The sesquicentennial of Italian unification is coming up. What’s often overlooked is that unification was really more of an eviction: the Austrians were thrown out, and the Pope was put in his place. Italy remains a congeries of distinct regions, each one the center of the world — except for the ambitious ones who leave. Silvio Berlusconi is the perfect symbol of the meaninglessness of “Italy” as anything more than the name of a peninsula.     

In 1911, Italy celebrated the 50th anniversary of unification by inaugurating the hulking Victor Emmanuel Monument in central Rome. (It also invaded Libya, the start of 40 years of bloody colonial rule.) In 1961, for the 100th anniversary, Italy was riding high in an economic boom.

This time around, as the country gears up for fireworks, concerts and special exhibitions — and kicks off a four-day weekend, with public offices and schools closed starting Thursday — the mood is different. Italy is facing economic difficulties, political scandals, brain drain, and once again problems with Libya, its largest supplier of natural gas.

In a fictive letter to the editor in the Turin daily La Stampa on Sunday, the humorist Massimo Gramellini assumed the guise of Italy. “The person writing to you is an old and unpredictable lady who as her birthday approaches feels overcome by a melancholy anxiety,” he wrote.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 17th, 2011 at 8:00 pm.