The quake occurred at 8.29pm UAE time
asia12 hours ago
Notes from Italy
Mariella Radaelli
Permitted to only leave home for urgent reasons or necessity during the nationwide lockdown, Italians are now carrying the fourth version of a self-certification form in their pockets when they go outside. The paperwork keeps changing with the rules tightened several times since lockdown was first enforced.
The fourth version was released late last week to protect citizens from the 'Furbi', sly and fraudulent people who think they can ignore the rules. The entropy of the state bureaucracy is strong even in these tragic days, so Italians often complain about grey bureaucrats. Yet maybe the bureaucracy exists for a reason in the country - it protects the 'Fessi' from the 'Furbi', two types of Italians well depicted by novelist Giuseppe Prezzolini in his sarcastic Code of Italian Life published in the 1920s.
The Fessi, which literally means 'the stupid', actually connotes the honest people, the vast majority of Italians who work, pay their bills, have principles, and live according to ethics. Italy keeps running through the efforts of the Fessi, but the Furbi peep through every corner at the expense of society. Because the cult of the Furbizia, or cunning trick, is still well-established, Italy's bewildering bureaucratic soul continues to flourish. Since the beginning of the emergency, the government has issued 277 articles of law written in legalese with indications that sometimes interfere with each other.
Ordinary citizens, entrepreneurs, and accountants continue to wrack their brains trying to keep the piles of papers and file folders sorted.
Mariella Radaelli is a writer and editor in Milan, Italy.
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