OK, anything must be better than Silvio Berlusconi, but you have to get a bit scared when one of the first references to Romano Prodi in recent times on BBC News Online talks of his plans to reconstruct a Catholic pilgrim route – see this. It is clear that Prodi’s coalition – the Unione / Ulivo – do not have the liberal social policy approach of Zapatero in Spain. But on the other hand the demographic situation in Italy is utterly dire, so a dose of liberalism in these matters to distance the Italian state from the Church would have been very welcome. Let’s hope for better people that mortadella (Prodi’s nickname – a kind of Bologna sausage) in the coalition!