'all the light we cannot see'
a man
A01=Luigi Barzini
anna jacobs
audio books on cd
Author_Luigi Barzini
bonfire of the vanities
books my brilliant friend
Category=JBCC
Category=NHD
christ stopped at eboli
eat pray love
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
european
house of leaves
jennifer worth
kate summerscale
learn italian
lucy hughes hallett
mans search for meaning
naples 44
night elie wiesel
ordinary men
peculiar ground
peter ackroyd
political biographies
puglia travel guide
roberto saviano
slaughterhouse 5
stuart maconie
the dark heart
the house
the iliad
the periodic table by primo levi
this is
tim parks
zero zero zero
Product details
- ISBN 9780140145953
- Weight: 284g
- Dimensions: 130 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 30 May 1991
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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The 'fatal charm of Italy' has held Lord Byron – and millions of tourists ever since – in its spell. Yet, beneath 'the brilliant and vivacious surface', what are the realities of Italian life? Few writers have ever painted a portrait of their compatriots as crisp, frank and fearless as Luigi Barzini's. Cutting through the familiar clichés, he instructs us with a cascade of anecdotes and provides a marvellous guided tour through centuries of history. He examines Machiavelli and Mussolini, popes, pilgrims and prostitutes, cliques and conspiracies, Casanova and the crippling power of the Church. Yet alongside the Baroque exuberance and spectacular display, the love of life and the life of love, he also shows us a divided nation, injustice, ignorance, poverty and fear. All this is Italy, a country of dazzling achievement and an uncanny aptitude for getting round problems; both its virtues and its vices are celebrated in this sparkling book
