Italy is a weird place.Italy it's like a 116,000+ sq.mil. abandoned museum.
There are 49,000+ Roman Catholic priests (two thirds of them are “Diocesan”).
Their average age is a bit more than 60 years old: this means that by 2030 Italy will likely have 15-20,000 priests, not more.
There are 225 Dioceses, a lot of them counting no more than 50-100-150,000 people.
Mgr. Bagnasco, president of Italian Bishop Conference, is always accompanied by armed bodyguards. A few days ago, he received a letter with three pistol bullets in it (a common mafia-style way to tell “you're going to be shot”).
In Italy there are some 920+ deputies in our Parliament, out of a population of 54+ millions.
There are 103 (yes, one hundred and three) members of the Government (ministers and undersecretaries); for example, France has a total of 17 (yes, seventeen) members (15 ministers and 2 undersecretaries).
There are two Communist parties plus a large number of other “leftist” parties.
The head of the Communist Refoundation party (“Rifondazione Comunista”) is currently also the head of one of the two Chambers of the Italian Parliament.
Yes, Italy is a weird place.
