Great post. After Italy was united, a politician (M. d'Azeglio) said that now that Italy's made, Italians needed to be made. That was more than 150 years ago, and it's still true today, unfortunately.
No I know I lied.. I just felt like saying that for a gag. I was born in the states. My grandfather 1 was German/Irish grandfather 2 Dutch grandmother 1 was German/Swedish grandmother 2 German. I consider myself a northern German thanks. My brother-in-law is half Italian and his grandmother was born in Italy. I consider her my grandmother too. She is in her 90s and still alive. She is very religious. Her husband was slavic and died at a very young age. When she came here her orginal name was De Daminico (I'm not sure of spelling) but the US made here change her name and put her in prison camp because she was Italian during ww2. Very nice lady I can't imagine why anyone would hate her. For some reason I've always had a lot of Italian friends and I'm considered family. I wouldn't mind visiting Italy some day.
Italy, great place to go for a vacation for sure, to live here? you'd better think hard. This country is a big fat mess. I quit watching the Italian news because it depresses me. Politics here is just a joke...a bad joke. Spain my friend, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, those are the places you want to be right now. Milan? What a shithole. Florence? Good luck finding an affordable house. Rome? Can't stand the people more than 5 minutes. I live in Bologna, the place once was a beautiful city, now it's going down the drain like the rest of Italy. Can't wait to leave again , 4 months here and I'm already depressed. Shoot