Caro Ugo,

From here, I could tell you a lot on how Italians are reacting (actually, non-reacting) to the situation. In this hot summer of 2008, Italians are enjoying their vacations. They seem to be worried mainly about sports and convinced that all problems are due to crime, speculation and immigration. Most people seem to believe that the Euro currency is the culprit for the decreasing purchasing power their salaries. Nobody is discussing the possibility of an economic collapse. Whenever some data show that the economy has improved a bit, it is hailed with enthusiasm in the front pages of the newspapers. When the data show that it has gone down (much more often) it is written in small characters in an inner page. Italians may be unpleasantly surprised on coming back from their vacations, this september.

A most interesting observation indeed!

I myself having been fortunate enough, (or perhaps cursed) to have been brought up with native fluency in three cultures on three continents with family and friends scattered to the farthest corners of the planet, could tell you that you could very easily substitute "Italians" for just about any other nationality and the "Euro" for some other currency without having to change another word in this quote and you would have have perfectly described the situation in those other countries as well. It is not only the Italians who would like to continue with "la dolce far niente".