The press report the “go ahead” for the SDO project in the Pietralata Area of Rome. There will be new schools, services, social housing, private and public buildings… Central Government has just approved a € 113 Mln spending plan for the SDO.
The first idea of development in those areas started in 1957. (link) But the city has since then grown in other directions and with different goals.
Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for The New York Times, writes about Italy and the aftermath of the 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila. He has a view of things quite different from the locals one, I am not so sure he is wrong. (link)
(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) from the Big Picture
Italian Parliament is about to vote a bill that states that someone convicted to more than 2 years for crimes against the public interest cannot run for public offices.
Yes, our ruling class and political system is so corrupted and miserable that they cannot even control the list they go to elections with.. they need a law to refuse what they don’t have the strenght to refuse otherway….
This is the answer to the questions regarding two recent acquisitions made by a Real Estate Company that bought 2 houses from Mariano Apicella (a 105 sq/mt flat in Cecchina in the suburbs of Rome) and Danilo Mariani (a 100 sq/mt house near Siena).
Rumor has it that both the deal were overpaid by the Real Estate Company, but there are no evidence of this. The only evedence in the matter is that the RE Company is strictly connected to Silvio Berlusconi and that both Apicella and Mariani recently testified for the defence in a trial that had Mr Berlusconi accused with various charges connected with the “Ruby” liason. (Corriere.it)
Mariano Apicella with Silvio Berlusconi:
Danilo Mariani with Silvio Berlusconi and the late Muʿammar Abū Minyar ʿAbd al-Salām al-Qadhdhāfī:
update: Mr. Berlusconi had closed another real estate deal before the ones above: he bought a villa on lake Como paying € 21.000.000,00 (twentyonemillions euros) to Marcello Dell’Utri, one of the oldest and closest of his friends.
Antonio Paladino decided to run for the Sicilian local election. But he hasn’t yet decided where to stand. He should win, no matter which side will win.
Should you not be familiar with their names… here’s the profile for Marcello Dell’Utri, here’s the one for Silvio Berlusconi.
Do you remember that Mr Berlusconi has been Prime Minister in Italy four times… yes? Now read this.
Cormac McCarthy and the Coen brothers will forgive me for using the title of their work but is the first thing that came to my mind redin how old Italy’s ruling class is. Not that I didn’t knew, but when you face the evedence… it is something else.
The last 3 of the following took office at…:
Here’s the story from Corriere.it
It ends with this:
It’s as if Italy’s elite felt unable to cope with the challenging realities of its role and were striving to compensate in the easiest way available – by flashing the cash. But the upshot is that expensive creature comforts no long confirm superiority. Instead, they flag up inadequacy, showing how far the elite is from Italian reality. They are signaling an inability to comprehend the country’s need today for restraint and a focus on essentials.
But if you want to get an idea of what Italy has become, surely what Ernesto Galli Della Loggia wrote on Corriere della Sera is woth reading.
That is what some of the members elected to the Genova city council have to say at the beginning of every meeting. Their presence is then recorded, assuring that they will receive the 130,00 USD for the day.
The fact that just after acknowledging their presence, they leave… is just a mere coincidence. Mr. Aldo Praticò (PDL) entered the room at 2:48 pm and left at 2:49 pm and that minute gave him 130,00 USD. He was there for 1 minute on feb 16th, 2 minutes on the 15th, 3 on jan 23rd, and a staggering 4 minutes on jan 18th. This according to what La Repubblica reports here: link.
You just can’t put your adverts on the first free wall you find. You have to use the right places and pay the fees the City has set. Unless…
Unless you’re a political party. In that case you can take advantage of the exemption that the Parliament (i.e. the same political parties) has ruled, stating that the fine is reduced to a mere € 1.000,00 for every province. This means that the city of Milan – that was supposed to receive an estimate € 6.000.000,00 (yes, 6 millions euros) will have to be satisfied with less than a dozen thousands. And you still have more than 30 days to use…
It’s all true! And it has happened before…
