Woman and child outside. Mother and daughter are going to relax on the beach. Rimini, Italy.
alex_ugalek | iStock | getty images
Rimini, Italy – The seaside town of Rimini is Italy’s Jersey Shore: there are more than 40 miles of sandy beaches from here to the port city of Ancona in the southeast.
It was made famous by the native son Federico FelliniJoe grew up in the city and reflected it in many of his films, including “Amarcord,
This region, Emilia-Romagna, is synonymous with Italy’s biggest export: la dolce vitaThe good life of booze, food, good looking people and fast cars.
you can see la dolce vita As soon as you reach the beach: the first thing that’s obvious are the beach bars, hundreds of them, where thousands – wearing as little as possible – sip oceans of Aperol spritzes, Negronis and Italian white wine at 5 euros ($5.35) per glass.
Then there is the food, which has made the region one of the food capitals of Europe.
People come to the cities of Parma, Modena, Bologna, Ravenna and Rimini to eat Parma ham (prosciutto), cheese (definitely Parmesan) and pasta of countless varieties, but especially tagliatelle, tortellini and lasagna, all made by went. Hand.
It is also the industrial center of Italy, where Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis are made.
jersey shore, but no
Unlike Americans, Italians don’t drop their beach bags and dive into the ocean.
The Italians have built small towns on their beaches, and there is a protocol.
Here, you rent a beach chair and umbrella from Cabana Boys. Chairs and umbrellas are arranged in neat rows, about three dozen of them, all numbered, stretching about a quarter of a mile down the road to the Adriatic Sea.
“Long rows of beach umbrellas in Cattolica, Emilia Romagna, Other beach images from Italy:”
Angleti | E+ | getty images
And it’s the Adriatic that everyone comes for. It separates the Italian peninsula from Croatia and Albania, 100 miles to the east. Like the Atlantic, the Adriatic lacks the clear blue waters of the Mediterranean, but what it lacks in color it makes up for in temperature (already 67 degrees), calmness and accessibility (Bologna is less than an hour away). Is.
With so much money, so much sun, so much water, and so much food and wine, you’d think life would be one endless party, but Italians don’t seem to be very happy these days, and with good reason.
A deal for Americans, but not for Italians
Italy is heavily dependent on tourism. More than 2 million Italians are employed in the tourism industry, accounting for approximately 8% of total employment.
Good news: The tourism business is booming.
“Business has been very good,” a taxi driver in Bologna told me: “Since Covid, it hasn’t closed. Not even in winter. The tourists keep coming.”
A gondolier in Venice, an hour north, told me this All 433 Gondoliers in Venice Working full time, even during the winter.
“Business for gondoliers has been very good in the last year,” he told me, even as he charged 120 euros (about $130) for a 45-minute gondola ride down the narrow, watery canals behind St. Mark’s Square. Charged.
The presence of Americans helps that sea of tourists a lot. While Europeans, especially the French and Germans, make up the largest group of foreign visitors, Americans do something their European brethren don’t: They tip really well.
“We love Americans,” a waiter in Modena told me after I left 10% tip for exceptional service,
For Americans, the small towns of Europe in general but Italy in particular are very valuable. At one time last year the dollar was equal to the euro. Even today, with one euro at around $1.07, the continent is still a relative bargain.
Prices will be higher in the summer high season, but right now you can find a good hotel room in Rimini within walking distance of the beach for 100-200 euros ($107-$214). At the famous Grand Hotel Rimini, built in 1908 and the site of several Fellini films, you can find a spot by the famous pool or on the hotel’s private beach for $200-$400 per night, depending on the day of the week.
On the beach, at Il Circolino restaurant, you can get pasta courses (tagliatelle al ragu—it’s amazing) for 12 euros ($13) and main dishes like chicken or polpo (octopus) for 15 to 22 euros ($16- can do. $24).
These are high class places.
This is a bargain for Americans, but for most Italians, even these prices are out of reach.
“Business is good on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but a lot depends on tourists,” a restaurant manager told me.
The problem, he said, is that the good life made famous by Fellini is falling out of reach for ordinary Italians.
It’s all about taxes
“The average Italian here earns about 20,000 euros ($21,400) a year,” he told me. He’s probably talking about those working in the service industry. According to OECD data, the average salary in Italy in 2021 was about 29,000 euros (about $31,000). This is still below the EU average of around 33,000 euros.
See separately iStock | getty images
But his face really soured when he started talking about the issue that unites every Italian: taxes.
They are high. Very high. Italians pay three taxes: national income tax (including 9.2% social security contributions), regional taxes and municipal taxes. The income tax rate is progressive: the top rate of income tax is 43% – higher than the European average of 38%.
“If an Italian paid all his taxes he could give more than half his income to the government,” said the manager, folding his hands together and shaking them back and forth, “I can’t believe it. That’s what we’re paying so much for.” excess.”
It’s no wonder so many salaries are paid under the table. Italy has a well-known black market economy.
What is left to live is the problem. Rent for a small one-bedroom apartment in Rimini ranges from 550-650 euros (about $590-$700) per month. This is approximately 40% of the take home pay for one of the manager’s employees.
It’s no surprise that 62% of young Italians (25-29) still live with their parents.
An even smaller surprise is that even a 12 euro plate of pasta can seem a little expensive.
It’s also no surprise that the manager said business is increasingly dependent on wealthy Germans, Britons and Americans.
He said, “For Americans, Italy is wonderful, but it is impossible for an Italian to visit America.”
Italians are looking for opportunities
high taxes. Lower average income. High inflation (8% per year).
Life has become so difficult that many young Italians are leaving Italy to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Five million Italians now live abroad.
Another major motivation: lack of job growth.
I had lunch with a family, a woman and her two children, in Padua, a university town about an hour northwest of Rimini. The two children, aged 24 and 31, live at home with their mother.
The oldest has been working for a software company in Denmark for the last few years. He was visiting his family, but was flying back to Denmark that week. His sister, who worked for a year in the US, is getting her degree in architecture in Venice, but admits she wants to go abroad to complete her studies.
“I think it would be better to go abroad, to gain more experience, and maybe a better job offer,” she told me.
Bottom line: Italy’s biggest export, la dolce vita, Still alive and well. The sun, the wine, the food, the wonderful people, it’s all still here.
It’s becoming a little harder for locals to participate in that great export.
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