The Italians [Paperback]

Luigi Barzini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 1996

In this consummate portrait of the Italian people, bestselling author, publisher, journalist, and politician Luigi Barzini delves deeply into the Italian national character, discovering both its great qualities and its imperfections. Barzini is startlingly frank as he examines "the two Italies": the one that created and nurtured such luminaries as Dante Alighieri, St. Thomas of Aquino, and Leonardo da Vinci; the other, feeble and prone to catastrophe, backward in political action if not in thought, "invaded, ravaged, sacked, and humiliated in every century." Deeply ambivalent, Barzini approaches his task with a combination of love, hate, disillusion, and affectionate paternalism, resulting in a completely original, thoughtful, and probing picture of his countrymen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The New Yorker Searching into every corner of Italian life and scrutinizing every cliché concerning it, from the charm of the people (an illusion, he maintains) to the consolations of la dolce vita (another one), Mr. Barzini has written an invaluable and astringent guidebook to his country.

About the Author

Luigi Barzini, was born in Milan, Italy, in 1908. After completing his studies in Italy and at Columbia University, he worked for two New York newspapers. He returned to Italy in 1930 to become a correspondent for Corriere della Sera. In 1940 he was confined by the Fascists. With the Allied liberation he returned to publishing and founded Il Globo. Subsequently he served as the chief editor of several newspapers and magazines. His books include Americans Are Alone in the World (1958), From Caesar to the Mafia (1971), and Peking to Paris (1973). He died in 1984.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (July 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684825007
• ISBN-13: 978-0684825007
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, an intelligent book on Italy!, August 20, 2001

By 

Vince Cabrera (Wellington, NZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Italians (Paperback)

The world is full of books on Italy. Unfortunately, a lot of these are written by foreigners whose well-meaning observations are usually pretty mundane and often the product of some Summer holiday spent in Tuscany. Discussing the national character is not common in Italy (except of course when it's done with the ritual pessimism).

Given the small number of books on the subject, Barzini's book has much to recommend it. For starters, it was written by an actual Italian and concentrates on what makes Italians "tick" rather than on the more traveloguey aspects of the matter. Other writers have tried this, notably Tim Parks but Barzini attempts to explain Italy rather then merely observing it.

Although this could be a reasonably dry subject, the book is written in a fun, somewhat raffish style which never really drags. The author spent a lot of his time in the USA and many of his observations are interesting from an typically anglo saxon point of view.

To be fair, I DO have some reservations about this book. The main problem is that, having been written in 1964 the text is somewhat dated. The Italy described by Barzini is one of poverty and illiteracy and these days that world has (thankfully) faded pretty much from the picture. You can see a bit of Barzini's Italy in 1950s/60s Hollywood films such as "The Roman Holidays" and "It Happened in Naples". As another reviewer has pointed out, customs have also changed. Divorce, which Barzini found unthinkable, has been legal in italy for quite a long time.

On the other hand, a lot of his observations remain true and accurate. It takes a good long time for national character to change and a lot of what Barzini described still peeps out from behind modern day Italy. I think that the best way to read this book is not so much with a grain of salt, but rather with a large glass of water in order to dilute the author's conclusions a little.

The *substance* of the book is still accurate, it's just a little faded with time.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing Luigi Barzini's "The Italians", August 10, 2005

By 

Pasquale F. Rocchi "Pat Rocchi" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Italians (Paperback)

I heard of this book 40 years ago when a TV version won an Emmy award. I was inspired to read it after my most recent trip to Italy. Growing up as an Italian-American, I wondered why my people acted the way they do, and this book provides valuable insight. Barzini graduated from Columbia U., and it shows in his command of the English language. This book is a classic, but like most classics, it's old, so while much of it is timeless, other parts are out of date, both culturally and politically. However, if one wants to gain a grounding in the Italian culture, this book is a very good place to start.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars entertaining, May 21, 2007

By 

Maura Greca (Bari, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Italians (Paperback)

Luigi Barzini has a unique style and presents his theories on the Italian psyche in an entertaining collection of anecdotes. Keep in mind that the view of Italians that the journalist Barzini presents here is his view, and in the beginning of the book he states that it is not a scientific study, simply an entertainment. With that in mind, the book delivers on the author's purpose.