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Local Italy
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: Why building a bridge to Sicily won't unite Italians
Inside Italy For Members In this week's Inside Italy newsletter, we look at why the government is so enthusiastic about the Messina Strait bridge project, and why work may begin soon despite the challenges threatening to blow it off course. Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news and talking points from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Is construction work finally about to begin on the long-promised Messina Strait bridge? The Italian government is expected to give its final approval to the plans within the next two weeks. An enormous amount has been written about this contested bridge project and its viability over the years. Anyone who follows Italian current affairs will be aware of the long list of convincing arguments against the plan, which include a risk of major earthquakes at exactly the point it is set to be built, and the frequent high winds (of up to 140 kilometres per hour) that the Strait is notorious for. Then there's the cost to the Italian state, currently estimated at 13.5 billion euros, and the fact that a lot of that money is widely expected to be siphoned off by the mafia. Practical problems with building a bridge over the Strait have in the past thwarted everyone from the emperor Charlemagne, the Bourbon King of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand II, Italy's first King Victor Emmanuel, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, and more recently, Silvio Berlusconi. The idea is said to date back to the Roman Empire. Powerful men are well known for wanting to build physical monuments to their own greatness. And this particularly difficult construction challenge seems to attract them like a magnet. Enter Matteo Salvini, the latest champion of the bridge project, who seems to genuinely believe that he will succeed where so many others could not. In his position as Giorgia Meloni's deputy prime minister and infrastructure minister, he intends to make his late ally Berlusconi's plans a reality - and to name the bridge after him. And, after recent changes to the design, this is now set to be the longest suspension bridge in the world, at 3.3 kilometres. Salvini now insists that construction work will begin this summer, and that the bridge will be ready to use by 2032. Although he did say work would start last summer, as well. He has been accused of backing the attention-grabbing bridge project in order to remain in the spotlight, as his League party has been eclipsed by Meloni's Brothers of Italy. But it doesn't seem like a wildly popular policy to stake his career on. There's significant opposition to the project in Sicily itself, while it's not thought to be popular among Salvini's traditional support base in northern Italy, either. In fact, it seems that few people outside of the government are enthusiastic. Media reports often use the aphorism 'the bridge that divides Italy' when talking about the project, but I find most Italians I talk to are instead united in resignation over the fact that the state is, yet again, spending enormous sums of money on something no-one asked for. Do people think a bridge will actually be built? ' Boh, chissà?' To most of those I've asked, it hardly seems to matter. Residents of Messina and Reggio Calabria say they haven't been involved in consultations over the project planned to connect their cities. The mayor of Messina complained at the time that the government didn't even contact him before announcing the project's revival. Many people would like better transport links between Sicily and the mainland, as well as better infrastructure within Sicily itself. But the government in Rome doesn't seem overly concerned with, for example, replacing the old diesel trains still running on many stretches of track. Salvini meanwhile has described the bridge as 'a model for the Italy that believes in itself.' Looking at history, it seems more like a project for leaders who believe in their own exceptional power. The idea surfaced at the birth of a kingdom, and then of a dictatorship, at the peak of the post-war economic boom, and now again amid the rise and rise of the political right in Europe and beyond. Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government at the moment appears to feel untouchable, confident that it will reach its full term and then serve another, where so many Italian administrations have failed after just a year or two (an average of 18 months, to be precise). So why not build a bridge? To succeed, they'll have to defy both the gale-force winds on the Messina Strait, and the equally powerful and unpredictable winds of change in Italian politics, for the next seven years at least. Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news and talking points in Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
Local Italy
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: How Meloni's government is boycotting the citizenship referendum
Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. With just over three weeks to go until Italy holds a landmark referendum on easing citizenship rules, discussions over the upcoming vote are heating up in Italian media. One question several political commentators have tried to answer this week is whether the citizenship reform, which proposes to cut the current residency requirement for naturalisation claims from 10 years down to five, stands any chance of passing. As with all referendums in Italy, the citizenship vote will need a voter turnout of over 50 percent for its result to be valid. If this threshold (or quorum) is not met, the referendum won't be valid, whatever its result may be. So far, most reports have said that it's unlikely that the citizenship referendum will reach the quorum, noting that voter turnout in referendums has historically been low in Italy. According to La Pagella Politica, Italians have been called to vote in 29 referendums since 1995, with only four reaching the quorum. Low voter turnout in recent votes has often been attributed to growing political 'disengagement', as an increasing number of citizens choose to refrain from participating in public life. But if the upcoming referendum were to fall short of the quorum, shattering hopes of a quicker path to citizenship for around 2.5 million people, it would be hard to pin the outcome on political disaffection alone. Several members of PM Giorgia Meloni's ruling coalition, which strongly opposes the citizenship reform, have called on supporters to abstain from voting in recent weeks. Igor Iezzi, an MP from Matteo Salvini's anti-immigration League, said earlier this month that his party's official stance was 'abstention'. 'Our goal is to prevent the quorum from being reached,' he added. Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa, from PM Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, went even further last week, saying he would "campaign to ensure that people stay home". La Russa's announcement came amid reports that Brothers of Italy management had sent a memo to party members urging them to promote abstention from the referendum. The ruling coalition's calls to boycott the vote have sparked outrage among the opposition's ranks, with many accusing the government of undermining citizen participation in public life and deepening political apathy. Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, said the government's calls to boycott the vote were a 'betrayal of the constitutional principles that establish voting as a civic duty'. Similarly, Riccardo Magi, leader of the centre-left +Europa party, said that voting 'is the foundation of democracy' and 'in a normal country, government institutions should do everything to encourage voting'. So far, the government has responded to critics by saying that encouraging abstention is legitimate under Italian law and that previous left-wing administrations also called on voters to abstain from voting in referendums. While both points are factually accurate, they leave one fundamental question unanswered: why is the government encouraging its supporters to boycott the referendum? Some have argued that Meloni's administration may be 'afraid' of losing the head-to-head contest with the broad centre-left coalition backing the citizenship reform. I see this as unlikely as the government currently enjoys the support of over 45 percent of voters and would have the numbers to overcome the pro-reform bloc. I believe that, rather than acting out of fear of an electoral face-off with the centre-left coalition, Meloni's government may be trying to smother any semblance of public debate on citizenship. Calls to change Italy's naturalisation laws, which are among the toughest in Europe, are nothing new, but public discussions on the topic have struggled to gain momentum outside of campaign groups, largely because of deliberate sabotage by the government. I suspect that the ruling coalition may once again be trying to prevent tens of thousands of citizens from forming well-informed opinions about Italy's citizenship laws – and from realising why they need to change.
Local Italy
10-05-2025
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: Could Venice-style entry fee schemes solve Italy's overtourism woes?
Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. The picturesque town of Sirmione, on the banks of Italy's Lake Garda, has made national headlines in recent days after it was overwhelmed by tens of thousands of visitors last weekend. Known for its thermal springs and picture-perfect old town, the northern Italy destination was visited by around 75,000 people over the weekend – more than nine times its number of residents (8,000). Videos widely shared on social media showed large groups of tourists cramming Sirmione's streets, as well as the narrow path leading to its famous 13th-century fortress. Some video clips also showed cars and local buses as they became entangled amidst gridlocked crowds. After last weekend's events, Sirmione's Safety Councillor Massimo Padovan said that authorities are considering 'an entry fee for day-trippers' along the lines of Venice's contested ticketing system. 'The idea would be to exclude residents, workers, second-home owners, and 'overnight' tourists [from the entry fee]' Padovan said, adding that the scheme would rely on a 'simple, digital' payment platform. Sirmione is not the first Italian tourist destination to consider introducing a Venice-style entry fee system to manage tourist flows and reduce crowds. Naples, which was visited by nearly 15 million people in 2024, is also mulling over the idea of charging day-trippers a fee to access the city amid growing complaints from locals about overcrowding. In December last year, councillor Gennaro Esposito, from Italy's centrist party Azione, proposed the rollout of a €5 entry fee to access Naples' historic centre 'during periods of high tourist influx, such as Christmas." The proposal is currently being examined by Naples' city hall. Meanwhile, Auronzo di Cadore, in the northern Veneto region, is drafting plans to set up an online 'booking system' to access the Tre Cime di Lavaredo – one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps – as the destination continues to see up to 8,000 visitors a day. 'Regulating access is the only solution," Renato Frigo, president of the Veneto branch of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI), said. 'We need to relieve the entire road system around Lake Misurina, which becomes unlivable in the summer, as well as during the holidays when tourist access reaches its peak,' he added. As multiple tourist destinations around the country eye up the possibility of charging tourists for access, public opinion seems to be split on the issue. While many residents and local officials in tourist hotspots advocate for entry fees as a means to alleviate the pressure of overtourism, critics argue that such measures would do little to reduce visitor numbers and risk transforming historic cities and towns into "theme parks". Several hospitality industry operators and tourist associations have also raised concerns that ticketing systems may be used by cash-strapped town halls as an underhand way to boost revenue. Though there's no clear evidence yet that entry fees can significantly reduce tourist numbers (and there surely isn't any in Venice), I am not entirely against the idea of charging a small sum to access popular destinations. Dozens of cities and towns around Italy have suffered under the pressure of overtourism in recent months, with local infrastructure often failing to cope with tens of thousands of visitors. As local authorities look for ways to make tourism more sustainable, ticketing systems may yet prove useful in managing visitor flows if paired with other measures including improved transport and mobility infrastructure, and the promotion of lesser-known areas and alternative itineraries. I do, however, have major doubts over the practical enforcement of the proposed entry fee schemes. How exactly would these systems work in locations with dozens of entry points? Would authorities install turnstiles at each entry? And how many local officers would it take for these measures to run smoothly? I also have concerns over what exactly the money raised through these entry fee schemes would be spent on – something that no local authority has taken the care to explain so far. Would it be reinvested in works to improve tourist services, public transport and cultural offerings? Or would it be just a way to replenish city coffers? In other words, dove andranno a finire i soldi? (where will the money go?) Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news and talking points in Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.
Local Italy
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: The betrayal of the Italian diaspora and why thousands of graduates are leaving
Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Millions worldwide were stripped of the right to apply for Italian citizenship last week after Italy's government issued an urgent decree drastically tightening the country's rules on citizenship by descent (or citizenship iure sanguinis). Under the previous system, Italy placed no generational limit on descent claims, with most people who could prove a direct line of descent all the way back to the country's foundation on March 17th, 1861 eligible to apply. Bar a few exceptions, the only limitation was that no one in the line of descent lost or renounced their Italian citizenship before the birth of their child. Under the new rules, however, only people with an Italian parent or grandparent born in Italy, or with an Italian parent who lived in Italy for a minimum of two continuous years, now qualify for citizenship. The abrupt change in law has sparked anger and frustration among swathes of Italy's diaspora. "They destroy decades of precedent and tear away the hopes of millions of Italians worldwide. To qualify and then not on a whim overnight is absolutely devastating," said W. Guarineri in Virginia in response to our recent survey. "Waiting years, spending thousands of dollars, and to then have the rug pulled out from underneath a terrible way to treat anyone," added Asher Texeira. Italy's government has so far insisted that the clampdown was necessary to put an end to widespread 'abuse' of the previous citizenship laws and ensure that new citizens have an "effective connection with the country of origin". Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani specifically pointed to the growing "commercialisation of Italian passports", lamenting that the 'old' citizenship system was being increasingly exploited as a route to gaining access to the EU for practical purposes including residency and travel. The Italian government has arguably done little to back the above statements with concrete data and examples – but let's assume, for the sake of argument, that they are valid and that Italy's citizenship rules experienced 'years of abuses' as claimed by Tajani. Was excluding millions of people of Italian descent from citizenship overnight the only available avenue to prevent 'abuse'? Was destroying the plans of thousands of prospective Italians who had already spent significant time and money on putting together their applications the only way to go? And if the presence of 'effective' ties to Italy was a concern, why not consider introducing a language test or a civics exam before all but shutting the door on ancestry claims? In my view, the imposition of such drastic citizenship changes without any actual notice and transition period is one of the worst betrayals in modern Italian history. It is an insult to the heritage of the millions of Italians who left the country in the late 19th and 20th century in search of a better future. And it is an even more despicable insult to the unimaginable sacrifices they made to build a new life hundreds of miles away from their homeland. Italy has turned its back on the sons and daughters of its diaspora – and there are no excuses for it. Why thousands of graduates are leaving Italy 'Brain drain' – the emigration of highly trained or qualified individuals in search of better living conditions – has been a persistent issue in Italy in recent years. We got yet another reminder of it earlier this week, when data from national statistics agency Istat revealed that around 352,000 people aged 25 to 34 left Italy between 2013 and 2022, with nearly 38 percent of them (132,000) holding a university degree. According to Istat, only 104,000 people in the same age bracket returned to Italy over the same period of time, leaving the country with 87,000 fewer graduates. Istat President Francesco Maria Chelli said that in 2022 alone Italy lost 12,000 graduates to emigration, adding that the main destination countries were Germany (3,000 Italian graduates) and the UK (2,600). Besides exacerbating Italy's demographic crisis, the loss of young talent is believed to have far-reaching consequences on the country's economy. According to research group Fondazione Nord Est, brain drain cost Italy an estimated €134 billion between 2011 and 2023 (over €10 billion a year). But what's at the root of the problem? The consensus among experts is that Italy's brain drain is for the most part due to a chronic shortage of job opportunities, especially in the south of the country, and non-competitive wages. Though it has decreased significantly over the past few years, Italy's youth unemployment rate (calculated on people aged between 15 and 24) continues to be among the highest in the EU. It stood at 18.7 percent in January of this year – the eight-highest in the bloc and well above the EU average of 14.6. Young Italian graduates struggle to find jobs that match their education and skills, and even when they do find work that matches their qualifications, the positions often pay notably less than the same positions in other EU countries. According to a 2023 report by Istat, Italian workers earn approximately €3,700 less per year than the average EU worker and over €8,000 less than the average German worker. In a bid to reverse its brain drain, Italy has in recent years introduced generous tax incentives for highly qualified Italian workers living abroad who choose to return home. But if the government really intends to curb the exodus, much stronger measures are needed, starting with steps to create more job opportunities for young graduates and efforts to make wages more competitive at a European level.
Local Italy
29-03-2025
- Automotive
- Local Italy
Inside Italy: How bad are Italy's taxi shortages and will things ever improve?
Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip from Italy that you might not have heard about. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. If there's one thing about Italy that international residents and frequent visitors to the country often complain about, it's taxis. Long queues and interminable waiting times when trying to hail a ride are far from uncommon, especially in popular tourist destinations and major cities such as Rome, Milan and Naples. The problem is anything but new. News reports of holidaymakers and residents having to wait well over an hour for a taxi ride have figured extensively in both national and international media in recent years. In June 2023, Italy's newspaper of record Il Corriere della Sera described the state of taxi services in the country as 'chaos', citing 'extremely long queues at stations and airports' and 'endless waiting times on the phone'. Nearly two years on, the situation seems to be largely the same. There were tensions in Milan in late February after Milan Fashion Week operators warned that taxis were 'nowhere to be found'. More recently, critical taxi shortages have also been reported in Monza, Lombardy, and Bologna, Emilia Romagna. Why are taxis so hard to find in Italy? The situation is mostly attributable to local authorities not issuing new taxi licences for years or, at times, decades. According to news site Wired, Naples, which currently has 2,364 taxis (around 25 for every 10,000 residents), hasn't issued new licences since 1997. But the long-standing 'taxi drought' in the Campanian city pales in comparison to that seen in Genoa, Liguria, and Livorno, Tuscany, whose authorities haven't granted new licenze since 1980 and 1977 respectively. As for Rome, the city hasn't issued new licences since 2004 (though 1,000 should be assigned at some point this year following a 'historic' public tender last year) At present, there are 7,838 taxis in the capital – that's around 35 for every 10,000 residents. For context, London has some 19,000 taxis (106 vehicles per 10,000 residents) while Paris has 18,500 (nearly 90 per 10,000 residents). If at this point you're wondering why most Italian cities haven't issued new licences in years, especially considering how frequent complaints about queues and long waits are, the answer largely lies in the power of Italy's taxi driver associations. The Italian taxi driver lobby – which is regarded as one of Europe's most powerful lobby groups – has long successfully opposed any change to the status quo, blocking local authorities' attempts to issue new licences and hindering central government efforts to open up the sector to competitors. Over the years, drivers have staged mass protests and have even resorted to violence to demand stringent restrictions on private-hire vehicles (NCCs) and maintain their monopoly. "When they mobilise, their ability to paralyse politics is evident," Matteo Hallisey, from the centrist +Europa party, told Euractiv. refer to it as a 'mafia'. So will things ever improve? There were signs that things could potentially be starting to change in 2023, when Italy's competition watchdog opened an investigation into the taxi sector following the emergence of "critical issues" in Rome, Milan and Naples. The watchdog said it had requested information on the number of active licences and pledged to "examine possible initiatives aimed at protecting consumers' amid reports of long waiting times. But the investigation didn't result in the shakeup many had hoped for, with the competition body only issuing a series of non-legally-binding recommendations to raise the number of available taxi licences. Both Rome and Milan have since decided to issue new licences. Milan started issuing the first of 450 new licences earlier this year, while Rome is set to grant 1,000 new licences by the end of the year. However, the scale of the planned additions is often believed to be too small to bring about any significant changes. According to Nicola Zaccheo, president of Italy's transport regulation authority ART, Rome's move to add 1,000 taxis will only scratch the surface, as the city would need 'over 2,000' additional cabs to solve its shortages. Similarly, the 450 additional licenses planned for Milan are 'not enough' and people will continue facing 'enormous problems when looking for a taxi' in the coming months, according to Andrea Giuricin, a professor of Transport Economics at the University of Milan-Bicocca. As a final point, Italy's current government is unlikely to back any major proposals to liberalise and deregulate the taxi sector. Both Brothers of Italy and the League sided with taxi drivers when then-PM Mario Draghi unsuccessfully tried to open up the market to competitors in 2022. Last year, League leader and Deputy PM Matteo Salvini signed off on a round of stringent new rules for NCC drivers, including the requirement to observe a 20-minute waiting period between rides. Lazio's TAR Tribunal later suspended the enforcement of the new requirement after deeming it unlawful.
