Italian Culture and Society Quiz 1

Italian Wars

a period of foreign dominion and separation over areas of Italy including the Bourbon kingdom, the Papal States, the Republics of Venice and genoa, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Kingdom of Savoy, and the Austro-Hungarian empire before Risorgimento

Clientelism

a system of political patronage and social relationships that has been a significant factor in Italian politics and development. It's characterized by political brokers, patronage, and the distribution of targeted benefits

Civismo

describes a desire to do things that benefit the community

Transformismo

the building of parliamentary majorities, encouraging defection: lawmakers are persuaded to leave the party for which they were elected by offers of preferment, or something more tangible, or just by a fear of being caught on the losing side

Campanilismo (Bell Tower Syndrome)

the tendency to live close to the bell tower of one's hometown. This mentality has kept many people in the same towns and neighborhoods as their ancestors, and also to care very little for the world outside the immediate area of your own “bell tower”

Official Italian Dialect

Florentine/Tuscan

Goffredo Mameli

Italian poet, author of the Italian national anthem (Il Canto degli Italiani")

Congress of Vienna

a meeting of European nations that set out a strategy to maintain peace and stability throughout the continent, it gathered in 1814

Risorgimento

Italian unification, March 17, 1861 → 1866 → 1870

Giuseppe Mazzini

An Italian politician and revolutionary known for championing unification

Giuseppe Garibaldi (and the Red Shirts)

Garibaldi led his Redshirts in the Expedition of the Thousand of 1860, which concluded with the annexation of Sicily, Southern Italy, Marche, and Umbria to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which led to the creation of a unified Kingdom of Italy

Camillo Benso di Cavour

first prime minister of Italy, made all European leaders agree to the Italian Unification at the Congress of Vienna

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and the Leopard

Italian writer, The Leopard is about life in Sicily during the Risorgimento

il furbo e il fessa

the clever and the foolish, dog eat dog world, principle of Italy, either you get fooled or you do the fooling

Dietrologia

behindism, everything has an ulterior motive, every single thing a person does has meaning and no one does anything purely altruistically

Fare una Bella figura vs. fare una brutta figura

a good impression, or face, vs. a bad one

Menefreghismo

I don’t give a damnism, the reason nothing gets done in Italy despite it needing doing

Il Ventennio fascista

The era of fascism in Italy, 1922-1943 (Benito Mussolini)

Italian Republic Day

2 June 1946

lottizzazione

a term also used for the division of land into plots. Areas of influence were divided up between the five parties that had access to a place in government and later the system was extended to include even the Communists

mammismo

excessive attachment to one's mother, momma’s boy

Familismo

a cultural value that emphasizes the importance of family and the connection between family members. Family first, always

Five-Star Movement (M5S)

Political party founded by comedian Beppo Grille, young party members, became strangely popular in Italy

Aldo Moro

former prime minister of Italy who was kidnapped and murdered by a far left terror group known as the Red Brigades

Bettino Craxi

one of Italy’s longest-serving prime ministers involved heavily in bribesville or tangentopoli in Italian, which was a widespread political scandal in 1992 where dozens of Italian politicians got caught for corruption

Sergio Mattarella

longest serving president in italian history, from Sicily, brother was murdered by the mafia so he spent time during his political career trying to “clean up” the mafia especially in Sicily

Four Italian Mafias

sicilian, camorra, 'Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita

Rosatellum

is a parallel voting system, which acts as a mixed electoral system, with 37% of seats allocated using a first-past-the-post electoral system and 63% using a proportional method, with one round of voting.

Byzantium

Eastern Roman Empire leftovers

Italian city states

Florence: A republic with a history of civic governance, where citizens voted on laws and served in government. The Medici family controlled the city government by the 1430s. 

Milan: One of the most powerful city-states in the 14th century. 

Rome: The central city of the Papal States, which was controlled by the Roman Catholic Church and the pope. 

Kingdom of Naples: Involved in struggles for control of Italy in the late 15th century.

Republic of Venice: A powerful maritime republic. 

Republic of Genoa: A powerful maritime republic. 

Bourbon Kingdom

The Bourbon dynasty played a pivotal role in the history of the Kingdom of Naples from the 18th to the 19th century. Their rise began with Charles of Bourbon, who became the king of Naples and Sicily in 1734, establishing an independent monarchy from Spanish domination.

The Medici

The Medici family were a wealthy and powerful Italian banking family and political dynasty during the Renaissance. They ruled Florence from the 15th to the 18th century, and were also patrons of the arts

Humanism

a major intellectual movement in Italy during the Renaissance. It was a system of education and inquiry that emphasized the human realm. Humanists believed that studying the classics of ancient Greece and Rome would lead to a cultural rebirth

Machiavelli and The Prince

Italian diplomat and scholar, his book advises new rulers on best maintaining their power or even expanding their power. Machiavelli argues that a focus on warfare is important and that rulers should sometimes bend conventional morality or even be cruel to accomplish their goal of defending their state and their own power over it.

Giorgia Meloni

current prime minister of Italy, had a catchy song made about her, part of the Brothers of Italy party which is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy, that is currently the country's ruling party

2022 elections

The rightwing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party has won a clear majority and will form the next government, country is overwhelmingly right-wing and conservative