This coming Sunday, there will be elections in Italy. Now that fact in itself is not that unusual, as history shows that Italy’s prime ministers usually stay in office as long as Italian football coaches. One minor crisis is enough to force resignation almost immediately, although the official statement usually says that most resign ‘voluntarily’. Now I don’t really want to talk about politics in this blog at all. Just like at the Eurovision Song Contest, where there’s an unwritten rule that political issues are not discussed (or in this case: sung about), I basically don’t do this on my blog either. In this blog, therefore, I won’t cover the various candidates in the battle for the premiership, or the fact that the far-right is quite ahead in the polls….
It’s a motley crew, this family of mine, with the most diverse personalities
Instead, I want to talk about family, a theme that plays a very important role in the current election campaigns of the far-right parties. “La famiglia tradizionale” that is: a man and woman – married, of course – and their children. “Sì alla famiglia tradizionale!”, translated: “Yes to the traditional family”, I hear in almost every Italian eight o’clock news these days. It makes me think of my own family, which is fairly large: my father has no fewer than eight siblings. Most of them have partners, many have children, and they in turn have children too. Last weekend, we gathered for our annual family day, a tradition on the third Saturday of September. And as always, it was highly entertaining and fun. It’s a motley crew, this family of mine, with the most diverse personalities. Everybody with their own story. Their own life choices, not all of which fall within the definition of “la famiglia tradizionale” used by the extreme right in Italy. Once a year it all comes together. Then we form teams in which the oldest is almost 70 and the youngest only three years old, and we become so competitive playing games against each other. At night, during the barbecue, we all agree wholeheartedly: no matter how busy the agenda, you just have to be here on this day. More than once, I flew back from Italy to attend. And when the day comes to an end, we already start speculating about the next edition and the ideas can’t get wild enough.
I think that is why it upsets me a little extra now how something as all-encompassing as family is suddenly being made political
Every year I realise how incredibly precious and important family is. Italians – family people to the core – usually agree wholeheartedly. I think that is why it upsets me a little extra now how something as all-encompassing as family is suddenly being made political. How the, if the predictions are correct, future Italian government has such strong views on how people should live their private lives. How something as vulnerable as a person’s personal – and very often brave – choices are condemned. Choices made out of love, for each other and for yourself.
La famiglia tradizionale as a safe haven where you can always be yourself, whoever you love and whoever you choose to be. Whatever that family may look like
Because almost every single Italian knows Luca, single father and homosexual, who became famous after he adopted Alba, a girl with Down syndrome who had already been rejected by 20 (!) couples. The two of them form an utterly happy but untraditional family, whose adventures are followed by almost half a million people on social media. All of Italy also knows the shocking numbers presented every year on the eighth of March, International Women’s Day: on average, every three days a woman is killed by a man in Italy, in most cases her own man. Luca and Alba are living proof that few things in life are more important than family. The shocking numbers are proof that there is literally nothing more important than having a safe environment with infinite love and respect. So, how about making thát a tradition? La famiglia tradizionale as a safe haven where you can always be yourself, whoever you love and whoever you choose to be. Whatever that family may look like. I believe that’s what actually should be at the top of the political agenda.