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ARCHAEOLOGY

Why Italy is letting builders bury its history in concrete

The Italian government is increasingly turning a blind eye to its heritage in order to push ahead with building work.

Published: 24 March 2016 09:40 CET

Why Italy is letting builders bury its history in concrete

The Italian government is removing powers from those who safeguard Italy's heritage. Photo: Gabriel Buoys/AFP

Take a spade in Italy and dig, chances are you'll find something old. Depending where you are, what you find could be Roman, Greek, Etruscan, Lombard or even Celtic.

Though great for history buffs, the prevalence of ancient ruins means building projects can get stuck in the mud for years for an bit of old stone, which is the last thing Italy's hamstrung economy needs.

This is a fact which Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is all too aware of.

“Building projects will never be stopped again for archaeological finds,” Renzi promised in August 2014, seven months into his leadership. “We are full to the brim.”

Historically, it has been the job of the the country's architectural prefects to evaluate the importance of proposed building sites across the country. If need be, superintendents have the power step in to stop works from progressing in the name of saving important parts of Italy's heritage.

But Renzi's government sees this power as undemocratic and has been doing its utmost to curtail their meddling influence.

“We can't depend on political structures from 200 years ago,” Renzi argued. “Superintendents are a monocratic power, they do not answer to anybody and they can overrule elected offices.”

Since making those remarks in 2014, his government has launched sweeping changes aimed at regaining the power to be able to get development projects off the ground more swiftly.

In November that year, a raft of new legislation entitled 'Sblocca Italia' (unblock Italy) aimed at stimulating the country's moribund economy was passed.

With it, a new maximum 60-day time period in which superintendents could object to a project before contractors began work was introduced.

Experts say it is causing sites of potential interest to be developed on.

“In most working environments 60 days seems like a fair amount of time,” Antonio Paolucci, the director of Vatican Museums, told reporters in Rome on Wednesday.

“But the country doesn't have enough working archaeologists to be able to evaluate all the proposed building sites in that timeframe. For example, in Umbria, a cradle of the Etruscan civilization, there is just one archaeologist responsible for surveying the whole region.”

As a result, construction teams are forging ahead with public and private works, not because there isn't anything under the soil, but because nobody is checking.

Despite the historical prestige attached to the position of archaeological superintendent – Renaissance master Raffaele became Italy's first prefect of the arts when he was nominated to protect the Vatican's Greco-Roman statutes by Pope Leo X in 1515 – their power has since been further diminished.

Recent reforms by Culture Minister Dario Francheschini will see their offices absorbed into local council structures, meaning they will no longer have a final say in whether building projects can go ahead or not.

As this happens, the likelihood that concrete will be poured over important pieces of Italian heritage is huge, given the rampant pace of development in Italy.

Between 2010 and 2012 ( at the height of the economic crisis ) new sites covering 72,000 hectares of land were developed – an area the size of Milan, Florence, Bologna Naples and Palermo combined.

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Ice to AC: Nine of the most common American misconceptions about Italy

It’s no secret that Americans love to visit Italy; the Washington Post predicted in December that the country would be Americans’ top foreign tourist destination for 2023, and the volume of US visitors who’ve arrived in Italy since then appears to have borne this out.

But while many Americans have a deep knowledge of – and love for – Italian culture, there are some surprisingly enduring myths about Italy that can be found in the USA specifically.

Some come close to the truth, while others fall wide of the mark.

There is no ice in Europe/Italian restaurants charge for ice

Fiction – Americans love ice, beverages are routinely served with it and refrigerators in the US often have some type of ice dispenser attached to the door.

But in Italy, ice is simply less prioritised. While ice in your drink will usually not cost you extra, you might need to specifically request it. Soft drinks in Italy are usually served without ice, so if you want your beverage iced, you need to request the drink con ghiaccio – with ice.

A classic Italian spritz should always come with ice. Photo by Tomasz Rynkiewicz on Unsplash

Italian homes don’t have dryers

Fact (mostly) – Tumble dryers do exist in Italy, but they’re rare. A survey published by Italy’s national statistics office (Istat) in 2014 found that just 3.3 percent of Italian households had one, whereas 96.2 percent had a washing machine and 39.3 percent a dishwasher.

Those washing lines strung with laundry hanging above the heads of passers by aren’t there just to create a quaint backdrop for photos – people make wide use of the abundant sun to air dry their clothes and sheets.

That does not mean that Italians in cities don’t occasionally use clothes dryers though if they’re in a rush; some might take items to a nearby laundromat.

McDonald’s is healthier in Italy

Fact (sort of) – McDonald’s uses different ingredients based on the country, and the Big Mac in Italy is (slightly) healthier than the one sold in the United States. It is slightly less calorific, with 509 kCal in contrast to the American Big Mac’s 540 kCal per 100g.

The Italian Big Mac also has less salt and fat, but it does not compare to the world’s healthiest Big Mac (found in Israel).

McDonald’s in Italy also uses EU-sourced ingredients, and the EU restricts the usage of additives and growth hormones. For example Azodicarbonamide which is used to bleach flour, is banned in the EU, but not in the United States, where McDonald’s was still using it as of 2016.

It is true, however, that you can buy beer in McDonald’s in Italy.

McDonald’s burgers are marginally healthy in Italy compared to the US. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Italians drive small cars

Fiction (increasingly) – Think of Italian cars, and you might picture a classic Fiat 500 puttering around picturesque cobbled streets – but that’s all changing.

2021 was a historic year for the Italian automotive industry: the sale of SUVs surpassed those of medium-sized sedans for the first time, claiming 48 percent of the market share compared to the sedan’s 45 percent.

That may not match the US, where SUVs and pick-up trucks currently account for around 73 percent of vehicles sold, but it’s a huge increase from 2012, when SUVs made up just 17 percent of vehicle sales in Italy.

There are no free public toilets

Fact (mostly) – You will occasionally find an Italian town or city that offers some free public toilets. For the most part though, you’ll have to pay, including in train stations – and even paid public toilets are few and fair between.

Instead, you’re better off heading to one of the many caffe-bars found all over the country and paying for a euro for a bottle of water or a coffee so you can use their facilities – if you ask nicely, you might even be allowed to go for free.

Metro stations, supermarkets and grocery stores tend to not have any toilets at all, and neither will most clothing stores. One place you will find plenty of free public bathrooms, though, is a motorway service station.

Something that strikes many visitors to Italy as odd is the lack of seats on public toilets. Exactly why this is the case is debated, but there’s a general consensus that the phenomenon has rapidly accelerated in the past couple of decades.

A street sign at an antiques fair in Turin. Free toilets in Italy are few and far between. Photo by rashid khreiss on Unsplash

Italy doesn’t have air conditioning

Fact (sort of) – There’s not no air conditioning in Italy – in fact data from Italy’s national statistics office showed that one in two Italian households had AC in 2021.

It’s far less popular than in the US, though, where 90 percent of households have air conditioning. There’s still not much of a culture of AC in Italy, where many believe it will give you a colpo d’aria leading to at best a sore neck and at worst pneumonia – so even households that have a unit tend to use it sparingly.

If your hotel or Airbnb doesn’t specifically mention AC, you can assume it doesn’t have it.

Coca-Cola tastes different in Italy

Fact – While Coke is available almost everywhere in the world, the actual ingredients in Coca-Cola are different in some countries, which could lead some Coke connoisseurs to notice a difference in taste between the products in the US and those in the EU.

The biggest difference is the regular Coke – in the US this uses high fructose corn syrup while in Europe cane sugar is used to sweeten the product, resulting in a significant difference in taste.

You’re much more likely in Italy to come across Coca Zero, the zero-sugar version of Coca-Cola, than Coca-Coca Light, the European version of Diet Coke, which has always been hard to find and which some online sources say Italy stopped distributing altogether in 2022.

Coke in the US: different to its European counterparts. Photo by Cody Engel on Unsplash

You don’t need to tip

Fact – It’s not necessary to tip after a restaurant meal in Italy. However, this is a matter of personal choice and you are free to do so (tipping certainly won’t cause upset).

Diners do often leave some change after a particularly enjoyable meal. In terms of how much to give, some people round up a bill to include a tip, while others give what spare change they have.

Some people may also opt to tip other professionals as well, such as taxi drivers and cleaners, but again – this is optional and typically not a large quantity. In some apartment buildings, residents may give a Christmas card with money inside to the portiere (doorman) as a kind of annual tip.

All cars are stick shift

Mostly fact – In the United States, stick shift vehicles are becoming a thing of the past, but in Italy they are still very much being bought and driven.

As of 2018, around 20 percent of new cars sold in Italy were automatic – which is much higher than the less-than-one percent sold in the 1980s, but still a lot less than the US’s figure of 96 percent.

That said, around 70 percent of SUVs sold in Italy use automatic transition, so with the popularity of these larger vehicles on the rise, you can expect to see more automatics on Italian roads in the future.

What do you think? Have you noticed any other common beliefs or misconceptions about Italy in the US, or elsewhere? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

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