During Christian holidays, I usually work. But last night, I sat in a bar in Rome with F. and our Italian friend S. who is thinking about migrating to Canada. We talked about how we, master students of chemistry, engineering and law, will probably end up homeless soon. „In Italy, too many young people study law“, S. tells us. „My friend, who is a studied lawyer, works for… how do you call it when somebody cleans the streets?“ Southern Italy really needs help with its trash problem, anybody should join the working class – even when they just got in dept with a huge student loan to graduate from university like their parents wanted them to. The academic teaching here is excellent, but useless, because there are no jobs. Italy’s capital is in a major crisis and the new symbol of it is the poor Spelacchio.
Spelacchio is how the citizens of Rome named the Christmas tree of the city on the Piazza Venezia. It means something like shabby, sheared or threadbare. Spelacchio is an embarrassment for Italy, but especially for Rome and the city’s mayor Virginia Raggi.
