Magical "Made in Italy" by Sostene Schena

The number of Italians who purchase bottled mineral water is constantly growing although Italy is well endowed (even extremely well endowed) with good (even superb) water. And Italy is rapidly taking first place worldwide in the consumption (internal) of mineral water (in the bottle, understood).
Yet, in a city like Rome, water from the kitchen tap has been tested, experimentally, and demonstrated to be better than the best mineral water (about a dozen were taken into consideration).
We don’t have anything against those who pass their holidays at spas seeking to recover from stress, purge toxins from the body, lose weight, rejuvenate and cure exhausted bodies, in short, putting the system, weakened by disorders of every type, back in order before returning home in restored health.
We are also certain that many particular waters have beneficial effects, results that at times last many months after which the cycle begins again with another period of retreat (and of penitence). My father told me that he once saw in a tavern two phrases painted on the walls and facing each other. One phrase read as follows: “Whoever drinks beer lives 100 years,” while the second read: “In a country where the water is good, set aside beer and drink wine.”
It is true that one or two goblets of (good) wine, drunk during meals, have an even better effect than water. We’ll not recall the well-known “French paradox,” which has it that a goblet of wine at a meal “keeps the doctor away.”
But it is with respect to that “goblet,” which for Italians in recent years has been “half full,” that we wish to launch a conversation that we hope will not be too abstruse. As always, rather, no, especially in these cases, there are two points of view and they are diametrically opposed. For some the glass is half full, for others it’s half empty.
This applies, there’s no doubt, when the goblet is full (pardon, empty) by half.
What happens when it is filled to only one quarter? Is it probable that for many it is perceived as empty by three quarters…but only if the glass was full at first, because if it was empty, the reasoning, granted that such there be, is turned upside down. How was the goblet at first? Memory often does not help us. It is now tamed by focused communications strategies. Whoever supports a step forward, remembers the goblet as being empty. Whoever claims two steps backward is certain that the glass was full. No one, however, remembers or is willing to say when.
This preamble, a bit strained, is meant to assert that any statistic, inquiry or survey is subject to interpretation by anyone or everyone, to accommodate his own view.
Now, to get back to the subject, we must emphasize the fact that some (Italians) were saying that in Italy the glass was nearly empty but if we were to make a tour of the world we would see that the phrase “made in Italy” is still and always considered in a positive sense and as a synonym of creativity, good taste and quality, especially in the culinary field and, particularly, in the wine sector.
All this is due to the efforts of some honest and serious producers who hold high the good name of “the bel Paese.

Copyright © 2005 - Convivium2000
All rights reserved
Web design and Coding by Webdolomiti