As of Monday the 15th, it looks as if Alitalia might begin to cease operations. Talks between the unions and the “new Alitalia” have not been going anywhere, and the airline simply does not have the cash to go on. The differences between what the unions want and what the new Alitalia is willing to…

In my first article about the Alitalia soap opera, I wrote: In my view, Alitalia is emblematic of the rot that riddles the Italian economy. Which is why I focus on the issue so much. It won’t be the first or last time that politicians do shady deals to the detriment of the populace, in…

Not surprisingly, the various unions involved in the “new Alitalia” deal rejected the contract proposed by the company designated to buy up the good bits of Alitalia. These negotiations ought to be interesting, as everyone is between a rock and a hard place: no pilots, no new Alitalia. No new Alitalia… well, maybe some of…

The Economist is, as could be expected, pretty harsh with the Alitalia situation: On a wing and a taxpayer’s prayer An aspect of the story that has continued to develop in recent days, is that the governor of the Lazio region, and now the president of the province of Milan have both expressed interest in…

“Home” for me in Italy is Padova, in the Veneto region, so that area is the part of Italy I know best. Venice is of course visited by tourists from all over the world, but I think Verona is quite worthwhile too, as a place to spend several days. Venice Truth be told, I don’t…

I ended up writing quite a long comment on a site I frequent about places to see in Italy, and it occurred to me that I don’t often write much about that here. To tell the truth, part of the reason is that I think I could write a book about it, there’s so much…

This was part and parcel of their plans to rework things, so it’s not unexpected. One thing I didn’t mention in the previous article, is that trading of Alitalia shares has been suspended since June, meaning small time investors who perhaps bought shares thinking that Berlusconi was going to turn it around will probably be…

The latest Alitalia news: A new company has been formed (“Compagnia Aerea Italiana”) which will be where investors put money to buy out the assets of the old “Alitalia”, which will be allowed to fail under a bankruptcy law that the government will craft just for the occasion. In reality, the company will be divvied…

Ferragosto, August 15th, is the D-Day of vacation season in Italy, the day when everyone who is in any way mobile gets out of the big cities and heads to the mountains, the beaches… anywhere but home. The month of August is itself pretty much a writeoff in Italy, and the middle of August is…

I read an insightful book a while back, called The Paradox of Choice, which has a lot of relevance to people in our situation: we could basically move anywhere in the US or Europe – we’re lucky enough to be able to live anywhere in a relatively large portion of our world. Along with that…