Stories and News

Stories and News No. 118 The Story: We are in hell and it’s obviously hot. Not as burning as it should and Satan complains to his mysterious advisor... "Have you lifted the boiler as I told you?" "Sure, your wickedness! It’s on the maximum level…" "It’s all because of that bad pollution…" the devil says angry, sitting at his desk and opening the register. "What?" the man exclaims, standing next to him. "You should be happy! If humanity doesn’t respect nature is another sign of your victory..." "Victory? What victory?! We are finishing the oil, stupid! And when it will happen, what will we put in the boiler?" The advisor approached the huge Satan’s ear and whispers: "Well, we could do as those above do..." "Are you serious?! Are you talking about alternative energy? Wind, solar, that stuff?" The man eloquently nods. "Never," Satan says. "I prefer to burn you..." An undoubtedly diabolica...

Stories and News No. 117 The Story: Dear People of Freedom , we just want to say thank you! Thanks from the Italian top managers. When in January we learned that those moralists of Italy of Values party wanted to put a cap on our salary we all risk an infarct… Not to mention about the serious repercussions for our family. The whole family , if you know what I mean... But what do these people believe? Do they think that it’s easy to be a manager in a bank or in any listed company, today, in Italy? There are costs, many costs. Besides, I'm one of those who also saw something good in these last interceptions. Now people will finally realize how much money it takes to do our job. What do these champions of feel-good populism imagine? Do they think that we became managers of a bank living as saints?! Do they really believe that shareholders make us managers just to bring them to a crack?! We are slaves, we are not the masters, this is the truth and you of the PDL have understood it.....

Stories and News No. 116 The Story: Once upon a time there was the people . The people lived in a country like many. The country like many was not exactly like many. You may see it just reading the curriculum of the premier to realize it, but today I don’t want to talk about him . What the hell, I give him enough space. And if am I also doing a favour to him? Well, I don’t want to think about! Otherwise I get a panic attack… In the country that was not exactly like many, since it became a republic - a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people or a part of it have an impact on its government – everything happened. Unpunished massacres, unsolved crimes, legalized fraud against the State - which means the people - pervasive corruption at all levels of institutions - always to the detriment of the people - tangents at each office that is important – with the people’s money - conflicts of interest everywhere concealed or not with never kept promises. Pr...

Stories and News No. 115 The Story: In the afterlife: "Giosuè, sit down, I must tell you something ..." Peter says, entering the hobby room reserved for the great Italian poets. The saint is holding a newspaper, noted by Carducci , who obeys and sits on a chair. "Even you," Peter says, inviting other writers to approach, "come here…" Pascoli and D'Annunzio leave the ping pong, the former upset because for the first time was in the lead and the latter happy for the same reason. Leopardi doesn’t want to stop with the video poker and Montale has to move him by force. The latter too, along with Quasimodo , Saba and Cardarelli , reluctantly leaves the cards game. Never disturb them when they are in the middle of the match. Ungaretti knows well and has realized that he doesn’t have to inform them about his last record on pinball. He may disturb everyone, except those four. When they play you better leave them quite. The only one who has the privileg...

Stories and News No. 114 The Story: Civilians… So everybody called us. Civilians, or women, children an old people, normal persons, but all without uniform. We were the flooded citizens, the helpless inhabitants, and the unfortunate people. We were just an unlucky casualty. We were the civilian dead. And so, we gained a paragraph in the newspapers, a word from TV news or at most a discussed talk show on a partisan episode of an alternative broadcast. Bleeding from the head, swollen with tears eyes, severed arms, amputated legs… You saw everything on the screen, yet there still were people in the world who thought that war was a chance… a civil chance. Yes, civil, just like us, the civilians… Anyway, the point was all here: If you have the stomach for considering the use of weapons to bring peace, you have also an obligation to put your fingers into our inert wounds and at that same moment, looking straight at us, saying out loud: "This was the right thing to do." Then came ...

Stories and News No. 113 The Story: Another exclusive scoop for the Blog: the ten points of recent Italian Anti-corruption Bill by the Berlusconi government: 1. Did you get corrupted? Stop doing it, right?! Otherwise you’ll go to bed without TV! 2. Did you bribe someone? If you talked on the phone, don’t worry, because we are now making another bill on it… 3. Are you corruptible but you never had a chance? Candidate with us and you will see that opportunities will not fail. Being honest, on the other side is the same. But we are the government, think about it… 4. Do you whish to bribe but you still didn’t have the courage? Go ahead! As the motto says, you only live once but in Italy you are forever in parliament… 5. Are you incorruptible? Very good, congratulations, you have all our respect! You may go, now. We’ll call you, but before you leave, give your name and address. Why? No, it's just a formality… 6. You've never bribed anyone and you don’t even know how to do? I...

Stories and News No. 112 The Story: We are at Palazzo Grazioli , one of Berlusconi’s houses. It’s time for dinner and Silvio stands to make a speech. In the room there are important guests, all significant people, as ever. The Premier jokes, as usual, and everyone laughs. They do it even when he’s not funny. That’s normal. A famous motto says: if your president made a nice joke, laugh, but if he starts to say bullshits, you have to worry . However, if he is Berlusconi, he can say what he wants, so nothing happens and then you must continue to laugh. Suddenly the premier becomes serious and addressing the issues of the forthcoming regional elections, makes this statement: “With all that is happening, we should pay more attention to people we candidate...” In that moment, time flows at normal speed. This pause doesn’t exist for any of the distinguished guests. However - as during the last official dinner for Obama - there is a pair of crashing visitors: a man and a woman, strong suppo...

Stories and News No. 111 The Story: We are us. We are the ones that last night didn’t watch the Sanremo Festival . We are the ones that have lost Antonella Clerici ’s elegance, the smart remarks by Antonio Cassano and the stunning lines of the Morgan ’s song read by the presenter. We are those who won’t even listen to the next fascinating performances of the big and the new generation artists of Italian pop music. We won’t watch, glued on the screen, the greatest television event of the year, culminating in the glittering final. We do not. The fact is that we could not even if we wanted. Because on the roofs there are the antennae but there is no TV... Because a landslide went in the house and we could not sit on the couch and turn on the television… Because we are the dead by work and, you know, in the afterlife there are people like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and even Beethoven and Bach… Because we had the privilege to get to Italy and earn enough to survive, but we still don...

Stories and News No. 110 The Story: My name is Italy. I know it's a challenging name, full of meanings. The fact is that my parents have always been set by geography. However, I cannot complain, because these days are definitely gone worse for my sister Tanzania and my brother Senegal… I was born in 1992 and now I will be eighteen years old. I will finally vote! The year of my birth was an important year, with many memorable events, as the final dissolution of the USSR, the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht, the killings of Falcone and Borsellino , but especially the beginning of Tangentopoli . I haven’t decided how I will vote. I'm still thinking, but I’m very concerned about what is happening these days in the world of Italian politics. Gianfranco Fini , President of the Chamber of Deputies, said that now things are different since the year of my birth, because before politicians stole money for their party while today who steals is just a thief. Maybe he's right. Af...

Stories and News No. 109 The Story: Once upon a time there was a group of people. The group of people was paid to take care of emergencies. Emergencies due to disasters, natural or otherwise. Disasters as the earthquakes... Derailments... Landslides... Then the day came when someone (used to do several things at once) thought that the group of people could also deal with ‘big events’. Big events mean big media and people attention. Big media and people attention means big advertising revenues. As for the canonization of Padre Pio ... For the Olympics in Turin... And for the G8 in La Maddalena (then moved to L'Aquila)... Once upon a time there was a group of people. The group of people was paid to deal with disasters and big events. Then came the day when they could no longer see the difference between them... The News: Italian civil protection becomes a joint stock company. Stories and news : “invented” Stories, fruit of my imagination, inspired by “true” media N...