Sunday, February 06, 2011

Municipal federalism


Many thanks to those of you who reminded me that Michelangelo’s David is not in the Uffizi but in the Accademia. The point remains, wherever the illustrious marble stands: who owns it? And who can use for good or ill? Now we are told that two days after the government tried to push their municipal federalism decree past President Napolitano, the Grand Canal belongs to the Italian state and not to the city of Venice. I’m not sure what that means in practice and apparently nor do the city authorities or central government but it does demonstrate some uncertainty about what “federalism” really means.

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