The Real Italy: Behind the Colliseum

When Americans come to visit Italy, we see a country full of natural and historical beauty. All should be able to experience the incredible sites in Italy. But, the Colosseum in Rome, canals in Venice, and art in Florence is about the extent to which our knowledge of this country goes.

The real Italy is a mess.

In Italy, it is not so much what you can and can't do, but what you can get away with. The laws here are so rarely followed that the only times people realize they exist are when the state makes a big, publicized bust to assure the population that they are really doing something. Laws only exist if there is literally a police officer in sight, but even then they are just rough guidelines. If you have ever driven in Italy, you know what I am talking about.

As a result, efficiency is a foreign concept to Italians. Lines at a bank to make a simple deposit can average -- average -- around an hour wait. People waiting for public buses will often find themselves at the stop for up to 30 minutes, only to find that when the bus finally comes, the next one is literally right behind it. If you need something from the government, such as some sort of legal document, you might as well bring a tent.

Since both the state and private businesses are not forced to follow strict codes of conduct, they don't. There is no visible minimum wage in Italy, despite what the official law is. In fact, many people work for free, in their version of an internship (tirocino). With this, someone is told that if they work unpaid for a certain number of months (usually three), they will have the opportunity to get paid after that, which happens sometimes, and othertimes not. I personally have a friend who works in an office of ten people, three of which are paid. The other seven are continually rotated so that they never need to be paid.

The unemployment rate in Italy is through the roof. At a staggering 9.2% in the summer of 2009, it is predicted to go above 10% in the coming months. These are leaving many educated college graduates without work, or forcing them to work for free.

Making it more difficult to find jobs, employers openly discriminate based on age, gender, and looks. It is extremely common to find a maximum age on a job listing. This is because employers know that they can get away with paying younger employees less. Women have a very difficult time finding jobs that are not based around their looks, and are often encouraged to include pictures with their resume. For this, many females pay to get professional photos taken just so that they can land a job as a secretary, or similar. When a female reporter publicly asked the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi what a young woman should do to find work in Italy, he responded that she should find someone rich to marry like his son.

Berlusconi is too busy vacationing with 17-year old girls (his wife is leaving him for this), doing his duties as president of the AC Milan soccer team, and running the largest television station in Italy, Mediaset (owned by him) to focus, or really care, about the country. Berlusconi was elected based mostly on charisma; he is a smooth talker who can often use his charm to get himself out of a mess. But there is also a belief among Italians that he is a rags-to-riches story, he came from nothing to become the richest man in Italy (which he currently is, talk about conflict of interest). This is false, however, because he was lent great amounts of money to start his endeavours.

These are only a few of the problems that result from Italy's poor infrastructure and government management. However, the point is not to have pity on Italians, after all, they elected Berlusconi. The fact is that we, as Americans, should care a little about this place that we love so much and visit so often. I often find myself trying to create excuses for Americans who come to Rome, either to study or vacation, and treat it like a playground, arguing that we are not really like that. Too many of us are content to rush in --pasta, pizza, Colosseum, wine, art -- and leave, with no regard for our hosts. We often further the image of ignorant Americans without even meaning to.

Learn a little before your next vacation, it will take you a long way to understanding not only the beautiful, but the realy Italy.