As an independent contractor for projects that involve public money, you always have to keep your nose finely honed to detect the stink of corruption and potential criminal consequences to yourself and your firm before accepting any assignment.

Alas, sometimes even the best research and inquiry can’t save you. Sometimes you manage to extricate ( Read more... )

Soccer has always been a passion of mine, both as a player and as a spectator.

( Read more... )

October 6th, 2004.
A lonely odyssey through the maze of the Italian health system, on a quest to remedy a condom malfunction with the morning-after pill, which in Italy was (and partly still is) commonly considered akin to an abortion attempt and therefore very difficult to obtain.

8.00 am. I call the consultorio of my nearest town (the Italian ( Read more... )

I still blame his voice.

I was listening to the news on TV one November evening in 1990, when I noticed it for the first time.
Among the many talking heads, C.M. stood out. He had a dry sense of humour, a profound knowledge of political backgrounds - and an incredibly sensual voice. Long before vocal fry became a thing, he played with the ( Read more... )

It was not a single, particular moment, that made me decide to leave Italy for good. To move back to Germany, after 26 years.

It was more of a constant accumulation of events, a mounting wave of uneasiness and doubt.

I had believed in Bella Italia with a passion, moving there at age 19 to study, work, sing, love ( Read more... )

A 65 year old Italian from Rome two days ago hit a 33 year old Romanian with his truck, on the road, and left him there to die, alone, fleeing without even thinking about calling the police, obviously ( Read more... )

Libertà per gli assassini
Scritto da Salvatore Borsellino giovedì 24 luglio 2008 ( Read more... )

So now, who is the "Cinderella" in the C group of the EU2008 championships???? NOT Romania, who ended the match against France with a honourable 0-0. While Italy after the first half is already 2 goals behind the Netherlands (against whom, incidentally, Romania has won more than once during qualification ( Read more... )

..del noto "finto immigrato" Fabrizio Gatti, non nuovo a queste imprese (tra le altre cose era lui a far scoppiare il "caso" dell'ospedale romano pieno di topi e non so che altro), che si è finto romeno in giro per l'Europa per un paio di giorni, senza passaporto e con un decreto di espulsione italiano in mano, per vedere se era vero che il resto ( Read more... )