Isn't it strange that Italy is the best at most things, but horrible with money and government?

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pierluisa

I find the second reply arrogant and really "out of it".
I don't know where her BF's parents are from, but they must be from some place up on a mountain top! What she describes is absolutely NOT what 99% of Italian experienced.

As for your question, Italy is right up there with any western country. I don't think our politics are much worse than any other, including America. As for money, I don't know what you mean. We use the Euro and prices and taxes here are not much different than other European countries (they are actually lower if compared to places like Sweden).

We are probably not as outstanding as we used to be in the renaissance, but this is the destiny of many countries which were great in the past, don't you think?

Mario

You can not even try to compare Italian or other European way of life with life in USA; culture, tradition and history makes diversity.
I donâ€™t understand way you always think that is better life in USA, or to do comparisons as "learn another language", "or run a strong government", I mean look in your house first, how many people in USA speaks foreign language, tax, health insurance, work availability, or your politics, I donâ€™t even want to talk about.
Or examples that only 2% of USA citizens have passport or the lot of young people donâ€™t know which year World War II begun; educated or no-educated people you can find everywhere, but every person or country can find his own priority of life.

No offence to anyone.

Maybe is just question how we look on life or are you "across the sea" happier than we in Europe, I donâ€™t think so.

Btw. some people can think that I have something against USA, no; it is only my opinion and I love people from USA, especially feminine.

sueet2b

i love your comment, i know EXACTLY what your talking about, ive been living here in italy for the last 4 years and ive gotten to notice certaint things aside from not being so great in politics and all that.

i agree with you all the way in how they are so incredibly evolved historywise but today they have gotten to be less, i dont want to say it but, 'smart'. i mean literally. did you know that italy is the only country in all of europe that has the lowest rank of knowing other languages than italian? while in switerzland one country above italy, they speak fluently 4 different languages, here in italy they barely know how to say 'thank you' in english and thats as far as they get in knowign a foreign language.

second, ive walked aroudn here in florence and ive notice A LOT of incredible things like for example the ceilings and their abstract form and ive asked my italian friends, 'oh wow, and so a person here who wants a house built can ask to have their ceiling done like that right?' and their response was, 'oh no! no no..now a days no one know how to do that..' i was like, 'your kidding right?'. they were serios.
italian life here also, i mean in family and style, they are way way back compared to american life. men still live with thier non divorced parents until they are in their early 30's im seriously not kidding. my italian bf's parents born in the late 1940's still tell us how one of them was born at home and the other was taken by horse, yes BY HORSE to the hospital before she was born.

in fact my bf is the first in the family generation to be educated, i mean i come from south america my parents also born in the 1940's and they have been educated and there were cars, no horses, when they were small. i mean when i was in class one time we had to write a resume, i knew what to insert and write so i did mine quick and fast and turned it in. about 80% of the students there didnt how on earth to write one, they had turned in something like, 'hi, my name is blabla, i was born in blabla italy, i am studying bla bla...' so it makes more sense as to why people are like that and why its their first time they ever hear the word, called 'resume'.

anyways, im gettng carried of so my theory is that way way back then during the renassance, and even before people really were intellectual, there was power, integrity, the romans knew how to run a powerful govermnent how else did they rule a huge % of europe in the early history? but then i think, things settled a bit more and history created itself more for another 500 years until the 1400's/1600's. after that nothing much came up but A LOT was already done. its like they had their 'prestigous' name written all over it. in fact i always tell my bf, if it wasnt for the british to leave the UK and evolve in this new world called america and it was instead for some wild reason the italians, the universal language today would be italian, but do you ever notice that truly today its the ONLY country world wide that speaks this language? and why would that be? i figured, so in the past who would want to leave such a beautiful, prestigous country? no one, therefore no growth of italian culture anywhere else, therefore everyone remained here, living without doing much just living and saying, 'hi im itaian, my country has a beautiful history, i dont have to do anything else, no one has to create anything else, we are good enough to survive.' you know what i mean? therefore its just that today no one really gives a dam whetehr they should learn another language for the good of themselves, or run a strong goverment. in fact if you ask an italian, who was the person that built that monument over there? it usually takes them more than 5 mintues before thinking andbanswering that question. things are just out of wack and its all just an unreasonable thing i guess. i always wonder what else is to come off of it in the future? thats my only question.

ok, ive read the answers following and first of all i have to say im sorry for offending those who were offended, really i had no intentions to criticize in a negative way. in fact i wrote this quick and fast as you can tell i have billions of grammatical mistakes so its not like i did on purpose.

in any way, i just wanted to comment on what i thought and what i see not in what i hate and disgust about italy. to be totally truthful living here aside from the all the political corruption and difference, life here is better than in america, or else i wouldnt be here for 4 years. the issue of my bf's parents, they were born here in tuscany in a town called pontassieve only 20 minutes away from florence not in some mountain out there in the middle of now where. my point as i had mentioned was to more compare the difference of lifestyle in the recent past verses the lifestyle in america more specifically south america and how that could relate to how life is today. (by the way when i said that sons and daughters stay and live with their non divorced parents until their 30's is actually a GOOD thing, and the point that the % of italian parents are not divorced is even BETTER).

ok in conclusion as i read the comment of Ricky70, he has more of a political explanation, much more understandable and comprenhensive than mine, more of a direct answer. from my answer, i just gave it out from a personal, theoretical, philosophical thought.

again no offense to anyone (i hate being the bad guy in any situation, there goes my name, sueet2b :) )

boohoohoo

I am an Irishman in Italy for almost 6 years now. I speak Italian fluently.

Italy is very beautiful, the food very good (though not as great as people will tell you it is...authentic Chinese is infinitely better), and the architecture spectacular.

But, for positive things, I would stop there.

The rest really is a collection of idiotic superfluities, egotistical hedonism, shallow thinking, the most expensive yet weakest education system in Europe (I am a teacher in a University here, and, contrary to what was said before by a previous correspondent about American 'ignorance' of the world, Italians would beat hands down any contest to find the most politically ignorant people in the Western world), there are endless Mommy's boys everywhere, it's absolutely FILTHY here (rubbish everywhere...the landscape is used as a tipping ground for anything and everything), sacred and globally important buildings have 'Loredana, you're a f**king whore' sprayed in big letters on the side of them, politicians are particularly and spectacularly corrupt, the legal system is a joke (except, it's just not funny), Italians are xenophobic in the extreme, everyone wants to rip you off as soon as they hear that you are not a native Italian, nobody knows how to say please or thank you, and try changing $20 to Euro...even in big cities you will NOT find a place that will do it for you without taking 50% in commission.

In short, a nation with no future. Please God help me to get out of here.

â™¥sweetieâ™¥

Maybe the reason why is that Italy is done for the Italians, and they like that way.
To all of those who are not Italians but speak bad about the country, i am suggesting to leave and go back to their own, not meaning to offend anybody!

Ricky70

As an Italian i can tell you one thing not many Italians like to hear or accept. The reason why Italy does so many nice things is the fact that we are really free spirited in many things.
The reason why Italy performs so bad in Economical/Political issues is CORRUPTION, INDIVIDUALISM, NEPOTISM and often POLITICAL IGNORANCE (to be read as really LACK OF KNOWLEDGE of many people) as well as a strong presence of IDEOLOGIES (Communism in particular, disguised under multiple names).

Some examples are:

Work - In Italy you need not a good education to get a rentful job. You simply need ACQUAINTANCES (Many Italians get upset and you'll find immediately someone telling you AH NOT I AM NOT LIKE THAT, but try to offer him a job one minute later and see what happens)
Healthcare - The field is heavily corrupted and politicized. It means that those who rule hospitals etc often are not there on account of their skills but rather on account of their political orientations (And the rate of killed patients tells a lot about it, especially in places like Sicily).
Education - While many people spend years to get their degree, many others simply go and buy a degree or a diploma in places like Naples/Palermo etc.
Political class - Did you know many politicians come really from the ground? In some cases when they became politicians had simply the equivalent of a middle-school certificate. They were put there by more powerful people to simply obey to orders. In the process, as they get a career in politics, their friends provide them with new study titles, such as diplomas, degrees etc. But they are only muppets. This happens in particular with Mayors, and Regional politicians. But even when they are smart and well educated the problem is the widespread corruption. You need to ask them for jobs (Unemployment rate in Italy ranges from 7/10% in the North to 40% in some parts of the South). You may happen to need a job and look for it alone for one or two years without finding anything. You go to the right politicians, promise him X number of votes (family + cousins + friends + family of your wife etc etc) and as for a miracle, a brand new job appears, well paid, safe and forever.

Also, in trying to access a political career you must be careful not to appear too smart. When someone is too smart the politicians don't feel at ease, especially when you have a strong character and like to have a free mind. So they always look for semi-brainwashed elements, who sooner or later will jump up the steps of the political layer gaining power and influence (despite their low IQ, morals, ethics etc, words that make them laugh). These people are today ruling Italy and don't even when they need help they make sure those who work with them are at least a little bit less clever than them (who were already a little bit less clever of those who selected them). It goes alone that idiot after idiot the situation can't but worsen till something will happen to bring things to pristine conditions, i.e. some sort of civil war or anything able to shake the Italians from their mythical laziness.
Also, the side effect of all this is that there is a considerable amount of brilliant people leaving Italy heading where their minds are considered (USA, AUSTRALIA are just a few places where brilliant italian researchers are moving), while many others who have money don't invest here simply because politicians would end up by sticking their nose and asking for bribes.

This also explains why Italians abroad do much better than Italians living here in Italy. It's not them who changed but the environment surrounding them, as well as the amount of opportunities they get.
Italy is kept in a sort of slavery by politics in agreement with some major companies. They take it all and decide to whom they will give it all.
The topic would take ages to be explained but i think the picture is pretty clear

love2travel

Italy is wonderful because Italians understand that it's important to stop and smell the roses - enjoy life now and everything else will get worked out in time ("slowly, slowly"). Gotta love their attitude! :-) Certainly love the country: http://www.thetravelzine.com

bingham sparks

Ask a German they werenÂ´t much use as an ally to them in the last war !

samsnedecker

Smante your comment is completely ignorant.

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