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Just a little something that made me smile today

Posted by (Ithaca, NY, USA) on

After our RS tour cancelled, I wrote to the proprietor of a small B&B in Salerno to tell him our trip was cancelled. I said I knew his was a small family business, and asked if it would be possible for him to hold our 50 euro deposit for a future stay -- although I wasn't sure how many years away that would be. He wrote back and assured me the deposit would be good any time in the future. He also expressed a lot of concern about us in the US and asked a bunch of questions, including what state I lived in. I wrote back and told him about life in NY (I live Upstate, which is obviously very different from NYC). I mentioned that our governor, Andrew Cuomo, had done an amazing job and to me is a real hero.

He wrote back to let me know that Cuomo is Italian. :)

(edited)

Posted by
307 posts

How sweet that your Salerno proprietor is proud that Governor Cuomo is Italian :-)

(Native WNY-er here!)

Posted by
1707 posts

Perhaps it's best not to tell your B&B host about the Italian-American Kenneth Cuccinelli.

Posted by
7326 posts

Thank you for sharing, Ruth! I was supposed to go to Salerno for the first time in September, but I’m afraid it’s going to be 2021, instead.

Posted by
15224 posts

Why is Berlusconi even compared with Mussolini?
One is a former standup entertainer on cruise ships who became a self made entrepreneur and later a moderate centrist prime minister in a free democracy; the other was a left wing socialist farmer and later journalist who, after leaving the Socialist party, founded the National Fascist Party and, after being appointed prime minister, became a bloody dictator who suspended all free democratic institutions. Their histories couldn’t be more different.

Mario Cuomo’s father (Andrea) was from Nocera Inferiore, near Salerno, and is very well regarded in the area. Several monuments, plaques, and streets are named after the former NY Governor.

Posted by
3812 posts

Dunno why, but something seems to be missing in Berlusconi's biography... Incidentally, Mussolini was kicked out of the Socialist party before WWI, he didn't leave it.

Posted by
1707 posts

The hair alone prevents comparing Mussolini and Berlusconi.

Posted by
15224 posts

There is a lot missing in Mussolini’s biography too.
Berlusconi never passed “racial laws” which caused thousands of Italian Jews to be exterminated. That difference alone prevents me from putting Mussolini and Berlusconi on the same level, even though I always voted for the parties that opposed Berlusconi.
One thing is is opposing a politician’s political views or policies, another is to demonize a democratically elected center right politician, who was quite a moderate centrist by Trump’s standards, and comparing him to a bloody fascist dictator like Mussolini.

Posted by
11201 posts

We saw a lot of the name Cuomo in Sorrento but do not know where the Governor’s family came from in Italy.

Posted by
3812 posts

NoW I remember! Berlusconi is a Convicted tax-cheater who founded a "moderate" party with 2 "wise guys" who are both in prison now. One spent 5 years in prison for Mafia.

Two other friends of Mr Berlusconi became Regional presidents of this moderate party and they spent years in prison, too. The governor of Lombardy for taking bribes in the health management (a sentence confirmed by the number of covid deaths in Lombardy), the governor of Sicily for helping the Mafia.

Sure Berlusconi didn't ordered the opposition leader to be kidnapped and murdered like Mussolini did. Nice, but he is a convicted thief surrounded by convicted criminals who slowly and fatally wounded our democracy. Clearing the way for populists and neo-fascists.

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