My unpopular opinion, Italy, traditions and innovation

Another Thought Experiment by the Saving Ninja:

What opinion do you have that most of your peers do not share?

Growing up in Italy has been a privilege. Being raised in a German and Italian household and being able to speak and think in two languages as well as comparing two different cultures on an everyday basis has been eye-opening.

Italy is such a wonderful country – great weather, amazing food and wine, culture-filled towns and cities everywhere, pretty little villages, beaches, mountains, lakes… you name it. It’s no wonder that almost everyone you will ever meet has been or wants to go to Italy, be it Venice or Rome or Tuscany or somewhere else. It is difficult not to fall in love with this country.

Who doesn’t want to eat home made pasta made by an old “nonna”, while sipping a glass of Chianti in the Tuscan hills? People will always flock to Italy.

Unfortunately that is also, in my unpopular opinion, Italy’s curse. Why would you change something that works, something that everyone admires?

Take fashion as an example. Italy is known for its traditional approach to the industry, producing beautiful clothes with fine materials, always. Think of silk, pure wool, merino, linen and cotton. They are just standard there. After all summers are hot, you want natural materials on your skin. Same in winter. And they use decades old techniques to produce these garments, because they work well.

If you ever get invited to a wedding in Italy, don’t look for a dress code on your invite – people there know how to get dressed for such an occasion, they don’t need to be given instructions.

But when I go looking for a pretty dress in the UK, I struggle to find something in natural materials. A frock to attend a wedding? You’ll probably have to settle with polyester, or what I call “plastic of some sort”. Why? The British fashion industry in known for innovation, Italy’s for traditional materials and production techniques.

Again, if you ever get to go to an Italian wedding, don’t have breakfast – the food will be so much and so good, you’d regret being too stuffed to have some more.

All that glitters is not gold

If everything in Italy is so great, then why is the country struggling?

Its greatness is spoiling people’s minds. Italians are living off their country’s beauty, culture and traditions not leaving any space for innovation and change.

Those who try to change things, hit a wall of resistance and sooner or later leave to go to places where change is possible if not even welcome.

A large number of Italians under 40 earn 1,000 Euros or so, and struggle to get a permanent contract. This affects women more than men. Trouble is, among others, that no bank in Italy will give you a mortgage unless you have a permanent job. Contracting and freelancing is a dirty word, something for losers.

This is where you enter the world of the black market, a well developed parallel economy whose size is difficult to guess. Around 2012 news surfaced that “according to Italian newspapers, people reporting incomes of less than 20,000 euros (about $26,000) per year cumulatively own 188,000 supercars, (such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, or BMW coupes), 518 private airplanes or helicopters, and some 42,000 yachts.”

I understand this reality well. I was 9 when our family home was raided by the guardia di finanza (aka the tax police). For years my father, now a retired entrepreneur, had been keeping two separate balance sheets with wildly different numbers. My mother’s eyes were opened.

Most people in my parents’ generation were savers who like to help their children by buying them a property. Dictating the location, the interior design and whatever else they are able to dictate. The golden chain keeping young Italians frustrated.

The glass ceiling is triple glazed in Italy. The only women who have a career there work in their own family businesses together with male family members.

Schools and universities teach mainly theory. My cousins in Germany learnt Latin in a way that is actually useful and logical. In Italy you are forced to learn by translating the most intricate and theoretical texts.

But hey, everybody loves Italy, so why would Italians be unhappy??

Balancing tradition and innovation is hard

Some people in the FI community are or want to be homesteaders, like the Saving Ninja and the Frugalwoods. They want to go back to basics, which is very noble. This is where traditions live.

Yet the world needs innovation too.

I love Italy for its traditions.

I love the UK for its innovation. How do you balance tradition and innovation in your life?

Some more unpopular opinions by other FIRE bloggers

• Saving Ninja
• in-deed-a-bly
• Caveman @ DitchTheCave
• Mr A Way To Less
• Miss A Way To Less
• Merely curious
• Marc @ FinanceYourFire
• A Simple Life
• Left FI
• Andy @ Liberate.life (on Rebo)
• James @ Rebo
• TheFIREstarter