Watching the Italian news on television was
depressing on the whole with final uplifting moments. On 20th August
they announced that the Italian government was collapsing in a ‘crisi di
governo’ (government crisis) that seemed inevitable. The Prime Minister,
Giuseppe Conte resigned and the two parties of the coalition, Lega and Cinque
Stelle (Five Stars), clashed on everything. It was a bad time for Italy. The
leader of Lega (a right wing party), Matteo Salvini, asked for new elections.
The Five Stars movement seemed at a loss. Their coalition lasted only fifteen
months arguing on economy, immigration and TAV (a high speed train that should
connect Turin with Lyon). They called each other traitors in a political war
where the only stable referent seemed to be the President of the Italian
Republic Sergio Mattarella. However, in a few days, conditions for a new
possible coalition took shape. It was composed of the Five Stars movement plus
PD, the left Democratic Party with Nicola Zingaretti (the brother of Luca
Zingaretti, the actor playing Salvo Montalbano on television) as the leader.
The exit polls expected a 60% to the right parties in case of new elections but
the President did not seem to accept the idea of voting again. So the leaders
of the two parties had meetings, Conte pulled back but then they offered him a
second chance to form a Five Stars-PD government and he accepted.
In ten days
they agreed to some sort of shared program, President Trump twitted: ‘Well done
Italy!’ and they proceeded in allocating the different ministries and
departments. Salvini was furious, of course, claiming that it was not a
democratic government, that is, it was not chosen by the majority of Italian
people, who chose the right parties in March 2018 elections. However, it is a
coalition, and a good portion of Italian people voted for them as well. The PD
lost votes in the last election but it is recovering some votes according to
the most recent exit polls. I wonder what will happen of the Five Stars
movement after these two experiences, first with Lega, a right wing party, and
now with PD, a left party. They claim they are a centre party, but I feel they
are inconsistent and flimsy, they only provoke and don’t have a real program. Salvini
and the right parties, now confined to the opposition, were frantic. They
commented that it was all a conspiracy between Five Stars and PD to push Lega
in a government crisis and take the power. Five Stars and PD said that Lega
attempted a blitzkrieg (lightning war) in Hitler style, but failed. At the
moment, the new coalition came off the best; we’ll see in six-eight months what
is going to happen. All the parties declared that what they were doing was for
the sake of the country, of course. The Pope blessed the new government, the
stock exchange had a positive closing and the EU welcomed Conte-bis government.
In this political turmoil the issue of global
warming seemed to have little impact on the Italian public. Their leader Greta
Thunberg was welcomed by the Pope and spoke at the Senate last April but the
problems of immigration, unemployment and economic issues are on the fore in
the Italian context. There is also a pun going on in the social networks where
Greta is called ‘Gretina’, which sounds like ‘cretina’ (cretin or idiot) in
Italian. This is quite disrespectful for this popular leader and the importance
of the cause, which is so urgent nowadays with all the worries about plastic,
air and soil pollution. However, the way the Italians see the problem also
gives an idea of what are the concerns in the peninsula.
The news from the UK were discouraging as
well. Boris Johnson was on the screen all the time shouting his ultimatums to
the Parliament going tougher and tougher. I didn’t vote for Brexit, not because
I think the EU is ideal for the UK, but because I was thinking about the mess
that would follow. And it did happen, unfortunately. I must say I felt slightly
worried. I wonder if there is a way to grasp a deal or they have to go for a ‘no
deal’, or another referendum, which I believe wouldn’t change anything. I am
still confident they will reach a reasonable conclusion.
In Rome I mainly followed my mum’s routines
helping her in some outings and things she needed to sort out like paying bills
at the post office, ear cleaning, shopping, eye check up, ordering new glasses
and visiting friends. We went to an exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci’s machines
built according to his drawings and projects from Codex Atlanticus. I wrote an
article on Leonardo including also two exhibitions I visited in London ( Leonardo: A life in drawing at
Buckingham Palace and Leonardo da Vinci:
A mind in motion at the British Library) and another one in Rome at the
Veggy Food&Art restaurant Il Margutta (https://ilmargutta.bio/ ). The article was published in The Blue Nib, here is the link: https://thebluenib.com/leonardo-a-life-in-drawing/
My mum enjoyed the exhibition but travelling
to the centre of Rome by bus and the ten minutes walk to the Portuguese
Institute, where the exhibition was displayed, was too much for her. She felt
tired and her back ached. Luckily, there was a nice ice cream parlour near
piazza Campo Marzio just a few minutes walk from the venue with soft chairs and
air conditioning. It is called GROM, ‘the ice cream as it used to be made’ (https://www.grom.it/en/ ), made with natural ingredients without food colours or artificial
flavouring. They have different kinds of flavours compared to other homemade
ice creams, such as liquorice, caramel with pink salt, coffee from Guatemala
and chocolate from Ecuador. Sometimes they mix two flavours like pear and melon
or raspberry and peach. They also sell gluten free ice creams, jams, biscuits
and spreadable creams. The taste is creamier and less strong compared to
Sicilian ice creams, for example. We enjoyed their delicate taste on such a hot
day.
I also visited a small exhibition, only one
room, at Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese: ‘Sensuability’, about love
relationships between disabled people. The motto was: ‘La prima volta siamo
tutti disabili’ (the first time we are all disabled). It featured several
drawings and sort of comic strips or graphic novel extracts about love stories
between disabled people, some of them were humorous, other romantic or erotic. An
interesting idea to point out.
In Rome most shops were closed during my stay
because of the summer holidays so we did our shopping at market stands where
light bright summer dresses were on sale. For groceries only supermarkets were
open. Before leaving I bought a great deal of Italian products risking to exceed
my luggage allowance, as I usually do. I’m used to buying too much, attracted
by biscuits and soup mixtures I can’t find in the UK or cost double. I should
discipline myself and be a more sensible buyer, or add another luggage when I
come back to the UK. In the centre, all shops were open because of the
tourists. I found some interesting articles at a ceramic shop, ‘La Stelletta’
(little star), in via della Stelletta. The products are made by people with
Down syndrome and sold at reasonable prices. They have nice jewellery, plates,
vases, bowls and pictures. The style is simple and delicate but also original,
and the products are well crafted. Near Campo de’ Fiori there were stands of
African immigrants selling their batik and wooden stuff. I couldn’t help buying
a few things adding them to my bulky luggage.
In the afternoon my mum usually met her
friends at giardinetto (little
garden), a spot of green in the shade at La Collina (the hill), the area where
she lives. I joined her group from time to time or stayed at home in front of
the fan to work on my thesis. Her friends are the elderly people of the area,
mostly women, plus their pets, dogs or cats. They chat about the latest news,
share a cup of coffee and cake or biscuits, tell jokes and comments on their families’
and friends’ odd behaviours. I was amazed by their lively attitude and the
sexual undertones of their jokes and remarks. My mum enjoys their company very much;
she never misses a day.
Sometimes I went to the open air swimming
pool at Club Lanciani, just ten minutes walk from my mum’s house. It is a nice
place with a gym, a restaurant and tennis courts. The swimming pool was
gorgeous, blue and sunny, with suntanned people stretched on deck chairs, beach
beds and children splashing around. The water was warm especially in the
afternoon, which gave a soothing sensation. I could relax a bit, read Atwood’s
novels., have a swim, and rest.
We baked as usual, some new biscuits’ recipes
with pistachio and chestnut cream inspired by Canadian peanut butter biscuits
recipes and GROM biscuits, which I will post later on this blog. She cooked for
me delicious gamberoni (big shrimps)
on Fridays and gnocchi alla romana; I
made for her leek soup and carrot soup. She is not eating much now and she is becoming
increasingly picky about food, probably also due to the hot weather. We had a
lot of mozzarella and salads for lunch as well as melon and prosciutto and cold
pasta with tomatoes and basil. At night we watched TV till late, old films such
as Catch the 
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