All of Italy is in a collective funk and nothing could make the Italian media happier. Today's tabloids were full of stories about apparent national stupidity. "Italian males among the most ignorant," blared one paper's front-page story, citing European Community stats that said a mere 11.6 per cent of Italian males graduate from university. That's half the European average (Italian females are better educated, not to mention better looking).
 
Last week was even worse. The Naples garbage mess reached true crisis proportions when the army had to be called out to clear trash bags from the entrances to schools. It was also a grim reminder of the Mafia's hold on Italy -- Naples' garbage pick-up and dump sites have been cherished Mafia businesses forever. Rome did not escape the bad press. While Naples lay rotting, the pope took Rome mayor Walter Veltroni aside to remind him urban degradation and poverty didn't exactly make Rome a model city.
 
Not long before, Italian pride took another blow when Eurostat, the EC's statistics agency, reported that Spain -- Spain! -- had overtaken Italy measured by per capita economic output. To top things off, a Nielsen found that Italy posted the biggest fall in consumer morale in the world in 2007. Italians, Nielsen said, are living under a "cloud of gloom."
 
It's not as bad as it seems. Here is my take on each of the insults.
 
Education: Italians aren't stupider than other Europeans. What is true is that university costs are unusually high by European standards. In Italy, tuition at public universities ranges from euros 1,000 to 3,000 a year, plus textbooks (perhaps another euros 2,000) and room and board. The tuition costs in France and Germany are far lower, thanks to subsidies, rebates and the like. A huge number of Italians enter universities and a huge number drop out because they simply can't afford to keep going, especially with urban rents so high. What is stupid in this case is not the students; it's the Italian government's education policy.
 
Naples: The city's dysfunctional garbage system is old news. The army had to be called out last spring to clear the streets. Naples seems to have no will to fix the problem. In Palermo, Sicily, a rebellion against the Mafia has started. Not in Naples, which has apparently reached an accomodation with the Mafia that allows them to treat the city as a huge cash register. If the Neapolitans want to fix the garbage crisis, they, their police and their feckless politicians will have to brave enough to stand up to the Mafia.
 
The pope: He may be right about urban degradation. But Rome is no worse than most other big European cities. Paris's Le Halles area comes to mind. For roughly seven centuries, it worked beautifully as a food market  In the 1970s, the urban designers decided to turn it into a mall. Today, Les Halles is bleak, crime-ridden horror story avoided by tourists and Parisians alike.
 
Spain: You have to remember that Spain was essentially a Third World country until recently. It's growing quickly because it's coming from a low base. Watch Spanish growth falter in the next few years. You also have to remember that official statistics are pretty much meaningless in Italy. I talked to a Bank of Italy economist the other day who told me the country's underground, that is, untaxed, economy probably represents 30 per cent or more of the official GDP figure. In other words, Italians might be one-third richer than the numbers suggest.
 
Italy has been in decline since the Renaissance. If Italy is the epitome of economic and moral collapse, why do the Italians and the tourists who flock here seem so happy? What is true is that Italians love to complain. The question-askers at Nielsen seem to have been duped.