April 25, 2008

THERE IS NO ITALY:

Italy must be broken up, says Berlusconi's wife (Malcolm Moore, 26/04/2008, Daily Telegraph)

Silvio Berlusconi's wife added her voice yesterday to the growing calls for Italy to be partitioned.

In an interview with La Stampa, Veronica Lario, 51, said: "Italy has never been well-suited to being a single country, and has never matured enough to become one. There is no longer any value in a unified Italy."

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 25, 2008 9:21 PM
Comments

Is this akin to something Michelle Obama might say, or something from Mark Steyn? Does Italy have Muslim demographic problems looming?

Posted by: ratbert at April 25, 2008 10:53 PM

The industrial north is tired of supporting the scooter-riding Ciao, Bella south.

Hey, wait..........

And yes, to your question.

Posted by: Sandy P at April 25, 2008 11:09 PM

I think this is the old Lega Lombarda thing, industrial, wealthy, meritocratic european north against agrarian, poor, tribalist mediterranean south.

Posted by: Jorge Curioso at April 25, 2008 11:13 PM

Of course, the industrial north will continue to support the south, just from the confines of the EU.

Posted by: John Thacker at April 26, 2008 6:54 AM

IT is all very simple. If you have not the will to use them, you have no need of legions and triremes. Why then bother supporting a state large enough to act as a state?

War and only war justifies the concentration of power we sometimes call "sovereignity."

Posted by: Lou Gots at April 26, 2008 8:27 AM

At what point would OJ have posted "There is no Rome"?

Posted by: jim hamlen at April 26, 2008 9:13 AM

Mrs Lario actually made an excellent point: when Italy was reunited between 1860 and 1870, the ruling elite made the mistake of imitating centralist France, instead of opting for federalism (like Bismarck did in Germany around the same time). Most of Italy's problems stem from that unfortunate decision, which forced regions with vastly differring economies into a one-size-fits-nobody straight jacket. Fascism and the anti-Fascist (i.e. small-f fascist) First Republic put a lid an the federalism debate, but the rise of the Lega Nord has blown that away.

Posted by: Peter at April 26, 2008 9:38 AM

There are 7 hills, no Rome.

Posted by: oj at April 26, 2008 12:38 PM
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