The juxtaposition is jarring: Venice hosts Jeff Bezos' $50 million wedding while locals flee Capri because teachers can't afford rent. This encapsulates modern Italy—a nation sacrificing its social fabric at the altar of short-term tourism gains while grappling with chronic economic paralysis and a vanishing youth population. Over the past 25 years, Italy has become a case study in mismanaged potential, where structural flaws intersect with a tourism economy that worsens inequality.