italiafile

Italiafile – for italophiles.

  • Montalbano lost at sea

    The threat of an episode of Montalbano dealing with immigrants meant that Salvini took a break from eating all the pies to go on tv directly afterwards to refute anti immigrant accusations.   In the end it was a storm in teacup,  and Salvini used the moment to a) slag off the French b) agree that…

  • Norman Wisdom to head the IMF

    While Salvini eats more pies and pitches himself headlong into the European election campaign by calling France a colonial despot,  his partiality for dressing up in uniforms and blackshirts isn’t going unnoticed.  There’s been a bit of an outcry over his choice of wearing a police jacket of late – even though he is Home…

  • Annus orribilis

    Brexit may be the car crash we all expected, but in Italy we’re in the midst of a multi car pileup that shows no sign of ending.   There are the gobbets of news which make you despair: One of the ministers of the family telling us that global warming is Satan’s work,  Di Maio getting…

  • A strange way to celebrate an anniversary

    Its 80 years since Italy passed the racial laws against the Jews and other minorities.  To celebrate Salvini has decided to introduce a decree which makes ‘ethnic’ shops shut at 9pm because, he says, they are centres of drug dealing.   It’s going to be  a short step to having these shops display a logo in…

  • Unteachable

    Salvini, who is eating too many pies, has announced over the last few days that he won’t take lessons from the EU,  the UN, the Church, or the WTO.  He is happy to sit down with the deeply unpleasant Viktor Orban, allied himself with Steve Bannon, had a cosy chat with Tony Blair and is…

  • Dont hold your breath

    Its ten days since the terrible bridge collapse in Genova, and 2 years to the day since the earthquake that shook central Italy.   The powers that be in Genova insist they can rebuild the bridge in 8 months, and will submit a project in 5 days. This from a company which has had numerous technical…

  • A fountain of sanctimony

    He may only have one daughter with a pretty standard name,  but in many respects Lorenzo Fontana is the Italian answer to Jacob Rees Mogg.  An ultracatholic, spewing hatred and spite, Fontana yesterday announced that as Minister for the Family (A Rees Moggian ministry if ever there was),  it was incumbent on the government to…

  • Foa and Foa jr

    The committee for the Rai vetoed the election of Foa as chairman, but he refuses to accept the decision, as does Salvini – who by way of continuing the strange nepotism of Italian life, employs the young Leonardo Foa on his team of spreading his message.   Daddy Foa is not embarrassed by the revelations.   The…

  • Rai, Foa and other three letter words.

    Hopes that RAI (the italian BBC) may become politically independent are fading with the  latest nominations to the board.   The behemoth of Italian broadcasting has historically been divided up between the politcal parties – Rai 1 to the Christian Democrats,Rai 2 to the right and Rai 3 to  the left.  This has meant 3…

  • That way madness lies.

    Yesterday would have been Mussolini’s birthday, and to celebrate it Matteo Salvini deliberately quoted the fascist leader, ‘Tanto nemici, tanto onore’ – many enemies, much honour.     Salvini has said that the upsurge in racist attacks since he was elected to government is fake news.  In the last week two people, one a five year…