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.

The annual report from the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), which looks into the daily lives of 27,000 Italians, showed few surprises but confirmed a number of trends.
Mobile phone use continues to grow–at the expense of fixed phone lines which dropped 6%, to be found in 85% of Italian households. Internet use, heaviest among young male users in Central Italy, still ranks among the lowest in Europe but shows a more than 700% percent increase over just three years ago. Some things remain the same–Italians still count on grandparents to watch toddlers and the majority still manage to go home for lunch.

Mobile Phone: an everyday object

70% Italian households own at least 1 cell phone (2000)
30% Italian households own at least 1 cell phone (1994)
31.5% Italian households with more than one cell phone(2000)
16% Italian households with more than 1 cell phone (1997)

Internet Use: low but rising
15.3% Italians use Internet regularly (2000)
2.3 % Italian used Internet regularly (1997)

Granny-sitter: still reigns
50% children under five are cared for by grandparents (2000)
72% of children in day care have a working mom
8.8% families use day care (2000)

Home For Lunch: but decreases as main meal
70% Italians eat midday meal at home (2000)
72.7% Italians eat main meal at noon (2000)
77.7% Italians eat main main at noon (1994)

*Source: Istat Millennium Report www.istat.it

No one ever accused animal rights’ activists of having a sense
of humor. TV personality Licia Col?, whose efforts to help
wild life included a breath-mint advert with proceeds going to
polar bears, had the Italian version of the infamous hoax “bonsai
kitten” site shut down. Col?, while obliquely promoting
her own just-launched site, made use of 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.

Related resources:

All the more intriguing with the ominous message "this site
has been closed by the Police
www.gattibonsai.it

$100,000 (USD) Oliviero Toscani, fined for insulting land surveyors
$30,000 (USD)Vittorio Sgarbi, fined for calling a committee head “stronza“
$45,000 (USD)Umberto Bossi, fined for saying Antonio Di Pietro is a secret agent
$200.00 (USD) Stefania Craxi, fined for calling Roman mayor Rutelli “stronzo“

Better think about the price tag before letting the insults fly–Italy’s slander laws can make having a temper, or even an opinion, very costly. Public figures are not expected to withstand a certain amount of flack for being in the spotlight–and sue to prove it. Toscani’s fine this month is but the latest in a series–the photog attributed the monstrous illegally-built houses that ruin the Italian coastline to land surveyors. They sued and won–his remarks were found “damaging to the profession.”
Journalists are an unprotected category– retractions or apologies can’t save them from being sued for moral damages.
Of course, the fines actually paid are somewhat different. Currently only journalists can’t appeal sentences–Craxi’s fine was reduced on appeal to $25 (USD) and Bossi was eventually let off the hook altogether..

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.

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