![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/credit-italianfoto.jpg\")
<\/a>The black year of Ital\u00adian olive struck those who farm these ver\u00addant Umbri\u00adan slopes, a metaphor for the chal\u00adlenges fac\u00ading Italy\u2019s var\u00adie\u00adgat\u00aded tra\u00addi\u00adtions. [Cred\u00adit: italianfoto.com]<\/p><\/div>Months before the har\u00advest, Enri\u00adco sus\u00adpect\u00aded the worst. His grove of 700 olive trees had been sub\u00adject\u00aded to an unusu\u00adal\u00adly cool and wet August, ide\u00adal breed\u00ading con\u00addi\u00adtions for the Bac\u00adtro\u00adcera oleae<\/a>, a fly that deposits its eggs beneath the skin of olives. The late Octo\u00adber har\u00advest con\u00adfirmed his fears: the flies had laid waste to his crop.\n Enri\u00adco didn\u2019t press any olive oil this sea\u00adson. He wasn\u2019t alone. Pro\u00adduc\u00adtion in Enrico\u2019s region of Umbria is off 45 per\u00adcent, slight\u00adly worse than the nation\u00adwide 35 per\u00adcent decline. La Repub\u00adbli\u00adca has dubbed 2014 \u201cthe black year of Ital\u00adian olive oil<\/a>.\u201d In a coun\u00adtry where each inhab\u00adi\u00adtant annu\u00adal\u00adly con\u00adsumes an aver\u00adage of more than 26 pounds of the gold\u00aden nec\u00adtar, it is a seis\u00admic cul\u00adtur\u00adal event, one more reminder of the exis\u00adten\u00adtial threats con\u00adfronting Ital\u00adian traditions.<\/p>\n Enri\u00adco embod\u00adies those tra\u00addi\u00adtions. A lean and strong man in his 70s, Enri\u00adco lives in a stone house built in 1503, the year the infa\u00admous Bor\u00adgia Pope Alexan\u00adder VI<\/span> died. Umbria was ruled by the Pope in those days, part of the \u201cpat\u00adri\u00admo\u00adny of St. Peter,\u201d ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adry that com\u00adprised about one-third of the Ital\u00adian Penin\u00adsu\u00adla. Its ves\u00adtige today is the 109 acres known as the Vatican.<\/p>\n The house and the small farm on which it is built have sur\u00advived five cen\u00adturies of upheaval, dur\u00ading which the Ital\u00adian penin\u00adsu\u00adla was divid\u00aded between the Pope and a suc\u00adces\u00adsion of for\u00adeign occu\u00adpiers, con\u00advulsed by peri\u00adod\u00adic upris\u00adings, embroiled in a war of lib\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, ruled by a king and \u2013 after two dev\u00adas\u00adtat\u00ading world wars \u2013 gov\u00aderned as a repub\u00adlic riv\u00aden by fac\u00adtion and plagued by instability.<\/p>\n The patch\u00adwork of Ital\u00adian cul\u00adtures has endured all of that and more. Those cul\u00adtures flour\u00adish on tongue and palate. Cui\u00adsine, like the many dialects spo\u00adken through\u00adout the coun\u00adtry, is local. There is no \u201cItal\u00adian\u201d food, just as there is no \u201cItal\u00adian\u201d wine. Enrico\u2019s olive oil is as dif\u00adfer\u00adent from the oil of Puglia as the robust Umbri\u00adan Sagran\u00adti\u00adno is from Tus\u00adcan Chi\u00adanti. The lasagna and piz\u00adza that Enrico\u2019s wife pre\u00adpares are noth\u00ading like those you\u2019d find in Naples. In that benight\u00aded city, you can\u2019t get decent porchet\u00adta (slow-roast\u00aded piglet). Neapoli\u00adtans suf\u00adfo\u00adcate their porchet\u00adta beneath a moun\u00adtain of condi\u00adments<\/a>. Enrico\u2019s porchet\u00adta, slow-roast\u00aded over a wood fire and sold at his small stand just out\u00adside the city gates, is served the way God intend\u00aded: hand-carved to order with a bit of salt on fresh\u00adly-baked bread.<\/p>\n An Italian\u2019s iden\u00adti\u00adty con\u00adsists in such small dis\u00adtinc\u00adtions. It is ground\u00aded first in fam\u00adi\u00adly, then in local\u00adi\u00adty, and last\u00adly in nation\u00adal\u00adi\u00adty. Gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of polit\u00adi\u00adcal fig\u00adures \u2013 from Garibal\u00addi and Cavour to Vit\u00adto\u00adrio Emanuele to Mus\u00adsoli\u00adni to Andreot\u00adti<\/a> to Berlus\u00adconi<\/a> \u2013 have sought to over\u00adcome the cen\u00adtripetal effects of this men\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty through polit\u00adi\u00adcal and eco\u00adnom\u00adic centralization.<\/p>\n But erect\u00ading a wel\u00adfare state and adopt\u00ading the euro have pro\u00adduced nei\u00adther eco\u00adnom\u00adic growth nor polit\u00adi\u00adcal sta\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty. Accord\u00ading to a study<\/a> by the Lon\u00addon School of Eco\u00adnom\u00adics, that wel\u00adfare state, by pre\u00adfer\u00adring the inter\u00adests of old\u00ader Ital\u00adians over their chil\u00addren, has helped pro\u00adduce a soci\u00adety in which four of five young<\/a> adults still live with their par\u00adents and where the country\u2019s youth unem\u00adploy\u00adment rate exceeds 43 per\u00adcent<\/a>. A grow\u00ading num\u00adber of young Ital\u00adians are for\u00adsak\u00ading the coun\u00adtry. Unlike nine\u00adteenth and twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry emi\u00adgrants, they tend to be bet\u00adter edu\u00adcat\u00aded and more high\u00adly skilled<\/a> than their cohorts.<\/p>\n All of which has left the gov\u00adern\u00adment short cash. Its debt now stands at 133 per\u00adcent<\/a> of eco\u00adnom\u00adic out\u00adput, which has been shrink\u00ading since 2011<\/a>. It is able to bor\u00adrow at afford\u00adable rates only because a troi\u00adka of multi\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal author\u00adi\u00adties \u2013 the Euro\u00adpean Cen\u00adtral Bank, Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Mon\u00ade\u00adtary Fund and the Euro\u00adpean Union \u2013 has stood behind its debt.<\/p>\n Mat\u00adteo Ren\u00adzi<\/a> heads the country\u2019s third con\u00adsec\u00adu\u00adtive unelect\u00aded gov\u00adern\u00adment. Like his pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsors, he has so far failed to con\u00advince<\/a> an unco\u00adop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtive par\u00adlia\u00adment to adopt labor and fis\u00adcal reforms that the troi\u00adka has demand\u00aded as a con\u00addi\u00adtion of con\u00adtin\u00adued assis\u00adtance. Elec\u00adtoral reform, a nec\u00ades\u00adsary pre\u00adlude to con\u00adsti\u00adtut\u00ading a gov\u00adern\u00ading par\u00adlia\u00admen\u00adtary major\u00adi\u00adty, remains equal\u00adly elu\u00adsive. One won\u00adders how this all will hold together.<\/p>\n Such mat\u00adters seem far from Enrico\u2019s mind. He con\u00adtin\u00adues to tend his orchard and pro\u00adduce his del\u00adi\u00adca\u00adcies, as his for\u00adbears have for gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions. He still serves up porchet\u00adta at his stand, shar\u00ading that duty with his wife, daugh\u00adter and two granddaughters.<\/p>\n His grand\u00addaugh\u00adters, like many Ital\u00adians of their gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, have fixed their gaze far beyond the Umbri\u00adan hori\u00adzon. They are very tal\u00adent\u00aded singers who want to pur\u00adsue musi\u00adcal careers in Ire\u00adland, the U.K. or even the U.S. Though thor\u00adough\u00adly Ital\u00adian, they call them\u00adselves the Irish Ros\u00ades<\/a>.<\/p>\n Enri\u00adco will tread more famil\u00adiar ter\u00adrain, doing bat\u00adtle against the forces of nature that destroyed this year\u2019s olive crop. The New York Times blames the pesti\u00adlence on glob\u00adal warm\u00ading<\/a>,<\/span> an apoc\u00ada\u00adlyp\u00adtic force against which the aged farmer would appear help\u00adless. Per\u00adhaps. But La Repub\u00adbli\u00adca<\/a> recent\u00adly pub\u00adlished a gov\u00adern\u00adment doc\u00adu\u00adment that urged farm\u00aders on in \u201cthe strug\u00adgle against the olive fly.\u201d The doc\u00adu\u00adment was signed by Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Ben\u00adi\u00adto Mus\u00adsoli\u00adni. In 1926.<\/p>\n The strug\u00adgle against the olive fly is but one skir\u00admish in the end\u00adless war to pre\u00adserve Italy\u2019s pris\u00admat\u00adic cul\u00adtur\u00adal tra\u00addi\u00adtions. Those tra\u00addi\u00adtions, like Enrico\u2019s house, have stood through cen\u00adturies of fick\u00adle weath\u00ader, bad gov\u00adern\u00adment and mis\u00adguid\u00aded economics.<\/p>\n They will sur\u00advive this as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Months before the har\u00advest, Enri\u00adco sus\u00adpect\u00aded the worst. His grove of 700 olive trees had been sub\u00adject\u00aded to an unusu\u00adal\u00adly cool and wet August, ide\u00adal breed\u00ading con\u00addi\u00adtions for the Bac\u00adtro\u00adcera oleae, a fly that deposits its eggs beneath the skin \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading