It's raining cats and dogs. The gray sky merges with the wet road. You try to stay in the lane, but at some point you hear a small bang and the car starts to skid. Wheel with holes. You get out to change it, but in the meantime another car overtakes you, splashing all the water out of that filthy puddle next to you. You look up to the sky, convinced that it is a design designed to ruin your day. Fill your lungs and get ready to say four to yours God. Then suddenly you stop: it's immoral, your grandmother would be offended if she heard you. Also you remember hearing what a curse it is illegal. But if there is little for the grandmother to do, how are the facts in Italy really?
Curses of the past
People of Saints, poets e navigators! Here, among the leading figures of Italian culture there are undoubtedly the saints. And it couldn't be otherwise considering the importance of religion - and of Catholic church - in our country. But where there is a god or a deity to love, there is also one to insult. In fact, since ancient Greece, it was not so rare to hear swearing. On the other hand the word blasphemy it derives from the Greek and is formed by the verb βλάπτειν (to insult) and the noun reputation (reputation). In practice, with this word, one wanted (and wants) to slander someone, offend a person's fame and reputation, but also of a divinity. Initially, however, the offensive action was more important than the subject it was addressed to. Over time, then, things have changed.
In the Rome of the emperors, blasphemy was not a crime, at least until the advent of Christianity. Starting from 380 AD, in fact, insulting the symbolic figures of the Catholic religion was punishable by death. In the following centuries the penalties have been modified several times - above all by virtue of the relationship between civil and ecclesiastical power - but blasphemy has always remained illegal. In republic of Venice there were even said magistrates Executors against the Blasphemy. But today?
In today's Italy
First let's reassure Venetian e Tuscan (among the regions where the most swearing is): blasphemy is not a crime, not since 1999 at least. Until that year, in fact, if you were caught in the act of divinatory insult you could be prosecuted by the Penal Code. Not only for the Catholic creed, but also for all other religions.
The original formula dates back to 1930, in full fresh fascist government Lateran Pacts. In article 724 of Rocco code the offense against the Catholic religion was reported as a crime. Starting in 1984, with the Villa Madama Agreement in which the de facto independence between Church and State was sanctioned, it began to think of extending this crime to other cults as well.
And so it was starting from 1995 with the 440 sentence of the Constitutional Court of 18 October. The crime of blasphemy was in fact extended to any religious belief. After only four years, however, the blasphemy was demoted to simple administrative offense (or punishable with a fine of up to 309 euros).
But you who love profane offense do not despair. This injunction is not addressed to everyone, but only to the god of the Catholic religion and other creeds. There Madonna, for example, it is not among the figures "protected" by the state, as well as the saints. Furthermore, blasphemy becomes a crime only when pronounced in a public place: in our house, for example, we can safely tear down the walls.
The Benefits of Blasphemy
But what effects does blasphemy have on our body? Some American researchers have wondered and sought an answer. To do this they subjected some patients to various tests of pain e resistance. The outcome surprised everyone a little: those who faced the exam cursing were able to complete it with less effort. This is because the blasphemy appears to trigger a effect analgesic, calming, in a situation where we can not help but fight. Not just mentally, but physically as well. This would explain mankind's age-old passion for cursing: "For centuries - Explains Richard Stephens, one of the researchers - we thought that blasphemies were a simple linguistic phenomenon. This action, on the other hand, is inserted in the emotional centers of the brain present in the right area of the skull, while the language is in the opposite hemisphere.».
In short, it will also be illegal, immoral and in bad taste, but it seems that blasphemy doesn't hurt that much. As long as our grandmother is not in the immediate vicinity: she may not appreciate such an outburst.
