If you are planning to rent a car while in Italy, here is an interesting post by James Martin on About.com.
We’ve completed a drive that took us from our home in northern Tuscany all the way to Agrigento, Sicily and back, a total of 3220 kilometers, or just over 2000 miles. You may be interested in the travel costs, considering we have leased an economical Renault Clio Diesel.
Diesel fuel has caused protests here in Italy for its rather sudden rise in price, now pretty close to the cost of gasoline at 1.35€ a liter. We bought 52 gallons of it on our trip.
Read more at About.com
I follow politics and try to be objective. I do not think it is black and white. I hate partisanship: I do not see why two parties cannot work together. I find Italian politics entertaining and upsetting at the same time. As I briefly wrote a few weeks ago, the Prodi administration - brought to power about two years ago - failed a confidence vote and Italy faces new political elections this coming April 13. The electoral campaign has been feisty. What do you expect from us? We still carry medieval hatred among some of our cities. And Guelphs and Ghibellines seem to have abruptly come to life aga!in
I have been in the USA for eight years now. I really do not know what to do for these political elections. I am an Italian living abroad and my passport expired a couple of years ago. So, I had to join AIRE (the Italian Association of Italians Living Abroad) to have it renewed by the Italian Consulate in New York. Now I can vote from here.
The last few weeks, I have been receiving flyers to vote for specific candidates. However, I am hesitant to vote. These are my main reasons:
1) Even though I am well informed of what is going on in Italy, I do not think it is right for me to vote and influence Italian politics after eight years abroad. (England, for instance, does not allow its expats to vote after five years abroad). Under the current electoral law, anybody abroad with an Italian passport - even if they never been to Italy or speak any Italian - can vote.
2) I do not even know if I want to go back and live there again. The work situation looks unattractive in Italy.
3) I know little about the politicians on the ballot (almost nothing). If they are these great business people (as it appears from the flyers), why do we always need public money to finance events and put together associations here in the USA?
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