“Despite being great Europeans, when it comes to light music the Italians prefer the home-grown variety.”
Other programmes take their cue from Candid Camera and give viewers the chance to see unwitting participants reduced to tears and rage without knowing they are being watched by an audience of millions. In Complotto di Famiglia (Family Conspiracy) for instance, Maria accompanies her husband to an important business dinner for the first time. As the evening progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the glamorous hostess in a tight pink suit is paying too much attention to Maria’s husband. At a certain point she asks Maria to ‘lend her husband to her for a bit’. The husband seems to acquiesce. The ensuing scene is fraught with anguish and emotion, but the programme ends before viewers can see whether or not Maria and her husband manage to save their marriage.
“It combines titillation with a daily dose of the two things Italians enjoy most in life – debunking their politicians and laughing at others’ mistakes.”
Late-night viewing is for adults only, and ‘high quality’ films compete with sleazy strip shows where ‘housewives’ take their clothes off to win bonus prizes. Among the most successful programmes are the gameshow, Affari tuoi, the Italian version of Deal or No Deal and a programme called Striscia la notizia, which devotes half an hour each evening to investigating complaints made by callers, as well as showing and commenting on a cunningly edited collation of recently televised news and events adorned by two skimpily clad show girls whose miniscule outfits just manage to stay on during their dance routines. Presented in this way it combines titillation with a daily dose of the two things Italians enjoy most in life – debunking their politicians and laughing at others’ mistakes.
Italian newspapers are expensive and have a limited readership. Although the average daily circulation is reputed to be under 6.5 million and falling, the actual number of readers is difficult to calculate since many Italians read newspapers available in public places, in the library, the town square or the bar, while others buy more than one newspaper a day.
Most Italian newspapers are serious local papers with a national bent. Others are closely linked to political parties, like Il Giornale to Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and L’Unità to the Democratic Party of the Left. The daily newspaper with the widest circulation is the Corriere dello Sport which publishes nothing but sporting news, reflecting perhaps the real interest of the Italian public.
“The daily newspaper with the widest circulation publishes nothing but sporting news, reflecting perhaps the real interest of the Italian public.”
For gossip Italians buy glossy weekly magazines where they can read all they want about the world of Hollywood and the British or Monégasque royal families. Despite Italy being the birthplace of the paparazzi, there are few juicy stories about the love-lives and scandals of Italian politicians and people in high places, due to a long-standing tacit agreement between the powers-that-be and the press.
Italy has a fine literary heritage. Famous writers from the past include Dante Alighieri, Boccaccio and Ariosto, while amongst the recent and current are Primo Levi, Italo Calvino, Alberto Moravia, Umberto Eco and Dario Fo. Their works tend to be looked on as ‘great literature’ and, as such, are usually reserved for studying at school, or appreciating on special occasions.
For more general reading, on trains or in bed, the Italians enjoy racy, international, best-selling blockbusters such as Wilbur Smith, Danielle Steel and Dan Brown.
“Perhaps the most successful literary genre in the country which gave the world that much-loved children’s character, Pinocchio, is the comic.”
Some literary genres are colour-coded. Yellow is used for thrillers and detective stories, black for the cronaca nera or crime pages in newspapers and magazines, and pink for romantic novelettes. Italians are not great readers. The fault seems in part to lie with the educational system, but mostly with the ubiquitous television screen: it is hard to read a book and watch television at the same time, and in many houses the television set will be blaring all day and most of the night too.
Perhaps the most successful literary genre in the country which gave the world that much-loved children’s character, Pinocchio, is the comic. Italians adore book-length comics. They are often happiest of all reading the soft porn adventures of their imaginary heroes, like cowboy Tex Willer, sexy fashion victim Valentina, and the off-beat investigator of nightmares and inveterate womaniser, Dylan Dog.
Customs & Tradition
Christmas is traditionally celebrated at home with the family, and Easter is spent with friends: ‘Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi’ (Christmas with your own, Easter with whomever you want). But Easter Monday (called Pasquetta, little Easter) always involves a big family picnic. Never mind that it often rains on Easter Monday (the weather having changed with the Easter moon), this picnic is rarely called off.
“People take time off to do what Italians enjoy most, eating good food and drinking good wine at a leisurely pace in good company.”
Every Italian town and village celebrates its own saint’s day. Milan takes the day off for St. Ambrose, Turin for St. John, Naples for St. Gennaro and Rome for St. Peter.
Most places also have a sagra or festival week devoted to a composer, or food, or a sports event, or an award named after some local poet or politician. These can be on the grand scale, like the great palio (horse race) at Siena, but often they are local affairs, where the people take time off to do what Italians enjoy most, eating good food and drinking good wine at a leisurely pace in good company.
Annual holidays in Italy are mostly taken in August, when the factories in the great northern cities close as the heat of the summer makes city life unbearable, and most families head for the mountains or the seaside to cool down. Life becomes difficult for those who stay behind, as the shops close too, and it isn’t always easy to find the basic necessities of life, while those on holiday do their best to recreate the hustle and bustle of city life on the beach.
“Those on holiday do their best to recreate the hustle and bustle of city life on the beach.”
Other important holidays in Italy include 8th March, when women exchange yellow mimosa and celebrate their pride in being women, 1st May, when half the country is involved in Don Camillo-style first communions and the other half in Peppone-style workers’ parades, and 1st November (All Saints Day), when most Italians take part in serious ancestor worship, visiting their dead in the cemeteries where they repose in multi-decker tombs, stacked one above the other, like so many filing cabinets.