Comments on: Honesty as a comparative advantage: Italy vs Spain

By: Paul RODTS

Paul RODTS — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:44:53 +0000

@ Carlos Gardel – # 18
I don’t understand your Ezeiza / airport reference …

By: Carlos Gardel

Carlos Gardel — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:22:34 +0000

Wow. An Argentine complaining about the honesty of Italians is a riot. Hey Martin, how many palms have you greased in your life as you entered Buenos Aires through Eseiza? As a progressive Argentine, I find the cultural chauvinism of your column embarrassing.

By: Paul RODTS

Paul RODTS — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:05:48 +0000

# per luca # 16 di # 3 # 12
Luca, I agree with both your opinions : 1/ Thanks Martin for giving us FON and 2/ Sardenia is more than Costa Smeralda…
Sono completamente d’accordo sul contenuto di vostra risposta…Cordiali saluti di Belgio…

By: luca

luca — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:35:54 +0000

Martin,
we got in touch already in the past and I admire what you do, on the other hand I completely disagree with your opinion here.

By the way, I was born and currently live and work in the beautiful Sardinia. Cala di Volpe is a great place, but, unfortunately, it is the “place for VIPS” who don’t really care to spend 20 euros for a coffee. If you complain about that, Cala di Volpe is not for you.

It’s a well known place because all rich people go there, but, let me say, aside from the beaches and sea, it’s not really Sardinia. Most people who make money there are not from Sardinia and, sometimes, not even italians. You can easily pay 10.000 euros for a night there, but I hope you haven’t been so stupid to spend that money! But, again, it’s not Sardinia.

If you want to find the real Sardinia, just go to the Golfo di orosei (for example). You can easily enter a bar and find out that someone paid for your coffee, because you are a foreign tourist and they say “welcome” to you this way.

All that said, it’s not about honesty here. It’s about ignorance. Ignorance of people like you who went to a place like that thinking that it’s the best part of the island. That place is for VIPs and you have to deal with it, you cannot complain about that. Soccer players who earn 1Million/month just have fun there, don’t complain about 30 euros for a cab.

Ciao

Luca

By: Ruiner

Ruiner — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:28:18 +0000

Yes is true, costa smeralda is known for his crazy prices and his role as VIP’s gravitational well. Nonetheless is true that italian operators are specialized in ripping tourists off and this is true in every part of Italy (ever been in Venice?). Worse, this is becoming a bad habit of our own culture: ripping off each others on every level seems the main characteristic of italian society nowadays. Like Martin said in his post, we have the “Uber Furbo” in command here and most of the people feels legitimate to behave in the same manner… I just come back from a two weeks trip in Spain (mostly in the north) and boy… Spain is just surpassing my pour Italy in so many aspects…

By: Martin, mi hai deluso.. | .mark.net

Martin, mi hai deluso.. | .mark.net — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:41:03 +0000

[...] il post “Honesty as a comparative advantage: Italy vs Spain” mi ha proprio deluso. E’ chiaramente un post scritto di pancia, ma neanche tanto se [...]

By: Yani

Yani — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:20:42 +0000

Marco,

I agree. The post was way too short to explain what I meant. Thus if you read my post, it seems to be far fetched.

Martin was not mentioning ‘expensive vs inexpensive’ in my view, rather he was talking about being honest. To my mind, Italy seems to be the worst country out of all developed(!) european countries when it comes to ripping foreigners off. That is also what you will find in Japanese / Korean travel books as an advise : keep your eyes and ears open in Rome because they might rip you off (you being a foreigner). The explanation to this was what I mentioned in my previous post (education – not formal ie school but environment).
I can say that in our country in the 80s and 90s, if you get into a cap and you were a foreigner, you were 90%+ sure to get ripped off (cap driver will drive you around and around …). Now you are 90%+ sure not to be ripped off – as a consequence of policies(including a number you can call for free that advises you on the fare and time in English) and official efforts (campaigns etc.). Now, does this make our cap drivers more ‘honest’ people ? For sure not. In the beginnig of these measures being taken, drivers did it because they were pressured, now it has become common sense – no measures needed anymore. So this kind of ‘honesty’ has a lot to do with common understanding, system, governance ….

By: luca del tongo

luca del tongo — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:54:18 +0000

I’m italian and i’ve just come back from Formentera…this is the third time i go in Spain (twice in Barcellona). i’ve also been is Sardinia twice…. i’ve visited the most beatiful beaches both on Sardinia and Formentera (Cala di Volpe, Piccolo Pevero, La Maddalena, Brandinchi vs Les Illetes, Cala Sahona, Mirador). IMHO the sardinian beaches are better than the ones in Formentera due to their wide varierty of colours and conformations…. there are things that works better in Spain and others that are better in Sardinia…. one thing that it’s better in Formentera for example is car park price. in Sardinia you on average pay 15 euros to park your car near a lot of beaches, (not only in the super expensive Porto Cervo) whlle in formentera starting from this year you only pay 4 euros!!!!! to get to the beaches in formentera you can find useful wood paths that help to protect the environment and all kind of beach party has been prohibited (it differs a lot from Ibiza). The medium price of a bottle of water is more expensive in Formentera than in Sardinia. The number of boats in Sardinia due to the super tax imposed a couple of years ago have been decreased in favour of foreign seaport… the gasoline and raliway are cheaper and better maintaned in Spain… these are my two cents

By: Paul RODTS

Paul RODTS — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:57:37 +0000

To Martin Varsavsky #8
Dear Martin, thanks for your answer, of course you are right but I think it’s a little bit more complicated that this.
The Sardi were/are in general hard working, a bit stubborn and very correct people, working in simple fishing and farming.
The Costa Smeralda is an import product from His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV .
Even the architecture wasn’t inspired by local habits but developed by the architects Busiri-Vici en Vietti.
After 1961 this new gold coast attracted ‘gold diggers’ coming from the whole of Italy. Almost none of the hotel, bar -owners, managers are from local ancestry.
Except for Porto Rotondo it is difficult to find locals from Sardenia in these resorts…
Mostly the employers of the Costa Smeralda are also boycotting the Sardi and they import their staff from ‘civilized’ mainland Italy….
I have got the honor of visiting this nice coastline, and it was clear to me that both groups are living on another planet…
So to give comments about the Sardi,
based on experiences you have got at the Costa Smeralda, is a bit unfair…
It is like commenting on the mentality of the people of Majorca, after having a good or bad experience with a German B&B owner in let’s say Puerto Alcudia..
And bye the way : I am curious what would be the difference between both islands if let say Sardenia was chosen in the past by the Germans as their preferred destination…
Sometimes it’s a question of little things that will change the future…
Keep up the good work with FON Martin, thanks to you we change the future of wireless communication and I am grateful for that and many greetings from me.

By: davide cuppone

davide cuppone — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:32:02 +0000

Next time take a boat and go to Corsica, is much better, I am Italian not French