Bossi, his family and close political allies had become more ‘southern’ and more ‘Roman’ than the real Romans and southerners.
In this new European era of technocratic majoritarianism, Italian voters are convinced by none of the political parties. They hope their new Prime Minister might fix things. And post-Monti? There are signs of a rallying around the 'Catholic vote'.
The refusal of Italy's official agencies to acknowledge the extent of racist crime in the country reinforces the damage inflicted on its victims, says Judith Sunderland.
For years the majority of Italians tolerated the misbehaviour and legalised theft of their parliamentarians because they hoped to benefit from it as well. But no longer.
It is a month since Italy's long-term prime minister resigned. But his pervasive influence on Italy's public life and the infirmity of the country's political class mean that it is too early to call this the post-Berlusconi era, says Geoff Andrews.
During the past few weeks, Mr. Monti has named many reforms that need to be made, not including a new electoral law. But if it is true that we have lost a great deal of sovereignty, we Italians did it willingly, a long time ago, and Mr. Monti has little to do with it.
The Catholic Church is seizing the advantage offered by the debacle suffered by almost all the Italian political parties, and therefore appears set to play a growing role in Italy’s political life, ending up as the principal, though perhaps occult, arbiter of future decisions and orientations.
Riots overshadowing the "Occupy Rome" protests last Saturday showed how utterly unprepared both organisers and the police were for a predictable hijacking of the protests, while the government continues to turn a blind eye to the root causes of the discontent.
Italy's opposition has not gained in prestige due to Berlusconi's decline and the economic, political and social crisis afflicting the country. Into this political void the Roman Catholic church has stepped.
The Norwegian massacre and the gun attack on a US congresswoman were both dismissed as the work of deranged loners. But instead of signifying nothing, they were extraordinarily expressive of current political life. The author trawls through a host of supposedly pathological murders in the richest
