L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 8 FRANCESCA BEZZONE L et me put things straight: there's no place like Rome. Cradle of culture and art, archetype of beauty, favored des- tination for history buffs and foodies alike, Rome has no rivals when it comes to these things. Yet, Rome is also a very troubled city: politically unsettled and, in places, painfully neglected, it is mirror to that chaotic way to deal with things we Italians tend to have every now and then. We love it, we adore it, but when it comes to efficiency, there are definitely better places in the country. Milan may be one of them. The many faces of Milan Move up north and you'll find Milan: Milan, the capital of foggy mornings and tramways, of Italian fashion and economy. For decades solely associated with industries and pollution, the Lombard city has been attracting more and more attention since its year-long stint on global front pages thanks to the 2015 Expo. Certainly, the international food industry fair helped the city reach the second place in the list of Italy's most visited cities of 2015, as reported last December by Il Sole 24 Ore, which present- ed ISTAT data showing a surge of 14.7% in the number of people choosing to spend time in the capital of Lombardia. Milan has enjoyed a pretty bad rep for quite a number of years, in the very name of what makes it so essential in the socio- economical weave of the coun- try: home to our national finan- cial district, thus greedy and money driven. Fulcrum of the national secondary sector, thus bleak, filthy and rough. Heart of the world fashion industry, thus vain and superficial. But is it all true? Well, there's a grain of truth in everything, but miscon- ception about Milan are largely overemphasized. Without a doubt, Milan is the business capital of Italy: most international companies choose Milan as their Italian reference hub, with many actually leaving Rome in its favor. Italian banks also seem to prefer Milan over the Eternal City, with a quarter of them having their headquarters there. Such a huge relevance in the national financial and busi- ness is mirrored in data related to GDP (the city alone produces 10% of the entire country's) and unemployment (sensibly lower than the national average). The city can be attractive, too: it does possess an understated allure and is home to some of the country's (and Europe) most prestigious cultural institutions: think of La Scala, the Pinacoteca di Brera and even the Brera Fine Arts Academy. Its cathedral, Italy's beloved Duomo di Milano, is up there in the heaven of the country's most recogniz- able landmarks. Milan is crucial when it comes to the dissemination of culture and information, too: most of Italy's most reputable magazines and newspapers do have their main see there, and the same can be said about pub- lishing houses. Recently, Milan even managed to bring the pres- tigious Salone Internazionale del Libro, Italy's main event dedi- cated to literature and publish- ing, from the baroque, aristocrat- ic streets of Turin, to its own Navigli. With its three airports, Milan is also more accessible than Rome from abroad and it does certainly have a more European feel to it than our capital, in that I-know-what's-popular-right- now kind of way that makes it vibrant and attractive. Last, but not least, Milan is more ecologically conscious: it's one of Europe's top three cities for recycling. The question is, though: could Milan really be a better capital than Rome? All roads lead to Rome Raffaele Simone, a renowned Italian linguist, academic and philosopher, for decades lecturer at La Sapienza and, more recent- ly, professor Emeritus at the Università Roma Tre, has written an interesting article for Italian weekly L'Espresso where he defines the many issues of the Italian capital. It's, without a doubt, an eye opening piece, where Simone vividly describes the deteriorating situation of a city on its knees because of years of institutional neglect and disin- terest. Even culturally, he continues, Rome lacks the type of support organizations and institutions Milan can offer: state-of-the-art museums, cultural associations, private benefactors funding the maintenance and protection of our cultural and artistic patrimo- ny, are only some of Milan's feathers in the cap that Rome, as of today, can only dream of. To Simone, Milan should be our capital and, without a doubt, his argument's compelling: Milan's more efficient, better run, more cosmopolite and better versed in all that's European. Rome, he seems to believe, lives off its former glory and grandeur, but is slowly dying. Rome is Italy's soul though and, even as it is, it still embodies it to perfection: in its beauty and, alas, in its numerous defects and deficiencies. Moving our capital to another place would be the equivalent of abandoning Rome to its own bleak destiny, instead of working harder to make sure it returns to be, in all and for all, the best representative of Italy in the world. Raffaele Simone, a renowned Italian linguist, academic and philosopher has written an interesting article for Italian weekly L'Espresso where he says that Milan should be Italy's capital because it is better run, more cosmopolite and better versed in all that's European than Rome Photo by leporiniumberto Is Milan the real capital of Italy? NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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