Italian concerns

Italy has just voted in their new President- that is to say, the old one, Sergio Mattarella, was voted back in again, after a week of deadlock. There was  nothing else on the telly during the whole week, as the country was gripped by election fever. I must say, I don’t quite understand why, since the Italian President seems to wield very little power, and one never hears about him normally. Nevertheless, the voting, which was carried out by the parliament, not by a general election, seemed to stir deep emotions  in people. After this week of passionate disagreement in the Centro Destra, the center right which has been steering Italy for the last few years, the thing was finally decided last Thursday- Mattarella once more. And what do they all do when he gives his acceptance speech? All those that could not agree? They all give him a standing ovation and he is unable to finish a sentence without applause.

‘ Ipocrisia!’ was the outraged cry the following morning on  Rai 3 – the television channel  of Tuscany. It is very entertaining to watch its ‘Agora’ morning programme where Italian news is being discussed by invited journalists, politicians and assorted  luminaries. Everyone is always shouting over everyone else, no one listens to anyone- in fact they are doing their utmost to enforce the stereotypical image of the Italian.

The other overriding concern of  Italians at the moment is the San Remo song festival, which is something that I had never heard of, but which clearly takes precedence over everything else, such as, for instance, the possible imminent Russian invasion of the Ukraine, a matter which is skimmed over summarily here. 

San Remo is the pre-run to the European Song Contest. It goes on all night, live, for one week in front of a vast audience.  The general public can vote by phoning in and the winner at San Remo will be going to—well, in fact they will stay in Italy, for Italy won the E Song Contest last year of course, and will be hosting it.  There is a lot of huffing and puffing going on in conservative quarters about the contest this year- it has been gripped by the gender fluid bug, and more or less every act kow-tows to this new trend, which I believe to have been inaugurated, in the context of the Eurovision Song Contest,  by the immortal Conchita Wurst some years ago. 

  Other head line grabbing material is anything blasphemous. It is still possible to offend along those lines in this, maybe the last, bastion of religious conservatism in Europe. When I suggested to an Italian friend that Italy may be becoming more liberal in this respect because of  Pope Francis, I was told that he is, sadly, quite unpopular here in Catholic circles.  
The worst  blasphemous offender -so far- in San Remo was a handsome young chap with a naked tattooed torso, tight leather jeans, the crutch of which he stroked, Michael Jackson style, while  kneeling down and baptizing himself in some 'holy' water, crooning away all the while. This put the cats among the pigeons most entertainingly, which was obviously the desired effect.

Can’t wait to see the finals tonight. Am I becoming Italian?

Sunday morning: Here they are, the SanRemo 22 winners: Mahmoud and Blanco, whose 'Brividi' is in fact rather a great love song, I thought...: