72% Anti-smoking protest
12% Celebrate Italian Republic
7% Celebrate winning soccer championship
6% Protest G8 meeting in Genova

Winds of change–smokers fire up Italians 10 times more than taking top honors in the national sport. This phone poll (100 Italians between 18-64) asked which recent events would get them enthusiastic enough to take to the streets (“scendere in piazza.)”

Former health minister Umberto Veronese should be proud–despite not getting a stricter anti-smoking law passed, he managed to raise consciousness. Now, if someone could work magic on that dismal patriotism.

Related resources:
www.comune.fe.it/nosmoking/test.htm
A test, to discover why one smokes..

Teenagers are notoriously reckless drivers, perhaps even more so in Italy where, from the age of 14, they can zip around on small scooters without a license or any training. Florentine youngsters will, no doubt, get some very special training when British historian Paul Ginsborg, 55, steps to the podium in November. Ginsborg, author of “A History of Contemporary Italy," will teach teens how to avoid accidents, emergency procedures and basic driving rules. The city government, which sponsors courses for some 400 youngsters between the ages of 14-19, proudly announced Ginsborg’s involvement–he was the first professor to volunteer. Now, if they’ll only listen.

Related resources:
www.espressoedit.kataweb.it/formula1/test/tipo_intro.msn.shtml
Would you be considered a safe driver in Italy? Take the test

62% gambled in some form, last 3 months (July 2001)
67.7% those who gambled from South
51% those who gambled have university degree
25% of gamblers played average 25 times in period
90% gamblers “believe in themselves”
84% non-gamblers “believe in themselves”

This extensive study (10,000 Italians, age 14 and up) gives an idea how many are willing to gamble a bit in hopes of hitting pay dirt. Any sort of betting (from scratch & win state lottery to the horses) was considered. Italy’s crowded betting arena includes three soccer-betting schemes, wagers on horses and numerous state lotteries, with Bingo to come in fall 2001.

Related resources:
http://erewhon.ticonuno.it/riv/societa/pubblicita/fujifilm.htm
Common parlance for “luck” is “culo” (butt), here’s one of many tasteless recent ads based on the idea.

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In three days 19,736 signatures were gathered on a virtual petition to stop the execution of Italian American Derek Rocco Barnabei.
Despite fervent protests, Italian public sentiment once again failed to sway the governor of Virginia, James Gilmore. Derek Rocco Barnabei, the Italian American accused of murdering his girlfriend, was killed by lethal injection Sept. 14 2000. In the aftermath of general hysteria– safety warnings by the government for Americans abroad and accusations of barbarity– the obituaries for Barnabei passed unnoticed. Some by everyday citizens, some by officials but perhaps the most significant was from the city of Palermo. The notice published by the Corriere della Sera, which named Barnabei an honorary citizen of the city, brings to mind another execution. James O’Dell, executed in 1998 in the same prison as Barnabei, sparked the first wave of public outcry against the death penalty and is, in fact, buried in Palermo’s cemetery.
The Corriere’s round-up special on Barnabei & the protests www.corriere.it/speciali/barnabei.shtml
Italians, already passionate against the death penalty, have taken this case to heart. Derek’s mother, Jane, visited Italy several times (as far back as 1998) to raise funds for his defense. Premier Giulio Amato, the Italian parliament and Pope John Paul II have all made an effort to intervene. But the grass roots protest, especially in Tuscany –where the Barnabei family comes from– has been especially strong.
www.regione.toscana.it/campagne/barnabei.htm

Related resources:
The death penalty, even in fiction, is enough to mobilize Italians into action. Writers of popular radio drama "Alcatraz" were forced to change the ending because the public refused to accept the demise of Jack Folla, an Italian American DJ on death row. Folla escaped from prison and met, however, an untimely end as a TV program. The radio show archives live on: www.radio.rai.it/radio2/archivi/forziere/Alcatraz/alcatraz.htm

Citing security reasons, officials at the famous Milanese opera house have cut 200 standing-room posts, traditionally occupied by the”loggionisti” or rather the working-class folks who occupy the gallery. These spots, which cost only L.10.000 ($5USD), will be no more as of Sept. 12 2000– city administration seems to have just realized standing roomers constitute a fire hazard. The loggionisti, however are a cultural institution and refuse to accept the decision. The top spots, in fact, have the best acoustics in the house and the “peanut gallery” is often the most important judge of an opera. Gallery occupants are certainly the most vocal of critics– boos from them were said to have reduced Arturo Toscanini to tears and tripped up Luciano Pavarotti when he hit an off note in 1992. No word on whether the official association will withdraw support of the opera house–it holds a prestigious singing contest and runs a chorus. We’ll let you know how it plays out.

Related resources:
View the Scala from the gallery vantagepoint:
http://lascala.milano.it/theatre/visit/qtvr_map.html
At the site for Association of Loggionisti, unite your email protest to defend cheap spots for starving students & opera lovers
www.ingressi.freeweb.org English & Italian.

$10 million, circa (19,536 billion lire) income, state lottery (1999)
50% increase from 1998
$15 million, circa (34,029 billion lire) total income betting
$400 million, c. (830 billion lire) income est., State bingo halls Italy’s first bingo halls, hailed as a sure thing by the government, are scheduled to debut in Fall 2001.
While bingo certainly isn’t new to Italy, it’s just now getting out of the living room at Christmas time and into the already-crowded betting arena–which includes three soccer-betting schemes, wagers on horses and numerous state lotteries. To make sure folks don’t consider it the same old game, it won’t be known as “tombola” (the Italian name) but will go by the more “exotic” bingo. The 800 halls, expected to bring in $25,000 a day, are being hailed as a boon to state coffers and entrepreneurs alike.

Related resources:
www.lasmorfia.it
Looking for your lucky numbers? The Neapolitan tradition of interpreting dreams into numbers (“La Smorfia”) is now online.
www.giocodellotto.com
Official lottery site, online games

13 million = (1/3 of the population) is unable to formulate or understand a simple message.
13 million = have difficulty understanding elementary texts, simple dialogues and comprehending graphs.
15 million = possess modest vocabulary/reading skills. Considered “at risk” – since they do not read and write regularly.

This joint study shows that millions of Italians between 16 and 65 have trouble with the language in everyday situations. The most alarming flunk- the 13 million Italians baffled by the technical language that accompanies all medicines, from aspirin to prescription drugs.
Researchers remain perplexed, not expecting lack of literacy in a generally well-off society. How are these well-heeled Italians communicating, then? Perhaps local dialects aren’t going the way of the dinosaur.

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..