Commentariat

You are browsing the archives of Italy.

Italy has an unnerving ability to switch in a flash from being a kind and obliging country to a nasty place capable of ruthless violence. The latest to find this out was a group of activists protesting about the plan to build a of a new American military base in the city of Vicenza.

What is the most delightful Italian word? For my money, there is one that has the edge on pomodoro, vaporetto, risotto, Lamborghini, parmigiano, and even the overplayed amore. What heart does not leap at the mention of aperitivo? The word is like a smile. In Italy, the early evening aperitivo is more than just a drink. In the humblest of bars, you normally get nuts, crisps, a bit of cheese or mortadella with your birra, grappa or negroni. In posh joints, you get a lavish spread that those untutored in the ways of Italian restraint could easily treat as dinner rather than a prefatory morsel. It is this admirable tradition, especially strong in Milan, that the Italian beer maker Peroni is attempting to introduce to the barbarian north.

John Hooper: The opposition in Italy has joined the chorus attacking a critic of the new Senate speaker. Has it learned nothing from past dealings with Berlusconi?

In Britain, black cats are lucky. In Italy, they’re a curse - and are regularly killed by superstitious locals. Who has it right?

Aged 16 Thomas Cocke passed his A levels and won an open scholarship to
Pembroke College, Cambridge. With two years to wait before going up to
Cambridge he left Marlborough (where he was a scholar) and went on his
travels. After visiting the US, where he became an honorary member of a
Native American tribe, he went to Bologna to stay with an aunt, Kitsy
Colliva. She had married the city’s mayor in 1933 and remained in Italy
during the Second World War. There he learnt Italian and laid the
foundations of his lifelong interest in Italian art and architecture.