quite capture the sense of a phrase that translated literally means “it went awry” or it got “twisted,” “bent,” “deviated” or “perverted.” In English, you might translate the phrase as “it … Continue reading È Andato Storto

Ferragosto is over. Little did I know when I arrived in Italy more than 20 years ago that August 15 was not just a random date but also represented the apogee of Italy’s collective summertime dream and ushered in the country’s migration from one vacation pole — the sea — to another — the mountains. Eventually I, too, joined the migration, and when the tone … Continue reading Hill and Dale

Taking a cue from Federico Fellini, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino plumbs the variously deformed and occasionally beautiful human fauna that populate a fascinating if idiosyncratic version of modern Rome. His centerpiece figure is Jep Gambadella (Toni Servillo), a malaise-ridden writer who was once a leading artistic figure but has lost his mojo — both creative and sexual (much like Fellini’s Guido in “8 1/2”). Servillo, … Continue reading La Grande Bellezza

Since its debut at the Cannes film festival, Italians have been divided over director’s Paolo Sorrentino latest film, “La Grande Bellezza.” At a recent dinner I watched as opposite sides of the table debated it as passionately as the fans of Milan or Rome’s rival football teams. Although the film opens with the death of a Japanese tourist, the focus soon turns to protagonist Jep … Continue reading The Meaning of Jep

I recently came back from a trip home. That would be the United States, where I haven’t lived for 25 years. Returning to Milan inevitably raises old questions. Why do I call a place I no longer live “home?” What do I call the place I live? And why do I stay in a place that is not home? The morning after my return, a … Continue reading O Maramao

The story of Italy in World War I is filled with grotesque images. But the most grotesque of all may well be that of Italian soldiers crawling across battlefields scattered with their own excrement. According to historian Mark Thompson, they didn’t bother to dig themselves latrines. The comparison is extreme, but it comes to mind when — all too often — Italians abuse the beauty … Continue reading Self-Infliction

Italian journalist Robert Saviano’s 2006 “Gomorra,” an exposé of the Naples underworld group known as Camorra, was a unique and gripping bestseller. Saviano put face and detail to news reports and conveyed the pervasive horror and grit that perverts the life in the southern Italian city. The book’s success produced two immediate results: a round-the-clock police escort for its author and his status as a … Continue reading Zero, Zero, Zero