>>214096172 (OP)
Evil, particularly along the Italian/Austrian border. Italians and Austrians are naturally predisposed to evil. Just pure straight evil. That's the main cultural connection.
The German/Austrian region is basically Hitler's early life. Austria also has Josef Fritzl, Hermann Nitsch, and Michael Dewitt, a musician who trooned out later in life and is supposed to have recorded an entire music album using only human skulls and bones as musical instruments. Every major institution that the Italian people have ever come up with has always, invariably, been extremly and stupidly evil, from the roman catholic church to roman empire to the Italian commies to the Italian fascists to the mafia and so on and so forth. The Italian people are basically not competent to any form of governance whatsoever and need to be governed from without, left to do what they do best: food, some art, and producing sexy people. But they cannot be allowed to manage their own affairs, or to impose their will on anyone else in any meaningful way. History has proven this.
In the 120 Days of Sodom, Sade's nastiest work, the party make their way around Southeastern France, around Basel, and end up somewhere in some extremely inaccessible, fictional castle, around the Swiss/Black Forest area. Just pure straight evil all the way through, the whole entire region.
