466,000 students taking high-school finals
60/100 minimum passing grade
3 written tests + 1 oral exam
4 minutes for "hints" to appear on web
1 site offering "emergency help" via WAP

High-school compulsory exams, which mark the end of 5 years of school, often provoke years of nightmares for Italian students. In fact, this crucial rite of passage (called “maturity,” maturit?) was recently deemed ‘traumatic’ by the European Association of Psychologists (EPPA).
No wonder students have long taken to getting unauthorized ‘help’ –usually in miniscule scraps of paper called "papyrus" (papiri) or "accordions" (fisarmoniche). The 2001 session, however, was the first time mass cheating was through mobile phones and the internet. The pre-exam sequester of the little ringers did no good, as translations of passages in Greek and interpretations of Cesare Pavese sped over the internet minutes, and not hours, after exams started.
Authorities have decided not to make students re-take tests, but Education Minister Letitzia Moratti commented: "Obviously, we’ll have to adopt adequate measures to combat new technologies."

Related resources:
www.studenti.it
Most notorious "student-aid" site. Offers the "prof-search" data base, so test takers know whether, for example, emphasis will be on dates..

20-25% Italians suffer from chronic anxiety (2001)
9 out of 10 have monotonous, underpaid jobs
Northerners most anxious about interpersonal relationships
Southerners about lack of public services
15-50 age group considered “most anxious”
Women suffer twice as much as men
According to psychiatrists, Italians are most preoccupied by measuring up to modern society. Top worries include not being able to use Internet, not knowing English and choosing the right model cell phone. In a recent convention entitled “A Turning Point for Anxious People,” Pier Luigi Scapicchio, ex-president of the Italian Psychiatrists’ Society, noted that certain people are “born worriers” but the modern enviornment detonates chronic anxiety.

Related resources:
www.risateonline.it
Jokes & general stupidity to ease the strain.

Florentines will burn wooden gallows in Piazza della Signoria Nov. 30 to commemorate the end of the death penalty in Italy–the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was the first to abolish it in 1876. A somewhat gruesome way to celebrate what’s also considered “Tuscany day,” especially in the same square Savonarola went up in smoke… Public sentiment is high following the Sept. 14 2000 execution of Derek Rocco Barnabei, an American with Tuscan roots. The positive news: officials will announce the restoration of Donatello’s St. George statue, considered a symbol of the Florentines’ fight against governmental tyranny…

Related resources:
A close-up on the St. George statue, currently housed in the Bargello museum.
www.thais.it/scultura/image/sch00011.htm

80% regularly exceed speed limits (1998)
61.5% regularly exceed speed limits (2000)
76.1% refused to wear seat belts (1998)
42.6% refused to wear seat belts (2000)

Italians are stereotypically reckless drivers, but a recent seems study to show an improvement.
A relative improvement: compared to fellow EU nationals, Italians are in first place for speeding, second for not wearing seatbelts and fourth for running red lights.

*Source: Study by ACI-Censis www.aci.it/Variabili/LucchesiACI_CENSIS.htm

In September 2000, the Italian Post office issued the first digital signatures for individuals, formerly considered a major speed bump on the information “superstrada.”

Banking customers or businesses wishing to purchase domain names, for example, were required to either fax a signature or have a signature witnessed and authenticated. Interesting to see whether security-conscious Italians–who never mail checks and are wary of credit cards–will change their habits.

Related resources:
For more info http://web.poste.it

13 million Italians smoke
90,000 Tobacco-related deaths, yearly
19.3% to 21.4% Increase in percentage of smokers who quit (1996-98)
from 14.8% to 15.9 % Increase in no. of female smokers 14-24 (1997-98)
$1.50 USD (Lit. 3.000) Fine for smoking in public places

Almost one-third of Italians smoke, some are trying to quit while young women light up more frequently than ever. The government is threatening to pass a more stringent anti-smoking measure which would confine smoking to private homes. The problem, as anyone who has spent time in Italy knows, isn’t only a legal matter. Smoking has been banned in public places (hospitals, theaters, schools, nightclubs and on public transportation) since 1975, but public authorities are want to enforce the regulations. Hard to blame them, the measly fine is not exactly a deterrent.

* Source: La lega Italiana contro i tumori (Italian League for the Fight against Cancer). Research presented for national stop-smoking day, May 31, 2000. www.legatumori.it

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65% parliament members failed written driving test
86% true/false questions wrong
4 wrong answers=failed test
629 cars (with driver) available for Ministry of Transport officials
5,097 cars (with driver) available for Red Cross officials
3,404 cars (with driver) available for Ministry of Justice officials
0 (est.) probable number of parliamentarians driving own cars

Italy’s leading auto magazine Quattroruote put 100 parliamentarians to the driving test-the majority failed miserably. Some, like Transport Minister Pier Luigi Bersani, were wise enough not to take the magazine’s quiz-everyone knows these folks don’t actually drive. The chauffeur-driven sedans for VIPs, known colloquially as “auto blu” (favored models Lancia, Mercedes and BMW are rigorously navy in color) are synonymous with luxury and abuse of power.
Romano Prodi, to his credit often seen on bike or campaigning by bus, tried reduce government spending by auctioning off 160,000 of these cars in 1997, but the proposal languished.
The Northern League, always ready to point out the wasteful spending of southerners recently “exposed” Roman mayor Francesco Rutelli, using his “auto blu” with driver for campaign purposes.

Related resources:
http://bluauto.it/
Everyday folks like the rich & powerful: rent a chauffeur-driven “auto blu”
www.lancia.com/modelli/k/default.htm
a typical “auto blu” model

1 law, requiring “professional journalists” on all info-based web sites
18.789 professional journalists (members of Italy’s Order)
47,749 associate members of Order
39,736 signers of petition against statute
A new law requiring all web sites in Italy (or transmitting to Italy) with “regularly updated information” to have a staff member enrolled in the national order of journalists is a powerful swipe at the new economy by the old guard.
Italy is one of the few countries where journalists belong to an order-like doctors and lawyers-and represent an equally powerful lobby. It’s not simply a matter of having a staff member sign up for a press card. Getting an associate press card requires demonstrating at least two years of paid work, while becoming a professional journalist also requires passing a bar exam.
“I find it offensive and humiliating because it deprives me of my right to freedom of speechSince I’m not a professional journalist, I won’t be able to write another single word or have an opinion about anything,” says one forum post on the Order site.
As a zoomata reader pointed out, despite the attention of electronic media, not much has been said in the Italian press. Then again, there’s a monopoly to protect.

Related resources:
An extreme example-even this erotic diary would require a professional editor and registration in a tribunal…
www.clarence.com/contents/tabu/paola/nuovo

8,200,000 Italian internet users (May 2001)
37% total users women
+ 30 minute increase per user
7 p.m. ‘internet rush hour’
Italians used the web to get informed for May elections, according to Nielsen reports. But they weren’t looking for offical/party information–the most heavily trafficked sites were news-related (3.5 million unique users) while about half that amount was seen on institutional sites.