Product Description

Why is Italy still riven with internal conflict? Why does one man - Silvio Berlusconi - appear to own everything from Padre Nostro to Cosa Nostra? Tobias Jones sets out to answer these and many other questions during his three-year voyage across the Italian peninsula. What emerges is not a book about the tourist concerns of climate, cuisine and art, but one about the much livelier and stranger side of the "Bel Paese": the language, football, Catholicism, cinema, television and terrorism - and the grip exercised by Berlusconi through his vast media empire and Presidency of the Ministerial Council. The Italy Tobias Jones discovers is a country which is proudly "visual" rather than "verbal", and where crime is hardly ever followed by punishment. It is a place of incredible illusionism, where it is impossible to distinguish fantasy from reality, fact from fiction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #111641 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Tobias Jones' remarkable book essential reading for Italy enthusiasts: The Dark Heart of Italy (subtitled Travels Through Time and Space across Italy) is unlike any book on the country you may have read before. It is not a guide to Italy's art, or her geographical splendours. Nor is it a guide to her amazing cuisine. And it is not an examination of the Italian character. It does, however, contain elements of all of these and much more. When the author emigrated to Italy in 1999, he expected the customary ravishing of the senses that Italy usually provides. But, looking beneath the surface, Jones was astonished to encounter surprising undercurrents, among them national paranoia and the crippling fear inspired by terrorists (the Italian parliament, it seems, has a 'Slaughter Commission').

This is, of course, the country of Silvio Berlusconi, the tycoon whose controversial election via his stranglehold on the media was (to British eyes at least) something that should not be countenanced in a non-totalitarian country. While always taking on board the glories of Italy, Jones' picture of the country is both fascinating and disturbing: this is a land torn apart by civil wars and endemic corruption, the still influential Cosa Nostra and unbending Catholicism exert considerable sway.

Italy remains utterly unlike any of its European neighbours. Jones sees links between the powerful creativity of the Italian soul and the 'dark heart' that he refers to in his title. What is most remarkable about the book is the fact that no one who loves Italy will be at all disenchanted to encounter the truths that Jones presents to us. If anything, the complex and contradictory nation that emerges will hold an even greater fascination for both the serious student and the casual visitor. --Barry Forshaw

Conde Nast Traveller, 1 January 2003
Incisive and intelligent, this is the book to take on your Italian holiday.

Guardian, 11 January 2003
Tobias Jones' brilliant and funny account of a country now under the control of one all-powerful ruler.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely brilliant!
This book must be revealing to the British, but it is an absolute eye-opener for an Italian living in the United Kingdom, like me. It gives a description of Italy free of the prejudices we Italians have on ourselves, it does not take anything for granted, and manages to make fun of some of our most ingrained habits. It made me laugh out loud for most of the first chapter, then it made me think, then it got me depressed and angry. The attitudes he describes, towards bureaucracy, towards political power, towards dishonesty, are exactly what compelled me to leave the country (finally) 5 years ago. A must-read for those who want to understand modern Italy, and for expatriate Italians as well - as a vaccine against excessive homesickness

I am an Italian
I am an Italian and I live in London with my English husband.

When people find out I am Italian they tell me of how wonderful my country is and how strange I want to live in gray England. I always say Italy is beautiful, but I wouldn't live there as it's full of Italians. It is hard to quickly explain to people why I think this, so it's very helpful for me to read and recommend books like Tobias Jones' and Tim Parks'. These authors have a first hand experience of Italy and offer detachment and perspective in their reports and analysis.

All Italians will tell you Italy is a mess (un casino). They will not tell you why - as they'd have to explain 2000 years of history first - so they will divert the conversation to all the "unquestionably" beautiful things of the country: food, art, scenery, sun etc... Most Italian have no encompassing grasp of the last 30 years' history. Tobias Jones helpfully summarizes all the connections between terrorism, politics, Communists, Fascists, Berlusconi - the protagonists of Italy after WW II, and family, church and language - the pillars of Italian culture.

Time to reconsider our patronizing love for Italy
After all the praise for Tuscany and the Italian charms, let's welcome a realistic discussion by an Englishman who was disappointed after living a few years in Italy. It's funny how hasty tourists usually celebrate Italy while those who actually live there, like Jones, or Tim Parks, or Donna Leon, find a lot of negative aspects. Probably, this comes from the fact that Italians nurture appearances ("bella figura") while hiding their true intentions. So, when strangers get to know the real Italy, they feel betrayed.
In the past, strangers felt obliged to be nice to Italians who were economically underdeveloped compared to northern Europeans. Today central and northern Italy has a per-capita income which is 20% higher than the average income in France, Germany or the UK. It is time to judge Italians without condescension.