Now Playing In Italy: Berlusconi In Wonderland

When we think of Italy, we picture the beautiful canals of Venice, the magnificent coliseum of Rome, the Duomo of Milano, the Ponte Vecchio of Florence and the beautiful landscape in the south. It it one of the greatest countries to visit in Europe if you are a tourist, but the political reality isn’t so nice. Italy is one of the most corrupted democratic countries in Europe. For the first time in more than 10 years, a “Presidente del Consiglio” was elected Prime Minister for the second time in a row. Italy’s unstable political situation brought 10 different governments in 10 years from 1990 to 2000. Also, when we think of politics, we automatically think of its link with organized crime. Now obviously when you’re backpacking in Italy this information isn’t very useful, you might even say: so what? I just want to visit the country! It’s true, if your planning on visiting Italy, you really shouldn’t care about the fact that Silvio Berlusconi is Europe’s richest head of state and is worth about 9.6 billion dollars, or that he controls 70% of italy’s media communication, or that he tried to vote a law that protects him from any fraud or criminal allegations, but it’s still very interesting to know.

I’ll be very honest, most people don’t really care about politics, they find it boring or annoying. But I guarantee you, when you study it and you understand it, it’s just like a game of Risk. It is all strategic and it is all about charisma and communication. Unfortunately, Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Premier, has alot of money, a good image and alot of strings that he can pull to get what he wants, because he lacks integrity. For instance, several Mafia turncoats have stated that Berlusconi had connections with the Sicilian criminal association. The informers say Berlusconi met Stefano Bontade, then one of the mafia’s most powerful bosses, because he feared for his family’s safety at a time when Italy was plagued by a wave of high-profile kidnappings. In addition, there were several rumors in the parliament that brought people to believe that he’s had personal relationship with minors, which some were prostitutes. His wife even divorced him because he would attend birthday parties of 18-year-old woman and not even attend his own son’s birthdays.  Anyhow, on march 28th 2010, Berlusconi was revoted in parliament and is now, for the second consecutive time, the Prime Minister of the Italian Democratic Republic. So for all you backpackers out there, travelling Italy or that are planning on travelling Italy or Europe, have fun, and I hope this article picked your curiosity.