Italy: Open for Business

Hard to believe it’s been three years since COVID was declared a world health emergency. And one of its earliest victims? Italy. Canine greeters at a Lucca store In one of the cruelest historical ironies ever, Italy, one of Earth’s most aesthetically...

The Original Sin of Giorgia Meloni

It’s that she’s prepared to compromise with the centrists. Who knew? Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni is a sinner. In addition to being the Magic Boot’s first female premier, Signora Meloni is the Italian Republic’s first right-wing head of government....

An Unworthy Opponent

The once all-male Italian political scene has come a long way as evidenced by how the Right and the Left are now embodied in two women:  Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and opposition leader Elly Schlein (Sh-line).  These ladies are at odds in a cultural war...

Mafia Mamma: Mamma Mia!

Looks like the clichéd Italian phrase popularized by the Swedish pop group Abba should have been applied to a new film.  I deliberately did not mention Mafia Mamma in my last blog on current movies in the hopes that missives I sent to local Chicago papers about...

Liberation Day

Among Italy’s national holidays is Liberation Day on April 25th.  It commemorates the day in 1945 that a coalition of Italian partisan groups in northern Italy put the last nail in the coffin of Fascism and the German occupation.  Four days later the German...

Humans for Export

An alarm is sounding as Communist China makes inroads into Africa.  Just like the old Soviets did back in the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese offer to build infrastructure in developing nations, funding the projects with Chinese loans.  When the Africans find...