When I was little and living in Cairo, my mother decided to take up Italy as a hobby. I say Italy because this went well beyond merely learning the language, incorporating literature, music, culture and (most satisfyingly for me) food. This meant that a reasonably large amount of time was spent in the stunning Italian Consulate in Cairo – the consulate which was almost destroyed by a bomb last Sunday.Mercifully the casualties were low because the bomb went off at 6.30 a.m., before the consulate opened and before most Egyptians were on the streets and as such it hasn’t received the coverage it deserves, even here in Italy. Part of this is because the Egyptian Government’s crackdown on journalists has reached such absurd levels that four journalists were arrested merely fo