A key part of Hannah Arendt's thesis in Eichmann in Jerusalem was that regional antisemitism strongly influenced the SS's efficiency in rounding Jews up for deportation. She compares say, Poland, where antisemitism had been virulent to Italy, where it was at best half-hearted. Deportations there were often stymied by misplaced documentation, inability to locate the persons in question & tepid cooperation by Italian officials.

The SS responded with attempts to inculcate the Italians with the sort of extermationist antisemitism that filled Germany. Per Arendt: the Italians were an "ancient and civilized people"; they just weren't having it.

That comment, combined with Italy's lackluster performance during WWII, left me to ponder whether or not the ability to make war effectively is really the apotheosis of civilization. Maybe not. Maybe truly civilized behavior lays in perfecting one's alla Carbonara.