Life in the average Italian office is like Italian life in general. Style and behaviour are important, and managerial and office staff should, of course, look and act the part. Punctuality has been taken a little more seriously since the advent of clocking in and out of work.
Office hours can be very long in the private sector (8.00 a.m. – 7.30 p.m. with only half an hour for lunch). However, things are very different in the public sector: some offices are only open to the public for two hours a week, and others are never open at all.
“Strikes in Italy reveal Italian passion, patience and resourcefulness at its collective best.”
Many of the public holidays that Italians took for Saint’s Days have now been surrendered, so the practice of ponti (building ‘bridges’ between the weekend and a national holiday) assumes greater importance. Holidays are planned long in advance so as to be able to link them to public holidays. This is why Italian strikes usually take place on Mondays or Fridays.
Strikes in Italy reveal Italian passion, patience and resourcefulness at its collective best. The autostrada and railways will be occupied, rubbish not collected and hunger strikes started – the nation will seem to be on the verge of chaos – and then an unexpected compromise will be reached when none seemed possible. Everyone will claim victory, no-one will be seen to lose face, and the situation will return to normal. Everybody will have enjoyed the strike.
Typically, when the La Scala orchestra went on strike on the opening night of the 1995 season, the conductor had a grand piano brought on stage and he and the soloists performed the whole concert without the orchestra, to rapturous applause.
Patronage, or raccomandazione, along with its trading of favours, jobs and influence, is part and parcel of Italian business life. At its worst it prevents things from growing in a healthy way; at its best it is a kind of old boy network that is necessary in a country where little, in terms of real qualifications, is quite what it seems.
“Patronage along with its trading of favours, jobs and influence, is part and parcel of Italian business life.”
In order to ensure fair play in the distribution of jobs in the public sector, and in an attempt to curb the problem of raccomandazione, the Italian authorities organise job competitions, when jobs are advertised and then candidates sit an exam to decide who are the most suitable for the job. When there are not too many candidates the system works reasonably well, but when 14,000 people applied to become dustmen in the region of Lombardy, the situation became more complicated. Undismayed, le autorità took over the local football stadium for the day and brought in desks and chairs from the schools.
Never mind the fact that the ‘recommended’ candidates will probably have been told the questions beforehand and that the great majority of candidates will be cheating as hard as they can, justice must not so much be done as be seen to be done.
Systems
Compared with the educational systems of other countries, the Italians seem to have got theirs the wrong way round. The country of Maria Montessori, Italy’s best schools are probably its pre-schools, after which things seem to gradually regress through elementary, middle and high schools into a somewhat disorderly university system.
“After pre-schools, things seem to gradually regress.”
Small children spend most of their day at school, but as they get older schooling becomes limited to mornings only. High schools are specialised and students study a variety of classical, scientific and technical subjects, depending on the specialisation they have chosen.
Admission to Italian universities is comparatively easy and, since few faculties restrict the number of students enrolling on courses, vast numbers enrol. The University of Rome, for example, is the largest in the European Union. As a result, courses are overcrowded and facilities inadequate. The fact that under a quarter of all those who matriculate in the universities actually graduate is perhaps a fair reflection of the inherent problems.
Many Italians are very well-educated, despite the idiosyncrasies of the system. Or perhaps because of them. They like the idea of studying and spend hours/weeks/months slaving over textbooks, highlighters in hand, learning the key sentences and concepts by heart. They are then tested in the oral exam, the interrogazione, parroting all they have learned. Critical comment by students is not welcomed. A repetition of the teacher’s or professor’s own views and comments is regarded as the best approach – a hangover from the Counter-Reformation when the wrong answer might have led you to the stake.
“There are no limits to the number of times students can take exams. Life-long learning is no novelty in Italy.”
There are no limits to the number of times students can take exams, and some will refuse to accept a mark they don’t consider good enough. As the only limitation to staying at the university is the payment of annual fees, some students continue studying well into middle age. Life-long learning is no novelty in Italy.
Examinations are mostly oral (perhaps because cheating is so rife in written exams). Italians fear that the other candidates in an exam will cheat and so they will cheat too. Cheating is considered more or less acceptable, but being caught cheating is not.
Italy’s public transport system is generally quick and efficient, in spite of the country’s difficult terrain and crowded cities. The Italian autostradas and rail network are among the most impressive feats of engineering in Europe, passing under mountains and over river valleys to link the various parts of Italy.
“All Italians are individually perfect, but all Italians know that gli altri (other Italians) are imperfect.”
Trains usually run to schedule, despite the absence of an authoritarian government. One of Mussolini’s more successful moves, and perhaps the only one he is universally remembered for, was persuading people that his government improved the efficiency of public transport; research has since proved that it made little or no impact on it at all, with trains being just as punctual in the periods before and during his regime as after it.
Crime & Punishment
All Italians are individually perfect, but all Italians know that gli altri are imperfect. So Italian criminal law starts from the premise that you are guilty until you are proved innocent.
Italian criminals have few worries because the chances of being caught are very slim. The perpetrators of 83% of all crimes committed have yet to be brought to book, including 97% of theft, 64% of homicide, 86% of robbery and 72% of kidnapping.
“Italian criminals have few worries because the chances of being caught are very slim.”
Punishment tends to involve either fines or imprisonment or both. Although Italian prisons are generally overcrowded and not particularly pleasant places to spend time, they are more comfortable than those in northern Europe and the United States. Indeed, conditions for imprisoned mafia bosses are said to be pretty cushy thank you, and are regularly criticised in public for being so.