This Europe: 'Big thief' Rome hits back by taking risotto

It's been a rough week for Rome. Umberto Bossi, the rabble-rousing north Italian separatist, repeating his old charge that Rome is "ladrona" – "the big thief" – demanded that the city be shorn of its power.

Mr Bossi, the government's Minister for Reforms, tore into Rome on Monday, saying its days as the capital were numbered. Soon, in his vision of the future, its power will be countered by a number of "vice-capitals", each able to use its region's revenue for its own ends.

Mr Bossi has always had something of the rampaging Visigoth about him, but Rome wasn't sacked in a day, and its defenders rushed to the ramparts.

Gianfranco Fini, the Deputy Prime Minister, declared that Rome must continue to enjoy power "superior to all other cities".

And Rome's left-wing Mayor, Walter Veltroni – rarely found singing from the same hymn sheet as the "post-Fascist" Mr Fini – chimed in with the wish that Rome "be treated like all the other European capitals".

Yesterday the battle raged on, with Rome taking the fight into the hearts, or rather the guts, of the enemy's camp, when a competition was held in the city to find the best Roman risotto. As any student of Italian cuisine knows, the phrase "Roman risotto" is an oxymoron: risotto is a Milanese dish, as Milanese as Prada or Versace. Battle is joined.