Italia: which circle of Dante’s Inferno?

How to write about Italy? What words effectively convey something so truly horrid? Initially I thought about scurrying to my thesaurus – a synonym for utter wretchedness escaping me – lifeless, of course, but in the land of Berlusconi there’s also the stench of the sordid, corrupt, malign. Then it struck me, the Italians were fulfilling the prophetic draw of their national literature. Dante Alighieri mapped this territory. So, my friends, stare with me into the tiered abyss – which circle of Dante’s hell best suits this cast of Godless sinners?

Stranded in Purgatory: Totti, Rossi, Balotelli, Cassano, Toni, Grosso and even Del Piero and Inzaghi…