Tales from another century

As an italian, very often you are identified abroad as Pizza, Mafia and Mandolino. Given the fact that i never saw a mandolino in my life, i am very proud of the pizza I always had some doubt in identifying myself with the Mafia.

Mainly because i come from Milan, a city in the north where probably the Mafia has planted its seeds as well but for sure is not as visible and rooted as it is in the Sicily. One of the historical reasons why mafia and other crime organization were born in the south is the lack of institutions mixed by centuries of foreigners' dominance of those regions during the XIX century. Local bandits started to supply the need for protection and for somebody above the others able to impose some rules on the society. In sicily they had strong traditions that needed to be preserved, and the Mafia was the grantor of these rules. Rules that survived for centuries and that people wanted them to survive forever. Then Italy was unified and new institutions and bureaucratic figures came into place trying to substitute the old ones. But was not a great success. People still belive in the rule of man rather than the rule of law that came from Rome. People still saw in the Mafia the ideal grantor of what they believe are their values and traditions, even though the price to pay was a burden of terror, intimidations and cospiracy of silence.

Among these old traditions that needed to be carried on forever, was the role of the woman and, most important, the behavioural rules among man and woman.
So, for example, if you smile at a girl, basically you are proposing yourself for marriage.
If you look at a girl without previous consensus from her brothers, you are in trouble.
If you have sex with a girl before marriage, you are dead.

But how was all this enforced? Easily. Suppose on a sunny day you are walking downtown with your daughter and you notice somebody is looking at her. So, you go to the local mafia CEO and you kindly make him aware of this. The next day, two big guys go to the poor boy and propose him a deal: his life in exchange of not looking at her anymore. However, even if the Mafia is till well rooted in Sicily, these rules cased to exists anymore.

Now that you know everything about how Mafia ruled in south Italy, i tell you a story.
Yesterday I was in Sutton. I was commenting on a girl with Valerio when a guy came to me and said "hey you motherfucker stop looking at my girlfriend". We didn't even reply. We laughed and continued talking with the other people who were with us. After two hours, we were dancing at 4 meters distance from the same couples even though i didn't even notice that. At a certain point, two brave guards of the club came and thrown me and Valerio out of the club. The reason: we were annoying those ladies. Whaaaaat???

Welcome to catalunya 2007. Welcome in the XIX century of Italy.