Five years on, seeing how little of all this has been translated into reality, the “useless sermons” of a far more illustrious predecessor of mine come to mind. Why doesn’t the political system – which alone has the power to translate analysis into law – take to heart Cavour’s dictum that “reforms, when enacted in time, do not weaken authority but reinforce it”?
Thanks to hard work, ingenuity and sacrifice, in the 150 years of its history as a nation Italy has made enormous progress in the material conditions of life. We have experienced periods of booming growth. During the first fifteen years of the twentieth century per capita gross domestic product increased by 30 per cent.