An Italian hell

Oliver Hartwich | The New Zealand Initiative | 07 March 2013

Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter here") is written above the gates of hell in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Following Italy's recent election, this gloomy admonishment might fit Italy as well.

The left-wing bloc of Pier Luigi Bersani may have narrowly won the Chamber of Deputies, but his political rivals now control the Senate. Billionaire ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arose from the politi...