I just heard on CNN that after the recent summit of the European Union ("un bell'casino" [a fine mess], the question has been raised of scrapping the highly expensive Italian Euro and reinstating the Lira. And that 48% of Italians surveyed would support the Lira's return.

Is there a chance of this happenning? Any thoughts?

I suggest you ask the remaining 52% who either don't want it back or don't care.

"Raising a question" (to boost circulation and sales???) is far different than putting something like this into effect and seriously, do YOU want to go that hassle of switching currencies when you cross borders in Western Europe AGAIN???? What a pain that was.

Italy is technically in a recession. Its economy has been in trouble ever since the Euro was introduced. Many of its problems are the direct result of the Euro, since Italy can longer devalue its currency to boost exports and encourage visitors.

The suggestion of dumping this job-destroying politicians' inanity doesn't come from the media: it's now a serious case being made by some Italian politicians - and beginning to be taken partly seriously by the financial markets.

While inconvenience to tourists might be an objection, few of those tourists - and there are getting fewer and fewer of them in Italy - have any votes. And most tourists with money to spend in Italy are from countries that had the sense to stay out of the Euro.

In practice, you're unlikely to see the lira back for a few years. But you're a lot less likely to see the Euro anywhere, except in museums, by 2015.

It took seven years of planning from signing the Maastricht Treaty to the switch to the Euro, and presumably it would take a fair amount of time to set up the technicalities of a change away from it, even once a decision is taken. And the Italian political process is not that well-known for its ability to foster speed or consistency of decision-making. In any case, legally, Italy is permanently bound by the Treaty of Maastricht, i.e., they can't just walk away from it - it would have to be negotiated with all the other countries involved, and heaven only knows what that would entail. Unless, of course, they were prepared to face all sorts of economic mayhem; and Italian politicians are no more likely to confront their voters with unpleasant truths than any others.

The problem with devaluing a currency in order to boost exports is the same as lowering one's prices in the expectation that this will increase sales volume. To wit, one's competitors will likely respond with the same tactic. Germany, France, et. al weren't, and aren't, about to let Italy boost its economy at their expense. The need to stop infighting between the European countries is likely one of the reasons they all agreed to try to coordinate their economies and currencies in the first place.

You'll hear a lot of talk about this but in the case of Italy and any other country that happens to be in recession, that will be all it will be - talk. It is simply too convenient for politicians to blame all their region's economic woes on Big, Bad Brussels.

What took a long time to do cannot be undone overnight, as much as the Italians might like. I just returned from Italy 6 days ago, and heard talk of this, but it is merely talk. I'm sure people in Hell want ice water, but that doesn't mean they're going to get it!

BC

"While inconvenience to tourists might be an objection, few of those tourists - and there are getting fewer and fewer of them in Italy. . ."

HUH??? Not according to what I've read that says tourism was at an all time high in Italy in 2004.

I, too, was wondering what flanneruk was basing that comment about the drop in Italian tourism on.

According to The Sunday Times,there has been a drop off of tourists to Italy from the UK.Here is a quote from the article,

"The number of tourists coming to Italy fell to 37.1m last year, down from a peak of 41.2m in 2000. A separate report published by a hoteliers’ association showed that the number of British visitors had slumped by 4.1%."

Link to article:

http://tinyurl.com/bssa7

OK, but I wonder if those figures could be offset by tourists from other countries? For example my visit to Ischia last summer made me feel I was in Germany -- I have never seen such a congregation of Germans outside of Germany!

i don't know the stats but i know anecdotally that italy does not seem very favoured as a tourism destination by my aquaintences (british, german, french, swedish, etc).

i know many germans who regularly took holidays in italy but now favour eastern europe - esp. bulgaria, croatia, etc. cheaper and a "new" area to explore.

Tourists don't have votes?

I thought they did. They're called <b>&euro;, &pound;, &yen;</b> and so on.

Is it not true that tourists (to whatever extent) avoid high-priced destinations in favor of cheaper ones?

Anecdotes withstanding, I think it's safe to say that Italy is the fifth most visited country in the world, based on these stats:

http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/ar...50524134936725

This article reports that China moved ahead of Italy in standing last year. While Italy may have dropped in tourism, there is nothing to indicate that its economy is the issue, but more likely a preponderance of other destinations opening up, such as those in Asia and eastern Europe.

Let's see if a cappuchino costs L2,500 let's convert that to dollars - maybe 1,800 L to the dollar - HELP - the Lire coming back?? Get out the calculator! Heaven forbid - thank God Italy will not be the first country to swallow their pride and give up the Euro - they may have no choice however if they don't get their deficit in order.

I have just recalled a cute riddle that I will modify for the sake of the new currency:

If an Italian earns 10 euro an hour, what's a Grecian urn?

Wayne, I'm not sure, but I once owed on a Grecian urn.

Here's a short article on the subject: http://italian.about.com/b/a/2005_06_26.htm