Say it ain’t so, Silvio, Part III
Writing by treason on Thursday, 28 of April , 2005 at 11:35 pm
Part 3! I should have stopped after Part 2, but then Coppola didn’t, so why should I? It’s Thursday, and Silvio Berlusconi has won a second and final vote of confidence in parliament. He’ll face voters in 2006, having kept his promises: tax cuts for businesses and a new push to lift Italy’s poorer south. Italy, for the most part, is okay with Silvio, but the people are a little grumbly over the war in Iraq, the shooting by U.S. troops of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari at a U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad, and the sagging Italian economy. Italians, too, are concerned that their numbers are dwindling. How do you think I feel? I’ve noticed for years that Italian neighborhoods in America are shrinking. Just look at Little Italy in New York, the North End in Boston, North Beach in San Francisco — and my mother’s family. She’s the only one of ten (or was it twelve?) brothers and sisters who’s still kicking. And in Italy it’s even worse. Italian women aren’t having babies. Does this mean that Italian women are getting smarter? Who knows, but no matter the reason, the Italian government is concerned and has been talking about incentive programs.
But I digress. Berlusconi, as a conservative, supports cutting taxes and that can boost the economy. The southern regions are another story. To Southerners, Northern Italians are Germans. They consider the areas south of Rome to be the true Italy. And Northern Italians…well, let me just repeat a common Italian saying. “Italy is Europe, Sicily is Africa.” My grandfather practically disowned my aunt Emma for marrying a Neopolitan. My mother, whose mother died before she could teach her to cook, learned to cook from the Tuscan lady next door. Growing up, we only knew white cream sauces because my mother was always heavy with cream and butter. There was never a bottle of olive oil in the house. Fifty pounds of butter in the fridge, yes, but no olio. Northern Italians thumb their noses at the Southerners and accuse them of burning their garlic when they fry their spaghetti. Southerners say the Northerners are complaining about the garlic because only they can smell it - with their big noses. It’s not pretty.
As for me, I want to visit southern Italy. I like southern Italian cooking, and I do have olive oil in the house. After watching Big Night, I started cooking my eggs in oil instead of butter (see the movie and you might do it, too). And let’s face it: the southern Italians, or more specifically, the Sicilians (I hear my grandfather turning in his grave, but too bad) are much better at making desserts. One day I’ll spend some time discussing pizzelles. Making them one at a time with a pizzelle iron held over the stove — oy! Admit it. Italian cookies taste like…well, Milk-Bone. So I need to go to the South. When I hear that someone traveled there and was offended by the number of dogs in Naples or that they were horrified when they boarded a train and had to sit next to a goat, I get a warm feeling all over. That’s the Italy I want to experience! Sure the museums in the North are a must-see, but I’m not going to Italy to shop for overpriced handbags. I want to see it all and taste it all - North and South. So many people have told me that everything they brought with them to the southern regions was stolen before they left. I’ll just travel light and won’t bring anything but a few snacks for the goats.
But until I can break away and spend some time there, I’ll just continue to support the Italian economy while I’m here. Treason number twelve: Boycott French and Chinese products and buy American and Italian! Look at it this way: the Italians are just not that big on war (WW II was an anomaly). You think they’d ever try to wipe us out? Think about that next time you’re buying Chinese shoes at Wal-Mart. Hey, it’s great that China’s economy is growing…but is that really good news for us? And now I must crack open that bottle of Pinot Grigio….
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