Campanilismo, a regional phenomenon
Italians feel connected to their city or region rather than to their country. This phenomenon is known as campanilismo (from campanile, bell tower, meaning to be loyal to the bell tower of one's village or to have the spirit of the bell tower). In the Italian Alps, a border region, this regional chauvinism is expressed all the more as linguistic particularities persist (French in the Aosta Valley and German or Ladin in the Dolomites), which strengthens regional identities. Several communities remain particularly attached to their traditions. For example, the Walser, a people of Germanic origin who arrived from the north in the Gressoney valley over eight centuries ago. The Walser culture is still evident in their architecture, customs and language. Their houses are built of wood and stone, one or two storeys high, with large balconies and protruding roofs.
The family: a value still very much alive
The influence of the Roman Catholic Church on family structure remains strong. In general, family ties are stronger in Italy than in any other Western European country. Nevertheless, the values cherished by the Church are being lost. Marriage remains the most important achievement in the lives of Italians. Religion, as a moral value, still carries a lot of weight in the family structure, but is no longer an obstacle to separation decisions. Moreover, because of economic difficulties, Italians marry late, have children later and, inevitably, have few. Christian morality is relegated to the rank of grandmotherly values for the new generation. Indeed, young people spend a lot of time meeting up with friends and looking good at the passeggiata, going out at night and partying in the latest fashionable clubs.
Italian Mammalism
The caricatures or self-criticisms of post-war cinema about the famous Italian mamma are still relevant today. It is a real social phenomenon... In Italy, the term "mammism" is used to describe the closeness of the Italian mamma, the mother of the family, to her children. For an Italian, the mamma is tutto, "everything", his life, his past, his present and his future. Without his mamma, an Italian seems disoriented! Italians are unable to cut the umbilical cord and therefore stay with their parents for a long time. In fact, 42% of Italians live within half an hour of their parents and 30% live at home. The later the children leave home, the happier the parents are. The children's point of view, even today, is not very clear. On the one hand, the luxury of allowing themselves to be nurtured is not to be neglected, while on the other, the lack of economic resources delays the departure from the family nest. Family, destinies, domestic organization and kinship in the Italian Alps are vast questions.
A low birth rate
As in all European countries, the country has a very low birth rate. It is 7.45 ‰ for a mortality rate of 10.70 ‰. It is dragged down by a constantly falling fertility rate of 1.35 children per woman, insufficient for the renewal of generations, hence the risk in the long run of a dangerous ageing of the population. However, these alarmist figures do not reflect the strong disparities between the regions: the North, where the cities of Milan and Rome have a birth deficit, and the South, where the natural balance has remained in surplus in Naples and Palermo for example. These figures reflect a real social phenomenon, a change in mentality, due to urbanisation, wealth and the declining influence of the Church, especially among young people. The gender distribution is fairly even: 49% men and 51% women. Life expectancy is 80 years for men and 84 years for women.
A large number of retirees
The problem of pensions, which is topical in France, is also so in Italy. Endemic unemployment, an ageing population and a low birth rate make it impossible to renew the working population to maintain pension contributions at a sufficient level. The legal retirement age, which was 66 for men and 62 for women, has been set at 67 for men since 2019. It will then be necessary to contribute 43 years and 3 months for men, and 42 years and 3 months for women. Covid-19 has upset the statistics, however, especially in the Dolomites and the Alpine region of Italy. While the country recorded nearly 115,000 deaths in April 2021, many were elderly people, mainly in the Lombardy and Veneto regions, the first outbreaks of the epidemic.
A classical European education system
Italy has a literacy rate of 98%. Public schooling is free and compulsory until the age of 16. School divisions run from kindergarten (3 to 5 years old) to primary school (10 years old), up to the equivalent of the French collège, called "intermediary" in Italy and sanctioned by an important end-of-studies exam (equivalent to the BEPC in France). Then, in high school, students can choose between classical, scientific, literary or artistic studies. The examination, the maturità
, corresponds to the French baccalauréat. The university system is divided into two cycles, of 5 years in total, aligned with the European "LMD" system. After the first three years, a laurea breve (which corresponds to a French licence) is awarded, then another two years are required to obtain a laurea specialistica (a master).A worrying unemployment rate
Italy has not been spared the hazards of the European crisis. The economic situation is comparable to that of France in northern Italy and to that of Spain in southern Italy. The unemployment rate is worrying (10.8% in 2019), which only accentuates the pre-existing North/South disparities.) Youth unemployment remains high, at 39% (2019). Many young workers are still living with their parents or want to move to more profitable destinations far away.
Corruption: an endemic problem
For the past 30 years, Italy has been trying to rid itself of an evil that has plagued the country: corruption, also known as the "culture of illegality". In 1992, Mani Pulite (clean hands), a large-scale operation launched by a group of Milanese judges, was intended to combat the corruption that affects the highest levels of the state and the mafia's stranglehold on them. One of the judges involved in the programme, Antonio di Pietro, implicates over 150 politicians. Fifty years of politics and many parties, first and foremost the Christian Democracy (DC) and the Socialist Party (PSI) of Bettino Craxi, collapsed after a series of scandals, corruption, tangentopoli (from tangent
, "bribe") in a myriad of new small parties changing names, spirit and alliance. But what is the result today, nearly 30 years after the Mani Pulite operation? According to the NGO Transparency International, which compiles a ranking of the perception of corruption in public administrations and the political class of 180 countries, Italy, which came in 72nd place in 2012 (European black sheep), has moved up to 51st place in 2019, thanks to the adoption of the Severino law in 2012 and the institution of a national anti-corruption authority in 2014. Corruption still plagues the country's economy, but personal enrichment has given way to the financing of major political parties, which now amounts to around €60 billion in corruption and €120 billion in tax evasion. The Italian media have made this a permanent feature of their headlines. We can cite the Mafia Capitale affair in Rome, the work for the Moses dam in Venice, the rigged tenders for the Milan Universal Exhibition... In 2019, five of the eleven members of the Superior Council of the Magistracy, Italy's highest judicial body, had to resign, caught up in a big scandal of corruption and collusion between politicians and judges. It seems that the culture of illegality still has a long way to go.The mafia still present
Along with corruption, the mafia is also an Italian-Italian problem, even in the north of the country. The mafia is one of the main issues facing the country. Some etymologists see its origin in the Tuscan word maffia, meaning "misery", others in the Arabic expression Mu'afah, which would translate as "the protection of the poor". The mafiosi were also Robin Hoods who stole from the rich to give to the poor in popular imagery. Associated in people's minds with drug trafficking and murder, the mafia's goal was initially noble: to defend the poor against the injustices of feudal society (all these good intentions have evolved...). From that time, the mafia only keeps well established codes based on the family (according to the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia, the family would be "the first root of the mafia"), honour and the law of silence. It is only over time that the mafia has developed into a real secret society, with the implacable omertà
(the law of silence that condemns to death, with a stone in the mouth, anyone who transgresses it), and a multinational organization that would make James Bond scriptwriters swoon. Because of its ramifications in the social, economic and political world, it is known in Italy as "the octopus". Only a few figures, such as Salvatore Giuliano, who is not considered a mafioso by those who defend him, have done a service to the mafia's image for a time by their resistance to the invader during the war. If it is present throughout the country, the main branches of the mafia are in the south: the Camorra in Naples, the N'Drangheta in Calabria, the Sacra Corona Unità in Puglia and the Cosa Nostra in the United States, called in Sicily the Onorata Società. Today, the mafia is more financial than criminal, and acts in parallel with the state. Every district, town and city is run jointly by the state and the mafia. According to some experts, the mafia is now the twentieth largest financial power in the world.
