Letters: In defence of Italy, and the rise and fall of the military moustache

Italy’s to-do list

Sir: You would expect a long letter of rebuttal by a piqued senior diplomat in response to the many barbs that Nicholas Farrell packed into his piece about Italy (‘The dying man of Europe’, 25 October). Among the most painful ones were that Italy is ‘almost doomed’ and parts of it are ‘hopeless’, which are far too simplistic statements. Mr Farrell is remarkably complacent in his negative bias. But beyond the sea of clichés, the piece offers a useful to-do list. So I will limit myself to a brief comment on its title, highlighting some details not mentioned in the article: if decline is the issue, there are plenty of people in Italy who are trying to tackle it — among them a new wave of Italian politicians. Brought up as the ‘Erasmus generation’, they are tackling the many complex challenges my country is facing. They have strong Europhile ideals and great determination.