A Bridge Too Far

As many visitors to Italy have learned to their exasperation, it is often hard to find an open bank or post office there, much less close a business deal. That is because the Italians celebrate 17 official civil and religious holidays a year, more than any other Western European nation, and then take a lot of unofficial days off as well. Italy virtually ground to a halt, for instance, during the work week starting Nov. 1. First came All Saints' Day, then All Souls' Day, when employers allow workers to visit cemeteries, and finally on Nov. 4 the anniversary of Italy's victory in World War I. Celebration of the Immaculate Conception follows on Dec. 8.

Now all that is about to change. Government economists calculate that every day off represents a loss of about $475 million in national production. That is intolerable in an economy beset by a 17% inflation rate, about 7% unemployment and a huge balance of payments deficit. So, when he announced a new austerity program recently, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti included in it a measure to skip two civil and five religious holidays (among them: St. Joseph's Day on March 19, Republic Day on June 2, St. Peter and St. Paul Day on June 29) when they occur next year. Five of the seven days will be taken between Christmas and New Year's as a sort of national vacation--a compromise needed to win the assent of Italy's powerful labor unions and Communist Party to the revised holiday lineup.

Andreotti's real target is not the holidays themselves so much as a weekend-extending device known as il ponte (the bridge). When a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, about 35% of Italy's work force routinely call in sick on Monday or Friday, using the day as a bridge to prolong the weekend to four days. This year, adept bridgers have been able to take off an extra 20 days with no loss in pay. But next year, with at most two midweek holidays on the fiesta calendar, bridging is doomed.

Papal View. Some businesses will suffer from the passing of il ponte, especially the travel agencies that offer popular cut-rate tours during the long weekends. But the institution that might appear to be most hurt by the new schedule--the Roman Catholic Church--is not complaining. Priests have long known that most parishioners use religious holidays to go on vacation, not to Mass. Indeed, Pope Paul VI recently called on Italians to support the austerity program, lost holy days and all.

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