longâbut when Bombolini continued to run even the old men began to turn on Babbaluche.
âThe ass is still running,â one of them shouted at the cobbler. âMaybe this ass is a horse.â
âAn ass is an ass and will always act like an ass,â Babbaluche said. âYou wait. Youâll see his long ears soon enough.â
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
From his first day Bombolini seemed to have a feeling for the correct thing to do. The day after Vittorini had handed him the mayorâs medallion a group of citizens went across the piazza to the Leadersâ Mansion to ask Bombolini to surrender the office and put someone in it who wouldnât ruin the city.
âAll right, Italo,â they wanted to say to him, in all kindness, âthe fun is over now; weâve all had our good laugh. Now letâs settle down and get ourselves a leader.â
But they didnât find Bombolini home that day. They couldnât find him any place. When they finally went down to the terraces to tend their grapes Bombolini came out of hiding to tend to the town.
He had the streets swept. He had the fountain repaired and the water-catch cleaned of all its mold and moss and all the old glass and potato peelings that washed around in it cleaned out and thrown away. The third morning, the people woke up and found that all the old slogans in Santa Vittoria had been changed in the night. The one in the Piazza of the People that read
BELIEVEÂ Â Â Â OBEYÂ Â Â Â FIGHT
had been changed to
TRANQUILLITYÂ Â Â Â CALMNESSÂ Â Â Â PATIENCE
The three great virtues of the Italian people
A public service
(Signed) Italo Bombolini, Mayor
On the old fallen wall of the Chapel of the Bountiful Grapes the old Fascist party slogan âI Donât Give a Damnâ now read
WE CARE
In High Town where for years the sign had read
LIVE DANGEROUSLY
âDâAnnunzio
Bombolini had added:
BUT DRIVE CAREFULLY
âBombolini
Although there were no cars in Santa Vittoria then, it gave the people a feeling of belonging with the times.
As you went down the Corso Mussolini it had been impossible to avoid the sign on the wall of the house where the Corso curves down to the left:
BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY AS A LION
THAN 100 YEARS AS A LAMB
Today when you go down the Corso you read
BETTER TO LIVE
    100 YEARS
âBombolini, Mayor
After the third day, the group of men who had wanted Bomboliniâs resignation no longer tried to see him, and he began to show himself in the streets.
It is impossible now to know whether the things the wine seller did came to him from study and thought, or whether they were the reactions of instinct. It doesnât really matter. The important point is that he did them.
The trouble with government in this country is that it is composed of the Ins and the Outs. There are blacks and whites, but no grays here. When the Outs get in, they kick all the Ins out, and the new Outs do everything in their power to destroy the programs of the Ins, even when they might help them. It is brutal and sometimes bloody and almost always exciting and usually no good for the town, but that is the way it always has been.
Bomboliniâs genius, for that is what it must be seen as now, was that instead of throwing people out he invited everyone in. He formed the Grand Council of the Free City of Santa Vittoria and in two days every faction that could be counted upon to be fighting one another, every family and every force in the city, had a member in the government. Everyone was an In or had a member of the family who was an In. Membership in the Council was almost evenly divided among Frogs and Turtles and Goats. Half of the members were young, and half of them were old, and every one of the large or powerful families was represented. The real secret was, perhaps, that if not everyone was In because that was not possible, almost no one was Out.
Giovanni
âThe ass is still running,â one of them shouted at the cobbler. âMaybe this ass is a horse.â
âAn ass is an ass and will always act like an ass,â Babbaluche said. âYou wait. Youâll see his long ears soon enough.â
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
From his first day Bombolini seemed to have a feeling for the correct thing to do. The day after Vittorini had handed him the mayorâs medallion a group of citizens went across the piazza to the Leadersâ Mansion to ask Bombolini to surrender the office and put someone in it who wouldnât ruin the city.
âAll right, Italo,â they wanted to say to him, in all kindness, âthe fun is over now; weâve all had our good laugh. Now letâs settle down and get ourselves a leader.â
But they didnât find Bombolini home that day. They couldnât find him any place. When they finally went down to the terraces to tend their grapes Bombolini came out of hiding to tend to the town.
He had the streets swept. He had the fountain repaired and the water-catch cleaned of all its mold and moss and all the old glass and potato peelings that washed around in it cleaned out and thrown away. The third morning, the people woke up and found that all the old slogans in Santa Vittoria had been changed in the night. The one in the Piazza of the People that read
BELIEVEÂ Â Â Â OBEYÂ Â Â Â FIGHT
had been changed to
TRANQUILLITYÂ Â Â Â CALMNESSÂ Â Â Â PATIENCE
The three great virtues of the Italian people
A public service
(Signed) Italo Bombolini, Mayor
On the old fallen wall of the Chapel of the Bountiful Grapes the old Fascist party slogan âI Donât Give a Damnâ now read
WE CARE
In High Town where for years the sign had read
LIVE DANGEROUSLY
âDâAnnunzio
Bombolini had added:
BUT DRIVE CAREFULLY
âBombolini
Although there were no cars in Santa Vittoria then, it gave the people a feeling of belonging with the times.
As you went down the Corso Mussolini it had been impossible to avoid the sign on the wall of the house where the Corso curves down to the left:
BETTER TO LIVE ONE DAY AS A LION
THAN 100 YEARS AS A LAMB
Today when you go down the Corso you read
BETTER TO LIVE
    100 YEARS
âBombolini, Mayor
After the third day, the group of men who had wanted Bomboliniâs resignation no longer tried to see him, and he began to show himself in the streets.
It is impossible now to know whether the things the wine seller did came to him from study and thought, or whether they were the reactions of instinct. It doesnât really matter. The important point is that he did them.
The trouble with government in this country is that it is composed of the Ins and the Outs. There are blacks and whites, but no grays here. When the Outs get in, they kick all the Ins out, and the new Outs do everything in their power to destroy the programs of the Ins, even when they might help them. It is brutal and sometimes bloody and almost always exciting and usually no good for the town, but that is the way it always has been.
Bomboliniâs genius, for that is what it must be seen as now, was that instead of throwing people out he invited everyone in. He formed the Grand Council of the Free City of Santa Vittoria and in two days every faction that could be counted upon to be fighting one another, every family and every force in the city, had a member in the government. Everyone was an In or had a member of the family who was an In. Membership in the Council was almost evenly divided among Frogs and Turtles and Goats. Half of the members were young, and half of them were old, and every one of the large or powerful families was represented. The real secret was, perhaps, that if not everyone was In because that was not possible, almost no one was Out.
Giovanni
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