"But honesty would cost Italians serious money."
As a native Italian educated and industrialized in Britain and the US, this is unfortunately the brutal truth engrained deep within the Italian culture. Yes, Italian politicians are some of the most corrupt and self-preserving on earth, but that should not stop its people from living with integrity and honesty – something that must be part of the fabric of their marketplace. This is obviously lacking and hence the organic existence and growth of corruption. One only needs to visit Italy for five minutes to taste the cunning behavior of its merchants. A warm people? Absolutely! But charm can also be devious. The old Biblical term “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” is what my fellow Italians desperately need. Honesty may only look costly because they’re not used to it.

Sal, Orange County, US

Well, reading this article makes me feel confortable to have a permanent job in London. The worst thing is pheraphs the fact that italians, the citizens, are not even trying.
Is so bad to have such a beautiful toy, that all the world evies us, and let it go in such a disruptful way.

Few things to say though.
Things to save:

the rising of an industrial social class that is independent from the politics (Geox, Ferrari, Barilla ect) and everyday fights globally (with success) nowithstanding our corrupt system and lacks of competitive infrastrucures.

Our NHS, might be creepy in the south, but is a perfect model at least in the north. (Try to cure a ski injury in London, then try in Bolzano, see the difference. And it's FREE)

Low level of indebtments among the young population. Contrarily to their American or UK peers in fact, italian ragazzi manage to finish college without student loans, and don't get hung easily on credit card spending.

Davide, London, UK

Rosemary, you're dead right as usual. I keep telling youngsters who ask me for advice to leave this corrupt country as soon as they can, they may miss something like food or weather (at times) and the small-town atmosphere that in some places like Tuscany and Umbria still attracts naive foreigners, but they won't miss everything else, and if they grow up abroad, especially in some countries, and start working abroad they'd find it impossible to go back to Italy once they get to see the primitive working mentality that prevails, the lawlessness and the abominable rest. Try telling an estate agent that you want his 3% fee to be officially registered in full and he'll kick you out of his office.

Roberto, Bologna, Italy

I'm an Italian researcher in the UK originally from Venice..

I find it disgusting that in Italy researchers earn in a month less than what a gondolier or a souvenir seller makes in half a day, with one difference....a gondolier has a special tax status, by which he does not pay taxes, the souvenir seller often simply just don't pay taxes..

Then no wonder the brain drain that is currently happening there....

Prodi to the contrary is a bit too academic for the role he has.

Luca Broggiolo, London, England

Having lived for many years in both the UK and Italy, I can tell you the difference between Italy and the UK is that common Italians have not yet been enslaved by debt and submitted into becoming worker bees for the benefit of the ruling elites, as instead is the case for possibly more than 90% of the UK population.

Alex, Munich,

The funny side of the question is that Prodi has recently declared that during his summer holidays he will read Harry Potter as well as the optimistic European cited in the article. Maybe he reckons that Italy needs a wizard for an economical turnaround.

Angelo, Perugia, Europe

It speaks volumes for Italian incompetence when one realises that for a couple of hundred pounds one can open a company in the UK, whereas in Italy a similar company would cost an entrepeneur about 13,000 euros (including the obligatory professional fees). To add insult to injury, taxes must then be prepaid based on the newly formed comapany's business plan.

Roberto Avondo, Ivrea, Italy

'Romano “Mortadella” Prodi […] and his minions are seen as interested in one thing only — power'. True enough, but all politicians are, aren't they. Yet democracy is supposed to channel this politicians' self-interest towards socially useful ends. So perhaps the real question is why democracy is working so badly in Italy.

One culprit would appear to be coalition politics, which gives such great power to small minorities. Yet this is the result of rules that could well be changed under public pressure. So at the bottom one finds irrational voting by most electors: a problem with deep cultural & historical roots, with no quick remedy. Still, things are slowly getting better. One generation ago, in 1972-73, Italy's Government was printing money to the tune of almost one third of its total expenditure, in an effort to buy social peace in the teeth of Red-Brigade terrorism rooted in the Marxist ideology then prevailing within the left.

Mario Ferretti, L'Aquila, Italy

Dear Madam,
you are right but why all the British (Economist) and European establishment was so fiercely against the Berlusconi government?
The actual situation is the result of such a policy and attitude.

Viscardo Paganelli, Rome, Italy

I am Italian, I am happy to live and work outside Italy.
From far, and not being directly involved, our politics looks funnier than the Beckhams

Davide, London, UK

Dear Rosemary Righter,
I come from Italy and live in UK for a number of years and I find your comments about Italy very offensive and discriminatory. I am surprised to see such comments in a country where equal opportunities exists.

Regards
G Gatward

G Gatward, London, UK

In Italy only Tax and Mortadella

Mario, Rome, Italy

What also drags this country down is the absence of any real competition in their markets. A great example of this is the recent withdrawal of all four investment companies who declared an interest in purchasing Alitalia. Too many clauses and interference from the government eventually scared them off. Everything is run with a closed cartell mentality, the worst case of all being the criminally run south. Even those with southern roots who've made a life in the north cannot believe how backward life is when they return there on holiday. It's sad to see a country with such amazing potential held back by incompetent polititians and the mafia.

RB, Milan, Italy

We are bolted onto an EU that contains countries like Italy. The n thousand regulations spewed out by the EU are in the main followed, to their detriment, by countries like Britain yet is hard to imagine Italy following most of them and in southern Mafia controlled Italy it is impossible to imagine them following any of them. We seem to follow all the laws about fishing and enforce them, again to our detriment. I understand that Spain has an inspector stationed in Madrid that is not exactly on the coast

William Garrett, Harrow,

"Parliament blew the tax windfall on € 6.5 billion of extra welfare spending."

What a waste! Couldn't they have found something better to spend it on!

M Smith, Firenze, Italy

Dear Madam,
you are definitely right...unfortunately.

Massimo Menichetti, La Spezia, Italy

'Romano “Mortadella” Prodi […] and his minions are seen as interested in one thing only — power', writes Rosemary Righter. True enough, but all politicians are, aren't they. Yet democracy is supposed to channel this politicians' self-interest towards socially useful ends. So perhaps the real question is why democracy is working so badly in Italy.

One obvious culprit would appear to be coalition politics, which gives such great power to small minorities. Yet this is due to electoral rules that could be changed under public pressure. So the problem seems to boil down to irrational voting behaviour by most electors: a cultural problem with deep historical roots, and thus with no easy remedy. Still, things are slowly getting better. One generation ago the Italian Government was printing money to the tune of almost one third of its total expenditure, in an effort to buy social peace in the teeth of Red-Brigade terrorism roooted in the then prevailing Marxist ideology of the left.

Mario Ferretti, L'Aquila, Italy

We have far too many politicians in Britain who also only care about self preservation. If the number of MPs was cut by half I doubt if anybody would notice.

Betty Gleave, Reading, England