Operators of an ambulance services had to find new sources of funds. A biotech company filed for bankruptcy. The local professional soccer team slipped into the minor leagues after it could not pay top players. As for the Palio, Siena’s famed bareback horse race, clans must pay for their own costumes.
一家救護車服務業者被迫到處籌款。一家生物技術公司聲請破產。一支當地的職業足球隊因付不出高薪，只好淪落至小聯盟。至於西雅納最著名的無鞍馬賽「帕里歐」，則是各區市民得自己出錢置裝。
圖擷自Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena
Siena, a city in central Tuscany, is scrambling to fill the financial hole caused by the near collapse of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank.
義大利托斯卡納區的中部城市西雅納，正全力填補因世界最老銀行「西雅納銀行集團」幾乎倒閉造成的金融缺口。
The foundation that owned the bank financed a broad range of social services and cultural events, showering 150 million euros a year, about $170 million, on Siena and the surrounding region. The bank was the city’s largest private sector employer. Now, Siena is trying to attract outside investments and show that it can create jobs.
該行所屬基金會每年在西雅納一帶撒錢1.5億歐元，約合1.7億美元，贊助廣泛的社會服務與文化活動。該行是西雅納最大私人企業雇主。如今，西雅納正試圖吸引外在投資，並展現它創造就業機會的能力。
Since its founding in 1472, Monte dei Paschi and its wealth have been at the center of life in Siena. The bank survived plagues, panics and wars. Its headquarters are still located inside a medieval fortress. But modern financial hubris felled the centuries-old bank. In 2008, Monte dei Paschi acquired a rival to become Italy’s third-largest bank. The ��9 billion price tag was considered too high, even at the time, and bank management engaging in a series of derivatives transactions that later produced huge losses.
「西雅納銀行集團」1472年成立以來，它的財富一直是西雅納的命脈。銀行熬過瘟疫、恐慌和戰爭。它的總部仍坐落在一個中世紀堡壘內。然而現代金融業的傲慢擊垮了這家數百年歷史的銀行。2008年，該行收購競爭對手成為義大利第三大銀行。90億歐元的價碼就在當時也嫌過高，該行管理階層並且從事一系列衍生性商品交易，後來造成巨大虧損。
In mid-June, Monte dei Paschi completed a sale of shares valued at ��3 billion and replenished its capital. But the bank is gasping under a pile of bad loans and has effectively put itself up for sale, which could mean moving its headquarters. Fabrizio Viola, the bank’s chief executive, said that Monte dei Paschi will continue to support Siena as a bank, though not as a benefactor.
六月中旬，「西雅納銀行集團」完成出售價值30億歐元的股份，以填充資本。但銀行仍因壞帳一堆而在喘息，且該行實際上已對外求售，意謂總部可能搬遷。銀行執行長法布里奇歐．維奧拉說，該行將繼續以銀行的身分支持西雅納，但不再是金主。
“There was too much money. Everything was easy,” said Marcello Clarich, the president of the Monte dei Paschi Foundation. “Now we are going back to normality.”
「西雅納銀行集團基金會」主席馬契洛．克萊里奇說：「原本錢太多。一切輕而易舉。現在我們要回歸正常。」
With a large and well-preserved medieval center, Siena is crowded with tourists in the summer but is often underbooked the rest of the year. Work has long been underway to improve the highway that connects with Florence, and local officials have staged events to attract sports tourists.
西雅納擁有廣大且保存良好的中世紀市中心，每年夏季遊人如織，但其他時候卻沒有足夠的訪客。改善連結佛羅倫斯公路的努力已進行多年，官員也會辦活動，吸引運動賽事的遊客。
Officials are also trying to turn the surrounding province of Tuscany into an international center for drug research. The British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has a large operation in Siena. The effort suffered a blow when Siena Biotech, filed for bankruptcy in April. Despite spending 14 years and ��160 million seeking treatments for Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases, the company never produced any marketable therapies. The failure of Siena Biotech, which depended entirely on the Monte dei Paschi Foundation, is seen as a cautionary tale.
官員還試圖把西雅納所在的托斯卡納省變成藥物研究的國際中心。英國藥廠葛蘭素史克在西雅納有一個大製藥廠。西雅納生物技術公司四月聲請破產，讓官員的努力受挫。儘管在14年間投入1.6億歐元研發治療阿茲海默症與亨丁頓舞蹈症的藥物，該公司卻從未開發出可問市的療方。這家公司完全仰賴「西雅納銀行集團基金會」資助。它的失敗被視為一個警示。
Now officials are trying a new strategy. Toscana Life Sciences is serving as an incubator for 16 start-ups developing new technologies and related services. It is trying to mold the small pharmaceutical companies scattered around the region into a cluster that can feed off each other and take better advantage of the proximity of GlaxoSmithKline as well as Eli Lilly, which has a drugmaking plant outside Florence.
現在官員正在嘗試一種新策略。「托斯卡納生命科學」是開發新技術與相關服務的16個新興公司的育成機構。它正試圖將散落在該地區的小型製藥公司，串連成為可相互依賴生存的聚落，並且更加善用與葛蘭素史克和美國禮來公司為鄰的好處。禮來在佛羅倫斯郊外設有一所製藥廠。
But the effort also requires a government rethink. Investors won’t come to Tuscany “just because it’s more beautiful and has better wine,” said Andrea Paolini, director general of Toscana Life Sciences.
不過，這項努力同時有賴政府的新思維。托斯卡納生命科學執行長安德烈．保利尼說，投資人不會「只是因為它更美麗，有更好的葡萄酒」而來到托斯卡納。
Entrepreneurs here, as with much of Italy, face a mountain of bureaucracy. So officials are trying to simplify things.
這裡的企業家和義大利多數地方一樣，都面對十分繁複的行政程序。因此，官員正設法簡化各種手續。
“This is critical for companies,” said Luigi Marroni, the regional minister of health. “If it takes six months to get an approval in Tuscany and two months in New Jersey, they’ll go to New Jersey.”
該區衛生局長魯吉．馬洛尼說：「這對一些公司是關鍵問題，若托斯卡納要六個月才批准，而紐澤西只要兩個月，他們會去紐澤西。」
In January, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a nonprofit health care provider, decided to open a center to diagnose liver and digestive ailments in Chianciano Terme, a town near Siena known for its healing waters. Officials in Siena helped accelerate the approval process, and the center opened in June.
元月時，非營利性醫療機構「匹茲堡大學醫學中心」決定在基安奇安諾泰爾梅鎮開設一個肝臟和消化疾病的診斷中心。該鎮離西雅納不遠，以有療效的溫泉聞名。西雅納官員協助加快審核過程，中心已在六月開張。
“Our impression is that the local government is really pushing hard,” said Bruno Gridelli of U.P.M.C. International. “They understand that if they want to improve the economy, particularly after the problems of Monte dei Paschi, they need to attract investment.”
「國際匹茲堡大學國際醫學中心」的布魯諾．葛里德利說：「我們的印象是，地方政府真的很努力在推動。他們明白，想要改善經濟，特別是在西雅納銀行集團問題發生後，他們需要吸引投資。」
Officials are working on centralizing procedures like building permits. Bruno Valentini, Siena’s mayor, said, “The only way to save the city is to renew it.”
官員正努力將政府簽發建造等的程序集中化。西雅納市長布魯諾．瓦倫蒂尼說：「救這個城市的唯一方法是讓它再生。」
