Stories and News

April 2006 : Ischia, landslide invests homes: 4 dead Guido Bertolaso said: " We pay inertia of decades, years in which we have maltreated the land. We must intervene with the maintenance of the most at risk areas, to avoid future tragedies like this." Three years later: November 2009 : Landslide in Ischia, a 15 years old girl died. A dozen wounded, a child is seriously injured Guido Bertolaso says : "The landslide in Ischia makes me very angry and very sad. It means that all the work done till now has clearly not been enough". Guido Bertolaso is the Director of the Italian Department of Civil Defence. Among its activities there are forecasting and prevention of these tragedies. Sorry, but I do not understand a thing: what should happen for a person in charge resigns? Share the post:

Like many of you know, the 9th of November, exactly twenty years ago, one of the more meaningful events of the last century occurred in Germany. Of course I am talking about the Berlin’s wall destruction, a fact with an incredible amount of political and social consequences. A wall like many others, a brick wall, but with the worst aim that humanity had ever been able to conceive: to divide people, to take away a community from another one, to prevent people from one side could have a contact with those from the other. A desired and feared contact… Probably, all in our life depends on this. In that moment, when everyone meets each other, everything can happen, the most beautiful event as the most horrible fact. Years ago, simply going out of the house or just opening the door of our room we would be faced with this risk. Today, the 1989 seems incredibly far away. Thanks to cellular, internet and all that is able to connect us, it seems that we are no longer afraid of the other...

Silvio Berlusconi, during a press conference, released today some statements that have left me very perplexed. The Italian Prime Minister said to see strong signs of an economic restart and he added that the worst of the crisis is over . There is nothing new in this. I am convinced that this man would be able to sell a diving suit to a dolphin. The thing that struck me is that, supporting his words, Silvio cited the new OECD report on the latest composite leading indicators , which put I taly among the countries that have most improving economic situation, together with France, United Kingdom and China . "Moreover," Berlusconi said, "the crisis has hit Great Britain more than other European countries , which has no manufacturing economy like Germany or us, and we are back to third place in Europe . We are the sixth country for contributions to United Nations, so things are not going badly." I'm not an expert in economics, but in my humble opinion I ...

Stories and News No. 63 The Story: The Italian reply to the great discoveries made by scientists of the Australian National University has just arrived. Australian experts, in a study published on Biology Letters journal, documented how the female fiddler crab grants sex in exchange for protection from intruders, in the constant battle to defend its burrow. So here is the reply by Italian researchers, who have just published a detailed a report about a creature that, they assure, will make fiddler crabs cry: the pianist mouse . Pianist mice are so called because the males’ legs are larger but also faster than female ones. This vantage is used to help the less rapid animals. The special kind of mice lives on a mountain , where everyone has his comfortable burrow. At least every five years they have to fight for preserving the territory and the conquest of a new housing. The male mice have an obvious advantage in the struggle for a den, but Italian researchers have observe...

Yesterday Minister of Justice Angelino Alfano reconstructed the events that led to Stefano Cucchi ’s death. In summary Alfano said: Cucchi’s arrest, at 23.30 on October 15 by the Carabinieri , and the subsequent perquisition, were made " without excitement and without any particular physical contact ." During his stay at the police station (more precisely from 23.40 on 15 October at 3.30 of 16 October ), Cucchi was " guarded and looked " by the police before being accompanied, at 3.55 , at the chambers of another security police station. Until then Cucchi has been described as " lucid, conscious and health consistent, with no bruises or wounds other than those typical of drug at an advanced stage ." Around 5 am the man " claims to suffer from epilepsy and displaying a general state of malaise ." At this point, even against the will of Cucchi, the police called the '118' (emergency phone number): the young man refuses the visit...

Stories and News No. 62 The Story : Once upon a time there was a school. In the school there was only one class. In the class there was just one teacher. There were no pupils, the class was empty and the teacher stayed always alone. The man became very sad because a teacher without students is like a poet without love. Just when he was about to leave the school and look for another job, the first student arrived. "Welcome," the teacher said. "What is your name?" "My name is Mario," the child responded. "What is your religion?" the teacher asked. "I am Catholic," the student said. Then the man, who wished to please Mario, found a crucifix and put it on the wall: The child was busy drawing and did not seem happier than the day before. However the teacher thought he had a good idea. Days after another child arrived. "What is your name?" the teacher asked. "My name is Myriam,"...

This morning, remembering the recent embarrassing stories of some of italian politicians, I made this consideration: their wives are the best thing these men have . The women who live alongside these so-called leaders, who are often relegated by the press in the shadow of powerful husbands, sooner or later show to deserve a respect that their men may just dream. While the facts that struck the former governor of the Lazio region Piero Marrazzo are still on every newspaper, his wife Roberta Serdoz , despite the obvious humiliation due to her husband’s actions, reveals a remarkable personality. How can we not mention Silvio Berlusconi’s wife, Veronica Lario , one of the few influent people in our country able to speak in very difficult times with sincere honesty about the questionable behaviour of our Prime Minister. I think of all the wives of various politicians, hit by the scandals of their men because they are linked to in good times and – ever more often… - in bad. I rem...