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

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

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

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.

26% Get headache even thinking about planning vacation
17% Anxious because doesn’t know where to go
12% Worried will end up alone on vacation
1 tasteless villa vacation rental

A slightly more serious study in an avalanche of frivolous summer polls (we skipped “hot weather turns up office romances” & “the female body hair debate”) which appears to illustrate Italians famed lack of planning causes some distress. Of the 965 Italians queried, 40 year-olds and women were hardest hit, and especially concerned about not having enough money to take long vacations.
One Italian was determined not to wait until the last minute to make plans–an unidentified businessman offered circa $50,000 a month for Villa Altachiara in Portofino, according to newspaper reports. The villa, built in 1874 by Lord Carnavon, boasts 40 rooms, a helicopter pad, swimming pool–but is also where countess Vacca Augusta fell to her death on Jan 8, 2001. Investigators have made little headway in discerning whether her tumble from the villa’s cliff was murder or suicide.
The story rivals any mystery novel– a scheming ex-husband, handsome foreign butler/lover, various hangers-on and several wills. The proposal may be accepted to settle the debts discovered after her death.

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..

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..