Giro di Padania - WTF?

[Will1985]

Don't forget the concept of Italy as a unified (political) nation is only 150 years old. Many still consider themselves to have a stronger regional identity and still use a dialect.
(PS I used to live in Italy)

 

[rich p]

Don't forget the concept of Italy as a unified (political) nation is only 150 years old. Many still consider themselves to have a stronger regional identity and still use a dialect.
(PS I used to live in Italy)

I went to Alto Adige a few years ago hoping to improve my Italian and found that German was the first language and they felt more affinity with Austria than Italy.

 

[Noodley]

Who is leading the race?
Have there been any decent crashes?

 

[PpPete]

I went to Alto Adige a few years ago hoping to improve my Italian and found that German was the first language and they felt more affinity with Austria than Italy.

Had a similar experience in the Dolomiti! But on one walk we ended up in a rifugio that was in a region that had neither German nor Italian as it's first language. The local dialect is Ladin ! Like the Romanche language used in parts of Switzerland this is a near relative of Ancient Latin.
Somewhat unusually the proprietor also spoke no English, and didn't want to make the effort to understand our poor Italian or our slightly better German . Cue major communication failure until we found that French was much more acceptable. I mean WTF was that all about ? Cultural diversity gone mad.

 

[theclaud]

No need to apologise! Your post demonstrates a reasonable level of ignorance of politics in Italy and Lega Nord in particular, which is fine since I'm guessing you've never lived there? Reading about the background and idealogy doesn't give you any sense for how Lega is viewed in Italy, nor how politics works there. No point in getting dragged into a political debate here, but the concept of a Tour of Padania would seem as natural to any Italian (including those from the south) as a Tour of Britain. Most people would just laugh and carry on - kind of the Italian way - and treat it for what it is, a bike race, and enjoy the cycling. It's just the way it is there / here (I live in Milan half the time).

Much as I'm enjoying the spirited come-back, I think FM is right, and though I don't dispute that a lot of people (both here and there) might shrug their shoulders at the whole affair, as a caricature of Italians as a whole it's slightly patronising. Presumable Bugno is being terribly un-Italian when he says "Everybody should have understood that the race would have been linked to a very distinct political party. They should have said no. Everybody should have said no."?

 

[rich p]

Indeed, Pete. They also spoke Ladin where I stayed. Incomprehensible and far too many vowels.

Italy is a bizarre conglomeration. I heartily recommend this book for an understanding of it...

Dark Heart of Italy


My daughter's in-laws come from Puglia where they speak a local dialect known as Cisternese which is only used in their 10 mile radius. The next village/town has a different dialect with many different nouns.

Of course, the strangest thing about Italy is that despite widespread knowledge of his misdemeanours they still continue to vote for Berlusconi.

Furba is a word which sums up the Italian psyche, meaning colloquially that despite recognising that cheating and malpractice is wrong, it is nevertheless something to admire, and the bigger or longer the slyness and cunning, the greater sneaking admiration.

 

[srw]

Furba is a word which sums up the Italian psyche, meaning colloquially that despite recognising that cheating and malpractice is wrong, it is nevertheless something to admire, and the bigger or longer the slyness and cunning, the greater sneaking admiration.

...they're so screwed up they can't even spell fubar.

 

[Buddfox]

Much as I'm enjoying the spirited come-back, I think FM is right, and though I don't dispute that a lot of people (both here and there) might shrug their shoulders at the whole affair, as a caricature of Italians as a whole it's slightly patronising. Presumable Bugno is being terribly un-Italian when he says "Everybody should have understood that the race would have been linked to a very distinct political party. They should have said no. Everybody should have said no."?

You're right, fair point. I didn't intend to imply that Italians as a rule are so laid back so as not to have an opinion on anything. Organising a tour like this strikes me as being the typical thing Lega would do (their self-promotion skills are arguably rivalled only by Berlusconi IMHO), and as such it would not be something that would attract a lot of disquiet in Italy.

 

[Blue Hills]

Just come across this thread by a very roundabout way (I think I was looking for some stuff on touring) but to the person above who reckons that the Lega isn't extreme or contains a lot of racism, check out this, in patricular that charming Lega poster.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1943676,00.html

There's much else availlable about the pronouncements of the Lega and many of its members, including Bossi. Just look for some of his charming thoughts on immigrants.

They may have some points worth listening to about Italian federalism (Italian unity never seems to have worked) but they are buried by a lot of what can only be termed hatred. And they aren't even as clean as they would like to make out when it comes to raiding the state coffers, something they reckon is limited to the south.