There are a thousand Italys, but also two. One, the stereotype, is exuberant, extravagant, with an eye for bellezza; the other austere, skilled and hard-working. The first is associated with the south; the second, the north.
The two Italians who bestride the news agenda invert these images. Sergio Marchionne, head of Fiat, would-be creator of a transnational auto behemoth, was born in southern Abruzzo; the other, Silvio Berlusconi, Italian premier and billionaire, is the son of a Milanese banker, epitome of northern savvy. But the industrialist is the austere one; the politician-oligarch is scandalously extravagant. They project not just two images of Italy present, but conflicting visions of Italy’s future.
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