VicenzaPiù - Notizie, Inchieste, Analisi su Vicenza e provincia

This uninspiring Friday afternoon, the gentle rain from heaven seems inexorable rather than merciful, as described by Portia when exhorting Shylock to let Antonio off the hook in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. OK, I admit we need it, it hasn't rained properly for a long time, but then, I doubt if Portia had to travel by bicycle, a dodgy venture in the Berican city at the best of times, soul-destroying in the rain.

A few years ago I had an early morning lesson in Creazzo. Struggling to hold up my umbrella as the wind from the passing lorries blew the rain into my face whilst cycling round the roundabout at Ponte Alto, a van with a Padua plate rolled down its window, and the driver began asking me directions. I confess to not having been very helpful. It's true that the bard's only mention of the Saint's City, as Padua is known, in The Taming of the Shrew, is of heavy-drinking, rather coarse, and misogynist boors, and ultimately docile women. He may be right about the men.
But enough of what Shakespeare thought about Veneti; what is contemporary Berican culture offering us this week? That handy free guide from the Council, lately known as City Lights has been unceremoniously extinguished. I noticed on the Bertoliana wall leading towards San Giacomo a poster with the e-mail address [email protected] inviting people to remedy this by sending them ideas for a similar publication called ‘Crisilights' by St. Mark's Day, or for Italophiles, Liberation Day on 25th April. I wish them the best of luck.
The Istituto Rezzara is always a good start for the intellectually curious, held together by the evergreen Fr. Dal Ferro, and Città informs me that this evening there will be a lecture about the Vicenza academies in the ongoing series ‘Vicenza atraverso la Storia'. (Vicenza through History).
As I write, the current history of the town is being stained by yet another corruption scandal. This time it's the bus network linking the towns of the province, the FTV, whose PDL president Baruchello is accused of taking bribes from a Veronese company, Nicolini Gestioni. Alifuoco was accused of telling us the truth about AIM as a political ploy to help Variati become mayor, and now the UIL trade unionist Maule says these allegations are probably part of some hidden political agenda connected to the company's imminent break-up. It seems one should keep quiet about corruption in cateater's land. Take note, Coviello!
But all is not lost! The youth wing of Baruchello's party is calling for a code of ethics embodying merit, honesty. And transparency. One wonders how anyone with such principles could have entered the PDL to begin with. Unfortunately, it seems such principles are difficult to find in the PD, as we read that they have kept a distance from the enquiries into Baruchello's alleged corruption. As if loyalty to the political class transcends loyalty to taxpayers. Honour amongst thieves?
Once again Vicenza is on the front page of the IHT. It seems that throughout the EU, but particularly in Veneto, small businessmen are providing business to their undertaker colleagues. Indeed, as I walked down Corso Fogazzaro this Saturday morning, the GDV poster announced another attempted such suicide. The disgraced Northern League's Zaia, regional president, has made statements criticising the banks. Monti's government gets it share of flak, too. Veneto Stato, the secessionist movement blames them on an unjust tax system. A priest working for Caritas in Treviso suggests another reason. It may be called the Veneto work ethic, which I mentioned last week. ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', says the English aphorism. He says that people whose sole value is work disintegrate when they lose their job, or their company goes bankrupt. Excessive dependency on work ruins the family, and the real problem is much more than just economic, but reflects an existential or spiritual vacuum outside professional activity.
Anyone who frequents Palazzo Costantini's reading room and periodical room, will see many people in dire economic straits, pensioners, immigrants, alcoholics, and so on. And yet such people rarely commit suicide, despite lacking the wherewithal to buy basic essentials.
The article finishes by saying that the daughters of two Veneto suicides have joined an organisation to try to raise the level of awareness in our area, hoping to combat this sad phenomenon.
Corruption and suicide, two faces perhaps of the same coin. There are no magic solutions, but as a teacher, I believe that greater self-awareness, as suggested by the Treviso cleric, is an essential, but missing element of contemporary life - as attested perhaps by the strange paintings I commented on last week, on show in the windows of Contrà Monti.
Incidentally, just beyond the paintings, in Vi-Art, the Vicenza small businessmen's exhibition area in the Monte de Pietà, there is a new show called ‘This is bijou!' of locally crafted costume jewellery. Such jewellery, we are told, often lacks substance yet emanates great energy and is the vital element of one's look, emphasising its intelligence. Not because it's expensive, but because it gives it meaning. Deep words, indeed! Worth the once-over.
Well, let's finish on a happy note: Portia did get Antonio off the hook, and everyone lived happily ever after. Except for one, alas. Gloat, Mr. Zaia - Antonio the entrepreneur gets everything, whilst the remorseless banker Shylock loses not only all his wealth, but his daughter into the bargain.

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