Italians

OK, back to my favourite game.

I will give you a word, you will be give me the stereotypes attached to it.

Today's word: "Italians".

Excitable.

Disorganised.

Couldn't run an economy if they tried.

Criminal (Mafia, Camorra usw).....

Expert tax dodgers.

HANG ON - anything positive?

Well they all eat spaghetti and pizza (that's positive?).

Fashion (they produce great fashion in Milan and hold great fashion shows and they are disorganised? Logic?).

Catholic (as an atheist I wonder whether that is a compliment, but at least it is not insulting).

If you live in Germany the chances are you have run into someone who is Italian or whose parents or grandparents came from Italy. Raise the often thorny subject of immigration here and people often automatically assume the word "Muslim" should go in front of it. Mistakenly. After Turks, Italians (principally but not always Catholics) make up the second largest immigrant group here. Maybe second or third generation - people whose parents or grandparents came to work in the Rhine-Ruhr during the boom years of the economy under Adenauer and Erhard, or came to Munich - in many ways a favourite city for them (realise incidentally that Munich in Italian is Monaco, which sounds very Mediterranean!).

A lot of Germans apparently have a lot of time for Italy, despite the occasional frustrations caused by the culture clash. I knew a lady in Hamburg back in the 1990s whose words to describe Italy and Italians were none of the above stereotypes (though she had a fondness for the best of Italian cuisine). Her chosen words? Renaissance, Michelangelo, La Scala, Florence, Raphael - you get the message? Italian culture is a major interest for many, it reflects, for all the complex historical background, what is worthwhile and positive about the country.

There are other frustrations that Germans face with Italians as we found out last night - namely Germany's national football (North American =soccer) team - no matter how good a team - can never seem to beat Italy when it matters (the same seems to happen with German club teams, Bayern München always seem to fall over when playing either of the Milan giants - AC or Inter). Maybe there is too high a level of respect in this area as well, overmuch as we saw again last night!

Meanwhile back to the stereotypes. In my IT days (which I still hope against hope are not over - look at the talent you are missing!), while working on international projects I often had to deal with the Italian business or IT personnel involved. Serious, intelligent, sometimes taciturn individuals who would not know what excitable meant, but who definitely understood organisation.

Their problems running an economy are well documented, but I wonder if that is much worse than anywhere else. Yes, you can make the mistake of picking a Berlusconi, several times, but is that any worse than the British picking the dreadful Margaret Thatcher three times, or the Americans picking the equally awful GWB twice. Pick a pragmatist like Lamberto Dini, where would Italy be now?

And as for crime, there was the infamous bloodletting, in Duisburg of all places, between elements of the Camorra a few years ago. But some brave judicial officials have tried to bring these gangs to justice and are slowly getting there.

Feeling hungry already. A lightweight vegetarian pizza would actually go down very well at the moment - with a glass or two (no more than two!) of Chianti! So there are many positive things that the Italians have brought us and to be enjoyed. Alla salute!