I've driven into Italy from Switzerland on a few occasions. It's like one of those MMOs where you know you're in a new zone immediately. Even though you're driving you can tell exactly where the border is, not just where the official building for the import/export inspectors are, but the exact place where the Swiss asphalt ends and the Italian begins.
Switzerland: Asphalt is perfect. No potholes, it might be a Formula One track you're on. There's no weeds sticking up. There's no plants growing over the signs or the barriers on the side. Signs themselves are pristine, like they were made today. No debris such as tyres or hubcaps on the roadway, though you do cross a piece of trash every now and again. You also come across the maintenance vehicles that keep all these things clean.
Italy: Not like that.
Most of Europe is like this. Germany is pretty good. France is a bit less decayed than Italy. Denmark is better but still weeds, trash, and potholes. UK is like Denmark, not perfect but you don't get that sense of failed state that you get crossing into Italy.
One social/political thing that always comes to mind is they could hire people to clean things up. They wouldn't be highly paid, but people on low income getting paid could be good for the economy. Italy and France also have reasonably high unemployment rates, so there must be some people who would be willing? And they'd be providing a public good: everyone wants to live in a clean country.
> but the exact place where the Swiss asphalt ends and the Italian begins.
Not sure why you were being downvoted because that was my exact experience as I drove into Italy from Switzerland using the Simplon pass two summers ago. I remember taking a driving pause on the side of a “statale” one hour after having passed the border and I was amazed about how much garbage there was (“this looks exactly like back home in Romania”, I said to myself) while the same sort of stop I had encountered earlier during the trip on the Swiss shore of Lake Constanz was as clean as a four-star hotel bathroom.
On the other hand Italy is the most beautiful place in the world for history and architecture buffs such as myself, I daydream about visiting different parts of it basically every other day (I’ve already visited Rome, Turin, the shores of Lago Maggiore and Trieste, but there are a limited number of summer holidays in one’s life, plus the money eventually runs out).
I've heard a lot from other Americans about thinking France was a dump when they visited, and I really thought they were exaggerating. When I visited, I was actually pretty surprised to find it just how they described it. I wasn't sure if it was just that it was different, but I guess it's nice knowing at least some Europeans seem to agree.
What really shocked me was how often I've heard terrible things about China from Euros/Americans, but going and seeing brand new, pristine streets, no litter in the rivers and streams, and not even cigarette butts on the sidewalks. I know dirty areas exist, because they do everywhere and China is the world's manufacturing capital, but they're doing great with their urban areas these days. But most Western cities make me depressed these days. You can see what they used to be, but they feel like they're wasting away.
China has cleaned up a lot in the last few years. Went to Shanghai in like 2009 and again in 2017 and it was like night and day. Was dirty, now clean. No idea if it was luck or cultural changes or government mandate or season or what.
As for Paris one of the earlier episodes of "This American Life" is basically about how Paris's reputation is from like 100-120 years ago.
It's not the same place it was but it's still promoted as though it is. San Francisco seems similar to me. Much of what SF is famous for is from 100 years ago or more.
While we're on the topic of out dated things. I was amazed that Paris Disneyland has a Hollywood themed park of which a not small percent of which is dedicated to things that were famous in Hollywood 80+ years ago. Maybe people visiting actually know about that stuff but I'd be little surprised that references to movies from the 1930s are still relevant to most guests?
> I've heard a lot from other Americans about thinking France was a dump when they visited, and I really thought they were exaggerating. When I visited, I was actually pretty surprised to find it just how they described it. I wasn't sure if it was just that it was different, but I guess it's nice knowing at least some Europeans seem to agree.
I visited Paris last year and stayed in Montmartre. It was hardly a sterile place (like Singapore tries to be), but then again Paris has always been grungy — where do you think modern perfume came from?
What I didn't see in Paris were the tent cities like back in San Francisco. I didn't see feces all over the escalator and stairs at the metro stations like you see in San Francisco. I didn't see any hypodermic needles in the seat backs like you do on BART either.
I was in Paris over the summer; it wasn’t a “dump” by any means, though there was a layer of grime to everything that many cities have. Also the amount of smoking was shocking and to me, very unpleasant.
On the other hand, Normandy and it’s various towns and villages were so heartbreakingly beautiful, quaint, and filled with joy, I could barely believe that such a place could exist on Earth.
I went in Italy only once, but I find it's pretty similar to tropical islands in spirit. Cramped mountain roads, care free lifestyle. I remember in the 90s they were still using old buses on super tiny high altitude roads, driver would barely look while driving. It's possible that for them, it just doesn't matter, and things are ok this way. For people used to lots of infrastructure it's a shocker, but sometimes (except for collapsing bridges) I do think it's not a bad way of life.
I’m Italian and I live here in the northern parts of Italy that directly abut Switzerland. We’re not happy-go-lucky (or at the very least we aren’t anymore, haven’t been since the end of the nineties). We’re mostly exhausted and desperate about the apparently endless slide into destitution that our former political class failed to prevent (by failing to foresee the downsides of ‘globalisation’ for a cheap manufacturing economy such as ours was) and that our present political class apparently cannot reverse. It’s horrifying to live in a country that is literally falling apart around you.
It’s often described as a shift to the ‘right’ but it isn’t really. It’s a problem of terminology: there’s a definite element of euroscepticism (more on that later) which is misconstrued as ‘nationalism’ (and hence right-wing) but I’d prefer the term ‘sovreignist’. This has become the backdrop of the new political discourse, and it arises from the political class’ tendency to blame external forces “beyond their control” for the sad state of affairs. In this particular instance, as elsewhere, the supra-national EU has been called in to shoulder the blame. The new political landscape is one of new or reinvented political parties taking on the mantles of yesteryear’s left/right and decking it out in the latter-day sovreignist guise. The population, humbled and distraught, take solace in being told that all harm came from outside and buy into this narrative by voting for the new parties.
I’m a mathematician and macroeconomist by training and the fourth generation of family business-owners. It’s difficult to see a happy end to the current predicament. The Euro currency’s stipulations are now seen as strictures imposed upon European peoples by intransigent Germans. Native spending power is contracting and only exports are growing. Deficit spending gave us an unmanageable debt-load and this basically excludes deficit spending to reboot the economy. The much-maligned Euro is the only thing that keeps the interest rates on this debt marginally manageable. Devaluation of the currency, the go-to choice of the 1960s-to-1990s is no longer available.
It really is a pickle. If anything I’m amazed that basic services such as universal healthcare and education have been largely untouched. Some of the welfare state has been under fire but mostly the effects have been cosmetic. For now, at least.
You seem to be in a good position to judge or at least sense how much the EU is to blame in countries demise (be it Italy, Greece, Spain, or even France[1]).
[1] here too there's a very easy reflex to say Europe caused our problems, even though it's clear people forget other causes to issues.
If the EU is at fault then it’s all our collective faults, as Europeans, for having failed to make a success of this extraordinary period of peace and prosperity the European Union has fostered for us. The economic problems are less a fault of the EU and more (in my opinion at least) the result of having slowed the construction of a truly federal super-state. Had that been accomplished earlier, we wouldn’t be in this quagmire we find ourselves in.
I worry about the feasibility of such a large federal body. One that doesn't fail (even partially). It would require a lot of learning from citizen and I don't think they're ready. Usually what unite people of that scale is a clearer polarization point (war..).
This crysis might lead to something quite disruptive. Energy, political technology (information)..
And northern Italy is the "good bit": by and large, the further down south into the mezzogiorno you go, the worse it gets.
I was once in Palermo, the largest city in Sicily, which has buildings that were bombed in WW2 and have not been repaired. An American couple wandered past, looking for the famed Piazza Pretoria: they were actually on it, they just didn't realize the moldy pool with a boot floating in it was the (broken) fountain landmark they were looking for.
Some time ago, I came across the Wikipedia page of Naples [1]:
* >The University of Naples, the first university in Europe dedicated to training secular administrators,
* >Naples became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 as part of the Italian unification, ending the era of Bourbon rule. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies had been wealthy, and as many as 443.2 million ducats were taken from the old kingdom's banks as a contribution to the new Italian treasury.
* >by 1884, Naples was still the largest city in Italy with 496,499 inhabitants, or roughly 64,000 per square kilometre (more than twice the population density of Paris)
It's funny that part of the north believes that they were better off without the south[2]. It would be funny if it were actually the other way round.
Several claim the “national unification” was more a colonial effort than anything else.
But, Mazzini and Garibaldi were also interested in ridding the south of their Baroni and Viceré, who thrived in the misery and plight of the masses that toiled to support their luxuries
the issue with hiring as you qualified it is that many would find it insulting to the work that needs to be done. the wage they would want would be completely out of proportion to the skill level required yet they would rather not work than suffer offense.
We have created in the Western world a sense of entitlement such that there are jobs only those who immigrate will take. Not because because the work is hard but because the perception that it is for "those people".
In the US the best description I can give is, we have moved away from JFK famous speech of "Ask not what your country can do for you" to the near opposite. When politicians hammer at the idea of unfairness and inequality instead of one of service and hard work it can defeat a society as surely as any conflict of arms. We have far too few inspiring leaders and instead stuck with those who divide in order to obtain the power and positions they want for themselves.
Do you know of actual people or governments with unfilled vacancies for low paid work in high unemployment areas?
What you describe is too easy an image to create on one's head. It's easy to convince people this is happening, as fictional jobs where the employer doesn't really intent to hire anyone is are very cheap to create. But it is hard for people to risk their families living just because they think some job is beneath them.
> UK is like Denmark, not perfect but you don't get that sense of failed state that you get crossing into Italy.
You and I have a different experience on potholes and trash in London.
- Trash are everywhere in inner London, because the regulations against IRA bin bombings are still in effect. This is a hotbed for rats.
- Potholes are that dangerous I've seen couple of accidents just because the cyclist had to do unexpected move or drive through-then fell.
- Many of the roads are although two-way, but actually no two vehicles can fit in the lane (no surface marking to separate the two lanes). Quite dangerous. On top of this, many two-way roads are narrowed to provide shorter crossing for pedestrians. Check the front-left wheels of the cars and you will see what this mean.
Switzerland: Asphalt is perfect. No potholes, it might be a Formula One track you're on. There's no weeds sticking up. There's no plants growing over the signs or the barriers on the side. Signs themselves are pristine, like they were made today. No debris such as tyres or hubcaps on the roadway, though you do cross a piece of trash every now and again. You also come across the maintenance vehicles that keep all these things clean.
Italy: Not like that.
Most of Europe is like this. Germany is pretty good. France is a bit less decayed than Italy. Denmark is better but still weeds, trash, and potholes. UK is like Denmark, not perfect but you don't get that sense of failed state that you get crossing into Italy.
One social/political thing that always comes to mind is they could hire people to clean things up. They wouldn't be highly paid, but people on low income getting paid could be good for the economy. Italy and France also have reasonably high unemployment rates, so there must be some people who would be willing? And they'd be providing a public good: everyone wants to live in a clean country.