FOREIGNERS IN ITALY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18380, 21 April 1923, Page 7

FOREIGNERS IN ITALY.

SENSITIVE FASCISTS. FRICTION IN FLORENCE. • : The new regulations obliging foreigners to notify their presence, as in war time,_ .- (have been * made as little irksome as pos- v ; sible by the Government, a personal visit to the police station not always being -. necessary, writes the Rome correspondent; » of a London paper; A syspathetio; leniency even, is shown to the traveller "on pleasure '■ bent," who is exempt;from re- ; porting his movements every time he goes ■ to a fresh commune. These measures have : : been made with a view to keeping a re- "; cord of all foreign enterprise in Italy,: for although the Government is working out .{ a plan so as to encourage foreign capital v to come into the country,, / care is to be taken against \ any recurrence .of •," peace-.- * ful penetration," which proved such ladanger during the war. ':: J '"' Foreigners, and chiefly residents',: have " somehow .: angled the nerves "of.: Fascists, / and, curiously enough, this ;is especially the case in ; Florence, )] where J the Anglo- ;%•! Saxon element ;has always I .been conspicu- . ous, but where harmony has v. hitherto reigned between host and guest. It .■; is evidently : something -more serious:, than; the mere jingle of teacups Vat i five o'clock which has disturbed the atmosphere since V > the political secretary 7of the Tuscan Fas- £;?:. cist ; Association-:' thought it necessary ■ to v complain to Signor Mussolini at a general' meeting at Rome that ■; foreigners in ; Florence had abused Italian hospitality by, de- | faming Italy in their speech- and correspondence. : . v V v ■'••■' .;^t!.'.~ : ' ; ;;.'..' .'.'' ,; So far I have " failed ■{ to discover ;. any details; of guilt. .It \ must be ; remembered ,; that for many, people Italy i and \ Fascism , are as one symbol, and that " calumny or, defamation" may only mean "criticism;" which even -in a mild form is : looked upon?.;;•., as lefee majeste by ' dynamic , young Fas-■ cists who take their patriotism very \ hard., The idea is' firmly rooted in some quarters *f that even English people dislike Fascism and would'f rejoice see it dethroned, \be-": '■ cause■'; through y its work Italy v will attain % prosperity and greatness.;:' During the last? four years \ the Fascist world has lived at % high pressure, and it is as difficult' for them " to understand northern mentality as it is i for Anglo-Saxons to penetrate the present spirit of Young .Italy. *' -