Following a weekend without unrest, the mayor has defended the temporary deployment of the army, but has failed to convince either the opposition or part of his own coalition. The military could remain until the Christmas holidays and beyond: an election campaign dominated by security issues would be an advantage for the centre-right

Young people condemn the destruction but support the good intentions behind the demonstration. Those who sympathise – or at the very least are lenient – seem to be in the majority, perhaps simply because of generational affinity.

Tensions have flared between protesters and the police in several Italian cities. The entrances to the Colosseum were forced open. Piantedosi on the investigation into incitement to terrorism: “There are no safe havens.”

Thousands of poor people were evicted, pushed to the outskirts of the city. Then one day, tall cranes arrived and, in the silence of the abandoned neighbourhood, began to tear down the buildings with a series of heavy thuds. A vast cloud of dust rose from the rubble. Just like the one, fifteen years later, from bombed-out Milan 

The ear, on the other hand, is the quietest of the senses, the only one that functions whilst remaining motionless, and which receives everything without having to do anything. For a nation that has always viewed decisions with the same suspicion one reserves for relatives who ask for loans, it is the ideal part of the body  

Low wages, inadequate schools and a stalled social ladder are real problems. But many protests also target the market, NATO, collective defence and Western democracies. It is up to the institutions to ensure the law is upheld. Parents have the less visible but crucial task of explaining why the world their children are protesting against also offers solutions to their problems.