30-36 vacation days, yearly (France)
24-36 vacation days, yearly (Italy)
22-25 vacation days, yearly (Spain)
10-20 vacation days, yearly (USA)
70% Italians considered "obnoxious" on holiday
Italians have longer vacations than most but that’s not enough to make them well-behaved on the beach, according to newspaper reports. Something to think about when picking a spot for the umbrella: the worst “neighbors” are usually either teenagers or 40- somethings. Offenses range from endless cellphone chatter, impromptu soccer games and blaring radios…The good news is that yesterday, Aug. 19, an estimated six million Italians headed back home.

Related resources:
http://mm1.rai.it:8080/ramgen/rainet/clip/spot5.rm
State broadcaster RAI has taken upon itself to reeducate rude Italians–here’s one of a series of ads aimed at ending rude behavior, starring the aptly-named Scortesi family.

The clock at Bologna’s train station was frozen at 10:25 a.m.–the exact time when a terrorist bomb killed 85 and injured 200 in 1980. On August 16 2001, the clock was again set in motion to appease travelers who kept missing trains because they didn’t know any better. “It wasn’t a decision we took lightly,” train officials told newspapers. “But how do you explain to a tourist that a particular clock, stopped at that precise time, is of great symbolic value?” So the clock has started ticking again, along with protests from political groups and families of the victims. Possible solutions include providing a multi-lingual plaque explaining the reason for “stopping time” as well as an exhibit showing just what happened the morning an explosion ripped open the waiting room and a waiting train on the track. Some twenty years later, offcials have yet to attribute responsibility for the deliberate attack.

Related resources
http://valeoggi.tiscali.it/immagini/200108/18/3b7e04cb03e9d
A photo gallery of the bombing…

In folklore garlic was said to keep vampires at bay, now the city of Vercelli is hoping it will have the same effect on those other bloodsuckers–mosquitoes. The first fumigation of “Garlic Reset,” a concentrate of the stinking rose, wafted through city parks in early August. The local government, which spent about $100,000 on the operation,will continue spraying tree-lined streets for the remainder of the month. The evening stroll will never be the same.

Related resources:
www.onde.net/desenzano/comune/servizi/zanzara/ZT-1.htm
An info booklet on the "tiger mosquito" (zanzara tigre) the latest, fiercest version to plague central-Northern Italy

The hottest new flavor in Italian ice cream takes its name from the Etna volcano. Vanilla and cherry ice cream laced with anise liqueur, perched on a base of sponge cake. The final touch: black powdered sugar, for that realistic ash-effect.
In an attempt to drum up business since rolling lava scared off tourists, caf? owner Francesco Urz? of Catania started giving away the “Etna Earth” flavor to regular customers. He told zoomata only about 10% of them refused–convinced it would bring bad luck. Etna, which got busy again the last half of July 2001, is Europe’s highest active volcano.

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

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

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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$150 million (300 billion) state revenue increase from price hike
$50-150 proposed fine for smoking in public places
$1.50 (Lit. 3.000 ) current fine for smoking in public places
1 new anti-smoking law, back to the drawing board

When the Italian parliament dissolved March 9 2001, it left at least one piece of unfinished business: a stringent new anti-smoking measure. Smoking was banned in public places (hospitals, theaters, schools, nightclubs and on public transportation) in 1975, but public authorities rarely enforce the regulations. Hard to blame them, the measly fine is not exactly a deterrent. The new law, in addition to heftier fines, proposed “cigarette police,” a person appointed by the organization to fine people lighting up where they shouldn’t. Health minister Umberto Veronesi’s proposal was criticized as an “attack” on smokers, who felt they were going to be persecuted by the government. No worries: Italy’s state tobacco monopoly has no reason to persecute such a lucrative public. In fact, to fill government coffers, it announced a cigarette price hike yesterday-the $ .20 increase on each packet will add up to around $150 million in 2001.

Related resources:
www.ultimobanco.it
Italian non-smokers can pull a few punches at politicians with this new interactive game.

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