Venice wants out of Italy

[AL SHARPTON]

Eric J. Lyman, Special for USA TODAY8:19 p.m. EDT April 19, 2014
VENICE, Italy — Venice, renowned for incomparable Gothic architecture and placid canals plied by gondolas that make it one of the most recognizable cities in the world, may have had enough of Italy.
A movement for the Italian region that includes Venice to declare itself an independent state, as it was centuries ago, is gaining momentum here amid chaotic national economic policies from Rome and local pride in the region's 1,000-year history of achievement in the arts and merchant class.
"It bothers a lot of people to work hard and see the money just disappear, but I think that just feeds the region's independent spirit," said Angelo Alberti, 34, a coffee bar worker who said he supports the movement.
The region of Veneto, one of Italy's richest and the country's fifth-largest with a population of around 5 million, is preparing a formal referendum about whether to secede from Italy.

Venetians say they support the movement partially out of frustration at seeing their taxes used to support the underdeveloped southern part of the country. Campaigners say they pay out nearly $30 billion a year more in taxes than they receive in government benefits.
Locals mention frustration at the corruption and endemic tax evasion in other parts of the country, as well as the influence of organized crime. They say they feel disconnected from the rest of Italy, and that the Veneto mentality is an independent one.
"I have always felt like a Venetian first and an Italian second," says Sylvia Barbarigo, 49, a schoolteacher and supporter of secession. "We're just different from most other Italians."
Venetians take pride in what they call "La Serenissima" — the Most Serene Republic of Venice. A maritime power from the days of the Middle Ages, it was a center of intellectual, artistic and commercial innovation in Europe for more than a thousand years until the last doge, or leader, surrendered to Napoleon's troops in 1797.