La Bella Figura

May 15, 2006
Severgnini—Italian newspaper columnist and author of the pesce
-out-of-water memoir Ciao, America!
—must have wanted to emulate Luigi Barzini, author of the 1960s classic The Italians
, in this somewhat tepid sociological look at his countrymen. Severgnini writes pleasantly enough (and Giles Watson's translation is smooth, for the most part), but his observations are anything but sharp. He organizes this overview as a kind of geographical "tour," with a chapter about car sex in Naples and another on the Italian countryside in Tuscany. Sweeping statements, such as "Italians have the same relationship with food that some Amazonian people have with the clouds in the sky—one glance and we know what to expect," abound, and they have the ring of truth, but they're rarely backed up by supporting anecdotes. In today's shrunken world, jokes about how Italians love to see half-naked women on television ("The new Italian icon is the Semi-Undressed Signorina") and abuse their cellphone privileges simply aren't new. The collection ends with the hoariest of devices: a letter from an imaginary American friend who has taken Severgnini's tour and reminisces about the beautiful "girls" in a Milan disco. Barzini, too, often wrote in generalities, but he had the advantage of coming first.

August 15, 2006
A newspaper columnist for "Corriere della Sera", a leading daily based in Milan, Severgnini ("Ciao, America!") takes readers on a whirlwind ten-day tour through Italy's Lombardy, Tuscany, and Lazio provinces to end in Sardinia. More a primer on Italian culture than a travelog, Severgnini's book aims to locate the authentic Italian soul, beyond the stereotypical image proffered by travel agencies. To this end, the author offers insight into the Italian persona as it relates to everything from shoe shopping to train travel to the significance of the eat-in kitchen. He also includes revealing tidbits on office work, Italian television, and restaurant cover charges. Readers who savor firsthand accounts of living in specific countries, such as Frances Mayes's "Under the Tuscan Sun" or Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence", will appreciate this lively tome. Recommended for larger travel collections." -Elizabeth Connor, The Citadel, Military Coll. of South Carolina Lib., Charleston"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2006
Severgnini attempts to plumb beneath the mask (the title's bella figura) that Italians present to the world, especially to tourists, to reveal the truth about modern Italian minds and hearts. He begins with the Italian "apartment," the place most Italians call home. For him, this is a cramped, well-guarded portion of real estate where one has little room for oneself and where one is constantly vigilant against neighbors' predations. He rails against Italian men's sexism and women's lack of serious opposition to discrimination in the workplace. Severgnini's Italians prefer bank tellers to impersonal ATMs. His Italians delight in talking about other people's money while maintaining secrecy about their own finances. He longs for equivalent reticence when Italians travel by trains, where, thanks to the cell phone, they share their most intimate secrets with their compartment mates. Severgnini holds -American-inspired Italian shopping malls in special contempt for his fellow countrymen's manic shouting at one another across their walkways, confusing modern mercantile halls with their ancient piazzas.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)