My wife grew up in Rome, Italy, so I totally love Italy (this is not a picture of my wife).

Berlusconi, Prime Minster of Italy

I studied Spanish in College, which helpah-me with-ah the learning of-ah the Italian, but it’s slow going. Also, when I was in college, I visited Italy a bunch of times. Plus, I really dig the Italian Renaissance artists. So, I have more knowledge about Italy than the average person, but not as much as the average Italian expert.

Still, I have a lot of enthusiasm. Sometimes I tune into Italian Radio’s internet feed (and understand about every tenth word). Other times, I’ll raid my wife’s collection of old Italian movies, and watch it with my hand on the reverse button, trying to divine the meaning of phrases like “Ma vaffanculo, perche mi parli cosi!”

And I am fascinated by their politics. For example, I learned the above phrase by listening to the radio broadcast of Italian Pariament. Italians somehow run their country, and get things done, but I haven’t been able to figure out how they do it. This is partially due to my lack of Italian language skills, and partially due to my poor grasp of Italian culture. But by far the most fascinating aspect of Italy, at least at the moment, is Berlusconi, the Prime Minister. He’s the leader of the country, and somehow they let him get away with this:

This is the same guy who said he likes Obama because he has a nice tan(?!!?). I have a lot to learn about Italy.