Quote:
Originally Posted by Savorgnan
My father, who lives in Padova, tells me for years that the country is totally falling apart. And he lives in the wealthy North-East, not in Naples... The only motto seems to be "ognuno per se"...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Strengthandhonour
It is hard to admit, but sometimes it does seem that the Italian economy is a train wreck waiting to happen. It's rather scary.
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In a certain way, one could speculate that the bulk of the Italian economy is so submerged that it makes it impossible for the political class to destroy it.
While a political crisis in any other country must forcibly have a strong direct influence on the economy, this should not happen the same in Italy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Exeter
The whole culture behind the mafia seem alien to Europe. Don't you think?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lagun
Why is Mafia concentrated in the South? Is it a consequence of economical underdevelopment or of social and cultural elements?
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Some have speculated about an Arabic origin influence in it. However, I believe that this must be an oversimplification.
I would rather point to the fact that Sicily is an island that has been historically exposed to incursions and to a lack of presence of law through isolation, and to latifundism.
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'Dardanidae duri, quae uos a stirpe parentum
prima tulit tellus, eadem uos ubere laeto
accipiet reduces. Antiquam exquirite matrem:
hic domus Aeneae cunctis dominabitur oris,
et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis.'
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
–Plato–
'Many people, I believe, wish for a society where faith, decency, pro-life convictions and national self-determination within Europe can flourish; and not be swallowed up in a dictatorial EU bureaucracy.'
–Gerry McGeough, Irish Nationalist and POW–