The Italians: A Full-Length Portrait Featuring Their Manners and Morals

Luigi Barzini
3.88
824 ratings 76 reviews
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.
Genres: ItalyHistoryNonfictionTravelItalian LiteratureSociologyCulturalEuropean HistoryLiteratureCultural Studies
352 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
248 (30%)
4 star
307 (37%)
3 star
208 (25%)
2 star
47 (6%)
1 star
14 (2%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Luigi Barzini

Lists with this book

Return To Glow: A Pilgrimage of Transformation in Italy
Living In Italy: Hilarious Expat Adventures - How To Survive The Good Life
I, Claudius
Best books about Italy
209 books97 voters
Paul & Kiki's Guide to Vacationing in Italy: Making Your Tuscany Holiday a Treasured Memory
The Princess Guide to Rome
Glam Italia! How to Travel Italy: Secrets To Glamorous Travel
Travel to Italy
80 books31 voters
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour
The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
Swedish Mentality
The Name of the Rose
Invisible Cities
Silk
FAVOURITE MODERN ITALIAN BOOKS
28 books9 voters