Economist.com Cities Guide: Milan Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Bye bye Berlusconi

After weeks of uncertainty Silvio Berlusconi, the outgoing prime minister and leader of the conservative Forza Italia coalition, conceded defeat to Romano Prodi on May 2nd. Mr Prodi and his centre-left coalition had narrowly won national elections on April 9th and 10th, but Mr Berlusconi had demanded a recount and claimed victory for himself. He finally decided to give up his efforts after Mr Prodi's centre-left candidates won leadership of the Senate and lower house at the end of April. The new government will now be formed according to a schedule decided by Italy's new president, who will be elected in mid-May.

Business leaders are eager for Mr Prodi to start work as soon as possible and impose necessary economic reforms-a task made formidable by his fragile mandate and dependence on the radical left. GDP growth was near zero last year, and has averaged less than 0.7% in the last five; employment rates are at just 58%. Italian industries must begin moving away from small-scale manufacturing, family firms and a reliance on low labour costs and devaluation, and towards larger enterprises, more service industries and higher value-added activities. Notwithstanding the snags of coalition politics, the new government must ensure that this economic shift happens swiftly and with little pain, with a programme of liberalisation and privatisation.

The other election

Still reeling from the hubbub of April's national elections, Milan voters will drag themselves back to the polls on May 28th and 29th, this time to choose a mayor. Local elections to replace Gabriele Albertini, the centre-right mayor who has reached the two-term limit, come so soon after the national elections that campaigners have simply pasted new faces over old electoral posters around town. The race between the centre-right's candidate, Letizia Moratti, Mr Berlusconi's education minister, and the centre-left's candidate, Bruno Ferrante, a former prefect of Milan, may prove to be a close one. A poll published on May 3rd by La Repubblica newspaper showed 47-49% of respondents favouring Mr Ferrante and 48-50% favouring Ms Moratti. Some 18% of the 1,000 voters polled April 30th were undecided.

Though Ms Moratti's poll numbers show a solid support base, she has been the target of constant criticism. Opponents first attacked Ms Moratti-who would be Milan's first female mayor-for her arty black-and-white campaign photos, thought to be heavily retouched and years out of date. Then came her misguided effort to involve the community through blogs, which prompted a Green Party parliamentarian, Fiorello Cortiana, to request an investigation of "cybersquatting". Things got more heated at a Liberation Day march on April 25th, when Ms Moratti was booed while pushing her father, an 86-year-old Dachau survivor, in a wheelchair. She was invited by union representatives to participate in a Labour Day march on May 1st, but hecklers in the 50,000-strong crowd forced her to retreat. Yet these attacks may not be all bad: Ms Moratti's aplomb under fire has put her in the spotlight, while Mr Ferrante remains a less visible candidate. He was criticised for not participating in the May Day marches-for fear of heckling, according to some-and is now trying to patch things up with union leaders.

Failure to launch

An effort to sell a 33% stake in SEA Milan SpA, a city-owned company that runs the Linate and Malpensa airports, has stalled on the auction block. None of the four companies that had formally expressed interest placed a bid on March 28th. "The SEA sale has turned out in the worst way possible," Milan's outgoing mayor, Mr Albertini, said in a statement. "It damages the city of Milan and its citizens, who now have to wait who knows how long for strategic infrastructure works to be completed."

Mr Albertini had hoped to raise €600m (about $760m) from the sale, to go towards a new library, a fourth metro line and a spillway for Seveso, about 20km north of Milan. The mayor explained that bidders may have deserted the sale because of uncertainty at SEA, including revolving-door management, a delay by the city council in valuing the company's real estate and last-minute appeals by a regional court to block the sale. Mr Albertini's successor will have the difficult task of reviving the sale. Floating SEA on the stockmarket may be the new mayor's most viable option.

Eating out

A growing number of Milanese are doffing their aprons and buying ready-made meals and take-out food, in a boon for local businesses. A study released by the local chamber of commerce on April 20th showed that the number of businesses making and selling prepared foods had jumped by 101% over five years, with a 30% increase from October 2004 to October 2005.
Milan's food industry has grown over 31%, nearly twice the national average of 18%. Analysts at the chamber of commerce attribute this growth to the "laziness" of locals, who prefer to buy ready-made dishes at supermarkets or pick up meals from delis, kebab joints and Chinese restaurants. It would appear, however, that Milanese are still eating relatively healthily: fruit and vegetable processing increased by 200% from 2000 to 2005.

Hangman

Franco De Benedetto, a construction worker who climbed a tree to "liberate" dummy children installed by Maurizio Cattelan, an artist, was sentenced on April 6th to two months in prison for his crime against art. In a grim public display on May 5th 2004 Mr Cattelan hung three boy mannequins by their necks from Milan's oldest tree in Piazza XXIV Maggio, a square in the Navigli area. The dummies were meant to remain on display for more than a month, but the following evening Mr De Benedetto arrived with a ladder and hacksaw, pushed past the security guard, shimmied up the trunk and cut two of the "children" free before falling five metres to the pavement. He was hospitalised, but not seriously injured. The remaining dummy went on to cause a similar furore at Seville's Contemporary Art Biennial that autumn.

Mr Cattelan and the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, the installation's sponsor, decided not to prosecute, though the damages were estimated at €64,700. The city of Milan was less forgiving, and pressed charges against Mr De Benedetto for destroying art. It took almost two years for prosecutors to establish the dummies as art in the first place, but last month they settled on a fine of €800. Judge Michele Montingelli deemed the punishment "incongruous" with the crime and capped the fine with a two-month prison sentence.

Open water

After almost 90 years of being closed to the public, two sections of the city's canals have been reopened for pleasure cruises. The canals were first built in the 12th century and were later used to haul marble needed to build the Duomo, the world's largest Gothic cathedral, from Lake Maggiore, about 80km north-west of Milan, down the river Ticino to Milan's Naviglio Grande. A restoration project helped open 31km of canals in April, and now 24 passengers at a time can take a two-hour trip along the Naviglio Pavese canal, or a slightly longer excursion from Abbiategrasso, on the outskirts of Milan.

This is a small victory for Empio Malara, founder of the Amici dei Navigli (Friends of the Canals) association, who has spent the last 20 years fighting to bring life back to Milanese waters. Mr Malara told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that he hopes to have 500km of navigable waterways open within three years, including the section of the Naviglio Pavese canal leading to the Charterhouse of Pavia, an ornate monastery about 35km south-west of Milan. The cruise season, considered an experiment to be closely monitored for environmental impact, continues until September.

A lira goes a long way

Italy may have adopted the euro in 2002, but the lira is still valid currency in a food-store chain in Milan. About 20% of business at La Scelta stores comes in the form of old lira notes, Ernesto Colleoni, the chain's owner, told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. While rummaging through drawers or pockets of old coats, many Milanese-mostly women but also young people-find the odd 10,000 lire (about €5) or even 100,000 lire note, Mr Colleoni said. Every two months, Mr Colleoni makes a trip to the Bank of Italy to exchange lire for about €1,500-3,000. Perfectly legal, this double-currency commerce will last until 2012, when the Bank of Italy no longer will accept the lira as legal tender.

Catch if you can

May 2006

Life I Grandi Fotografi

Until September 3rd 2006

This exhibit of photographs from Life magazine charts the main events of the latter half of the 20th century. The show features 150 classic pictures, including such iconic black-and-white images as Robert Capa's "D-Day", of American troops landing at Omaha Beach in 1944, and Alfred Eisenstaedt's "VJ Day", of a sailor swooping in for a kiss in Times Square in 1945. And there is plenty of glamour, with snapshots of Steve McQueen and his wife, Neile, in bathing suits at their Hollywood home in 1963, and Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly in floaty white dresses backstage at the 1956 Academy Awards. A parallel exhibit, "Used in Life", features vintage prints from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and is on display in the same space until May 21st.

Spazio Forma, Piazza Tito Lucrezio Caro 1. Tel: +39 (0)2 5811-8067. Open: Tues-Sun, 11am-9pm (Thurs until 11pm). Tickets: €6.50. For more information visit Forma's website.

More from the Milan cultural calendar