The New Italians

Looking at the Italy behind outward appearances, this study examines how Italy functions, how society binds the disparate parts, and how the economy works. It is both a celebration of the virtues of the Italian character and a frank examination of its failings.

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Generations of visitors to Italy have been seduced by the sensuality and vivaciousness of the people, by the great beauty of the landscape, by the glorious food and by the finest art treasures in the world. Italy is all of that, yet it also has a political class that is rotten to the core, and half the country is in thrall to organized crime. In this timely and perceptive portrait, Charles Richards looks at the Italy behind appearances. His authoritative study examines how Italy functions, how society binds the disparate parts and how the economy works. Charles Richards considers what it was both in the Italian system and in the Italians themselves, with their underdeveloped sense of individual responsibility, that permitted the ruling establishment to partake in the wholesale rape of the country. The book is both a celebration of the vitality and industriousness, elegance and good humour of the Italians, and a frank examination of their failings, of which no one gives a harder judgement than the Italians themselves. Charles Richards spoke to child kidnappers, Mafia judges, immigrant labourers and clergy in the front line against bandits in the North.
Richards found Italy in a state of flux, with great uncertainty about the future. But his conclusion is that however serious a mess the Italians are in, they have an unrivalled capacity for making the most of any given predicament.