A few days ago I mentioned some of the "perennial" stories which re-appear periodically in Italian news media. That list was by no means exhaustive, and today's news brings another recurrent meme to the fore. It's the one that I think of as the endemic "Shitting on Napoli" syndrome.

First, a bit of its aetiology. In addition to the matchless beauty of its justly celebrated bay, Naples also boasts a glorious intellectual, artistic and cultural history dating from its antique origins as a center of Magna Grecia, through the Roman era and into the Middle Ages. Around the dawn of the modern era Naples was perhaps the most populous city in Europe. It was also one of Europe's major entry ports, so much so that one can often trace the diffusion of diseases like the bubonic plague or new-world venereal diseases through Naples. The urbanized Neapolitan population developed an unparalleled ability to survive by their wits that was already legendary by the time of Boccaccio. This popular culture, well adapted to the era of aristocracy and exploitation, survived in parallel with the high culture of the elite, with which it interacted, for example in the field of music where the "canzone napolitano" enriched the world with many jewels. The point is that Naples had a long standing urban, indeed metropolitan, culture and tradition long before the emergence of the Italian state.

When Naples, and Southern Italy were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy the city remained something of an anomaly: a metropolis for the less industrialized, less "progressive", and largely agricultural south of Italy, a place where country bumpkins met city sharpies. This legacy has remained, rightly or wrongly, impressed on the Italian national consciousness. In some respects it seems that Naples is to the rest of Italy, as Italy is to the rest of Europe, i.e. a zone where abstract ideals of governance collide with long standing traditions of familial solidarity and an ethic of personal advantage rather than civic duty.

Occasionally this constant underlying dialectical tension between competing visions of life, breaks into open view in the news media. It may be the outbreak of a cholera epidemic in the Bay of Naples, a breakdown of basic law-and-order in some suburb of Napoli as the cammora runs rampant, a strike and protest march by the cigarette smuggler's union, or news of some Neapolitan gang's latest "invention" for stealing credit card numbers or faking a "Bancomat" deposit booth.

At this point, high dudgeon breaks out, and the national media collectively shit on Naples. Yesterday offered two examples of this recurring comedy: a large family from the Naples area was found to have all 20 members with certified 100% medical disability, although all of them were in perfect health. The financial advantages of such certification, while not enormous, are substantial, and, of course, the utter dysfunction of the certification process could not have happened without official complicity.

In another minor variation on the theme the owner of a small hotel near Naples was found guilty of having installed telecameras aimed at the beds in four of his guest rooms so that he could "enjoy" the amatorial activity of his guests. This latter "peccadillo" is perhaps too minor to be placed under the general rubric considered here, but it did provide journalistic filler and counterpoint to the medical care fraud.

Let me add a few points lest I be accused of either anti-Napoli racism or of apology for criminal activity. In my personal experience, the people of Naples have always seemed every bit as honest and hard-working as those of the rest of Italy, and indeed the dominance of Napolitan entrepreneurs throughout southern Italy is well documented. Nevertheless, the phenomenon that I have tried to bring into focus here very definitely does exist. It's archetype is readily viewed in virtually any film of the celebrated Neapolitan actor Totò. Moreover, when something like the medical fraud mentioned above is reported, voters and politicians of parties like the Lega Nord treat them as "further confirmation" for their racism.

Over the last 25 years Naples has had some of the most able and honest leaders in all of Italy (Maurizio Valenzi, Antonio Bassolino, Rosa Gervolino). Nevertheless, the periodic "it's time to shit on Naples" phenomenon continues, and not, alas, completely without reason.

In this diary I have undoubtedly (though unintentionally) offended some readers, and with equal certainty I have made questionable statements. As always, I welcome corrections and comments.