Posted on 04/25/2008 8:50:51 PM PDT by blam
Italy must be broken up, says Berlusconi's wife
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 1:37am BST 26/04/2008
Silvio Berlusconi's wife added her voice yesterday to the growing calls for Italy to be partitioned.
In an interview with La Stampa, Veronica Lario, 51, said: "Italy has never been well-suited to being a single country, and has never matured enough to become one. There is no longer any value in a unified Italy."
Silvio Berlusconi with his wife. Cabinet posts may go to the Northern League, which wants independence from Italy’s South
Ms Lario, a former showgirl, married Italy's prime minister-elect 18 years ago after catching his eye on a television show. Since then, she has rarely courted publicity, but does run Il Foglio, an influential newspaper.
The prospect of a devolved Italy has grown significantly in recent weeks since the Northern League, a secessionist party, won strong support in the general election.
Umberto Bossi, its volcanic leader, has repeatedly threatened to "take up arms" against the "corrupt" politicians in Rome who divert the wealth of Italy's North to the impoverished South.
Ms Lario disclosed that she was a fan of Mr Bossi and added it was time for Italy to stop being "snobbish" about the League, whose politicians are frequently coarse and populist.
advertisement "This is a disillusioned country, even after Berlusconi's victory," she said. "The League expresses concrete demands from the most productive part of Italy, which is tired of dragging the rest of the country and does not find itself represented by the Left-wing."
Mr Berlusconi, who will find it difficult to maintain a majority in parliament without the League's support, is likely to make Mr Bossi a cabinet minister. He could also appoint Roberto Calderoli, Mr Bossi's second-in-command, as deputy prime minister.
In the past, Mr Calderoli has called for immigrants to be shot in their boats and for a national pork-eating day to defy Islam.
"If the people have voted for Mr Calderoli," said Ms Lario, "that gives him credibility".
Umberto Bossi sounds like some western states Republicans I know.
I hope this woman has the best 24/7 bodyguards as I'm sure this statement has the mad dog left frothing at their mouths.
Not bad.
That said...hasn’t Italy already been there and done that?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I’m skeptical.
so she forgot that whole Roman empire thingy
I had dinner in Milan with an Italian banker and his wife. This was the topic of conversation. The northern Italians are tired of footing the bills for the southerners.
I would discuss Italian politics with Veroica over some red wine.
Dear Veronica, I totally hear where you are coming from! I also agree; what is with this country; isn't it huge already? Who needs a unified Italy, let along even MORE territory. Well, keep up the good fight 
Love, Jules
Ms Lario is right. There should be two Italias. One(1) for “High Mountain Guineas” and (1)for the rest.Viva Garibaldi and the Red Shirts!
And the risorgimento thingy too.
I’ve heard it argued that Southern Italy was never the same after Hannibal tramped around it for years, and it’s the reason it’s a mess to this day.
She’s right. Italy is a concept, not a country [and I’m of half Italian, actually Abbruzzese, descent].
For the time being each EU "country" does get to set their own tax rates.
Metternich once said Italy is a geographic expression.
And he was right. Tirol has as much in common with Sicily as Quebec has in common with the Yucatan.
The question is, who will take up the Iron Crown of the Lombards?
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