Italy

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Giuliano Melani, a businessman from a small town in Tuscany, bought a full-page ad in Italy’s largest newspaper this month, urging his compatriots to seize control of the country’s spiraling debt crisis by buying up Italian treasury bills. “Let’s make an effort. Let’s buy back our debt,” said the ad in Corriere della Sera. “I assure you it’s worth it. Holy God, we are one people, a great people.” [WSJ]

A group of students stormed Goldman Sachs’s central Milan offices on Friday ahead of worldwide protests against financial inequality planned for the weekend…Students managed to break into the hall of the Goldman Sachs building in the heart of Milan’s financial district, a few steps away from La Scala opera house, police said. The protests were quickly dispersed by police and security was restored to the elegant building, though red graffiti was daubed on its walls expressing anger at Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and proclaiming “Give us money.” Protesters in Italy’s financial capital also hurled eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit, the country’s biggest bank. [Reuters via BI]

The Italian government reacted angrily Tuesday to the decision by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade its debt, describing the move as out of touch with reality…Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s office issued a statement early Tuesday noting that his government had a solid majority in Parliament. It said the government was preparing steps to lift growth and recently passed measures to control public finances through tax increases and spending cuts. “The evaluations of Standard & Poor’s seem dictated more by behind the scenes reports in newspapers than reality and seems influenced by political considerations,” the statement said. [NYT]