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"Happy birthday, Italy": the front page of Corriere della Serahas a special feature on the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, with quotes from major works in the Italian literary canon, from Virgil to the author of The Betrothed, Alessandro Manzoni. However, the Milan daily also points out that celebrations to mark the occasion were marred by controversy: at official ceremonies in Rome, Silvio Berlusconi was booed by a public angry about the low profile he has been forced to adopt to avoid annoying his allies in the pro-regional autonomy Northern League. The League, which is opposed to the ceremonies, has announced that "while Italy celebrates, the North has to pay." But an investigation in La Stampa has revealed that the League’s claim that Padania would be better off without the the other regions of the country is a bluff: "the 45 billion euros transferred each year from the North to the South are largely balanced out by the 62 billion euros the South spends on Northern Italian goods."
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