A full Teatro dei Differenti this evening to hear Beppe Severgnini who was in the city to promote his latest book – La vita è un viaggio
20 parole per un futuro migliore. – Un libro pratico, poetico, tonificante.
La vita è un viaggio, e gli italiani viaggiano soli. Com’è difficile trovare chi ci guidi, chi ci accompagni, chi ci incoraggi. Siamo una nazione al valico: dobbiamo decidere se dirigerci verso la normalità europea o tornare indietro. Siamo un Paese incerto tra immobilità e fuga. Fuga all’estero, fughe tra egoismi e piccole ossessioni che profumano di anestetico (ossessioni tecnologiche, gastronomiche, sportive, sessuali). La vita è un viaggio non vuole indicare una mèta. Prova invece a fornire qualche consiglio per la traversata. Suggerimenti individuali, non considerazioni generali (o, peggio, generiche). La destinazione la decide chi viaggia. Ma una guida, come sappiamo, è utile.
Born in Crema, Severgnini graduated in law at the University of Pavia. His father is a retired notary. His career in journalism began when, aged 27, he joined the Milan daily newspaper Il Giornale, headed by Italian journalist Indro Montanelli; he soon distinguished himself as a talented writer and became the paper’s London correspondent.
For Il Giornale, in the period leading up to the fall of communism, he worked as special correspondent from Russia, China and several Eastern European countries. When Montanelli left Il Giornale to found La Voce, Severgnini followed him. He was also seconded to The Economist in London (1993) then served as correspondent for La Voce from Washington.
He was the correspondent from Italy for The Economist between 1996 and 2003, for which he still occasionally writes.
Following the failure of Montanelli’s project at La Voce, in 1995 Severgnini joined the Corriere della Sera, Italy’s biggest newspaper, for which he currently is an op-ed columnist.
Since 1998, he hosts a daily column for the online edition of the Corriere della Sera called Italians, originally targeting Italian expatriates; it has steadily grown in popularity since, eventually becoming one of the most read regular features of the newspaper’s website (it can be seen here)
100 reasons we are happy to be Italians (dal Corriere della Sera)
There’s no denying it. Some things about Italy are depressing. Some events are embarrassing, not least because they are often partly our own fault. Every day, bad things fill the papers, which have a duty to report them. Other things, fortunately, fill us with pride. Here are a hundred of them, in no particular order. This is not a ranking. This is a list from the heart. Here’s why, despite everything, we are happy to be Italian.
1. Because we’re intelligent, when we’re not too smart for our own good
2. Because we’re intuitive, if we can avoid being superficial
3. Because we’re direct, although we can be impulsive
4. Because we’re unpredictable, as long as we’re not careless
5. Because no one else is so skillful at turning a crisis into a party
6. We have good manners and do good things (unfortunately we struggle to translate them into good conduct)
7. Because we have good taste. We instinctively recognize beauty
8. Because, now and again, we put aesthetics before ethics. It’s wrong, but it’s fun to watch
9. Because we’re interesting. Tourists, business travelers and Angel Merkel are never bored with Italians around.
10. Because people everywhere look at you. In Italy, they see you
11. Because the countryside is a sentimental education (north)
12. Because life can be uphill and downhill (center)
13. Because the world is a colorful idea (south)
14. Because history left its mark
15. Because Milan is our America, the land of opportunity
16. Because Trieste is the south of the north, the north of the south, the east of the west and the west of the east
17. Because Venice makes tourists think they’re poets
18. Because Genoa smiles and shows her teeth to the sea
19. Because Florence and Turin have woken up
20. Because Naples and Bari turn their backs on each other, respectfully
21. Because Calabria’s heat is exhilarating
22. Because in Sicily the shortest line between two points is an arabesque (with thanks to Ennio Flaiano)
23. Because Sardinia has a huge heart and immense patience
24. Because the ferry for Olbia is a journey to the end of the night
25. Because there is a north and a south, just like in the United States. Look up Scarlett O’Hara in Matera. She might be called Samantha, but she’ll be there
26. Because on some days, the Lombardy sky is bluer than the Italian national team’s jersey
27. Because Lucia Mondella is sexier than a supermodel. Yesterday. Today. Forever
28. Because we have our head in Europe, our midriff exposed and our feet dangling in the sea
29. Because summer’s hot and winter’s cold so we can cool off or warm up, and complain
30. Because some mornings have Sapore di mare (Gino Paoli), the afternoon is Azzurro (Adriano Celentano) and then suddenly it’s Una notte in Italia (Ivano Fossati)
31. Because we have lindens in our gardens, firs in the mountains and poppies in the fields 32.Because at a certain time of year, the Alps slip off their cloak of snow and let you take a good look
33. Because there are hideaways where celebs rub shoulders with rich Russians but you can get in everywhere else
34. Because sooner or later, we switch our engines—and our grudges—off
35. Because soccer is a sport, now and again
36. Because everybody has played soccer
37. Because the flavors of our ice cream are almost metaphysical – puffo (smurf), amarissimo (as bitter as it gets), basil
38. Because life goes on in trains; albeit slowly, if it’s a local service
39. Because in airports at dawn, Italy looks like a quiet, tidy country
40. Because not all outdoor entertainment is entertaining, but they’re all outdoor
41. Because we can dance at parties without getting drunk
42. Because in Italian hotels, they know who you are, and remember
43. Because our restaurants are staffed by men and women, not robots
44. Because we have sea, mountains, hills, plains, romantic towns, fragrant islands, fast-flowing rivers and great lakes. Obviously, we don’t have a Grand Canyon or Great Wall. But we’re working on that
45. Because Italians have painted, sculpted, narrated, sung, acted, furnished and clothed life
46. Because we discovered America by chance
47. Because ancient Rome was a great power and modern Rome can be great fun
48. Because Milan has soccer’s La Scala – San Siro stadium – as well as the real opera house
49. Because we have the Corriere della Sera, chronicling a continuing story
50. Because Italian families are hotels, restaurants, banks, insurance companies, kindergartens and care homes for the elderly (they even survive Family Day)
51. Because Americans go into therapy, but we sit and talk with our kids during dinner
52. Because we put bread, love and imagination on the table
53. Because we have taught the world how to eat. Well, perhaps not the whole world, but certainly the French, the British and the Americans
54. Because we have converted the planet to cappuccino, and in Italy no one gets refused a coffee
55. Because we invented the pizza, the Vespa, the Fiat 500, the Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter and coats for women. When we keep things simple, nobody does things better
56. Because plenty of people criticize us, but everyone copies us
57. Because our country churches are better than some defenders of the faith
58. Because Argentina is Italy squared. It has given us a great Pope and several good soccer strikers
59. Because we have Europe’s youngest head of government and who knows what he’ll get up to
60. Because we have Europe’s oldest President and we all know what he has accomplished
61. Because sometimes we fly the flag back to front (red to the left?), but we still love it
62. Because we draft laws so complicated we sometimes forget to observe them
63. Because we are overindulgent with crooks and swindlers, but we spot them right away
64. Because we’re self-critical, even if we sometimes bring it upon ourselves
65. Because we have The Great Beauty that won an Oscar and do the little goodnesses that make the world go round
66. Because we have a national health service, public schools and the Carabinieri
67. Because doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers work hard for little reward
68. Because there’s always someone trying to keep someone else’s spirits up
69. Because la donna è mobile, man is too and let’s not even talk about the kids. Long live smartphones!
70. Because we only turn on the air con when it’s needed
71. Because we can think with our hands
72. Because the fields never look bored
73. Because where the valleys open onto the plains, somebody will have opened a job-creating factory
74. Because around Bologna and Modena, we make romantic precision automobiles
75. Because Veneto is our Texas
76. Because they copy our coffee and pizza in Memphis, but we make their Jeeps in Melfi.
77. Because the undergrads at Pavia study under magnolias and wisteria
78. Because every laboratory in the world has a computer, a green plant and an Italian (but send us the Italian back some time)
79. Because some small towns along the main roads are so ugly you can’t help liking them
80. Because walking in town at night makes an interesting sound
81. Because Italy’s piazzas are reception rooms, waiting rooms, markets, meeting places, catwalks and gyms
82. Because we have elderly buildings in need of love and maintenance
83. Because when you see someone clutching their hands together, there’s a reason. They’re rubbing them and thinking, “OK, what’s next?”
84. Because we like saying “critical points” but deep down we’re not that critical
85. Because we speak English, especially when we’re speaking Italian (è più trendy, baby)
86. Because we like to confuse people who judge us
87. Because we know that sometimes people who judge us are right
88. Because we love exceptions and occasionally remember there are rules
89. Because we are resilient, and not yet resigned
90. Because we are convinced nothing is impossible (A monogamous Berlusconi?!)
91. Because everyone is everyone else’s rival, but we’re all in it together
92. Because governing Italians is like herding cats (but cats have more personality than sheep)
93. Because the streets offer a wide range of faces. It’s hard to feel different when no one else looks the same
94. Because we have a sense of humor. And snicker at people who don’t
95. Because nothing is permanent, except temporariness
96. Because now and again our jaws drop, but we pick them up again
97. Because at least some of the time, we are what others would like to be, but don’t dare
98. Because Italians women know
99. Because Italy is full of young Italians, and now it’s their turn
100. Because we keep smiling no matter what