The Dark Heart of Italy

Had this book a while and read it while on a recent holiday in Italy. Found parts of it funny and witty and well-written throughout. Particularly enjoyed the chapters on Italian soccer, media, politics and the analysis of the ills of the Italian economy despite having an extraordinary voter turnout at elections. From an Anglo-Saxon perspective, as the author has, this is a testament to there clearly being something wrong with the place. Yet he complements the architecture, the geography, the food and drink, the beauty, the language and the regional dialects while acknowledging the inherent regional disparity, such as prevails in England also. He does acknowledge his errors in the conclusion by noting that the voter turnout could be a show more reaction to the reaction against Communism and the threat to democracy after WW2 which voters protect hence the tendency to still elect a strong leader in the form of Berlusconi. show less

If you are after one of those sappy 'how I moved to Italy and lived the good life and laughed at the funny locals' stories, this is not the book for you.

Jones looks beyond the cliches, and uses his insights as an outsider to explore the contradictions of modern Italy - how a country of such beauty and passion can have so much wrong with it: crap television, corrupt leaders, corrupt citizens, obsessions with conspiracy theories. What saves this from being one monumental condemnation is that Jones obviously loves Italy, and for all its faults can't bear to leave it, knowing that there is also so much right with this amazing country.

Definately recommended as an antidote for those 'My Year in Tuscany' and other assorted shallow views of a show more complex and confusing country. show less

I enjoyed reading this book and it did provide me with an interesting introduction to recent Italian history and current affairs. There are chapters dedicated to the period of native left vs right wing terrorism, other organised crime and the state's response, Italian TV, football, rampant illegal building etc etc which are loosely tied together with reference to recurring themes of corruption, poor governance, regional loyalism and other particular aspects of `Italian culture'. It would not be honest of me to say that much of what I read - mostly the good or quirky rather than the bad - did not ring true from my own experiences of Italian friends and holidays there.

However, it may seem trite but it is probably necessary to add that the show more book is essentially a series of gross generalisations, with all of the issues associated with these. In summary, the DHoI is entertaining and certainly informative but far from analytically rigorous. show less

The wonder of this book is not that it reveals something new, even at the time it was originally written (2003), because it doesn't, but that the author is still alive, in Italy. Am I cynic? Maybe.

Italy is a fantastic country with a diversity of cultures and kitchens, full of beauty, but it's a country both high on civilization and low on it. Every time I visit the country I feel a calm descending on me, revelling in ordering a macchiato in the knowledge I'll get some high quality coffee. In many ways 'italian' to me is a by-word for style.

But every time I'm also anguished by the stubborn backwardness. Internet connection at your hotel? Weeeeell... One time I spent a day and a half arguing with staff before they said that of course show more could I have an internet connection - for €5/30 minutes. Two days and ceaseless arguments later they actually admitted that I could have a 24 hour access card for €18.
At that time I had almost left for another hotel, more forthcoming on the internet issue, had it not been for the fact that my hotel had a socket I could use to recharge my laptop while the other one (where a colleague of mine stayed) demanded a special adapter... and the conference centre hosting the conference we attended offered free internet (but a lack of sockets).

I also despair at the highways leading nowhere, the strikes ("buses to Palermo today, sorry, strike, you'll have to take the train", "to Olbia? Well, it's a strike so I don't know which trains will run but there's on in an hour which will take you half the way, if it leaves"), the skeleton buildings that never will be finished...

It's also a violent country, strung out on each side of a polarised rift that to all evidence seems to be much the same - political violence, nepotism, angry corrupted old men, wherever you go. I long ago gave up on knowing who was in power, other than when it's that man Berlusconi, and that is mainly down to the fact that he distinguishes himself as a fount of idiocy.

The author discusses the politics, the culture, and a lot of things Italian, and was accused of paining a too dark a picture, but personally I think his love for his adopted country is evident. That makes the book more than the righteous pamphlet it could had been - it makes it enjoyable.

He comes to no conclusion, naturally - this is more a chronicle than anything else. But as such it's very good.

If you have any interest in understanding the diversity of cultures that exists on this planet this book this book ought to be high on your must-read list. show less

If you read this book and like me appreciate it if certain things just work, then you will understand you can never live in Italy. A well written, pacy introduction to Italian society from an outsider's perspective.

Tobias Jones did a very good job at describing the dark side of Italy. He wonders why there are so many misteries in Italy, why there is a "slaughter commision" when almost all these kind of crimes go unpunished, and he investigates Silvio Berlusconi's massive influence over Italian politics and society. For an Italian reader, like myself, it is a very painful reading, and the saddest part is that Jones wrote this book in 2003, and things here in Italy have been getting worse ever since.

The author in his introduction describes the tempest that his book stirred p in Italy. At first, I thought it was hyperbolic self-promotion; but after reading the book I can well understand that Italians took a decidedly manichean view of the book. To describe it as tough love is understanding it. The author love for Italy has not at all blinkered his insights into the "dark heart" of the place -- the corruption, the ability to get anything done depending on what you know, the public paralysis versus private efficiency, on and on. And it's all very readable.