The dark heart of Italy

Description

An essential guide to the strange, sometimes sinister culture of contemporary Italy.In 1999 Tobias Jones travelled to Italy, expecting to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors and famous writers. Instead, he discovered a very different country, besieged by unfathomable terrorism and deep-seated paranoia, where crime is scarcely ever met with punishment.Now, in this fascinating travelogue, Jones explores not just Italy's familiar delights (art, climate, cuisine), but the livelier and stranger sides of the bel paese: language, football, Catholicism, cinema, television and terrorism. Why, he wonders, do bombs still explode every time politics start getting serious? Why does everyone urge him to go home as soon as possible, saying that Italy is a 'brothel'? And why do people warn him that 'Clean Hands' only disguise 'Dirty Feet'?

Description

Why is Italy still riven with internal conflict? Tobias Jones set out to answer this and many other questions during his three-year voyage across the Italian peninsula. He discovers a country which is proudly visual rather than verbal and where crime is hardly ever followed by punishment.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The dark heart of ItalyFaber2003-01-01
• The dark heart of ItalyFaber and Faber2003-01-01
• The dark heart of ItalyFaber and Faber2003-01-01
• The dark heart of ItalyFaber and Faber2003-01-01
• The dark heart of ItalyNorth Point Press2004-01-01
• The Dark Heart of ItalyeBookFaber and Faber Ltd2008-01-01