Scandalo e coruption a Bologna

I haven't yet written about politics or Italian government, but there have been some recent events of interest I figured I'd share. Watching the Italian government and their overall way of getting things done has been a somewhat amusing (yet frustrating) past-time, mainly because everything seems so inefficient and corrupt. And these recent Bolognese events show just that!

Typically, the corruption you hear about involves Silvio Berlusconi, the infamous Italian Prime Minister known for alleged Mafia links, excessive control of the Italian media, derogatory treatment of women, and, of course, his recent attack in Milan. Flavio Delbono, the mayor of Bologna, recently made headlines as well, however.

Mayor Delbono came to speak to the students of Johns Hopkins at the beginning of the term. He has been a professor at Hopkins and at the University of Bologna (UniBo) and is a highly educated economist. The fact that Niraj and I heard him speak in such an intimate setting and that he has ties to SAIS makes all this just that more crazy (and, as bad as this may sound, that much more entertaining)!

In the past few weeks, a scandal has erupted in Bologna accusing the Mayor of using taxpayer dollars and council money to fund the affairs he was having. Apparently, he abused his power and embezzled money in order to pay for romantic getaways and extravagant property purchases. Well the story broke, and he was since been forced to resign. So, now there is a woman temporarily in power until the next election in 2011. The Bolognese are all up in arms now not only because of what the Mayor did but also because of what happens now. The region will not hold interim elections to elect a new Mayor, so the temporary replacement has to hold down the fort until then... which means she can do the day to day stuff but cannot make any major decisions. So, in typical Italian fashion, the city of Bologna is deadlocked!

The other kick of the story is that every government employee that he appointed during his tenure was forced to resign as well. One specific case was Nicoletta Mantovani, the widow of Luciano Pavarotti. I also heard her speak a few days ago in an intimate setting, so here is a brief background on that story...

Nicoletta and Pavarotti were both from Emilia-Romagna (Nicoletta from Bologna and Pavarotti from Modena), and they unintentionally met before one of his performances. After talking for a short while, Pavarotti offered her the job to be his personal assistant. Nicoletta was not there to apply for the job, but after some convincing from him decided to accept. Shortly thereafter the two began their affair... Pavarotti was not yet divorced and Nicoletta was 33 years his junior! More scandal! They eventually married, and she continued to plan his events and assisted in his endeavors and organizations until his death.

Until recently when she was forced to resign, Nicoletta was the Bologna City councillor and professional event planner dealing with many major festivals in Bologna and nearby cities. Being put in this position apparently also caused an uproar with accusations that she was appointed based on her status/money and not her background (her background was more natural sciences than the arts). Just another example of corruption and scandal in Italian government I suppose!

Allora, there's the gist of the Bolognese news lately. It sometimes feels like the city of Bologna is in a bubble without any connection to or realization of the world around it, so to some extent that bubble popped! Who knows what'll happen next...