Growth miracle

Italians frequently compare their national economy to Germany’s – and always unfavourably. So it was more than a little surprising this week to see German media doing the opposite.

“Will Italy replace Germany as Europe’s economic powerhouse?” was the headline from Deutche Welle on Thursday, and dozens of similarly-titled articles were quickly published by online news outlets worldwide. If you’re as sceptical about that question as I was, I recommend giving the DW article a read.

In it, German economists explain that things are looking up dramatically for the formerly stagnant Italian economy, which has grown by 3.8 percent since 2019 – “twice as much as the French economy and five times more than the German economy” in that time.

They were quick to point out that the current Italian government can’t be given any credit for this rosy outlook, saying most of this growth is based on old policies and new debt. 

Two-thirds of the growth was put down to Italy’s massive construction sector investments since 2019 – particularly the billions poured into the wildly popular ‘superbonus 110’ state-funded home renovation scheme, which Meloni’s government has now cancelled citing out-of-control costs.

But this “Italian growth miracle” will be short-lived, the experts warn, unless Italy spends its €200 billion in EU post-Covid recovery funds wisely. At the moment though, no one seems to know how that’s being spent.

Bottled up

The most surprising Italian statistics I came across this week were in an article on The Local in which we answered a question from a reader about how safe it is to drink Italy’s tap water. The short answer is that it’s as safe as it gets – not that you’d know it from the large proportion of Italians who refuse to drink tap water under any circumstances.

In fact, surveys show that nearly half of all Italians (43.3 percent) drink exclusively bottled water. As a result, the consumption of bottled water in Italy per capita is 208 litres per year – making Italy the biggest consumer of bottled water in Europe, and the second-biggest worldwide after Mexico, with 244 litres per capita per year.

But if the tap water is safe, what’s the reason for this Italian bottled water habit? I tried to answer that question in an article I wrote almost five years ago, and not a great deal has changed since then. Most people blame the influence of marketing, or the widespread Italian preoccupation with hygiene. I’d say it’s a bit of both.

In any case, water filters in homes and restaurants are slowly becoming more popular – but considering the amount of plastic waste a national reliance on bottled water creates, the switch needs to happen a lot faster.

Times where?

Italy’s gaffe-prone Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, has been in the news for the wrong reasons again this week after he told a group of international journalists: “If we think of London, we think of Times Square.”

Italian newspapers and social media users seized on the minister’s slip-up, with Sangiuliano’s name trending on Italian Twitter for several days as users ironically suggested other famous landmarks that could be just as easily mixed up.

Il ministro #Sangiuliano in Egitto, in visita alla Piramide di Cheope. #TimesSquare pic.twitter.com/rAbxk0M8wI

— Mangino Brioches (@manginobrioches) April 4, 2024

In response, the culture ministry issued a official note in which Sangiuliano explained that his confusion was caused by the “very strong emotions” he felt while talking to the reporters, and that he’d got Times Square mixed up with Piccadilly Circus, “not surprisingly, as it’s often called the Times Square of London.” Which will probably be news to Londoners.

Inside Italy is our weekly look at some of the news and talking points in Italy that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.