Category Archives: italy

Half a loaf

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Charles Lambert

There’s room for both celebration and exasperation in Italy’s new civil unions legislation. Let’s start with the good stuff. It’s been a long time coming and the fact that it’s arrived, albeit limping and mangled, is worth a raised a … Continue reading →

Posted in gay, italy, politics, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Top ten books set in Rome

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Book Depository used to have a weekly post called Tuesday Top Ten. I thought it would be fun (and useful) to pick out my top ten books set in Rome. Unfortunately, Book Depository decided to discontinue their Tuesday Top Ten, … Continue reading →

Posted in book depository, henry james, italy, pasolini, review, rome, shakespeare | 10 Comments

Image

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Charles Lambert

According to an article in today’s Independent, Maria Vittoria Brambilla, the Italian minister for tourism (seen here discussing policy with her employer), has announced that the Palio di Siena, the traditional horse races that occupy the city’s main square for … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, italy, mafia | Leave a comment

Strage

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Thirty years ago today I was teaching English at a summer school in Malvern. The students, aged between 12 and 16, were mostly from Europe and the largest group came from Italy. They rarely watched the television – I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, italy, terrorism | 1 Comment

Vatican update!

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Charles Lambert

The Vatican has been having a bit of a rough time these past few days. News arrives from Poland that the ‘miracle‘ needed to sanctify GP2 smells a bit fishy, news that has been roundly denied by B16. In 2006, … Continue reading →

Posted in corruption, hypocrisy, italy, politics, pope, religion, vatican | Leave a comment

Arseholes (kangaroo) and princes (not)

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Disaster was narrowly averted yesterday evening when Pupo, Pickles and the unknown tenor (see two posts down) came second in the Sanremo song festival. How they did this is anybody’s guess, but foul play certainly shouldn’t be ruled out and … Continue reading →

Posted in emanuele filiberto, italy, music, rai, sanremo, television | 2 Comments

Pickles returns!

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Charles Lambert

The Sanremo Song Festival started its annual five-day occupation of RAI Uno last night, with the usual mix of old lags and young hopefuls, people with talent and people with friends, songs we’ll be hearing on the radio all summer … Continue reading →

Posted in emanuele filiberto, italy, rai, sanremo | 6 Comments

But who will protect us from our protectors?

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Guido Bertolaso, the head of civil protection in Italy, looks like turning into the gift that keeps on giving. After being flown to Haiti by Berlusconi to offer his expert advice, he upset Hillary Clinton by calling US aid to … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, corruption, italy | 1 Comment

Fuck off, Binetti

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Good news for all those people, like me, who know that the best way of getting rid of Berlusconi is to concentrate votes on the Partito Democratico (PD), but just can’t stomach it while Paola Binetti, fundamentalist catholic and – … Continue reading →

Posted in berlusconi, binetti, homophobia, italy, PD, politics, religion | 4 Comments

Personality politics

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Charles Lambert

Local elections are coming up in Fondi and the walls of the town are plastered with advertising for the candidates for town mayor. They tend to appear in pairs, like teenage girls on a first night out. They use as … Continue reading →

Posted in election, italy, politics | 4 Comments