Italian Politics Conference

Today (April 4) there was a conference on the political system in Italy. I was really interested in going because I know so little about how their political system works but to be honest, I don’t think I know too much more now than I did before going. Anyway, it was beneficial because I was able to cross something off on my 50-before-50 List.

I was running a little late getting to the meet site because I had on a dress, walked to the bottom of the hill and realized how freezing I was, and turned back to change. I called Renato when I was on my way to the bus stop but he didn’t answer. I didn’t think it was a big deal because I figured he was on his bike. I got to the bus stop and waited. As I was standing there I heard this person driving by making all kinds of noise. I turned my head to find Renato yelling my name and motioning for me to come over and jump on. Like a true Italian, I darted in front of all these cars to get to Renato. He told me to get on. No worries, I had on a helmet. It was so crazy because I have never been on a motorcyle before. Jesse always tried to get me to ride on his and so did my Uncle Phil but I am totally mortified by bikes. They scare the crap out of me. But what was I to say? “Oh thanks for stopping to pick me up but I think I’ll go back to waiting because I just might crap my pants if I get on that. I’ll just be late and you can wait for me there.” No way. I had to get on. And so I did. It was so much fun. We went fast and we drove up hills. Then we got to a point where I almost died not because he almost hit someone but because we were going the wrong way up a one-way street that was also going uphill. I was gripping Renato so tightly that I think I might have cut off his circulation. But as a whole it was so much fun. We went to the top of this hill and saw the most beautiful view of the city. It was great.

The first half of the conference was a little boring. There was only one speaker that I was able to follow because he gave tons of background information and he was humorous. His name was Silviano Susi. He’s the guy to the left. Afterwards we went to the garden to have a small lunch (lasagna and wine). It was cute. Renato and I sat and talked about politics, something I know very little about but enough to keep up. Then we jumped on the moto to go to the second half of the conference.



The second half was in a very old palace that had the ceiling of the galleria done by Pietro Cortona. The galleria wasn’t the right dimensions so the owner didn’t want a big name guy to paint in it. this lead him to hire Cortona to do it, who just so happened to become a big deal. Stunning use of color. I didn’t get a picture of it because Dora told me not to after I took a picture of a statue and a chair. If I ever get to go back you will see it, promise.

We met up with Fabi and Dora on our way there. And this part was so much better than the first. There were two speakers that I thoroughly enjoyed. The first was a very handsome man who was talking about statistics and polling. I only enjoyed him for his charm and smile. He had a great smile. But the second speaker was a woman who I loved for what she had to say. She was talking about syntax, semantics, and words in general. It was really interesting to hear someone talk about how politicians use and avoid certain words because of public perception of certain words. As a whole, I enjoyed myself.