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221 pages

English

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Interpreting Italians is a socio-cultural travel guide designed for people whose interest in Italy goes beyond the readymade impression or the hackneyed cliche. It is a serious effort to understand what the 'Italian temperament' actually is, how it came to be, and the impact it has had both on Italians themselves and on the outsiders who attempt to live intimately and knowledgeably among them. To this end, it offers a thoughtful interpretation of those aspects of Italian culture and history - furbizia and bella figura, the piazza and the casa, the role of the mother, the extravagance of the Baroque and the personal as well as architectural significance of the facade - that have at once reflected and compounded Italians' attitudes to foreigners and to each other by examining their approaches to love and sex, religion and politics, food and the family, language and bureaucracy, regionalism and immigration, sport and the Mafia. The book consists of eighteen concise but well-documented essays and five appendices that, in addition to an extensive reading list, provide practical suggestions to visitors relating to the preparation of menus and the selection of walking tours and excursions to sites often overlooked by the casual tourist. Interpreting Italians will be a useful aid to anyone truly curious about discovering what makes Italians tick. With Updates

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Italy

My Last Duchess

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	05 décembre 2018
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781784626082
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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INTERPRETING ITALIANS

Copyright © 2015 Jeffrey Bailey
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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ISBN 978 1784626 082
Cover photo courtesy of Antonello Villani.
American forms of spelling and punctuation have been chosen for this text.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In addition to Thomas Govero, without whose initial contributions this project would never have been undertaken, the author wishes to thank Mariagrazia Villani and Alessandra Di Toppa of the Biblioteca Nazionale in Rome for kindly responding to numerous research queries, and to Antonello Villani of the American University of Rome for providing the cover photograph. Very special thanks are extended to Beverly Cerchio and David Lebo for the practical help and moral support they so generously gave by reading through the manuscript, and to Francis Poole of the University of Delaware for his equally thoughtful comments and encouragement.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
I Locus Amoenus
II La Furbizia
III La Bella Figura
IV Mamma Mia!
V La Casa
VI The Piazza
VII The Façade
VIII The Baroque
IX Tourist Italy
X Parla Italiano?
XI Ti Amo
XII Buon Appetito
XIII Ego Te Absolvo
XIV Noi Italiotti
XV “Welcome to Byzantium”
XVI Bye-Bye Bunga-Bunga (Until Next Time)
XVII Calcio Fever
XVIII Lest We Forget: La Mafia
References
Appendix I: Time-line and Map of the Italian Peninsula
Appendix II: Five Recommended Excursions
Appendix III: Four Recommended Walking Tours of Rome
Appendix IV: Six Recommended Menus
Appendix V: Recommended Reading
Appendix VI: Updates by Chapter
Appendix VII: Updates and Addenda
About the Author
PREFACE
The eighteen short essay-chapters and accompanying Appendices which comprise this volume are intended for anyone with a serious interest in Italy, but especially for visitors planning a long-term stay; their aim is not to solve the “Italian riddle” but to provide useful clues to deciphering it. The themes dealt with presuppose that such a riddle continues to exist despite the often standardizing and homogenizing effects of cultural globalization, and the method of handling them grew out of a series of long conversations with Thomas Govero, professor of Classical Studies at John Cabot University and former Fulbright scholar at the American Academy in Rome, on the subject of our shared fascination for a place and a people we had come to know intimately over a period of several decades. Far from being merely academic, this fascination was rooted in a visceral reaction, felt by so many foreigners, to the topographical beauty of the country and the peculiar charm of her people, and also to a pervading sense that, however well-versed one might become in the historical and sociological complexities of Italy, the Italians themselves remained elusive and enigmatic. Like a game whose rules one had studied but had yet to master, daily contact with them, whether commercial, professional or personal, was a disconcerting mixture of the pleasant and the quirky, sometimes even the irksome – an almost perpetual reinforcement of the impression that “being in but not of” was not a matter of choice but had been predetermined by the very fact of foreignness. While this was a feeling shared by numerous foreign colleagues and acquaintances, it interfered very little with the desire to stay on and seek out a place among the Italians – or, more precisely, to come to terms with the position assigned to us, as tenuous and peripheral as it sometimes seemed. We had made Italian friends whose interest in us we knew to be genuine and whose acceptance of us was undoubtedly sincere; we had even, at one point or another, been “adopted” into an Italian family and experienced firsthand the warmth and conviviality which have typified Italian life for centuries. We had also had enough contact with other Mediterranean peoples to understand both what Italians shared with their neighbors and what set them apart. The privilege of long periods of work, study and leisure was frequently a heady “awakening unto wonders” in which each day brought its own reward by simply being another day in Italy; still, the fact remained that we were de facto interlopers no matter how long we stayed, expected at some point to move on to some other place where Italians believed we really belonged.
Ultimately, it was the lingering sensation of being “perennially temporary” that provided the incentive for this project. From the outset, it was clear that such an undertaking could only be accomplished honestly by rejecting the latter-day Romantic notion, common to so much of contemporary writing on Italy, that one must adulate in order to appreciate; rather than sweep the dust under the carpet, the intention was to show just how much of it there was to sweep. The resulting essays have been arranged to explore first the fundamental traits of the Italian temperament and then the wider implications of those traits on Italian society and institutions, but they need not be read in any particular order. Unless otherwise noted, statistical and topical information reflects the situation in Italy as of late summer 2013; updates to the end of October 2014 have either been integrated into the text or provided as endnotes for the essays on politics, the bureaucracy, the Papacy, immigration and football, with updates to mid-June 2015 provided in the Time-line, Appendix 1 . Taken all together, the essays are meant less as definitive explanations of what constitutes “Italianness” than as cogent interpretations of character and motivation supported by references to the history, customs, socio-cultural conditions and political factors that have forged Italian identity over the millennia. Disagreement or debate may arise from certain observations, but this can only be a good thing if, as hoped, such divergences promote further reflection and analysis. The primary goal of this volume is really to help prepare foreign visitors for what awaits them, and perhaps to offer a deeper insight into a culture and way of life which, since the heyday of the Roman Republic, have held so many millions in thrall.
June 2015
N.B.: Chapter updates to mid-November 2018 have been added to this edition as Appendix VI .
I
LOCUS AMOENUS
“ Terra tripudium, venustus laetus fortunatus silva quod domus beatus .”
“The land of joy, the lovely glades of the fortunate wood and the home of the blest.”
– Vergil, The Aeneid, Book 6
“ Lei potrebbe avere l’universo se potrai avere Italia .”
“You may have the universe if I may have Italy.”
– Giuseppe Verdi
To the ancients of the Roman world, Italy was a state of mind. Far more than the merely geographical center of a multi-ethnic empire, it was, first and foremost, the locus amoenus – that revered and singularly accommodating land, synonymous with well-being, where benevolent gods shared their bounty with men and fulfilled all hopes and desires. For most people today – foreigners who long to visit and those who, having visited, yearn to return – this “enchanted kingdom” image remains essentially unchanged. It is a view shared by the vast majority of modern Italians, for whom Italy is not simply Italia but Bell’Italia, Il Bel Paese : “The Beautiful Country . ” The scores of publications, televised travelogues and documentaries dedicated to the marvels of Italian art and architecture, to the country’s breathtaking scenery and mesmerizing panoramas, to its history steeped in legend, triumph and grandeur, are aimed not only at the visitor but just as frequently at Italians themselves – affirmations of the Italian credo that, of all the nations in the world, their own Bell’Italia is the most beautiful.
There is certainly much to justify this view. At least since the 18 th century, when the Romantic notion of Antiquity came into vogue and expressions of superlative sublimity became bywords for the peninsula, the rest of the world has been inclined to accord Italy first place in the international beauty pageant. The designations Bell’Italia and Il Bel Paese are meant to denote more than the physical qualities of Italy – towering mountains, magnificent valleys, undulating plains, vast beaches of white sand, majestic cathedrals, lofty castles and quaint villages dominating hilltops, acres of frescoes, miles of galleries lined with fabulous paintings and statuary – but equally, especially to the Italian mind, an irresistibly superior way of life which will have the tourist rushing back as soon as possible. Italians are firmly persuaded that a combination of natural wonders, inimitable lifestyle and incomparable artistic heritage (which is estimated to comprise at least sixty percent of all of the world’s great art as well as more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country, fifty-one in mid-2014) merits such an ebullient response. Since the preaching of the Romantic Gospel of Italian Glory first began some three hundred years ago, most travelers have been prepared to accept it without question, ready and eager to drop their jaws at the countless treasures the c