How does an elderly but vigorous professor become a popular hero in la bell' Italia these days?  By seducing his students in exchange for top grades, videotaping the action, and writing a hot best—seller. Il dottore Ezio Capizzano, a 70 year old  Professor of Law (no less), has been thrown out of his job at Camerino University for trading grades for sex with his students in private law tutorials. It was publish or perish, apparently, and the Professor has now published — his erotic memoirs, in a book oddly titled The Last Baron In A Campus of Tulips.  It probably sounds better in Italian.

The warm—hearted Italian public has now made the professor a popular hero.  According to the London Telegraph

"...he became a household name in Italy and a role model for ageing Casanovas. Far from condemning him, the media lauded Prof Capizzano. ... The respected Corriere della Sera newspaper described him as 'Italy's answer to Sean Connery.'"

"In 2004 he was acquitted of any wrongdoing after the court accepted his claim that the students had all given their full consent."

A lot of Europe is a madhouse these days, but Italy is still Italy....