Italiafile – for italophiles.
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President what President?
Yesterday Berlusconi withdrew from the Presidential race – ‘for the sake of unity’ and went immediately to hospital to stay in his palatial suite away from tricky questions to undergo ‘tests’ for a few days. Today the great charade of electing a new Presidents starts, and this afternoon the chambers of parliament will host the…
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Denis the Menace
Its been a while since we’ve seen him, he is after all under house arrest serving a six and half year sentence for fraudulent bankruptcy, but Denis Verdini keeps on schmoozing. He’s been writing to his bezzy dell’Utri – convicted mafia henchman of Berlo, as well as Silvio himself. He is of course from…
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Its No Joke
The parties of Salvini and Meloni, and obviously that of Berlusconi, yesterday announced officially that their candidate for President of the Repubblica is Silvio Bunga Berlusconi. Under the arcane rules of voting, it is highly possible that the 84 year old ‘seriously ill’ Silvio could become the next president of Italy. The left and the…
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The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Padrino called a meeting yesterday. Silvio Berlusconi – 85 years old, seriously ill, in the middle of court cases, and close friend of convicted mafia men wants to be President of Italy when Mattarella chucks in the towel in the spring. Not only is it difficult to imagine that every judge in the…
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Scratch the Surface
Notwithstanding the ludicrous temperatures in my part of Sicily this week, (25 degrees at 6 am, and 50 at 2 pm), the rituals must go on. Now is the time when driving to work you encounter little old men parked appallingly on minor road and blind bends, harvesting capers at dawn, no doubt on the…
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Do but Don’t
Italy’s bravura at making rules which are made to be broken comes to the fore again. You can get your second COVID vaccine while on holiday this summer. Except that you shouldn’t. The idea being that you should arrange your holidays to not be on the beach when your second vaccine is due. If it…
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The sinner and Saint Raphael
There was once a humble multi billionaire who got caught perverting the cause of justice by paying off witnesses in a bunga bunga crime. Fortunately for the sinner he had given large donations and government funds to a hospital during his time as beloved son and leader of his country. Found guilty when the cock…
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Mattiavelli
The great schemer of his age makes Berlusconi look like an amateur. Now we learn that matteo Renzi, he who says that the Saudi Crown Prince wasnt responsible for the killing of Khashoggi (only verifiable if Renzi himself were responsibile), met the 007 Mancini in a car park. Salvini also met Mancini in the same…
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The Dame is Game
Italian funny man Checco Zalone and Helen Mirren team up for a song to encourage people to get vaccinated. The theme is that if you get vaccinated you’ll be able to get back to going out on the pull. It’s a typical Zalone song, near the knuckle and autoironic. Here is a free translation of…
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It’s behind you !
One of the major pastimes in Italy is that of the art of dietrologia – roughly translated as the study of what lies behind it. The Italian press is a master of this subject and can draw fantastical conclusions from a simple fact. Given the history of Italian politics and subterfuge over the last 70…