Something that can be missed by the casual tourist coming to Italy to see the glories of Florence’s museums or Rome’s churches, is that the country is in trouble, and it’s not the kind of trouble that is immediately evident. Italy’s illness is hidden, but far advanced already and potentially deadly.
If you were to venture outside the usual tourist cities, with their crowds and bustle and (sometimes) charming chaos, you will see something, if you know where to look that will give you pause to worry. Italy’s rural areas are dying, the lights on many of those gorgeous, picturesque medieval hill towns, are going out, one by one, like candles pinched out by an invisible hand.
Foolishness to the world 