Mamma Mia by Beppe Severgnini

Author:Beppe Severgnini [Severgnini, Beppe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8478-3744-1
Publisher: Rizzoli
Published: 2011-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

Then, of course, there’s masculine pride, an ancient, pre-political emotion that lives on in Italy, and in Europe, often artfully disguised. Woman as companion, entertainer, walking admirer, rapt audience, and sleek trophy.

For instance, what happened to twenty-eight-year-old Federica Gagliardi after the G20 summit, where she managed to get her photo taken with Obama and Sarkozy? Let’s find out: “The Italian delegation replied that the woman met the prime minister during the campaign for the Lazio regional elections and expressed a desire to take part in an international mission. Her request was able to be granted because one of the premier’s secretaries was unavailable.”10 The reply was mind-boggling, but the public just chuckled and accepted it.

Courtship, a ritual that in other cultures is viewed with suspicion, survives in Italy. “When you pay someone a compliment, it must be true. Politics is like chatting up women,” explained Mr. B. to Confindustria’s youth section, before suggesting a quote from Tagore as a seduction technique: “Dreams flit from your dark eyes like swallows from their nest in spring.” He added, “Use with caution.”11

His actual, or apparent, female conquests are campaign medals and marketing tools. His Turkish girlfriend comes in handy in Istanbul, and French women are a guarantee of success in Paris. (“I’m really popular with the French. Look at how many French girlfriends I’ve had!”)12 All delivered tongue in cheek, to leave himself an exit strategy. Yet overall, the impression is that these crowd-teasing lines are sincere. Deep in their hearts, Italians struggle with the same dilemma.

For as long as he could, Mr. B. strove to keep the public image of his marriage traditional. There was no shortage of family photographs. But he did have a theory on the sincerity of hypocrisy: “I’ll give you a naughty answer. I have often been faithful,” he said in the course of a radio interview in 2006, when he also announced he had taken a vow of chastity13 in support of an election victory he missed by 25,000 votes out of 38 million.14 A temporary vow, obviously, just as some people diet between meals and still expect to slim.

Now and again, Mr. B. slips up and says something nerve-janglingly awful, or repeats himself, but you get the feeling that it’s more from a lack of imagination than out of tactlessness. Among the ruins of earthquake-devastated L’Aquila in May 2009, Mr. B. asked Lia Beltrami, the Trento provincial councilor with responsibility for solidarity, “Can I fondle madam a bit?” On a visit to Novedrate in the province of Como, home of the e-Campus online university created by Francesco Polidori, founder of the CEPU private exam prep chain, he is reported to have said, “They’re always accusing me of surrounding myself with brainless lookers. But here are some great-looking girls who graduated with full marks yet look nothing like Rosy Bindi.”15 Ms. Bindi, who is deputy leader of the Chamber of Deputies, grumbled, “It’s a sign that the empire is crumbling.”

Wrong. The empire is striking back, and again where we are weakest.

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