We continue to watch with dismay the recent images of an Italy that is by all accounts in a period of extreme uncertainty. On December 13, 2007, during Italian President Giorgio Napolitano’s official visit to Washington, D.C., the New York Times ran an article titled “In a Funk, Italy Sings an Aria of Disappointment.” Three events unfolding within the past few weeks lend support to critics who view Italy as an “exquisite corpse,” incapable of governing itself.

First, the international media has for weeks transmitted images of Naples buried under thousands of tons of garbage. The pictures even appeared on January 8, 2008 in the Washington Post’s Kids Page with an explanation that the Italian army had been called in to move the garbage away from schools so that students could return to class after winter break.

Second, Pope Paul Benedict XVI cancelled his January 17 appearance at La Sapienza, Rome’s most prestigious university, due to the opposition of faculty members and students who claimed that he once defended the Church’s verdict condemning Galileo. The Pope’s visit would have been “an attack on the independence of culture and the university,” a faculty member was quoted as saying. As the international media saw it, the protest against the Pope at La Sapienza, founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, reflects an intolerance of the most pernicious kind.

Last and most importantly, the fragile coalition of Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s government shattered in a theatrical ending, “with spumante and melodrama spilling out among legislators,” wrote Time magazine. This latest political crisis was precipitated by the resignation of Minister of Justice, Clemente Mastella, who became the target of a corruption investigation. As head of the micro-party UDEUR, Mastella abandoned his support for Prodi, thus sealing the fate of his 20-month-old government, Italy’s 61st since World War II.

Photos by Marina Isgro

As many critics of Italy have noted, the roots of the latest political crisis lie largely in an electoral system in dire need of reform; the existence of micro-parties have made governing a nearly insurmountable challenge. Indeed, this was Prodi’s second attempt; his first government in the late nineties lasted 17 months. President Giorgio Napolitano, who remains among the most respected politicians in Italy, may seek to reform the electoral system before Italians are asked to return to the polls. Others, however, will insist on immediate elections.

To be sure, there have been other crises and Italy has survived. Italians invented l’arte di arrangiarsi and there is no doubt that Italy will also put this crisis behind them. But Italy and the Italians appear to be at a critical crossroads. The mounting political, economic, and social problems are no longer on the horizon – they are very real. Italians will have to confront them and take substantive steps toward reform.
In the coming months, Italians will be asked to make choices that will decide the country’s future course. Italians and Americans of Italian descent stand behind those who believe in a better Italy.