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Letters from Rome

February 16, 2010

No Laughing Matter

Judith Harris
Onna in the Abruzzo: the town that was no more

SNAP/SHOTS ITALY. A leaked wiretap from investigations into suspected irregularities in the post-quake reconstruction in Abruzzo, shows a cynical dialogue among two eminent...

February 12, 2010

Dr. Bertolaso, How Could you Do this to Us?

Judith Harris

He was once considered the "man of reconstruction" in earthquake-devastated L'Aquila. Now he is accused to have received sexual favors in return for awarding lucrative building...

January 17, 2010

Crackdown on Culture Crime: Italy’s Proud Carabinieri Art Squad

Judith Harris

The message: it works! Italy’s campaign to crack down on thefts of its treasures of art and archaeology has borne fruit, and the proof is in the statistics in the year-end...

January 11, 2010

While Calabria Burns

Judith Harris
Immigrants leave the town of Rosarno in a bus after the riots. (Uploaded on Flickr.com by Peregrinus2009 Coyright AFP 2010)

“I came here to find Heaven. I found Hell”

January 5, 2010

Italy. Slouching into the New Decade

Judith Harris
Not a New Year celebration. Champagne & mortadella in Senato after the fall of the Governo Prodi

Behind distracting and futile political catfights, real problems hurtle toward Italy, no less than other countries, but with a few specifically Italian aggravating factors

December 16, 2009

The Attack on Berlusconi and the Vicious Climate of Italy's Political Discourse

Judith Harris
A model of Milan's Duomo cathedral - like the one used to batter Italian PM Silvio BerlusconI

The action of an isolated, disturbed youth would seem to reflect the harsh language and vicious climate that has become the hallmark of discourse between government and opposition..

December 11, 2009

Leonardo Sciascia’s Mafia

Judith Harris

Predictably, rhetoric marked the twentieth anniversary of the death of Leonardo Sciascia on November 20. But rhetoric was the opposite of Sciascia. If anything, the Sicilian...

December 7, 2009

Supergrass Gaspare Spatuzza links Italy's Premier Silvio Berlusconi to the Mafia

Judith Harris

A heated weekend unfolds in Italy while media and politicians discuss new "revelations" about the relationship between Mafia and politics.

November 24, 2009

Sicilian Opera at La Scala. Director Emma Dante's Unorthodox "Carmen"

Judith Harris
Emma Dante

On the occasion of the opening of the grand opera season at La Scala Theater in Milan, Emma Dante, a brave new theater director from Palermo, is presenting what promises to be an...

October 15, 2009

A Week in Politics, Italian Style

Judith Harris
Italy's Chaber of Deputies

Italy's political discourse today is particularly interesting to me as a foreign journalist, but also as a writer...

September 8, 2009

L’Aquila: Riccardo Muti and Music for Hope and Brotherhood

Judith Harris

Riccardo Muti led a free concert in L'Aquila for survivors of the earthquake. The conductor, between engagements in Salzburg and Chicago, directed an all-Abruzzese scratch...

August 30, 2009

Pre-rinsing the news

Judith Harris

Manipulation of the news creates its own truth, and this is a danger for democracy.

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