Beppe Severgnini, the famous columnist of the prestigious Italian daily Corriere della Sera recently published an interesting piece listing 100 good reasons to be happy and proud to be Italian. His outstanding article has been so successful that the newspaper decided to translate it into English. It is definitely an enjoyable readingthat nobody (of those who are interested in Italy) should skip.

As Severgnini highlights, "There's no denying it. Some things about Italy are depressing. Some events are embarrassing, not least because they are often partly our own fault. Every day, bad things fill the papers, which have a duty to report them. Other things, fortunately, fill us with pride. Here are a hundred of them, in no particular order. This is not a ranking.  This is a list from the heart." And here are the first 5 points:

1) Because we're intelligent, when we're not too smart for our own good;

2) Because we're intuitive, if we can avoid being superficial;

3) Because we're direct, although we can be impulsive;

4) Because we're unpredictable, as long as we're not careless;

5) Because no one else is so skilful at turning a crisis into a party...

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