LET US GET TO KNOW ITALY Rome—the eternal city, the delight of the people who call it their city. Although it does not rank first among tourist cities, Rome still attracts 6 million tourists a year, who visit the capital of Italy. It is called this because Italians themselves consider it the governmental capital, while Florence is the capital of art, Turin the industrial capital, and Milan the banking and stock-market capital. If we were to look for the beginnings of this city in the stages of Roman history, we would find them in the legend of the two brothers, Komi and Romulus, who were orphaned and raised on the milk of a lioness, and who built this city. This legend inspired Roman sculptors to imagine the lioness, so much so that it became a kind of emblem for the Romans. Voices from antiquity link Rome’s name with the names of famous emperors—Nero, Caesar, Julian; the name of the legendary gladiator Spartacus; and the names of the poet Virgil and the historian Cicero. The seal of antiquity upon the city is magnificent. Indeed, no tourist has missed the chance to see the 2,400-year-old wonders: the Colosseum, the Roman amphitheatre where gladiators fought. It is an extraordinary work, still standing despite all the collapses that have affected it over the centuries. Traces of antiquity are found everywhere: in the famous catacombs, the underground gallery cemeteries, and the great churches where the great Renaissance masters Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Giotto, and others applied their masterful brushstrokes or chisel-work. On one of Rome’s streets is also the humble inn that welcomed our National Hero, Skënderbeu, during his campaign across the sea. Today, that street bears his name. Rome is the principal city of the province of Lazio, which has 5 million inhabitants, of whom 3.7 million live in Rome. Rome lies on Italy’s western side, almost at its centre, across seven hills and traversed by the Tezëra River, which flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea. In the middle of Rome, unlike in any other city in the world, lies the state of the Vatican, comprising St Peter’s Cathedral, the Papal buildings, the library, the bank, and the Vatican gardens. This state was established in 1929 on an area of about 1 km², where fewer than 1,000 people live, entirely independent of Italy. In central Rome are squares well known to foreign and local tourists, such as Piazza Venezia, Garibaldi Square, the Spanish Steps, Caesar’s Square, and others, above which stand sculptural works of immeasurable artistic value, such as the Column of the Sovanëve, etc. Rome’s state institutions are housed in ancient buildings of artistic value, which are carefully preserved and are cultural monuments. They are protected by an inviolable law against demolition or alteration, just as the whole centre of Rome, known as the ancient city, is preserved. Thus, the government is housed in the Quirinal Palace, the president in the Chigi Palace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Farnesina Palace, etc. Being a city with heavy traffic and consequently great pollution, the exhaust fumes from the 3 million cars circulating each day coat the walls of the buildings and other sculptures. Foreign tourists cannot leave without seeing the Arch of Triumph of Emperor Constantine or the ancient Appian Way, the university buildings, as well as the famous airports «Fiumicin» and «Civita Veshia». While Rome is a city of power, it is also a major artistic centre, especially renowned for film production at the «Çimiçita» centre, one of the most productive in the world alongside Hollywood and London. It is natural that a city like Rome should also have worthy representatives in various fields. In politics, for example, we can mention Prime Minister Andreoti; in cinema, Sofia Loren, Raf Valone, and Marcelo Mastrejani; in light music, Klaudio Vila and Antonela Vedit, etc. So, in a few words, this is Rome: ancient Rome and modern Rome. MAJLINDA GAZULLI

100 tons of sage cannot be cleared for Yugoslav firms. NG of Lezhë is paralysed through the fault of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. ALBIMPEKSI, as in the days of monism. The management of the NG flour factory (which it supervises) has been criticised several times for the poor quality of its flour. But this is because the factory has not had a major overhaul for over 8 years. The machinery is extremely old. Our mechanical workshops have provided no effective assistance. So, in these circumstances, a solution is needed. Its director, a capable and tenacious engineer, Fran Tusha, has found a way for the enterprise to benefit. He has entered into talks with «Industria Impaksi» of Titograd to sell it 100 tons of sage, which has been in storage for over two years and is below standard. AGROEKSPORTI at first, and now ALBIMPEKSI, have extended a helping hand to save it from bankruptcy. A way was then found through Titograd. This director deserves praise for that. But… a license from ALIMPEKSI or the Ministry of Foreign Trade is blocking this type of trade. Mr Masar Këllici, head of the plant department at the Ministry of Food, has granted this enterprise permission for a license, but the competent authorities are obstructing it. Deliberately or through unprofessional conduct?! It seems the former! The loss from the failure to issue the license alone amounts to around 150 thousand dollars. With that sum, as the director explains to us, he could carry out a complete reconstruction of the factory, and also bring in household electrical appliances at low prices for the families of the enterprise’s workers. A license! A sinister word that appears in the director’s dreams. At every attempt to make a contract, he is told: License, license! We ask: Why shouldn’t this authority, for some enterprises, be transferred to the district executive committee? The same problem also concerns 3,000 hides from cattle, pigs, small livestock, etc., which are lying in the enterprise’s warehouses and deteriorating because the contracting enterprises do not collect them. What a nuisance! So, it is the Ministry of Foreign Trade that is withholding the license. The enterprise, the farmer, and the economy as a whole are losing out. Gentlemen of the Stability Government! Do not keep the licenses only at the centre, that is, in Tirana. Give the districts greater latitude in exercising their powers. A. MATI

The telephone rang in the editorial office. I picked up the receiver. Actor Ismet Zusi was speaking from the other end of the line, insisting that someone from the newspaper come and talk with him about the rumours spreading about him as chairman of Enver’s volunteers in Lezhë. The telephone rang in the editorial office. I picked up the receiver. Actor Ismet Zusi was speaking from the other end of the line, insisting that someone from the newspaper come and talk with him about the rumours spreading about him as chairman of Enver’s volunteers in Lezhë: — Mr Ismet, are you really a member of the Association of Enver’s Volunteers? — Oh, what a nuisance! How many times a day do I have to answer this provocative question?! I am not a member of any political grouping, party, or association whatsoever. Least of all the notorious Association of Enver Hoxha’s Volunteers, which, in my opinion, had no reason to be established in Lezhë. Lezhë is neither Gjirokastër, nor Skrapar, nor Përmet… — How can you convince the many readers and public opinion in Lezhë of this? What arguments can you give them to make yourself believable? — A group of veterans, P.P. agitators such as Avni Saliu, Nikollë Ndreu, etc., happened to be in my office by chance. They suggested that, before the March 31 elections, we conduct a survey to find out how many people might vote for the P.P. They called this survey form «The Union of Enver’s Volunteer Activists». The lists were burned the day after the elections, since they had served their purpose. One way to convince readers that I was at one time the fall guy in this matter, as association chairman, is that I did not go to the meeting with Ramiz Alia. — How did you feel as this rumour mill was being spun? — At first, I didn’t attach any importance to it… I took it lightly, knowing the truth, and also because of my character; after all, rumours became fashionable during the election campaign, and I am against political fashions. As an artist, I prefer not to get involved in politics. — What is your opinion of Hysni Milloshi? — I don’t know him personally, and nothing connects me to him. This is what I think of him: If all rivers flow towards the sea, he goes in the opposite direction. Just like that story about the wife and her husband. The wife tells her husband: the river flows upwards. The husband objects: the river flows downwards. The wife cannot be convinced. So, to prove it, the husband takes his wife and throws her into the river. People run upstream to save the woman, while the husband tells them: don’t look downstream; because she has so little sense, you have to look upstream. Interview by: M. MIRASHI

A car, that magical word, has cast its spell in Lezhë even on the socialists, who talk about equality merely as a fashionable novelty. On this score, do the socialist leaders in the district continue to have a monopoly over the cars of the former P.P. bosses? Isn’t that a serious affront? And yet several parties and associations have now become established in Lezhë. Suffice it to say that the Democratic Party branch tours the villages in a clunker; the Republican Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Agrarian Party get around on foot. It would hardly be surprising if the latter, one day, happened to get into the socialists’ cars and were made to pay a fare, since the Socialist Party Committee has turned all three cars it inherited from its «mother» P.P. into taxis, in order to cover the salaries of its pro-socialist instructors. But there is one thing we should be aware of: As soon as the committee’s taxi cars stop beside the feet of citizens in need, they shout — Long live the Socialist Taxi Committee! MEHMET TURKU

At the edge of «Skënderbej» Square, where there is heavy newspaper traffic, near the barbers, a man was found in a state of ecstasy, lying face down on the pavement. It was a truly sad scene. The movement of buses and private and state-owned cars was brought to a standstill. People forgot their work and went over to surround the sick man, who was writhing and, from time to time, crying out in fright. A female journalist who happened to be nearby called the unfortunate man «a victim of violence by the state security organs». The unfortunate man, who was crying out, seemed to have another ear: he moved his hand and brought it to his stomach. For a moment, he stopped crying out. The people were alarmed by this, put the sick man into a car with the plate 00TR007, and took him to the hospital. The doctors, who had heard about the incident from a foreign radio station broadcasting in Albanian, were extremely concerned. After carrying out all the examinations on the patient, they were unable to reach any conclusion. When everything was shrouded in mystery, something was noticed about the patient: around his stomach, «tashepari»—some astonishing hills—could be seen, as if in the breathing of a monster. The doctors unanimously decided to operate. After carrying out the procedure, they noticed that his stomach was full of all the day’s newspapers, crumpled up. Thus, some light was shed on the mystery… The journalists Thoma Gëllçi, Napoleon Roshi, Musa Ulqini, Petro Dhimitri, Luan M. Rama, Pellumb Bataj, Gjovalin Gjelo-shi, Frrok Çupi, Aleksandër Frangaj, Hamdi Jupe, Bedri Islami, Filip Çakulli, etc., were fighting, shoving, and grappling with one another in the unfortunate man’s stomach, causing him mortal pain. The doctors quickly took them out, while the patient, as soon as he felt relieved and came round, said to everyone’s amazement: Give me a newspaper to eat!

BIRTHDAY WISHES TO ADELINA IVANAJ Today, on your birthday, I wish you a long and happy life, a good start to the school year, and success! FËRDINAND NIKA

In my belly The boy and the saint Stay. And just eat! EDMOND KAÇELI