Italy's tough austerity drive includes plans to force local authorities to merge, in a bid to rein in public spending. The tiny village of Filettino faces such a prospect - but its mayor is fighting back. The town is bidding to become an autonomous principality with its own currency. And it might just stand a chance.
意大利为了控制公共开支而准备采取的严厉的紧缩计划，包括强迫地方政府合并。山顶上的小村庄费莱蒂诺就面临着这样的前景。不过，村长可不答应，他挺身反击，领导全村争取成为自治小王国，还自行印发货币。说不定，他们还真有可能成功呢。
Deep in the rugged mountains east of Rome lies the quiet village of Filettino.
在罗马以东的崎岖山区深处座落着一座宁静的村镇，名叫费莱蒂诺(Filettino)。
Not much has changed here for centuries. But the 554 residents are now part of a revolution in the making; Filettino is trying to break away from Italy.
这里几百年来都没什么变化。不过，村里的554名居民正在卷入一场革命：费莱蒂诺正试图脱离意大利。
Under the government’s tough $67-billion [50 billion euro] austerity package, all towns with fewer than 1,000 residents are being forced to merge with neighboring communities.
按照意大利政府500亿欧元的严峻紧缩方案，所有人口不到1000的村镇都必须和邻近社区合并。
That would see Filettino’s Mayor Luca Sellari out of a job. So he’s leading the fight back.
这意味着费莱蒂诺的村长卢卡·塞拉利的工作要丢了。所以，他正在领头反击。
“We want to manage our resources independently. This town is rich in natural resources and this could provide great economic opportunities. We have about 8,000 hectares of land, and forests that we could cut, but the state doesn’t allow us to do it,” he added. “We have water resources, but these are managed by a company in Rome, and we don’t receive any money."
村长塞拉利说：“我们希望独立管理我们的资源。我们镇里有丰富的自然资源，可以提供很多经济机会。我们有大约8000公顷土地，有森林可砍。可国家不允许我们这样做。我们有水资源，可是却由罗马的一家公司管理，我们拿不到任何钱。”
Filettino has even started printing its own currency, the Fiorito - complete with a picture of Mayor Sellari.
费莱蒂诺甚至开始印行自己的钞票了。货币名为“费奥里托”(Fiorito)，票面一应俱全，还有村长塞拉利的头像。
The village's few shops stock T-shirts bearing the new Filettino coat of arms. For now, they are just souvenirs. Sellari insists, though, there is legal precedent.
村上屈指可数的店铺出售带有新的费莱蒂诺纹章的体恤衫。现在，这些只能算纪念品。可塞拉利坚持说，这是有法律先例的。
Before unification in the 19th century, Italy was made up of dozens of principalities and kingdoms. Some, like San Marino, still survive.
在19世纪统一之前，意大利有几十个诸侯国和王国。有些仍然存在，比如圣马利诺。
“We were the first ones to protest, maybe the ones who protested loudest - and the government stepped back. At the moment the town is not merged with the neighboring village, but still, the government is forcing us to unify our services. That would force our costs up, so I hope [Prime Minister] Monti’s new government will propose a reasonable solution to this,” said Sellari.
塞拉利说：“我们是第一批抗议的，也许是抗议声最大的。政府就退缩了。目前，我们的村镇没有和邻村合并，不过，政府还是强迫我们合并服务。这会把我们的成本逼上去。因此我希望蒙蒂的新政府将对此提出合理的解决方案。”
Rosa Maria Giulitti helps run Filettino’s main restaurant, La Galleria. She remains skeptical of the mayor’s plans.
罗萨·玛丽亚·朱利亚蒂帮助经营费莱蒂诺的主要餐馆La Galleria。她对村长的计划心存怀疑。
“We don’t want to be independent from Italy, we don’t want to be out. We just want to manage our own resources, which we don’t want to concede to anyone else,” said Giulitti.
她一边烤着牛排一边说：“我们不想从意大利独立出去，不想脱离，我们只想管理自己的资源，不想让给别人。”
Giulitti’s mother takes over the cooking - insisting that the local cattle produce the tastiest steak in the world. "This is the local blood of the principality!" she declares.
朱利亚蒂的母亲从罗萨手中接过烧烤。她坚持认为，本地牛肉才能做出世界最好的牛排，并端着烤好的牛排宣称：这是本地公国的血液。
Filettino’s people are clearly proud of their culture and their village.
费莱蒂诺人显然为自己的文化和村庄感到自豪。
Across Italy, around 2000 villages face losing their mayors. Many of them will be watching carefully whether Mayor Sellari can one day call himself the Prince of Filettino.
在意大利各地，大约2000个村镇有可能失去村长。很多村长将密切关注塞拉利村长是否有一天会自封“费莱蒂诺亲王”。 |