"Mangia, mangia!"

Check out this recent New York Times article about a really cool program in Italy that allows you to go have dinner with a family, to get a more authentic experience, instead of a restaurant.

1st Place!!

With today's win against Atalanta and Inter's tie with Fiorentina last night, Roma is now in first place in Serie A!

Next week will be the ever-heated derby between Lazio and Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, as the season winds down and Roma tries to win their first championship since 2001.

"16-year old Italian Set to Make History at the Masters"

Meet Matteo Manassero, a 16-year old Italian from Verona who will be the youngest golfer ever to compete in the Masters.

Silence in Italy over church abuse scandal

While I'd rather not comment on the actual church scandal in progress right now (the whole thing really just disgusts me, and I think the facts speak for themselves), it is interesting to see the lack of attention that it gets in Italy, or specifically, Rome. Sure, it's not absent from the papers, but there is not nearly the craze and disgust that is taking place in the rest of the world - if you haven't seen much, here is a good summary of what different newspapers are saying in the United States.

Does anyone else think it's strange that the American press, a million miles away, has more freedom (or balls, maybe) to directly confront the church on this outrageous and shameful hypocrisy?

It could be a don't-ask don't-tell kind of thing; that is, Catholicism is so diffuse here that it is uncomfortable to hear about these scandals. For devout Catholics, I imagine that it takes a while to absorb something like this.

Or it could be just more of the Berlusconi media thing; that is, Berlusconi is buddy-buddy with the Vatican and doesn't want to make it look bad. Just count the hypocrisies: Berlusconi, a right-wing, conservative values, divorced, pro-life, orgy-attending, multi-billionaire defending a conservative values, child molesting, pro-life, lying, extremely rich institution, the Catholic church (note: I have nothing against Catholicism, only people who molest little boys).

Berlusconi vs Free Press, continued

Apparently Bruno Vespa, one of Italy's most famous television hosts, agrees with me on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's intolerance for freedom of the press. This is doubly significant because Vespa usually takes great pains not to criticize Berlusconi.

Things looking good for Roma

After a brief vacation for Easter, I'm back, and things are looking great for Roma. They beat Bari this past weekend 1-0, with 15,000 romanisti travelling with the team to the south of Italy. Meanwhile, Inter and Milan both won as well, so the standings have remained the same, with Roma in second place, one point behind Inter.

This week Roma will host struggling Atalanta, while Inter will go to Florence for a not-so-easy match, and Milan will host Catania.

A real story, however, is Juventus. The perennial powerhouse has lost its way recently, losing its last game to Udinese 0-3, leaving it in 7th place. This week they have imposed a "press silence," that is, they refuse to say anything or give interviews to the press.

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter! Hope you all eat well tomorrow.

Make sure to remember that EVERYTHING will be closed tomorrow and Monday. Easter Monday, Pasquetta in Italian, is also considered an important holiday. Things will open back up on Tuesday.