Newsgroup: it.politica.polo
Titolo: Nemmeno il sud vuole stare con il sud !

Electronic Telegraph
International News
ISSUE 1934
Sunday 10 September 2000
                 Southern Italian island demands 'transfer' to Alps
                 By Julian Coman, Europe Correspondent
                 TIRED of Sicilian political intrigue and financial neglect, an Italian island 50
                 miles from the North African coast is demanding a political "transfer" to the
                 region of Bergamo - 1,500 miles to the north.
                 The unprecedented request, which has inflamed ancient rivalries between
                 Italy's north and south, is being made by the islanders of Lampedusa, a tiny
                 outpost of 5,000, halfway between Malta and Tunisia and 80 miles south of
                 Sicily. Following decades of deteriorating relations with political authorities in
                 Palermo and Rome, a "liberation movement", enjoying considerable support
                 on the island, has vowed to make Lampedusa a part of the prosperous Italian
                 "far north" by the end of the year.
                 An obscure and seldom-used clause in the Italian constitution permits smaller
                 towns to choose which local authority they belong to, although no community
                 has ever taken matters this far. The campaign has led to some of the oddest
                 sights in recent Italian politics. Shops and restaurant windows on the island,
                 which represents Italy's southernmost territory, have been covered with
                 posters praising the Northern League - the northern separatist movement led
                 by Umberto Bossi.
                 The league advocates a breakaway central European state with southern
                 borders at Florence, and has a major power base at Bergamo. Delighted with
                 what it sees as a propaganda coup at the south's expense, the party is
                 providing full backing for the Lampedusa campaign. A petition calling for the
                 political "relocation" of Lampedusa to Bergamo has already collected 1,500
                 signatures. Last week, Giacomo Struchi, the Northern League MP for
                 Bergamo, visited the island and vowed to help locals win their battle to leave
                 the Italian south.
                 Angela Maraventano, a leading "liberation" activist, said: "This might seem
                 eccentric, but it's deadly serious. The facilities we are given on this island - or
                 lack of them - are nothing short of scandalous. Last November a 50-year-old
                 man died of a heart attack because the one state helicopter we have was in
                 use on another island. If we had proper medical facilities, he might still be alive
                 today. Northern League representatives have promised us that those facilities
                 would be available if we joined up with the north."
                 Traditionally, politicians from the poor Sicilian town of Agrigento have been
                 responsible for providing the island's health, education and social services.
                 Having barely enough funds to cover its own needs, and plagued by Mafia
                 politics, Agrigento has left Lampedusa largely to its own devices. The island's
                 infirmary can perform only the most basic of operations. A cardiologist and a
                 gynaecologist visit once a week. The one school follows a science-based
                 curriculum. To find another option, parents must send their children to board
                 in Sicily or the mainland at their own cost.
                 Alitalia, the state airline, abandoned all flights to the island years ago, leaving a
                 monopoly to Air Sicilia, which charges up to £140 for a return flight to
                 Palermo. "During the tourist season we have one doctor on call for a
                 population which gets up to 20,000," said Mrs Maraventano, whose
                 restaurant, Il Saracento, doubles as a campaign base. "Animals in the rest of
                 Italy are treated better than we are."
                 The islanders have been accused of being prejudiced against their Sicilian
                 neighbours. Tourists from southern Italy say local hoteliers have refused
                 rooms to visitors from Sicily. Southern diners at Il Saracento have complained
                 of being labelled mafiosi and of facing discrimination in bookings. One
                 Lampedusa hotel owner, Pino Licciardi, admitted: "At my hotel we only want
                 to work with people from the north. When southerners ring and ask for
                 rooms, I just tell them we are full. They neglect us and we neglect them."
                 The islanders expect to have more than 2,500 signatures in favour of the
                 Bergamo option by the end of this month. At that point, attention will switch
                 to Rome, where the Italian government will be forced to decide whether its
                 southernmost island really can move its council offices to a location just south
                 of the Alps.
                © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2000. 

 region of Bergamo - 1,500 miles to the north.
Visto che ci sono, invece di chiedere l'annessione al Bergamasco, 
perche' non scelgono invece la Valle d'Aosta? Avrebbero anche la
benzina scontata...

 benzina scontata...
Brucia eh?
-- 
Padania Libera. Ora.  Italians at 
http://members.xoom.com/italmodel

 
Spero di si', che la benzina bruci (anche quella scontata)...
Dimenticavo: e' scontata anche in Friuli e nella provincia di Como.
Forse i pantelleresi dovevano informarsi meglio.
Dico, proprio Bergamo dovevano scegliere? Si gemellassero
con Rimini, piuttosto (almeno anche li' c'e' il mare).

 con Rimini, piuttosto (almeno anche li' c'e' il mare).
Brucia, brucia. Si.


con Rimini, piuttosto (almeno anche li' c'e' il mare).
Scegliere la perfetta organizzazione ed il cristallino mare dei romagnoli ?
rimanete con la Sicilia !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!