One thing that the worlds of entertainment and politics have in common in Italy is the fact that most of the key figures involved are past the normally accepted retirment age.

The political stage is dominated by figures like Silvio Berlusconi (age 72), Romano Prodi (age 67), not to mention the cabal which recently brought down the government in the senate – Giulio Andreotti (age 88) and Francesco Cossiga (age 78).

Entertainment on both the public and private TV channels is dominated by figures like Pippo Baudo (age 77), and Mike Buongiorno (age 83).

Last week the release of journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo sparked off controversy left, right, and centre – outside Italy. Inside Italy, apart from some opportunistic jibes from Berlusconi*, virtually all political parties supported the government’s efforts to release Mastrogiacomo, who had been held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

Gianni Di Michelis, former Italian Foreign Minister, and author of ‘where shall we dance tonight? A guide to 250 of Italy’s best discos’, las night dismissed the women behind the campaign to block expansion of the American military base in Vicenza as ‘Nimbys’*. Our disco-dancing Kissinger is far from alone, at least in the political […]

The day after Romano Prodi’s government fell, the majority of left-wing and right-wing newspapers frothed around the two dissenting ‘radical’ left wing senators* Fernando Rossi and Franco Turigliatto, both of whom had refused to vote for their government in the senate, helping to cause the collapse of the government. That so much attention should be […]

During today’s lunch time news, on the state-funded channel RAI1, we got the following news. “Praying is not a matter of choice. It’s a question of life and death. Only those who pray will gain eternal life in paradise”. The news report quoted, almost word for word, Ratzy’s weekly wanderings from his balcony. I waited […]

The centre-right opposition parties could scarcely contain their glee last night, as special panel shows were hastily put together to discuss the unfolding crisis. And who could blame them. A consistent line was taken, as if the election campaign were already underway (something that is far from certain). Across the board spokesmen for Berlusconi’s Forza […]

While Berlusconi was in power, particularly for the second time, the usual question asked by non-Italians, was ‘how could you have voted for such a government?’, headed by a man with a shady past, with court cases coming out of his proverbials, not to mention his tendency towards Bernard Manning-style improv-comedy on the world stage. […]

Romano Prodi’s government has fallen, having lost a vote in the senate on a proposed renewal of Italy’s mission in Afghanistan. It’s unclear exactly what will happen – as consulatations start tomorrow to see whether the numbers can be found to form a new government, or whether new elections will be held. Mediaset shares, in […]

Fabio Fazio, presnter of the talk show Che tempo che fa, interviewing Eduardo Sanguineti, one of Italy’s leading poets, asked the sixty-million dollar question: Are reality-shows, like Big Brother, the modern translation of tragedy? Sanguineti, scarcely missing a beat – and without paying much attention to the fact that Che Tempo Che Fa is itself […]