10 Econ Italy Info

Italy Government: The Second Republic (1992-present) Bettino Craxi, viewed by many as the symbol of Tangentopoli, leader of the Italian Socialist Party, is greeted by a salvo of coins as a sign of loathing by protesters. Bettino Craxi, viewed by many as the symbol of Tangentopoli, leader of the Italian Socialist Party, is greeted by a salvo of coins as a sign of loathing by protesters.

From 1992 to 1997, Italy faced significant challenges as voters disenchanted with political paralysis, massive government debt, extensive corruption, and organized crime's considerable influence collectively called the political system Tangentopoli. As Tangentopoli was under a set of judicial investigations by the name of Mani pulite (Italian for "clean hands"), voters demanded political, economic, and ethical reforms. The Tangentopoli scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: between 1992 and 1994 the DC underwent a severe crisis and was dissolved, splitting up into several pieces, among whom the Italian People’s Party and the Christian Democratic Center. The PSI (and the other governing minor parties) completely dissolved.

The 1994 elections also swept media magnate Silvio Berlusconi (leader of "Pole of Freedoms" coalition) into office as Prime Minister. Berlusconi, however, was forced to step down in December 1994 when the Lega Nord withdrew support. The Berlusconi government was succeeded by a technical government headed by Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, which left office in early 1996.

In April 1996, national elections led to the victory of a center-left coalition under the leadership of Romano Prodi. Prodi's first government became the third-longest to stay in power before he narrowly lost a vote of confidence, by three votes, in October 1998. A new government was formed by Democrats of the Left leader and former communist Massimo D'Alema, but in April 2000, following poor performance by his coalition in regional elections, D'Alema resigned. The succeeding center-left government, including most of the same parties, was headed by Giuliano Amato (social-democratic), who previously served as Prime Minister in 199293, from April 2000 until June 2001. In 2001 the centre-right formed the government and Silvio Berlusconi was able to remain in power for a complete five year mandate, becoming the longest government in post-war Italy. Berlusconi participated in the US-led military coalition in Iraq.

The last elections in 2006 returned Prodi in the government with a slim majority (only 0,06%). In the first year of his government, Mr. Prodi has followed a cautious policy of economic liberalization and reduction of public debt. The 1948 Constitution of Italy established a bicameral parliament (Parlamento), consisting of a Chamber of Deputies (Camera dei Deputati) and a Senate (Senato della Repubblica), a separate judiciary, and an executive branch composed of a Council of Ministers (cabinet) (Consiglio dei ministri), headed by the prime minister (Presidente del consiglio dei ministri).

The President of the Italian Republic (Presidente della Repubblica) is elected for seven years by the parliament sitting jointly with a small number of regional delegates. The president nominates the prime minister, who proposes the other ministers (formally named by the president). The Council of Ministers must retain the support (fiducia) of both houses.

The houses of parliament are popularly and directly elected through a complex electoral system (latest amendment in 2005) which combines proportional representation with a majority prize for the largest coalition (Chamber). All Italian citizens older than 18 can vote. However, to vote for the senate, the voter must be at least 25 or older. The electoral system in the Senate is based upon regional representation. During the elections in 2006, the two competing coalitions were separated by few thousand votes, and in the Chamber the centre-left coalition (L'Unione; English: The Union ) got 345 Deputies against 277 for the centre-right one (Casa delle Libertà; English: House of Freedoms), while in the Senate l'Ulivo got only two Senators more than absolute majority. The Chamber of Deputies has 630 members and the Senate 315 elected senators; in addition, the Senate includes former presidents and appointed senators for life (no more than five) by the President of the Republic according to special constitutional provisions. As of May 15, 2006, there are seven life senators (of which three are former Presidents). Both houses are elected for a maximum of five years, but both may be dissolved by the President before the expiration of their normal term if the Parliament is unable to elect a stable government. In the post war history, this has happened in 1972, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1994 and 1996.

A peculiarity of the Italian Parliament is the representation given to Italian citizens permanently living abroad (about 2.7 million people). Among the 630 Deputies and the 315 Senators there are respectively 12 and 6 elected in four distinct foreign constituencies. Those members of Parliament were elected for the first time in April 2006 and they enjoy the same rights as members elected in Italy. Legislative bills may originate in either house and must be passed by a majority in both. The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law modified by the Napoleonic code and later statutes. The Constitutional Court of Italy (Corte Costituzionale) rules on the conformity of laws with the Constitution and is a post-World War II innovation. Religion Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in the country. Although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion, it still plays a role in the nation's political affairs, partly due to the Holy See's location in Rome. 87.8% of Italians identified as Roman Catholic [14], although only about one-third of these described themselves as active members (36.8%).

Other Christian groups in Italy include more than 700,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians [15], including 470,000 newcomers [16]PDF (65.4 KiB) and some 180,000 Greek Orthodox, 550,000 Pentecostals and Evangelicals (0.8%), of whom 400,000 are members of the Assemblies of God, 235,685 Jehovah's Witnesses (0.04%) [17], 30,000 Waldensians [18], 25,000 Seventh-day Adventists, 22,000 Mormons, 15,000 Baptists (plus some 5,000 Free Baptists), 7,000 Lutherans, 5,000 Methodists (affiliated to the Waldensian Church) [19].

The country's oldest religious minority is the Jewish community, comprising roughly 45,000 people. It is no longer the largest non-Christian group.

As a result of significant immigration from other parts of the world, some 825,000 Muslims [20] (1.4%) live in Italy, though only 50,000 are Italian citizens. In addition, there are 110,000 Buddhists (0.2%) [21] [22] [23]PDF (65.4 KiB), 70,000 Sikhs [24], and 70,000 Hindus (0.1%) in Italy. Languages The official language of Italy is Standard Italian, a descendant of the Tuscan dialect and a direct descendant of Latin (Some 75 percent of Italian words are of Latin origin). The Tuscan dialect (or Florentine dialect) spoken in Tuscany was promoted as the standard in large part due to its literary heritage (Dante's Divine Comedy is often credited with the emergence of the Tuscan dialect as a standard). Pietro Bembo, influenced by Petrarch, also promoted Tuscan as the standard literary language (volgare illustre). The spread of the printing press and literary movements (such as petrarchism and bembismo) also furthered Italian standardization.

When Italy was unified in 1861, Italian existed mainly as a literary language. Many Romance regional languages were spoken throughout the Italian Peninsula (Italian dialects), each with local variants. Following Italian unification Massimo Taparelli, marquis d'Azeglio, one of Cavour's ministers, is said to have stated that having created Italy, all that remained was to create Italians (a national identity).

The establishment of a national education system led to a decrease in variation in the languages spoken across the country. Standardization was further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to economic growth and the rise of mass media and television (the state broadcaster RAI helped set an Italian standard).

Some historic romance languages spoken in Italy are not considered Italian dialects, but are languages in their own right. These include Friulian, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Sicilian, Venetian and other Gallo-Italian languages of the north. In general, these languages are not standardized and have given way to regional varieties of Italian. Today, despite regional variations in the form of accents and vowel emphasis, Italian dialects are in most cases mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, variety remains and is often used in idioms and folk songs.

In addition to the regional linguistic varieties and dialects of standard Italian, a number of languages enjoying some form of official recognition are spoken:

* In Sardinia there is the largest group of non-Italian speakers, some 1.3 million people, they speak Sardinian, a Romance language which retains pre-Latin words. * A community of 700,000 in Friuli speak Friulian, a Rhaeto-Romance language. * The Province of Bolzano-Bozen has a majority German-speaking population (Upper German). This area was annexed from Austro-Hungary by Italy under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye after World War I. Some German-speaking communities also exist in other parts of north Italy. Cimbrian is a German language related to Austro-Bavarian spoken in some parts of Veneto (Asiago, Luserna) and the Walsers in Aosta Valley (Gressoney). In total some 300,000 or so Italians speak German as their first language. Some identify themselves as ethnic Austrians. * A community of 175.000 in Province of Sassari speak Sassarese, a diasystem of the Corsican and Sardinian with Ligurian, Catalan and Spanish influences.

* The Province of Olbia-Tempio has a majority Gallurese-speaking population (87%), in total some 129.000; cause the migration of a large group of Corsicans from south-Corsica from 15th to 19th century. * Some 120,000 people live in the Aosta Valley region, where a dialect of Franco-Provençal is spoken that is similar to dialects spoken in France. About 1,400 people living in two isolated towns in Foggia speak another dialect of Franco-Provençal. * The Arbëreshë, of whom there are around 100,000 in southern Italy and in central Sicily, the result of past migrations, are speakers of the Arbëresh dialect of Albanian. * About 80,000 Slovene-speakers live in the north-eastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia near the border with Slovenia. * In the Dolomite mountains of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto there are some 40,000 speakers of the Rhaeto-Romance language Ladin. * Scattered across southern Italy (Salento and Calabria) are some 30,000 Greek-speakers—considered to be the last surviving traces of the region's Magna Graecia heritage. They speak a Greek dialect, Griko. * Some 15,000 Catalan speakers reside around the area of Alghero in the north-west corner of Sardinia; cause the migration of a large group of Catalans from Barcelona. * Some 12,000 Ligurian speakers reside in Carloforte and Calasetta, in the south-west corner of Sardinia; cause the migration of a large group of ligurians from Tabarka, Tunisia. * In the Molise region of central-south Italy some 4,000 people speak Molise Croatian. These are the Molise Croats, descendants of a group of people who migrated from the Balkans in the Middle Ages.

Family Italians like to socialise outside the home and often meet in bars, restaurants and pizzerias, but gatherings at home are also very much a part of Italian life when Italians gather as a family to celebrate special occasions or just to come together to enjoy a meal on Sunday.

The extended family still plays an important role in Italian life with many young families reliant on help from the grandparents to help with the children, especially when both parents are out at work all day.

You will often see large family gatherings at restaurants or on holiday together.

General Attitudes taly has a reputation for being warm and welcoming. Here are some general comments on Italian culture, and some tips for adjusting to Italian manners and standards. Obviously this is mostly based on personal experiences; generalisations of course do not always hold true. When in Rome...

Greetings Italians greet friends with two light kisses on the cheek, first the right and then the left. Even if you're merely acquaintances, this form of greeting is usual, both on arrival and departure. When groups are splitting up, expect big delays as everyone kisses everyone else. On first introduction a handshake is usual, although not necessarily the firm businesslike shake other nationalities may be used to.

Foreign reserve If your inbred cultural reserve makes you feel uncomfortable with this, don't worry too much. The British in particular have a reputation for being reserved, so you can always play up to this expectation, and Italians will understand you don't mean to be rude. Handshakes are also accepted greetings, and some Italians will kiss compatriots and offer their hand to the awkward Brit.

Shops In a small-medium sized shop, it's standard to greet the staff as you enter, not when you approach the counter to pay. A friendly 'Buongiorno' or 'Buonasera' warms the atmosphere. When paying, we've found that staff usually expect you to put coins down on the surface or dish provided, rather than placing money directly into their hands (fear of germs? money-handling etiquette?), and they will do the same when giving you your change (il resto). The advent of the euro has caused problems for the Italians. Most lira transactions were in banknotes, and people are still adjusting to the fact that coins are now of significant denominations and in general use. Don't be surprised to find the whole issue of change rather perplexing for cashiers, who may try to insist you give them complex combinations of coins and notes rather than simply changing your notes.

Making friends To make friends, it's a good idea to pay some compliments. Most Italians still live in their town of origin and feel far more strongly about their local area than they do about Italy in general. Tell them how beautiful their town/lake/village/church is - and possibly add how much you prefer it to Rome/Milan/other Italian towns. Residents can be founts of knowledge regarding their local monuments and history, and a few questions will often produce interesting stories.

Clothing Whole essays can be written about the Italians' relationships with clothes (maybe a future addition to this site...). Three of the most important observations: 1. Italians are very conformist about clothing; everyone wears the same fashions, from teenagers to grans (this can take some getting used to... see comment 2 below). Don't be surprised or insulted if you are looked at askance for your 'eccentricity' in not wearing the latest customised jeans or fiendishly-pointed boots. 2. It's important not to judge people in return by their choice of clothing. Styles do not necessarily carry the same connotations in Italy that they would in Britain or some other countries. A women in fishnets, stilettos, miniskirt and caked makeup at eight in the morning is probably just going to work in a bank. Almost all youths

lounge about in skin-tight t-shirts and casually-knotted knitwear (and are very perplexed by the response they get when they take their sense of style and grooming to a less 'sophisticated' climate). 3. Sometimes clothing rules are written. To visit a church or religious site you will need to cover yourself up; no bare backs, chests, shoulders and sometimes no knees. Sometimes museums and other attractions can also be strict; no bathing costumes, for example. If you want to visit a church or religious site it's a good idea to take something to cover yourself up with; for example a jumper or large scarf. Some churches supply coverups, e.g. sarongs are loaned to men with shorts so that they can modestly conceal their legs. Even where there are no written rules, it's worth noting that bare chests and large expanses of sunburnt skin aren't really acceptable away from beaches or sunbathing areas, whatever the temperature. Advice for women Sexual harassment is not regarded in the same way in Italy as in English-speaking countries. The general atmosphere is pretty unreconstructed, and women should be prepared for attention. However, the tone of this 'attention' is generally less aggressive than you may be used to. Men will call out compliments such as 'bella' (beautiful) instead of muttering crude suggestions. And culturally, these comments are not seen as insults; if you respond angrily or insultingly everyone will be very surprised. Whereas women of other nationalities may be used to telling strangers (in no uncertain terms) to shut up and go away, in Italy the norm is to ignore the attention. In any case, responding in English or in imperfect Italian will only encourage more attention. It's best to do as the Italian women do, and sail past with your head held high. If you avoid eye contact and don't respond, you are extremely unlikely to be pursued or hassled further.