Carrying his freshly-murdered spouse down stairs while the neighbours were occupied watching the main evening news, (key opening bars of the telegiornale), the husband stumbled, dropping his victim, who disturbed the condominio by breaking pots of flowers on two landings as down she went. Quick as a flash he cried for help to be called after her unfortunate fall, but was found out when the paramedics arrived, and arrested by carabinieri who had been summoned as well by one of the quicker- witted vicini di casa.
What is it that is so essentially Italian about this grisly tale?, - the intra-familial murder (they are reported night after night as generations, siblings, affines, off one another in every conceivable way and circumstance from one end of the peninsula to the other), rinascimento memories of heads and baskets of figs, cold rages, cruel stalkings? the casualness of the disposal plans, the non e' colpa mia she fell on the potted plants- hopeless denial of responsibility of it?
4 comments:
yes I noticed this piece of news even if on the papers it had less space than on the telegiornale (they like putting prodi on the front page every day).
doesn't seem like he had a plan; certainly the cogniugi di Erba had at least thought it through and their story held for almost a month. Brrrr
It does catch the eye doesn't it Giules; why are ther so many families in Italy laying waste to their immediate human surroundings?
Morley Fletcher, who is Italian despite his name, has done a lot of work on redistributing wealth between generations before death (i.e. rather than by inheritance). He needs to be taken up as an interesting thinker by a wider audience than just your Librarian. Poor grannies facing 'your money or your life' because there is a silly model of economic and social behaviour in place.
It has been clear always that wealth is held in a kind of moral trust to be handed within the generations when an individual qualifies; I do resent the state being put forward as a better occupier of that role and confiscating wealth to carry it out, not within families but within the state's categories of the deserving.
Some generations are very fortunate in that wealth rains upon them - like mine - and then there is a duty to lighten the burdens of generations less blessed, like yours - nothing to do with merit or hard work, but technical and economic change.
I don't want the likes of Gordon Brown poncing about on my choices.
Nor intergenerational and intra familial mayhem either.
Perhaps Morley could be invited to comment.
There is nothing Italian about the story, killing a spouse has no possible inter-generational motive, here the reason is given as nagging over drinking habits. The question is: why is the grisly story funny? I believe it is the combination of clumsiness and noir, one can easily imagine Inspector Clouzot making the arrest, tripping over the broken pots etc.
Good of you to feel you are holding wealth in trust for future generations. No such an obligation is attached to private ownership, this is why tax incentives are needed to encourage an early transfer to the young when it matters. All you have to do is to de-tax gifts inter vivos more than inheritance tax. The abolition of inheritance tax has had the opposite effect. Back to the drawing board.
Honestly Pispolo you have a weird mind; worryingly it's often right. No sooner said that the policy should make inter vivos gifts less taxworthy, and it is clear that that's right. And that abolishing inheritance tax without inter vivos tax abolition will lead to murder.
Berlusconi abolished both which was nice but would have been a great improvement if he'd left an -encouragement- to -hand -over tax during life on in the form of inheritance tax.
For those with no belief in the afterlife it makes sense to distribute during operational capacity time.
I suppose you have to face up to the results of choices though, no being dead so you don't get it for leaving everything to x and nothing to y (to put it at its simplest).
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