It is the playground of the rich and famous. The lakes are renowned for their beauty. Tuscany is talked about in most glossy travel magazines. 
Rome is the destination for lovers. There are even websites with ideas on the best places in the city to propose. Jamie Oliver made a whole cookery series based on food from the country and now has a chain of restaurants showcasing that food.
But behind all this beauty is a country in a mess, an incredibly racist state, increasingly in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Whilst reading Sunday 10/1/10′s Observer, I came across an article highlighting Italy’s not so pleasant reality. The headline “Italians cheer as police move African migrants out of town after shootings” could not fail to catch my eye. People who came to Italy in search of a better existence are being treated like animals, being “shot at, severely beaten and run over”. This has now escalated into “ethnic cleansing” and the creation of the world’s “only white town”. Is anyone concerned?
The treatment of black footballers has also made international news. A black Italian by the name of Mario Balotelli has got the footballing mafia incredible riled. 
Balotelli was born to Ghanaian parents in Sicily. Abandoned by those parents at the age of 2, Balotelli was brought up by adoptive parents in the town of Brescia, is an Italian passport holder and speaks with the accent of the region. Balotelli is not an African footballer playing in Italy, he IS Italian. This seemingly is the worst possible thing for the fans.
He has reportedly had bananas thrown at him by Roma fans. He retaliated by poking his tongue out when scoring a goal against the team, only to be told that he “deserved a slap” by the captain, number one goal scorer and most capped player, Francesco Totti.
But the abuse isn’t just from Roma fans and players, Juventus fans have been banned from their own stadium. There have been massive fines for the club AND questions in Parliament. None have done anything to prevent the racist chants at games.
If Balotelli responds to the abuse, by saying how “disgusting” he thinks it is, he is deemed “an immature and arrogant child” by the MAYOR of Verona. It is not only the fans that abuse him but members of the community who should be setting an example.
These are just two recent examples. Sadly there are many more to be found. The facts are quite shocking.
Italy, a country that only has one black member of parliament. Italy, where the government has appointed commissioners to “deal” with the Roma gypsies in Rome, Naples and Milan. Where that same government has ordered the gypsy population to be fingerprinted.
Italy, where those same gypsies live in shocking, squalid, third world conditions. Where two-thirds of Italians want Gypsies expelled, whether they hold Italian passports or not. A country where people continued to top up their tans while two young gypsy girls’ bodies lay on the sand in front of them. Italy, a country where the deputy mayor of Treviso, Giancarlo Gentilini of the racist, xenophobic Northern League, stated that Muslim immigrants should go “piss in their own mosques”.
In the Vatican’s editorial, L’Osservatore Romano said: ‘Italy needs to deal with its racism, it is a weeping sore that needs to be treated.”
Here’s hoping that the Pope’s word still carries some weight in this strongly Catholic country. A country that clearly has a long way to go before the behaviour of many can be considered even remotely “Christian”. Before Italians can again call themselves the brava gente.
