Andrew Whittaker - Speak The Culture - Italy - Be Fluent in Italian Life and Culture

I
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BE FLUENT I N I TALI AN LI FE AND CULTURE
HI STORY, SOCI ETY AND LI FESTYLE
LI TERATURE AND PHI LOSOPHY

ART AND ARCHI TECTURE
CI NEMA AND FASHI ON

MUSI C AND DRAMA
FOOD AND DRI NK
MEDI A AND SPORT

Speak the Culture Italy
NO PUBLISHER HAS ATTEMPTED ANYTHING
QUITE LIKE THIS, AND THE PUBLISHERS
THOROGOOD ARE TO BE MUCH APPLAUDED
FOR THEIR INGENUITY AND ACHIEVEMENT.
Barry Forshaw, travel journalist
Speak the Culture: Italy reveals the cultural forces
and figures that have shaped Italy and the Italians.
The Italian character is complex,
contradictory, alluring and infinitely
variable: the heirs to the greatest
empire of the Ancient world but
supposedly ungovernable; the
guardians of the Catholic Church
and exemplars of la dolce vita; the
maestros of modern design, so
immersed in tradition.
And then there are the idols of
Italian culture: Dante, Michelangelo,
Verdi, Fellini who were they and
what made them so special, so
Italian? Easily read and beautifully
illustrated, Speak the Culture: Italy
makes sense of it all.
Contents
1 Identity: the foundations
of Italian culture
2 Literature and
philosophy
3 Art, architecture
and design
4 Music, theatre, dance
and comedy
5 Cinema and fashion
6 Media and
communications
7 Food and drink
8 Living culture: the state
of modern Italy
Culture made so real you can read it, see
it, taste it, hear it, eat it, drink it, feel it,
touch it, speak it, wear it, download it...
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BE FLUENT I N SPANI SH LI FE AND CULTURE
HI STORY, SOCI ETY AND LI FESTYLE LI TERATURE AND PHI LOSOPHY
ART AND ARCHI TECTURE CI NEMA AND FASHI ON
MUSI C AND DRAMA FOOD AND DRI NK MEDI A AND SPORT
Speak the Culture Spain
F
BE FLUENT I N FRENCH LI FE AND CULTURE
HI STORY, SOCI ETY AND LI FESTYLE s LI TERATURE AND PHI LOSOPHY
ART AND ARCHI TECTURE s CI NEMA, PHOTOGRAPHY AND FASHI ON
MUSI C AND DRAMA s FOOD AND DRI NK s MEDI A AND SPORT
Speak the Culture France
Every effort has been made to trace the owners of the various pieces of material in this publication. If further proof of ownership
should be made available then attribution will be given, or if requested the said material removed, in any subsequent editions.
The Italian Cultural Institute, London, supports and encourages understanding between people and cultures worldwide
and endorses this books aim of contributing towards a greater cultural awareness of Italy. www.icilondon.esteri.it
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Italian Cultural Institute, London.
www.thorogoodpublishing.co.uk www.speaktheculture.co.uk
I
HI STORY, SOCI ETY AND LI FESTYLE
LI TERATURE AND PHI LOSOPHY

ART AND ARCHI TECTURE
CI NEMA AND FASHI ON

MUSI C AND DRAMA
FOOD AND DRI NK
MEDI A AND SPORT

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ISBN: 1 85418 628 0 / 978-
185418628-7
Thorogood Publishing Ltd
10-12 Rivington Street
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Telephone: 020 7749 4748
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2010
Thorogood Publishing Ltd
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to:
Denise Bianchini
John and Pauline Davis
Matt Rendell,
Mariella Scarlett
Carlo Presenti at the
Italian Cultural Institute
Publisher
Neil Thomas
Editorial Director
Angela Spall
Editor in chief
Andrew Whittaker
Additional editorial
contributors
Lisa Kramer Taruschio
David Banks
Johnny Bull
Amy Wilson Thomas
Patrick Carpenter
Jonathan Schoeld
Design & illustration
Phylip Harries
Richard Grosse
falconburydesign.co.uk
Johnny Bull
plumpState
plumpstate.com
iStockphoto
Printed in the UK by
Ashford Colour Press
Rome, as seen from
Castel Sant Angelo
Contents
1. Identity: the
foundations of
Italian culture p3
1.1 Geography p5
1.1.1 Italy: where is it
and what does it look
like? p6
1.1.2 Local colour: the
Italian regioni p9
1.2 History p19
1.2.1 Did you know we
used to rule the world?
Ancient Italy p20
1.2.2 From the Dark
Ages into the light p26
1.2.3 United in name
at least: the making of
modern Italy p33
1.3 Language and
belonging p43
1.3.1 Speech patterns:
language in Italy p44
1.3.2 Being Italian:
identity and psyche p48
2. Literature and
philosophy p53
2.1 Literature p55
2.1.1 A book shy nation
p56
2.1.2 Classically
trained: the Roman
authors p58
2.1.3 The Three
Crowns of the early
Renaissance p61
2.1.4 The anti-climax of
the High Renaissance
p65
2.1.5 Telling it like it is:
literature in the modern
era p68
2.2 Philosophy p79
2.2.1 The greatest hits
of Italian philosophy
p80
3. Art, architecture
and design p87
3.1 Art and design p89
3.1.1 The eternal
template: Ancient Italian
art p90
3.1.2 Killing time til
Giotto arrives: medieval
art p93
3.1.3 Master strokes:
the Renaissance in Italian
art p98
3.1.4 Back to reality:
the power of Baroque
p107
3.1.5 To the avant-
garde and back: modern
Italian art p110
3.1.6 Style and
substance: modern
Italian design p113
3.2 Architecture p117
3.2.1 Built to last:
Ancient architecture p118
3.2.2 Classical
leanings: the medieval
builds p121
3.2.3 Designing
harmony: Renaissance
architecture p124
3.2.4 The high drama of
Baroque p128
3.2.5 In the shadow
of greatness: modern
Italian architecture p131
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
p137
4.1 Music p139
4.1.1 The sounds of
tradition: Italian folk
music p140
4.1.2 Life in operas
shadow: classical music
p143
4.1.3 Italian by design:
opera p148
4.1.4 Rock, pop, rap,
hip hop, dance and the
rest p154
4.2 Theatre, dance and
comedy p161
4.2.1 Dramatis
personae: the key gures
of Italian theatre p162
4.2.2 Italy on the
danceoor p169
4.2.3 Laughing matter:
Italian comedy p173
5. Cinema and
fashion p177
5.1 Cinema p179
5.1.1 The importance of
Italian cinema p180
5.1.2 Epic tastes: from
silent classics to noisy
propaganda p182
5.1.3 Grit and
determination:
Neorealist cinema p186
5.1.4 The golden age of
Italian cinema p188
5.1.5 The era of false
dawns: modern Italian
cinema p195
5.2 Fashion p201
5.2.1 Made in Italy p202
6. Media and
communications
p209
6.1 Media p211
6.1.1 Best of the
press: newspapers and
magazines p212
6.1.2 Thinking inside
the box: Italian television
p217
6.1.3 Radio: an Italian
passion p220
6.1.4 New media: Italy
online p222
6.2 Communications
p225
6.2.1 Staying in touch:
sending letters and
making calls p226
6.2.2 Italy on the move:
transport types and habits
p228
7. Food and drink
p233
7.1 Food p235
7.1.1 Home advantage:
the culture of Italian food
p236
7.1.2 Regional tastes:
the avours of Italy p238
7.1.3 Food rituals: eating
and buying p246
7.2 Drink p253
7.2.1 The culture of
Italian wine p254
7.2.2 The Italian wine
regions p257
7.2.3 Thirst for
knowledge: beyond
wine p264
7.2.4 Drinking habits:
when and where to
indulge p268
8. Living culture:
the state of modern
Italy p271
8.1 Upsetting the old
order: class, race, family
and women p274
8.2 Issues of faith:
religion in Italy p278
8.3 Rule benders:
politics, the Italian state
and green issues p282
8.4 Money matters: the
economy, wealth and
social security p288
8.5 Law and order: the
police, the Maa and the
legal system p292
8.6 Class struggles: the
education system p297
8.7 Time out: holidays,
festivals and free time
p300
8.8 Passion plays:
Italian sport p303
1
First, a word from
the publisher
This series of books and this book are designed to look at
a countrys culture to give readers a real grasp of it and
to help them develop and explore that culture.
The world is shrinking made smaller by commerce,
tourism and migration and yet the importance of
national culture, of national identity, seems to grow.
By increasing your cultural knowledge and appreciation
of a country, be it your own or a foreign land, you reach a
genuine understanding of the people and how they live.
Were talking about culture in all its guises: the creative
arts that give a country its spirit as well as the culture of
everyday life.
Speak the Culture books sit alongside guidebooks and
language courses, serving not only as a companionable
good read but also as an invaluable tool for understanding
a countrys current culture and its heritage.
2
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the state of
modern Italy
3
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
1.1 Geography p5
1.1.1 Italy: where is it
and what does it look
like? p6
1.1.2 Local colour: the
Italian regioni p9
1.2 History p19
1.2.1 Did you know
we used to rule the
world? Ancient Italy
p20
1.2.2 From the Dark
Ages into the light p26
1.2.3 United in name
at least: the making of
modern Italy p33
1.3 Language and
belonging p43
1.3.1 Speech patterns:
language in Italy p44
1.3.2 Being Italian:
identity and psyche p48
of Italian culture
1 Identity: the foundations
4
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
5
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The Italian landscape can be as varied
and stirring as any; it has peaks, plains
and more volcanoes than the rest of
mainland Europe combined. However,
its the breadth and diversity of culture
the traditions and the sense of
campanilismo that shape the real
identity of each region.
1.1 Geography
6
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
If the boot ts
The Italians sometimes call their prong of southern
Europe lo Stivale, the Boot, for obvious reasons. Its
an iconic physique, from the muscular Alpine thigh
right down to the bony Calabrian toe that punts Sicily
eternally towards Africa (Sicilian capital Palermo is closer
to Tunis than Rome). Running clockwise from Trieste in
the north-east, the country is bordered by the Adriatic,
Ionian, Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas, all of them a part
of the Mediterranean Sea. Land borders with France,
Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia in the north are
dominated by the Alps. Italy has a number of islands out
in the Med, of which Sardinia (120 miles adrift from Rome
in the Tyrrhenian Sea) and Sicily are by far the largest.
Lie of the land: the hills are alive
The hills and mountains that cover two thirds of Italy
comprise two chains: the Alps and the Apennines.
The Alps formed when the African tectonic plate slid
north millions of years ago, collided with the Eurasian
plate and pushed up the peaks. These shifting plates
still affect Italy more than any other European country,
initiating earthquakes and giving vent to three active
volcanoes, Etna, Vesuvius and Stromboli. The same
tectonic clash also shaped the Apennines, the peninsulas
spine, curving all the way from the Ligurian Alps to the
toe tip of Calabria. The northern Pianura Padana forms
Italys largest lowland plain, the Po River (Italys longest)
draining its fertile soils. The other large Italian plain is the
Tavoliere delle Puglie (Chessboard of Puglia) down in the
boot heel. Lakes Garda, Maggiore and Como sit in steep-
sided northern valleys (when people talk about the Italian
Lakes they mean these), while smaller lakes to the north
of Rome inhabit old volcanic craters.
Grain drain
Half of Italys beaches
are disappearing,
deprived of sand by
natural erosion and
human interference.
As sea levels rise, the
prognosis looks bleak.
Shrinkage is already
causing friction: in 2008
Lecce and Brindisi, both
in Puglia (where 65 per
cent of beaches are
losing their sand), fell
out when Lecce tried
to dredge for new sand
offshore from its near
neighbour and longtime
rival.
1.1.1 Italy: where is it and
what does it look like?
7
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
What is the weather like?
The coastal lowlands of southern Italy enjoy a
Mediterranean climate of hot summers and mild winters,
and the warm weather stretches north up the western
coast bringing uncomfortable heat in summer. Elsewhere,
the norm is cooler, particularly in the north-east where
the cold winds can blow in from central Europe. By
consolation, east tends to be drier than west. The Po
Valley experiences harsh winters and warm, humid
summers, and is known for prodigious winter fogs.
The Alps have their own climate of bitter winters and
mild summers. When the Sirocco wind comes up from
North Africa the whole country bakes. Italys undulating
topography creates some intriguing microclimates (and
correspondingly ne wines). Despite Lake Gardas
northerly position, for instance, the surrounding
mountains provide enough shelter to grow palms and
lemons. Climate change is already having a serious effect
on Italy summers in southern Italy are 0.7 degrees
warmer than they were 20 years ago.
Forces of nature
Earthquake: Italys worst quake (indeed, modern Europes worst) and the attendant
tsunami killed as many as 200,000 people when it hit Messina in 1908. The most
devastating recent event came in April 2009, when a quake in Abruzzo killed nearly
300.
Flood: When the Arno River ooded Florence in 1966, it killed over a hundred
people and destroyed or damaged thousands of works of art, Donatellos Magdalene
sculpture included. The so-called Mud Angels helped clean the city up.
Volcano: Vesuvius most famous outburst came in 79AD when it buried Pompeii
and killed as many as 25,000 locals. A more recent eruption in 1906 claimed more
than a hundred lives.
Boughing out, Tuscan
style
Few sights evoke the
Italian landscape,
Tuscany in particular,
like the tall, slim
cypress tree. Cupressus
sempervirens (if youve
got dining companions
to impress) probably
came to Italy from the
eastern Med with the
Etruscans. Despite being
darkly green, long-
lived (they can grow
for a thousand years)
and sweetly pungent,
the tree has strong
associations with death.
In Metamorphoses,
Roman poet Ovid
described the tree
being born from the
body of Cyparissus,
the grief-stricken
youth who accidentally
speared Apollos pet
deer. Convinced of
a connection to the
underworld, the Romans
would lay their dead
on a bed of cypress
branches and place a
tree at the front of the
house during periods of
mourning.
8
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Where do the Italians live?
Almost three quarters of Italians now live in towns and
cities, a preference for urban life that only developed
in the post-war economic boom (see section 8.4 for
more). The population density is relatively high (almost
200 people per sq km the fth most densely peopled
country in the EU) although the distribution of people is
unbalanced. Over a third of Italians live in the Pianura
Padana, while the lands south of Rome can be quite
empty. Its a north/south split connected to prosperity, to
the divide between industry and agriculture and to a clash
in attitudes and culture. Rome may be the biggest city by
population (2.7 million), but the metropolitan areas around
Milan (up to 7.4 million by some estimates) and Naples
(4.4. million) embrace more inhabitants.
Vital statistics
Area: 301,338 sq km
(116,356 sq miles)
(roughly the same size
as Arizona).
Population: 58 million.
Length: Around 745
miles (1,200 km),
depending on where you
measure from.
Width: 380 miles
(610km) at its widest
point.
Life expectancy: 77 for
men, 83 for women.
Average age: Early to
mid 40s (and rising every
year).
Highest mountain:
Monte Bianco di
Courmayeur, 4,748m
(15,577 ft) (smaller,
conjoined sibling of
Mont Blanc).
Tallest surviving
Ancient statue:
Colossus of Barletta,
5.11m (16.7ft).
9
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The 20 regions of modern Italy may have been formally
created in 1960, but each has much older origins, a pre-
Unication identity usually based on subservience to a
duke, king, city or pope. Each has a distinct culture, a
mode of life with its dialect, customs and rivalries, to
which the inhabitants subscribe and which, typically,
eclipses any loyalty to the Italian nation. In fact, pride
in the locale often only extends to the immediate
community. They call it campanilismo, that connection
to your birthplace, your hometown or village; the word
derives from campanile, or bell tower, recognising a
loyalty to your own corner of civilisation with the church
in its midst. Five of the 20 regions (Valle dAosta,
Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sicily and
Sardinia), the regioni autonome, are more separate than
others, enjoying a degree of autonomy that brings the
power to levy and spend taxes.
i. Northern Italy
Italy abuts its northern neighbours at the Alps. The
mountain chain has given the country a natural frontier,
and yet, in places, languages and customs still lap over
from other cultures. Northern Italy is richer in industry and
agriculture than the regions to the south; its resorts are
slicker, its cloth better cut and the people, perhaps, more
taciturn.
Valle dAosta.
The Romans, Hannibal and his ensemble, St Bernard
and Napoleon theyve all passed through Italys high
north-eastern limits, a small region of prodigious peaks
(including Monte Bianco, Monte Rosa and Cervino (also
known as the Matterhorn). Today, some here speak
Italian, others French or Walser German; many still use
a Valdtain patois. Under Mussolini the region was
Italianised with encouraged migration and language
curbs, but today its allowed a measure of autonomy.
Skiing, cows, hydro electricity and metalworking pay the
bills.
1.1.2 Local colour: the Italian regioni
10
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Piedmont
Sit up straight; Italys second largest region is a place
of business and industry, the dynamic doer of French
inuence that initiated Italian Unication in the 19
th

century. Turin is the hub, an undemonstrative (by Italian
standards) city of cars (its home to Fiat), Baroque
porticoes and breadsticks (grissini). Piedmonts alpine
landscape softens south and east of Turin, attening to
paddy elds alongside the widening Po River.
Liguria
Liguria, with its forested, scented hills, crowns the warm
Gulf of Genoa like a luxuriant head of green hair. Most are
drawn here by the stretch of Riviera, a less uptight affair
than its French counterpart. Genoa, the sole sizeable
city, is a hard modern port with a soft medieval centre. A
once powerful republic, it bore condent characters like
Columbus and Garibaldi. Cliffside villages like Portono
have inspired artists and writers for centuries just ask
Guy de Maupassant, Lord Byron and Truman Capote (if
you can rouse them).
Lombardy
Italys most self-assured region envelops the Alps,
the at Pianura Padana and the countrys nest lakes
(Como, Maggiore and Garda are all here). Milan has
fashion houses and scal clout (location for Italys stock
exchange, the Borsa), while the environs sprawl with
industry, closing in on architecturally blessed old towns.
Southerners talk of a superiority complex; the Lombards
dont care. Their name derives from long beards,
recalling Germanic occupants of old.
Trentino-Alto Adige
No really, we are Italian. Its just that we speak German,
eat schnitzel and some of us want to be independent
from Italy. Trentino (the more Italian half to the south)-
Alto Adige (the fundamentally Austrian bit to the north,
also called Sd Tirol) is a two-faced tease. Tour guides
describe a harmonious meeting of cultures, but it can
Something in the water
The Ligurian resort of
Sestri Levante exerts
quite a pull on romantic
creative types. Danish
author Hans Christian
Andersen enjoyed a
long stay in 1835, and
the town now holds
a childrens literature
competition in his
name. Similarly, Richard
Wagner took refuge in
the town one night after
being harried off the
sea by a storm. Local
hotels now claim, rather
hopefully, that the event
inspired parts of Der
Ring des Nibelungen.
Duce in disguise
Mussolini was caught
in Lombardy; discovered
in Dongo, Lake Como,
by a partisan checking
German troop lorries in
retreat in April 1945. The
accompanying soldiers
tried to pass Mussolini
off as a drunken
comrade, disguised with
glasses, a greatcoat
and Nazi helmet. The
resistance ghter who
spotted him, Urbano
Lazzaro, subsequently
became something of a
celebrity as Partisan Bill,
writing about his role in
the demise of Il Duce.
11
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
feel more like a skirmish. When Mussolini compelled
Sd Tiroleans to chose one camp or the other in the late
1930s, most chose the other, and moved north to Austria,
under Nazi rule at the time. Scenically, the western end
of the Dolomites distract from the identity crisis.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Italy and Central Europe meet in Friuli-Venezia Giulia,
an autonomous, ethnically mixed north-east region of
mountains, plains and coastline. It got the worst parts of
the 20th century; blood-soaked in the First World War
then bled dry by the Fascists, Nazis and Communists. The
main city, Trieste, a large port, encapsulates the different
avours: built by Austrian Habsburg overlords in the 18th
century, today its an Italian city hemmed in by Slovenia.
All parties unite in moaning about the regions freezing
north-easterly wind, the Bora.
Veneto
The wealthy Veneto lands reach from the Austrian border
in the Dolomites to the Adriatic coast. Venice, once the
hub of a republic that dominated Mediterranean trade for
centuries, merits its reputation as a breathtaking city of
canals, medieval palazzos and artistic treasures. Inland,
across the rice elds, vineyards and patches of industry,
lie Padua, where Giotto redirected European art 700 years
ago with naturalistic, reverent frescos, and Verona, with
its Roman amphitheatre, so well suited for staging full-
blooded opera.
Respecting the old
landlord
North-east Italy is
sometimes referred to
as Venetia, a region
that includes much of
modern day Veneto and
Friuli-Venezia Giulia,
bits of Lombardy and
Trentino, and harks
back to the territories
of the once robust and
Most Serene Venetian
Republic.
VENI CE I S
LI KE EATI NG
AN ENTI RE BOX
OF CHOCOLATE
LI QUEURS I N
ONE GO.
Truman Capote
12
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Emilia-Romagna
Straddling northern Italy, the old, frequently foggy
provinces of Emilia and Romagna used to form bits of the
Papal States, which may explain a 20
th
century leaning
away from the Church to the left (Communists held
power here in the 1970s and 80s). Under-appreciated
Bologna, the big city, has delicate arcades and some of
the nest food in Italy. Modena has a leaning tower (up
yours Pisa) and its balsamic vinegar, while Parma enjoys
its prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. All three
cities are on the Via Aemilia, a Roman road named for
consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 187BC.
ii. Central Italy
Central Italy is the prime guardian of Italys cultural heritage
(whatever northerners might tell you). In Florence and
Rome it has the nest Renaissance cities in Europe, each
with its trove of art and architecture. And with its hills,
cypress trees and medieval villages, the landscape is more
powerfully Italian than anywhere else on the peninsula.
Tuscany
Tuscanys legion foreign (and Italian) fans will attest to its
beauty, to the rolling vineyards, hilltop towns and marbled
cathedrals. Artists, architects and writers made this the
Five cultural icons
from the north
Umberto Eco
(Piedmont). Apparently
Eco is an acronym
of ex caelis oblatus (a
gift from the heavens),
given to Umbertos
grandfather, a foundling,
by a creative civil
servant.
Dario Fo (Lombardy).
The playwright helped
his father smuggle
Allied soldiers through
Lombardy to Switzerland
during the war.
Pier Paolo Pasolini
(Emilia-Romagna). The
inveterate lefty was
born in Bologna to a
father who distinguished
himself by saving
Mussolinis life.
Niccol Paganini
(Liguria). Took up the
mandolin, aged ve, in
Genoa under his fathers
tuition, and conquered
the violin two years
later.
Italo Svevo (Friuli-
Venezia Giulia). When
the writer was born in
Trieste, it was still in
Austro-Hungarian hands.
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2. Literature
and philosophy
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
centre of the Renaissance world: Dante and Boccaccio
ensured the national tongue had Tuscan roots; and
Michelangelo, da Vinci, Brunelleschi, Botticelli et al did
the decorating. When the crowds in Florence, Pisa, Siena
and San Gimignano get too much, seek out Apennine
tranquillity or untroubled medieval villages.
Umbria
Or Tuscany in waiting if the hype is believed. Umbria
has the Renaissance art, the architecture and the
medieval hilltop towns, but, as yet, not the hubbub of
its neighbour. A certain humility, born perhaps of aged
piety (it was another Papal State), has settled over the
green landscape: St Francis (Assisi, his home patch, is the
regions prime tourist town), St Benedict and St Valentine
were all Umbrian. All this and mountains, the River Tiber
and the largest lake south of Garda, Lago Trasimeno.
Marche
With Adriatic to one side and Apennines on the other,
Marche feels sequestered. All the ingredients of central
Italy are here sleepy hilltop towns, snow-capped
mountains (the Monti Sibillini range), monasteries,
Etruscan remains, Renaissance cities (Urbino, Raphaels
hometown is the nest; Ascoli Piceno, the quietest)
but there is little of the potential for mania, perhaps a
reection of the regions former role collecting taxes for
the pope.
Campanilismo on
horseback
Sienas famous Palio,
the biannual breakneck
horserace around the
citys broad Piazza
del Campo, is among
the most celebrated
expressions of Italian
campanilismo, of civic
pride. Its all about
supporting the horse
from your own contrade
(city ward), of which
there are 17 (at one time
there were over 50). In
Siena the riders began
on buffalo, later moved
to donkeys and nally
settled on horseback in
1656. Today only ten
horses run, with the
contradas represented
on a rotating basis. The
palio originally referred
to the piece of silk cloth
given as a prize to the
race winner. The Palio
dAsti, a similar, even
older race dating to the
13
th
century, rides round
a town in Piedmont each
September.
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2. Literature
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6. Media and
communications
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modern Italy
Lazio
Italy often pokes fun at Lazio, at its relative poverty,
slow development and lack of identity. The region has
to contend with Rome in its midst, overshadowing the
parched farmland, hills and volcanic lakes that form the
landscape. But the Latin story began here, as the outlying
region proves with Etruscan necropolises and well-
preserved Roman remains, notably at Hadrians Tivoli villa
and Ostia Antica, Romes ancient port. For foreigners,
rural Lazio has the lure of being largely untroubled by other
visitors. Not so Rome of course. But Rome is worthy of
its crowds. The citys prime talent is to make you feel
part of a living process, part of the cultural evolution
that deposited the Romans Pantheon, Michelangelos
Renaissance ceiling and Berninis Baroque fountains, rather
than a visitor at the worlds biggest museum.
Abruzzo
This is central Italy at its most feral; a wild region of
mountains (the Apennines reach their height in the Gran
Sasso massif) and silent valleys that still shelter bears,
chamois and wolves. Ski and beach resorts bring a share
of visitors, but most come for the large national parks. A
tradition of folklore and mysticism (and a reputation for
witchcraft) add to the Middle Earth ambience. LAquila is
the earthquake prone capital, but the medieval hill villages
around (some abandoned), all but bypassed by the 20
th

century, are more interesting.
Molise
In 1963 Molise parted company with Abruzzo (or the Abruzzi
as Molise and three provinces in Abruzzo are collectively
known) and went solo. Scenically its in the untamed
Abruzzo mould, albeit with lower hills, but culturally its
distinct: many here descend from medieval Balkan settlers.
It has its Roman remains, notably at Saepinum, a little
visited walled town, but also boasts Europes oldest human
settlement at Isernia (700,000 years old). Such delights
havent stopped the regions population dwindling: fewer
people live here now than 150 years ago.
NEVER, I N I TS
BLOODI EST PRI ME,
CAN THE SI GHT
OF THE GI GANTI C
COLI SEUM, FULL
AND RUNNI NG
OVER WI TH THE
LUSTI EST LI FE,
HAVE MOVED ONE
HEART, AS I T MUST
MOVE ALL WHO
LOOK UPON I T
NOW, A RUI N.
Charles Dickens
Abruzzos got talent
Abruzzos brooding,
empty feel has much to
do with the landscape,
but the fact that locals
migrated in droves
in the 20
th
century
didnt help. Many
went to America. In
particular, the musical
gene pool upped and
left: Madonna, Dean
Martin, Perry Como and
Henry Mancini all had
Abruzzan parents.
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6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Five cultural icons from the centre
Alberto Moravia (Lazio). The author from Rome began writing during a ve-year
childhood stint conned to bed with TB of the bone.
Monica Bellucci (Umbria). The multilingual model and actress was born in Citt di
Castello, once home to Pliny the Younger.
Gabriele dAnnunzio (Abruzzo). Son to the mayor in Pescara, young Gabriele was
already publishing poetry at the age of 16.
Gioachino Rossini (Marche). Spent his childhood years in theatres, where his
father scraped a living playing the trumpet.
Sandro Botticelli (Tuscany). Like his fellow Florentine master, Donatello, the young
Botticelli was apparently apprenticed to a goldsmith.
iii. Southern Italy
Southern Italy, the Mezzogiorno as its frequently
labelled, is still regularly written off. Too often, the tales
of unemployment, poverty, corruption and neglect are
true; almost everything south of Rome, the islands of
Sicily and Sardinia included, has suffered centuries of
hardship. But this ignores the souths charm, its inherent
lust for life (insouciance was always a luxury too far down
here), unparalleled cuisine, multi-ethnic culture and largely
unspoilt scenery, all of which, nally, is starting to get the
attention it deserves.
Campania
Campania gathers around Naples and its sweeping bay.
The city is dense and lively; its art treasures, Renaissance
buildings, ne food and atmosphere of disobedience
creating a real cultural buzz. Nearby lies Mount Vesuvius,
and Pompeii and Herculaneum, the Roman towns it
buried. The Campi Flegrei (Fiery Fields), a steamy patch of
craters west of Naples, include Lago dAverno, pinpointed
by Virgil as the entrance to Hades. South of Naples, the
Amal Coast is renowned for dramatic towns and large,
knobbly lemons. Venture inland and Campania becomes
quieter, poorer and rockier.
The oldest and the
smallest: nations within
a nation
San Marino. A tiny
throwback to Italys
pre-Unication days,
the republic shouts loud
about being Europes
oldest state (apparently
established by Marinus,
a stonemason, 1,700
years ago). Its a
collection of small
settlements on top of
a big rock sandwiched
between Emilia-
Romagna and Marche.
Vatican. The smallest
independent state in
the world (now, that
is something to shout
about), ensconced in
Rome, is the HQ of
the Roman Catholic
Church. The Vatican
wrestles to reconcile its
dazzling cultural heritage
with the demands of
modern life: not so long
ago archaeologists
stumbled across a
Roman necropolis
while excavating an
underground car park.
Among the remains, they
found terracotta tubes
once used by mourning
families to feed honey to
the dead.
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Puglia
Italys hot heel stretches 400km (250 miles), from the
Tavoliere plain (a former sea bed) of the north, a sea of
corn in summer, to the Salento peninsula in the south, its
reddy-brown dust broken by olive groves and vineyards
arranged in family plots. A centuries-long cycle of invasion
deposited Germanic castles, Romanesque cathedrals and
Spanish Baroque frippery (at its best in Lecce). Pointy
trulli houses and whitewashed hill towns on the Salento
peninsula recall Greek connections.
Basilicata
Inaccessible and rocky, Basilicata has been held in check
by grinding poverty for centuries. Finally, the shackles
are loosening. The hilltop town of Matera, with its sassi
(dugout caves), has gone from malarial slum to UNESCO
World Heritage site in 30 years, while Maratea, on the
Tyrrhenian coast, now draws tourists. Basilicatas isolation
was such that agitators were exiled here under the
Fascists. One such gure, Carlo Levi, famously described
the regions daily struggle for survival in Cristo si
fermato a Eboli (1945).
Calabria
Like Basilicata, Calabria is Mezzogiorno proper, a world
away from slick Turin or Milan. Poverty has been
virtually endemic since Magna Graecia declined under
the Romans. Elements of the Greek heritage survive,
although earthquakes have reshaped the once great
classical cities (often in dull concrete), regional capital
Reggio di Calabria included. Calabria is mountainous
(theres even a ski resort in the toe tip Aspromonte
highlands), bordered on three sides by long, unspoilt
beaches. The slow pace of progress is hampered by the
pervasive Calabrian Maa, the internationally powerful
Ndrangheta.
Trulli strange
The roofs of the
whitewashed,
windowless stone
trulli of Puglia are
often daubed with
symbols. Some are
ancient, paying homage
to Jupiter, Saturn or
Mercury; others are
Christian or Jewish.
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Sicily
Strange to think that Italian unity launched from Sicily
(with Garibaldis Red Shirts (see section 1.2.3 for more)),
a region so close to Africa. A succession of foreign
overlords Greek, Arab, Norman, Spanish, Bourbon left
their mark on the ethnic mix, the food and the language.
Palermo, the capital, is intense, a city thats monetarily
poor but culturally rich. The Maa still has an impact on
life, although few will mention it (the culture of omert
also runs deep). Etna, the volcanic giant, is the high point
of mountains that stretch across the sparsely populated
interior.
Sardinia
Like Sicily, Sardinia has a multicultural past featuring a
similar cast of invaders and traders. Carthage, Rome, Pisa,
Genoa, Madrid: all set up camp here and left elements
of their culture behind, although the most distinctive
buildings, the basalt-built fortresses of the native Nuraghic
culture, predate them all. Modern Sardinia mixes glossy,
expensive resorts with ne empty beaches and an interior
of restful, wooded hills. The Sardinians have a reputation
as a hardworking, dogged (somewhat un-Italian) bunch.
Five cultural icons from the south
Salvatore Quasimodo (Sicily). The Modica-born poet moved to Messina, aged
eight, where the aftermath of a devastating earthquake informed his early verse.
Sophia Loren (Campania). Sired by cats (not really, mum was a piano teacher) in
Pozzuoli, near Naples, the young Loren was hit by shrapnel when the local munitions
factory was bombed in the war.
Gianni Versace (Calabria). Reggio di Calabrias famous fashion designer began
helping out his mother, a dressmaker, at an early age.
Rudolph Valentino (Puglia). Born to a vet who died of malaria soon after, the
actor Valentino himself died young, from peritonitis contracted after surgery on a
perforated ulcer.
Pier Angeli (Sardinia). The starlet from Cagliari dated James Dean and Kirk
Douglas in the 50s, and was lined up for a part in The Godfather when she
overdosed on barbiturates in 1971.
Draw me ten Hail Marys
When restorers began
chipping whitewash
off the walls of a
university building in
Palermo, Sicily, in 2006,
they found grafti left
by prisoners awaiting
interrogation by the
Spanish Inquisition in
the early 17
th
century.
A life-size St Andrew
and a crying Mary
Magdalene were among
the drawings, sketched
by inmates either in
a bid to prove their
Christian credentials or
under duress from their
captors.
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1. Identity: the
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Italy is spoiled for history of the kind
you can walk amongst, the sort relived
through architecture, paintings or even
old sewerage systems. More recent
history, from the years of Fascism to the
Years of Lead, can be harder to unearth
yet equally relevant to Italian culture.
1.2 History
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1. Identity: the
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2. Literature
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The iceman cometh,
eventually
Europes oldest human
mummy was found
in the Italian Alps.
tzi (because he was
discovered in the
tztal region) poked his
leathery physique out
from a glacier in 1991
after 53 centuries of
hibernation. Analysis
of the body showed
that tzi died, aged 45,
from an arrow strike
to the shoulder about
eight hours after he
nished a last meal of
red deer. It also revealed
59 small tattoos on his
back, knees and ankle,
possibly related to some
form of acupunctural
treatment. Perhaps in
tribute, actor Brad Pitt
appears to have a tattoo
of tzi on his own arm.
Key dates
Tenth to fth century BC The Etruscans and Magna Graecia dominate the Italian
peninsula.
753BC Romulus (allegedly) founds Rome, becoming its rst king.
510BC to 27BC The Roman Republic rises to dominate Italy and the Mediterranean.
44BC Gaius Julius Caesar, dictator for life, is killed.
27BC Augustus (n Octavian) becomes the rst de facto Emperor of Rome.
Early second century The territory and powers of the Roman Empire reach their
apogee.
324 Constantine adopts Christianity as the ofcial state religion.
476 German general Odoacer declares himself king of Italy as the Empire falls apart.
568 The Lombards swarm into Italy. Some refugees nd safety across a lagoon,
where they establish Venice.
It began, as these things usually do, with rocks
Palaeolithic and Neolithic settlers in Italy left behind
the usual array of Stone Age grafti when the last ice
age retreated. In the Valle Camonica, Lombardy, they
excelled themselves; the Camunni etched over 140,000
petroglyphs into the rock 8,000 years ago. Alongside the
staple hunter-gatherer scenes, they also left cosmological
and ritual images, and scenes of bestiality. Bronze Age
tribes arrived on the peninsula from all directions 4,000
years later and deposited more than artwork and piles of
stone (at their best in the nuraghe buildings of Sardinia):
the Ligures (Liguria), Veneti (Veneto), Latins (Lazio),
Sards (Sardinia), Umbrii (Umbria) and their like also began
shaping the Italian regions.
1.2.1 Did you know we used to rule the world?
Ancient Italy
Temples and tombs: the heady days of Etruria and
Magna Graecia
By the seventh century BC, two cultures had pushed their
way to the top. Greek trading posts and colonies gathered
in the south forming Magna Graecia, or Greater Greece.
To the north, from a powerbase between the Arno
and Tiber rivers, the enigmatic, iron-mining Etruscans
controlled trade and tribes as far north as the Alps.
Both cultures were governed by powerful city states.
Magna Graecia had Taras (now Taranto) on the mainland and
Syracuse on Sicily, the rich trading centres whose prots
built the chunky, stately temples that survive in southern
Italy 2,500 years on. Cities in Etruria (as Etruscan territory
was named), such as Tarquinii (now Tarquinia in Lazio),
with their kings and ruling noble magistrates, were relatively
self-contained, although they did trade (and sometimes war)
with each other and with foreign states. Very little of the
Etruscan cities survives today. What does remain suggests
they threw a good wake murals depict dancing, feasting
and games at funerals. The arrangement of Etruscan tombs
and the primacy they gave to the female ancestral line also
suggest a pioneering equality between the sexes. Alas, for
Greeks and Etruscans alike, the good times couldnt last.
War with northern tribes and mainland Greeks weakened
the Etruscans while Magna Graecia was damaged by
inghting. By the fourth century BC, both were being
shoved around by Italys rising city star, Rome.
Republican Rome: let the good times roll for some
So, wrote historian Livy, the twins Romulus and
Remus were sired by Mars, abandoned next to
the Tiber and then suckled by a she wolf. And one,
Romulus, grew up to found Rome in 753BC, killing
his brother along the way. A good story, and perhaps only
fanciful in parts: the lineage of Romes Etruscan kings
may have descended from a certain Romulus. That
lineage came to an abrupt end in 509BC when power
was handed to two elected Latin consuls, advised by
the old senate, and the Roman Republic was born.
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modern Italy
Tuscans from Turks
Recent DNA testing
conrmed the assertion
by fth century BC Greek
historian Herodotus that
the Etruscan civilisation
found its way to Italy
across the sea from
Turkey. The scientists
made the connection
by testing the DNA of
modern Tuscans from
old Etruscan towns.
I saw it in a goats
kidneysyour Sharons
having a boy
It seems the Etruscans
had a fairly formalised
code of religion based
on divination. Lightning,
ying birds, the entrails
of freshly killed animals
all were studied for
clues on what the future
might hold.
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modern Italy
Roman birthday
Rome still celebrates
the purported date
of its founding, 21
April. Museums and
archaeological sites let
people in free of charge,
mock gladiatorial battles
are held and locals throw
on a tunic or maybe even
a toga to process through
the streets.
Courtship, Roman style
One event in Romes
early history has proved
particularly emotive for
artists ever since. In
the eighth century BC,
women of the Sabine
tribe were snatched by
Roman men after being
invited to Rome for a
festival in Neptunes
honour. Apparently
there was a shortage
of childbearing women
in the city. As Livy tells
it, after the initial grab,
the women were won
over by the romantic
entreaties of the men.
The Rape of the Sabine
Women (with rape
usually interpreted
as kidnap rather than
sexual assault) has been
depicted by countless
artists, from Renaissance
sculptor Giambologna
to the French Classical
painter Nicolas Poussin
and Cubist maestro Pablo
Picasso.
Rome, wedged in relative obscurity between the old
realms of the Etruscans and the Latins, grew rapidly
in strength. By the early fourth century BC it was
mopping up rivals, the remnant tribes around central
and northern Italy, defeating, absorbing and taxing the
Etruscans (Tuscany), Volscians (southern Lazio) and
Samnites (southern Apennines). Magna Graecia folded
next, speeded by the acquisition of Sicily by Rome in
the First Punic War. Victory over Celts in the Po Valley
brought virtually all of Italy under Roman rule circa
200BC. Macedonia, Corinth, bits of Asia Minor, Spain
and Africa were added to the portfolio soon after. The
conquered lands helped nourish a new Roman aristocracy
(drawn from both patrician (noble) and wealthy plebeian
(common) ranks) that indulged in slaves, hedonism and
large country estates. Impoverished Italian farmers gave
up their land (which was recycled into those country
estates), unable to compete with cheap foreign grain
imports, and, with nowhere else to go, ooded from
the land into Rome and its insulae (apartment blocks),
expanding the plebeian ranks and creating the biggest city
in Europe.
Life in the Roman Empire
While Romes far-ung territories grew, trouble brewed
at home. The aristocracy entered moral meltdown
and the growing, poor multitude took umbrage at the
nobilitys excesses. A string of political gures tried to
assuage their annoyance and were assassinated, before
a military general, Sulla, established himself as dictator
and crushed any popular resistance to the oligarchy in
83BC. The people were avenged, mildly, by the arrival
of Gaius Julius Caesar, a reforming consul who initially
shared power in a triumvirate but ultimately, after military
successes in Gaul and the defeat of his rival, General
Pompey, became sole governor. Caesars job spec is
usually headed dictator for life, but its somewhat
misrepresentative: he brought welcome reform to Rome,
bolstering the economy and cleaning up the aristocracy.
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modern Italy
Caesar made enemies with his new broom and was
murdered by Brutus, Cassius and friends on the Ides of
March, 44BC. Civil wars followed as various pretenders
vied for control of the Empire. The power struggle
ended in 31BC when Caesars great-nephew Octavian
(confusingly, adopted as a son by Caesar) defeated consul
Mark Antony, who then famously committed suicide
with his Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. Octavian took the
title of Augustus, as offered by the now servile senate,
became effective emperor and established the lineage
of rulers that presided over the Empire, and got through
several imperial dynasties, until its stuttering demise ve
centuries later.
In the early second century the Empire reached its
height. Territories that stretched from northern Britain,
encircled the Mediterranean on all sides and spread
east to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) fed Rome with
scal revenue, food, precious metals, slaves and cultural
diversity. While Rome remained imperial master, as
the centuries passed its territories became more like a
rainbow collective than brutalised dominions (unless you
were a slave of course), urged to adopt the mechanics
of the Roman state but allowed to retain an indigenous
cultural identity.
The good, the bad and the homicidal:
ve Roman emperors
Caligula (ruled 37-41AD). If Suetonius (probably biased)
biography is to be believed, Emperor Caligula was wildly
popular for the rst six months, giving out tax rebates
and the like, but ruined it all by becoming a rotten tyrant
who murdered family members, slept with his sisters and
watched people being tortured or beheaded whilst he ate
dinner. Some now think mental illness pushed him off
the rails. Caligula was killed, aged 28, after less than four
years as emperor.
The Punic Wars
The Punic Wars of
Romes republican era
were pitched against
Carthage (Punic means
of Carthage), a North
African city that
dominated trade in the
Mediterranean:
First Punic War (264-
241BC). Rome wins its
rst foreign territory,
Sicily, and becomes
established as a
maritime power.
Second Punic War
(218-201BC). Having
lost naval supremacy,
Carthage sends General
Hannibal up through
Spain and over the Alps
to the gates of Rome.
His defeat transfers
control of the western
Med from Carthage to
Rome.
Third Punic War
(149-146BC). Rome
nishes the job with the
complete destruction of
Carthage.
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modern Italy
Good times bard times
Augustus relatively
stable, long reign as
Romes rst emperor
ushered in a Golden
Age of culture in the
rst century BC. Wealthy
patrons funded artists
and writers, with
Maecenas, Augustus
trusted adviser, doing
most to promote the
new talent that gloried
the achievements of
Rome. The poets Virgil,
Horace and Ovid all
wrote heroic stuff,
inspired, like so much
Roman culture, by
lessons learned from
the Greeks. The Golden
Age extended beyond
the bounds of culture; it
was a period of nancial
stability, of legal and
social reform and the
Pax Romana, a relative
peace throughout the
Empire. A Silver Age
followed Augustus rule,
a less original affair in
both title and deed than
its Golden forebear (see
section 2.1.2 for more
on the Golden and Silver
Ages).
Nero (54-68). Romes fth emperor stepped into the role
aged 17. Five years in, after a generous, tolerant start,
he murdered his mother. He also killed his rst wife,
may have killed his pregnant mistress, took an interest in
religious sects, was laughed at for acting on stage and,
contrary to the legend, didnt ddle while Rome burned
(he actually helped rebuild it). When a coup forced him
out he committed suicide; four different emperors ruled
in the subsequent year of chaos.
Vespasian (69-79).
An ordinary boy-
done-good (his dad
was a tax collector),
Vespasian won his
imperial title through
military skill. Once in
charge, he stabilised
chaotic frontiers
and public coffers,
put Judaea and the
German Batavian tribe
in their place and
built the Colosseum
(then named the
Amphitheatrum
Flaviumin honour
of the dynasty he
established).
Hadrian (117-138). Hadrian, a respected poet, acquired a
fondness for the arts while serving in the army in Greece,
and when the same army proclaimed him emperor he
put up some ne buildings (including a rebuilt Pantheon
in Rome and the villa at Tivoli). He reined in the Empires
undisciplined expansion, secured its borders (with a
famous wall in Britain) and displayed tolerance if not
affection for his subjects. Always keen to try a new look,
he made beards the big thing in second century Rome.
25
1. Identity: the
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Diocletian (284-305). By the time former soldier
Diocletian became emperor, Rome wasnt the force
it was. Battered on all sides by angry tribes, he did,
however, shore it up for a few years, splitting the
Empire into East and West, ruled by emperors in Milan
and Nicomedia (now Izmit, Turkey). Diocletian is also
remembered for being beastly (as in burned, decapitated
and even slowly boiled) to the Christians, and for being
the rst emperor to voluntarily retire.
All good things
After Diocletian, the victimised Christians didnt have to
wait long for salvation. In 324 his successor, Constantine,
ditched traditional Roman polytheism and adopted
Christianity as the state religion. He also, briey, patched
the Empires two halves (East and West) back into
a single entity before moving the hub from Rome to
Byzantium on the Bosphorus, or Constantinopolis as he
modestly renamed it. However, the formal East/West
division soon returned and the Italian half of the Empire
withered over the next century, eaten away from the
north by Barbarian attacks and from within by inghting, a
bloated bureaucracy and overstretched resources. As rival
factions fought for control, civil war became common,
reducing the ability to fend off external attacks.
Talent and money ebbed from Rome (often moving
north, contriving the north/south split that remains in Italy
today) and the once grand city became marginalised and
weedy. With the army now stocked by foreign recruits,
barbarians included, their loyalty to Rome wasnt a
given. When Germanic general Odoacer invaded and
declared himself king of Italy in 476, the Western Empire
was effectively over. Justinian, ruler of the Eastern
Empire that sustained in one form or another for a
thousand years, briey reclaimed the Italian peninsula in
536 but the Germanic tribes (weirdly, now more Italian
than the Roman invaders) soon regained control, led by
the Lombards.
Celebrating Caesar
Modern day Romans
retain a fondness
for Caesar. They lay
wreaths at the feet of
his statue beside the
Via dei Fori Imperiali in
Rome each year on 15
March, and owers on
the site in the Roman
Forum where his body
was cremated, now just
a muddy pile of rocks.
What have the Romans
ever done for us?
Perhaps the Roman
Empires greatest
legacy, apart from the
sanitation, medicine,
education, wine, public
order, irrigation, roads,
the fresh water system
and public health (to
quote Reg in Monty
Pythons Life of Brian),
was the Catholic Church.
Constantines adopted
religion ensured the
survival of Latin and
maintained Romes role
as a cultural centre well
beyond Italy.
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modern Italy
Key dates
754 Frankish king, Pepin
the Short, marches in
and helps to establish
the Papal States.
800 Charlemagne is
crowned Holy Roman
Emperor by Pope Leo III.
877 Saracens begin
the slow process of
conquering and culturing
Sicily.
c.1080 The rst comuni,
town or city states,
emerge as a political
force.
1130 Norman ruler
Roger II unites southern
Italy as the Kingdom of
Sicily.
1309 The papacy
relocates to Avignon,
France, where it remains
for 67 years.
1334 Artist Giotto is
made director of public
works in Florence;
the Renaissance is
underway.
1348 Plague wipes out
as much as half of the
population.
1512 Michelangelo
nishes work on the
Sistine Chapel ceiling.
1542 Pope Paul III
speeds the Counter-
Reformation,
establishing the
Inquisition in Rome.
1714 Habsburgs,
Savoyards and Bourbons
all eye up Italian
possessions in the Peace
of Utrecht.
The rise of the popes
An array of small states evolved from Italys fractured
Western Roman Empire, emerging and receding in a
Dark Ages merry-go-round of alliances and disputes.
Throughout, the papacy grew in strength. Pope Gregory
and his considerable personal wealth beefed the Church
up with land in the late sixth century, before Europes
rising superpower, the Franks (yes, of France), started
doing deals with the papacy in the eighth century,
offering land and conquered pagan souls in return for
Catholic sponsorship and a role in government.
Ofcially, Rome was still under the authority of Byzantium,
but when Pope Stephen II rummaged around behind the
sofa in the mid eighth century and found the Donatio
Constantini, the situation changed. The document,
apparently written 400 years earlier by Constantine (but
now assumed a forgery), appeared to transfer power over
Rome and the Western Empire to the pope. Stephen
then asked for Frankish help in clearing Lombard and
Byzantine inuence from Rome and its surrounds, a
mission accomplished by King Charlemagne in 774. It all
contributed to the establishment of the Papal States, ruled
temporally by popes
with the assistance of
the Carolingians (the
line of Frankish kings).
On Christmas Day
800, Charlemagne,
king of a sizeable
Carolingian territory,
was crowned Holy
Roman Emperor by
Pope Leo III.
1.2.2 From the Dark Ages into the light
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Halcyon days for the Muslim south
While the papacy and the Franks got their teeth into
northern Italy in the Middle Ages (only Venice escaped
with relative autonomy), the post-Roman south stayed
more loyal to old masters. Calabria and Puglia remained
loosely in Byzantine and Greek hands while other regions,
notably Benevento, a mountainside duchy inland from
Naples, were kept by the Lombards. Kings, dukes and
lords in the south paid nominal homage to Carolingian
kings but effectively did their own thing. Throughout, the
culturally capable Saracens (some Arab, some Berber)
of North Africa and Iberia attacked southern cities, even
looting Rome in 746. On Sicily they put down roots,
capturing all the main towns by 877 and establishing a
cultural milieu that outstripped anything on the mainland.
They brought learning, a degree of tolerance (Christianity
was permitted, although its followers were heavily taxed),
irrigation and big bags of oranges.
Crusades, Normans and the rise of the comuni
Charlemagnes empire crumbled rapidly in his
descendants hands and, by the late ninth century,
northern and central Italy was a squabbling seigniorial
mess. Local lords were at the mercy of the northern
Europeans who fought for control of the peninsula and
the coveted Holy Roman Emperor title. In 936 Otto, a
Frank, nally won out, but the bloodline didnt last long.
The papacy was similarly contested and weakened, pulled
this way and that by noble families hoping to gain control.
However, in the late 11
th
century, Pope Gregory VII rebuilt
papal power and demanded that he, not the emperors,
had the power to appoint Church personnel this, the
so-called Investiture Controversy ended with humbling
defeat for the Emperor in the 1122 Concordat of Worms.
The rst pope
St Peter, the rst Bishop
of Rome (which is what
the pope is), in the job
for 30 years in the rst
century AD, was actually
called Simon before
Jesus renamed him.
Peter means stone,
apparently emblematic
of the rock on which he
established the Church.
Nero supposedly had
Peter crucied upside
down, a scene rendered
by Caravaggio in 1601.
Its a dirty jobbut
someones got to do it
Popes used to be
allowed to marry. The
last Vicar of Christ with
a bride was Adrian, who
died in 872. Some also,
notoriously, fathered
children by the dozen.
Perhaps the most
famously scurrilous,
Alexander VI, pontiff
from 1492, was accused
of incest with his
illegitimate daughter,
Lucrezia Borgia.
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Sicily ahead of the
learning game
The importance attached
to education by the
medieval Muslim world
ensured that Sicily had
a relatively high literacy
rate during its years
under Saracen rule.
Some estimates suggest
as many as 45 per cent
of the population could
read in the 11
th
century.
Shocking to think that
800 years later, in the
19
th
century, only 30 per
cent of Sicilians were
literate.
Flush with power, Rome ploughed men and money into
the First Crusade, helped by a third emerging Italian
power base, the comuni, the independent town or city
states like Milan, Pisa and Venice that were ourishing
on trade and pushing northern Italys feeble feudal lords
around (in contrast to the rest of Europe, the rurally
based feudal system never gripped Italy, where the
Roman fondness for city living survived).
Southern Italy maintained its cultural superiority, this time
spurred by Normans who captured land south of Rome
and pushed out Lombards and Byzantines before moving
over to Sicily in 1060 to oust the Saracens. Under Roger
II, the Normans united the whole of southern Italy as the
Kingdom of Sicily in the early 12
th
century. Where the
Saracens had built latticed Moorish palaces, the Normans
added Romanesque cathedrals and castles, and nurtured
Sicily as one of the wealthiest, most tolerant and cultured
societies in Europe.
In the red corner, the pope
Successive Germanic emperors (the Hohenstaufen
dynasty, of Swabian origin) continued their efforts to
dominate northern Italy in the later 12
th
century. Frederick
I came unstuck at Legnano in 1176, defeated by the
Lombard League, an angry consortium of northern cities
who added to their power and independence. Frederick
II had more success, thanks in part to a marriage that
added the Normans, and therefore, control of southern
Italy, to his stock. The rift
between emperor and pope
grew and famous political
factions emerged behind each:
the progressive(ish) Guelphs
cheered for the pope, while
the conservative Ghibellines
got behind the Holy Roman
Emperor.
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modern Italy
Dont let the ghting fool you: weve never had it so good
By the late 13
th
century, the oligarchic comuni of northern
and central Italy had grown powerful on trade. With
growing autonomy, they paid little attention to the pope
and even less to the Holy Roman Emperor. Florence,
Genoa, Milan, Venice, Bologna and other comuni (in all
there were around 300) ourished, establishing their
boundaries by force when necessary. Many evolved a
mildly democratic system of government, forming town
councils led by wealthy families. Within each city, the old
factions of Guelph and Ghibelline usually vied for control,
often calling on other city states for support. Wars were
frequent and alliances short-lived as the factions jostled
for power and territory. As a consequence, the shoots
of democratic rule soon withered. Absolute rulers, the
signori, assumed control on the pretext of ending the
constant squabbles and soon the Guelph and Ghibelline
identities became less relevant. The cities continued
to prosper, ruled by hereditary and frequently despotic
elites. Smaller states were assimilated into larger ones
until, by the late 1300s, Venice and Genoa, both maritime
republics, Milan, a
duchy, and Florence,
with its city council, had
risen to the top.
While the city states
grew in the north, the
papacy struggled to
control lands in the
centre. Things got so
bad that the pope,
reliant on French help,
relocated to Avignon
for a period in the 14
th

century. To the south,
the old Kingdom of
Sicily fell to the French
House of Anjou in
Feud for thought
The Ghibelline faction
adopted black as their
colour; the Guelphs
chose white. For further
clarity, the Guelphs
shaped the battlements
on their castles to
be square, while the
Ghibellines employed a
shtail design. Tuscany
saw the worst violence
between Guelph and
Ghibelline factions: in
1260 the triumphant
Ghibellines demolished
103 Guelph palaces in
Florence, and six years
later, when the Guelphs
decisively regained
power, they created
the now famously open
Piazza dell Signoria by
attening a block of
their rivals housing.
Dante was a politically
active Florentine
Guelph (although he
was eventually exiled
by his own side) and
duly portrayed various
Ghibellines in the
Inferno.
The Windsor connection
The Guelph faction of
medieval Italy took their
name from a princely
German clan, aligned,
like them, against the
Holy Roman Emperors.
The Swabian Guelphs
(or Welf in Middle High
German) are antecedents
of the British Royal
Family.
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the state of
modern Italy
Extreme measures in
Milan
When the Black Death
moved through Italy in
1348, Milan suffered
less than elsewhere.
Perhaps Giovanni
Visconti, the citys
archbishop, made the
right decision when he
ordered the rst three
houses where plague
struck to be bricked up
with the occupants, sick
or healthy, left inside
to die.
Incoming wounded
If the reports of Gabriele
De Mussis, a lawyer
from Piacenza, are to be
believed (and perhaps
they shouldnt be), the
rst Italians to catch
the Black Death were
Genovese merchants
besieged by a Mongol
lord, Janibeg, in the
Crimean town of Caffa
in 1347. When Janibegs
troops were struck down
by a virulent plague, he
red their dead bodies
into the city using
catapults; the disease
spread amongst the
Genoese traders and
was carried back to Italy.
1266 but rose up 16 years later during the Sicilian
Vespers. It began with an angry mob in Palermo (on
cue when the bell rang for vespers) slaughtering French
overlords, and led to rebellion across the island. Pedro III,
king of Aragn, stepped in and established the Kingdom
of Naples, under Spanish control. For all the power shifts,
ghts (which usually took place, by clever convention,
beyond city walls) and factions, Italys mercantile society,
the most urbanised in the world, ourished between the
12
th
and 16
th
centuries, eclipsing the rest of Europe with
its wealth and civilisation.
Yes, Brainfest is good, but what about Renaissance?
In 1348, just when things were going so well, the Black
Death arrived on the peninsula, coming ashore at Genoa
in the north and Messina in the south. For a century
the disease swept back and forth: Siena lost half its
population, Florence and Venice more than half. And
yet culturally it seemed Italy barely broke stride. Indeed,
some contend that the plague and its attendant recession
put wealth into the hands of gures more likely to
patronise the arts.
The intellectual vibe initiated by the Moors on Sicily,
attaching increasing signicance to human reason, fed
a wider appetite for Classical learning in central and
northern Italy. The trade routes to the Levant, Spain and
Africa that brought wealth to northern cities, particularly
Florence and its trade guilds, also gave passage to Arabist
and Greek scholars, escaping re-Christianised Spain and
newly Turkish Constantinople respectively. They inspired
Italys new, politically strong intelligentsia. Rich patrons
like the Medici, a family of Florentine bankers, funded
the corresponding explosion of cultural activity that artist,
architect and biographer Giorgio Vasari rst labelled
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Rinascita, Renaissance. Initially the Church was less
enthusiastic about self-determination, about Humanism, a
key tenet of the Renaissance, but was making ne use of
the movements artists by the 16
th
century, redecorating
Rome along Classical lines. The Renaissance spread
throughout Europe from the 14
th
to 17
th
centuries, building
a bridge from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age.
Spain moves in, and brings the Inquisition
By the 16
th
century, Italys once-powerful states were
stalked by foreign armies, often invited in by the states
themselves to get one up on the neighbours (for
example, Milan asked for French help to snatch Naples).
The Habsburgs (uniting the Austrian and Spanish thrones)
and the French fought for control of the peninsula, and
the Habsburgs won out with Spain, under Charles V, Holy
Roman Emperor (a title he bought), taking charge.
As the Reformation moved through northern Europe,
Romes omnipresent papacy liked the look of Spains
hysterical response, and in the later 16
th
century the
liberal Humanist ideas of the Renaissance were crushed
as Rome embraced the Inquisition. Galileo Galilei,
astronomer and physicist, was imprisoned; Giordano
Bruno, a philosopher expounding on the innite universe,
was burned at the stake.
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Gian Lorenzo Berninis
Ecstasy of St Theresa
The long fall from grace
The 17
th
century was one of
decline. Economic strength
had moved to the new colonial
powers in northern Europe,
away from Mediterranean cities
like Genoa and Venice, while
political and social growth was
stied by tax-happy popes and
foreign overlords. There were
some causes for celebration:
despite the strong-arm
suppression of Renaissance
ideals, Catholic cardinals
still managed to sponsor
Bernini and other artists and
architects to build and decorate
sumptuous Baroque churches.
However, by the 18
th
century
even the artwork had zzled out. The country languished,
held in docile submission by northern Europeans. Spain
lost most of its Italian possessions to the Austrian
Habsburgs in the War of Spanish Succession in 1713.
In Lombardy and Milan the new rulers brought a slow
upturn in fortunes, but southern Italy, where control
passed to the French House of Bourbon in 1731,
remained shambolic. A third force, the Duchy of Savoy,
grew in strength in the early 18
th
century; it won Sicily in
the Peace of Utrecht after the War of Spanish Succession
(although swapped it for Sardinia soon after) but more
importantly nurtured its control of Piedmont, bolstering
the new kingdom that would lead Italy to unity 150
years later.
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modern Italy
Key dates
1871 Unication is completed, with Vittorio Emanuele II as king.
1915 Italy joins the First World War on the Allies side.
1922 Mussolini and the Fascists take power.
1940 Italy joins the Second World War on Hitlers side.
1945 Mussolini is shot dead shortly before Italy surrenders to the Allies.
1946 Referendum makes Italy a republic; the monarchy is shown the door to
Switzerland.
1957 Italy is among the six founder members of the EEC.
1978 Former PM Aldo Moro is murdered by left-wingers amid the anni di piombo
(Years of Lead).
1992 The political establishment falls apart under corruption charges.
2006 Longest serving post-war government (ve years), led by Silvio Berlusconi, ends.
Nearly Italy but not quite
Italy had a rst taste of unity
under Napoleon when he declared
the Kingdom of Italy in 1805,
establishing a band of regional
puppet rulers operating under
French control. But any semblance
of unity evaporated with the
1815 Congress of Vienna, which
reallocated Napoleons territories
(hed come unstuck ghting Russia)
and left Europes old guard
Austria and the papacy included
ghting over Italys constituent
but un-unied parts. The regions
changed hands frequently during
Europes turbulent mid 19
th
century.
Between the 1820s and 50s,
numerous independent uprisings
I OFFER NEI THER
PAY, NOR
QUARTERS, NOR
FOOD; I OFFER ONLY
HUNGER, THI RST,
FORCED MARCHES,
BATTLES AND
DEATH. LET HI M
WHO LOVES HI S
COUNTRY WI TH HI S
HEART, AND NOT
MERELY WI TH HI S
LI PS, FOLLOW ME.
Hmm, tempting.
Garibaldis call to arms
1.2.3 United in name at least: the
making of modern Italy
34
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Blood group
Garibaldis famous
team kit for invading
Sicily, the Red Shirts,
was apparently inspired
by the outts of South
American slaughtermen.
New York humility
Garibaldi is the only
gure to turn down
a ticker tape parade
through Manhattan. He
declined the honour for
fear of stirring up New
Yorks Irish Catholics.
occurred, many led by secret societies like Giovine Italia,
a nationalist movement instigated in exile by patriot
Giuseppe Mazzini. None achieved their ultimate aim of
national unity. In 1848 Mazzini joined forces with military
man Giuseppe Garibaldi and pushed the papacy from
the capital. Again, however, the Republic of Rome they
established was short-lived, and France soon seized
control for the Pope.
Congratulations Mr and Mrs Italy, its a bouncing
baby boot
It took an initiative from outside mainland Italy, from
Sardinia, to nally bond the nation together. The liberal
king of Sardinia, Piedmont and Savoy, Vittorio Emanuele,
created a kind of safe haven on the island for the growing
rabble of malcontents pushing for Italian unity. His
shrewd Piedmont prime minister, Camillo Cavour, did a
deal with the French, who fought and beat the Austrians
and handed Vittorio Emanuele sections of Lombardy in
1859. And with that, il Risorgimento, as the movement
for Italian unity (the Resurgence) was dubbed, was on.
The central northern belt around Romagna and
Tuscany decided to join up with Sardinia by
referendum in 1860. Garibaldi and his Red Shirts
(armed volunteers) then enlisted covert help
from Cavour to kick the Bourbon rulers out of
Sicily; mission accomplished he moved on to
Naples before trying his luck in the Papal States,
at which point Cavour stepped in to make sure
Vittorio Emanuele, not Garibaldi, was in control.
The pope had to make do with Rome. As Umbria
joined up with the king so, on March 17 1861,
Vittorio Emanuele II declared himself ruler of the
new Kingdom of Italy. Cavour was given the post
of prime minister. It took ten further years to
bring Venice (wrested from Austria in 1866) and Rome
(abandoned by Napoleon III in 1870) into the fold. Finally,
by July 1871, Italian unication was complete, and the
capital moved from Florence to Rome.
Vittorio Emanuele II
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Factions, social strife and land grabs: Italys difcult
teenage years
The morning after the Risorgimento romp was always
going to be something of a let down. Admittedly, by the
late 19
th
century Italy had a relatively liberal constitutional
monarchy, but the same old landed gentry still held most
of the power. The south, as usual, had it worst: corruption
increased and the peasants tried to rebel Rome sent
30,000 troops to quell the farmers in Sicily.
Right and left fought vociferously in Parliament. One
gure, the progressive Giovanni Giolitti brought some
stability as well as social and political reform (alongside
the usual quota of corruption) in ve separate shifts as
prime minister between 1892 and 1921, nudging Italy
(particularly its industrialising northern regions) towards
modernisation. He gave men over 30 the vote in 1912
(women would have to wait until 1945). Despite being
a liberal, Giolitti couldnt suppress new Italys greed for
colonialism (why not, the rest of Europes doing it):
the humiliating failure to capture Ethiopia in 1896 was
followed, to general international condemnation, by the
more successful annexation of Libya and a few Aegean
Islands in 1911.
Fighting in the streets
Italy was on the winning side in the First World War but
felt more like it had lost. Perhaps it should have stuck
with the gut instinct of 1914 and remained neutral;
instead, tempted by the promise of new territory to the
north and east, Italy joined the Allied cause in 1915. In
1918, with more than 600,000 dead, it received much of
the land pledged (Trentino, Trieste and Sd Tirol included),
but saw the main prize, Dalmatia, go to Yugoslavia.
The loss of face fuelled a growing nationalism, while a
powerful socialist movement emerged amid post-war
economic, social and political trouble. Polarisation was
swift. Armed gangs, the Fascisti and the Communists,
fought pitched battles in city streets. Parliament limped
Garibaldi: an Italian hero
Giuseppe Garibaldi is
still revered in Italy.
Every town has its
piazza or street named
for the military leader
of the Risorgimento,
the great Italian patriot
who was actually born
in Nice. Condemned to
death for his Giovine
Italia activities as a
young man, he escaped
to South America and
honed a talent for
military leadership.
He ed to the USA
for three years after
the failed 1848 Rome
occupation, settling
down in Staten Island,
New York, where he
worked making candles.
After the famous
assault on Sicily and
Naples he was roused
from semi-retirement
on various occasions,
employed to piece the
Italian jigsaw together.
Garibaldi is traditionally
seen as a seless gure,
apparently unconcerned
for personal power,
although dissenting
voices have been raised
in recent years, notably
among the Lega Nord, a
political group seeking
autonomy for northern
Italy (Garibaldi brought
false unity they say)
and similarly separatist
elements in Sicily.
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on under old favourite, Giolitti, but the Biennio rosso, the
two red years of 1919-20, in which revolutionaries seized
factories and farms, found the nationalist, predominantly
Catholic brigade looking round for a stronger antidote
to the left. It appeared bull-necked, uncouth but
charismatic in the shape of Benito Mussolini.
Black days with the Black Shirts
Mussolini started his political life as a red, editing
Avanti, a well-thumbed Socialist newspaper. But the
First World War reoriented his politics to the right, to a
rabid (but rarely racist) nationalism, to a belief in the rule
of a single, central gure (namely him): it was dubbed
Fascism. Mussolini founded the Fascists in 1919, and
their black-shirted Squadre dAzione, action squads (or
thugs-for-hire), won support from inuential landowners,
industrialists and military gures keen to see socialists
and communists beaten down. Mussolini quickly became
a force in Italian politics. By 1922 he was threatening
to march on Rome to seize power. When King Vittorio
Emanuele III refused to call in the army, there was little
option but to offer Mussolini the prime ministers job.
Initially, the Fascists governed with
some respect for the constitution, but
by 1926, via rigged elections, bullying
and legislative wangling (new laws
criminalised trade unions and censored
the press), Italy had become a single
party state run by a dictator, with all
the brutal human rights abuses and
restrictions on personal freedom
which that entails. Mussolini wooed
the Catholic Church in 1929 with the
Lateran Treaty, establishing Catholicism
as the state religion and securing papal
recognition for the Kingdom of Italy in
return. The Fascist state had its ngers
in everything, from industry (which
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
fared comparatively well in the global economic gloom
of the early 1930s) to sport to family life (Mussolini gave
out medals to fecund mothers). Behind it all, controlling
in their own ways, lay propaganda and an expanding
military.
Losing on all fronts: Italys Second World War
Fascist Italy fell out with Britain and France (its allies) by
invading and annexing Ethiopia in 1936, the same year
that Italian forces helped General Francos Nationalists
out in the Spanish Civil War. Adolf Hitler, in need of
European friends, commended Mussolini on his African
acquisition and the Rome-Berlin Axis began to bloom.
By 1939 Italy and Germany had signed a pact of military
agreement (of course, they couldnt call it that; Mussolini
suggested the suitably belligerent Pact of Steel).
Italy didnt actually join the Second World War until 1940,
when France was beaten and Britain was on the ropes.
Mussolini sent Italian troops to Africa to take on
Symbol of power
The term Fascist comes
from the Latin fasces,
a bundle of rods tied
together and attached
to an axe head. In
Ancient Rome the
fasces symbolised a
magistrates power;
Mussolini duly adopted
the axe as an emblem of
authority.
Beware the lies of march
Propaganda maestro
Mussolini built the
myth of the Fascists
glorious March on
Rome in October 1922.
He recalled 300,000
black-shirted devotees
following their leader,
who rode on horseback
triumphant into the city.
In truth Mussolini and
a handful of Fascists
travelled to the capital
by train, rst class, and
didnt march anywhere,
power having been
already handed over.
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modern Italy
Mussolini and the Jews
Prodded into action by
Hitlers anti-Semitic
policies, Mussolinis
government passed the
rst in a series of race
laws in September 1938.
Jews, a minority with a
long-established place in
Italian life (many actually
supported the Fascist
party in the 1920s),
were barred from all
public ofce, expelled
from schools and denied
marriage with non-Jews.
Around 7,000 Italian Jews
were later deported, most
of whom died in Nazi
concentration camps.
How the treasures of
Rome were spared
In July 1943, British
planes dropped leaets
on Rome, warning of
their plans to bomb
the city but pledging to
spare the citys cultural
landmarks. Bombers then
targeted strategic points
airelds, factories and
so on in and around
the city. When Allied
soldiers fought their way
to Romes edge almost a
year later, Hitler ordered
the withdrawal from
the city, apparently to
prevent its destruction.
Pope Pius XII addressed
the cheering, liberated
crowds under his balcony
on June 5 1944: Today
we rejoiced because,
thanks to the joint
goodwill of both sides,
Rome has been saved
from the horrors of war.
the British, and then invaded Greece, looking for kudos
(of the Hitler kind) and new territory. Neither move went
well. It was all typical of Mussolinis vanity. He excelled
at bluster, at image building, but rarely backed it up with
substance: the Italian army was poorly trained, equipped
and coordinated. Mussolini had to call Hitler for help, and
by 1941 Italy was a German pawn, its troops sent off
to ght (and ounder) against the USSR. Back in Italy,
rationing, the routine of life in a dictatorship and Allied
bombings made for a miserable time.
With the Allied invasion of mainland Italy imminent,
Mussolini, now aged 60, was confronted by the king and
his own Fascist Grand Council in 1943, asked to resign
and then locked up. His successor, Pietro Badoglio,
commander-in-chief of the army under Mussolini, signed
an armistice with the Allies, but the majority of Italy now
fell to the Nazis who rushed south to grab land. Along
the way they liberated Mussolini from incarceration at
Gran Sasso in the Apennines, and set him up as head
of a Republic of Salo, governing from Lake Garda. Two
years of bitter ghting followed as Allied forces crept
north, helped by growing bands of Italian partisans. The
German retreat left burning towns and misery in its wake.
In April 1945, partisans caught up with Mussolini as he
attempted to ee for Switzerland. He was shot along with
his mistress and their bodies were strung up in Milans
Piazzale Loreto. A month later the Germans surrendered
Italy to the Allies.
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modern Italy
Cultivating la dolce vita
On its beam-ends in 1945, Italy slowly began to recover.
Americas Marshall Plan (a nancial aid programme) got
the economy moving again, while elections brought the
rst taste of democracy in two decades. In April 1946
the public (or 54 per cent of them) voted for a republic
and King Umberto II abdicated. The Christian Democrat
governments that ruled (in coalition with myriad elements
from left and right) for the next four decades were
usually awed and short-lived, but in the north it didnt
seem to matter industry boomed in the hands of Fiat,
Olivetti and others. Many of their staff were migrants
newly arrived from southern Italy, where the post-war
desperation was slower to shift. This was the period,
the 1950s and early 60s, when Italian culture found
modernity, when its cinema, fashion and cars became
internationally important.
Facing up to the
fascist past
Italy worked hard to
forget Benito Mussolini
and the Fascists after the
war. Schools only taught
history up to the First
World War and fascist
political groups were
banned. To be labelled
a fascist, particularly in
the political arena, was
the ultimate insult. And
yet the perceived threat
of communism and the
reluctance to root out
old offenders meant
that elements of the far
right remained (and still
remain) an important
political force. On an
emotional level, Italians
have only begun risking a
collective look back in the
last decade. Mussolinis
old homes are being
restored and opened
as curios, notably the
Villa Torlonia, his state
residence in Rome. As
Walter Veltroni, Mayor of
Rome, said on the Villas
unveiling after years of
restoration: a true
democracy has no need
to discard a part of its
history. Silvio Berlusconi,
in particular, seems keen
to address the difcult
recent past. His move to
grant veteran status to
200,000 volunteer soldiers
who fought for Mussolini
during the Republic of
Salo, suggesting parity
with partisans, brought
lively debate.
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modern Italy
The trouble with
Italys royals
Theres no enduring
royalism in Italy, no
hankering for the
monarchys return. The
vote for a republic in
1946 reected public
disgust at the royals
support for Mussolini
and the way in which
they ed Italy when
the wartime going got
tough in 1943. After the
vote, a ban was placed
on any male from the
House of Savoy (the
royal Italian house) from
entering Italy. It was
only lifted in 2002, as
per a Berlusconi election
promise. Vittorio
Emanuele (son of King
Vittorio Emanuele III),
the last crown prince of
Italy and still referred
to as the Prince of
Naples, hasnt done
the restoration cause
many favours. Hes been
tried (and acquitted) for
murder, investigated for
corruption and hasnt
been as condemnatory
as he might when asked
about Mussolinis anti-
Semitic laws. In 2007
he demanded Italy pay
him 250 million euros in
damages for the royals
loss of assets after
abdication.
The Years of Lead
In the late 1960s, the factionalism in politics long held
at bay by self-interest and double-dealing (compromise
was easily bought) bubbled out beyond the corridors
of power. Students and workers began protesting and
striking for reform, reaching a crescendo in the autunno
caldo (hot autumn) of 1969. In the same year, neo-
fascists bombed Piazza Fontana in Milan, killing 17 people
and further stretching the tension between right and left.
The ensuing period of violent terrorist activity, lasting
through the 1970s and 80s, was dubbed the anni di
piombo (Years of Lead).
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The left had the most notorious faction, the Marxist-
Leninist Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades) that kidnapped and
killed former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978, but the
right committed the worst atrocity when they bombed
Bologna train station in 1980, killing 85. Mass arrests and
public revulsion helped end the worst of the violence by
the early 1990s. Mainstream politics remained laughably
corrupt, until nally, in the early 1990s, a series of mani
pulite (clean hands) judicial investigations attempted
to unravel the web of tangentopoli (kickbacks) with
exhaustive trials. As the big historic political parties the
Christian Democrats and the Socialists fell apart and the
politicians went on trial (although few of the big names
actually went to jail; indeed, many were acquitted), a new
crop of characters lled the void.
Different millennium, same issues
Rising from the wreckage of the mani pulite investigations
came Silvio Berlusconi, a media mogul (and one of the
richest men in Italy) with a talent for whipping up popular
support. His and Italys story have been intertwined since
1994 when he rst became prime minister heading a
rightist coalition. In 2008 he became premier for a third
time, having overcome numerous corruption scandals.
On Berlusconis watch, Italy gave the USA its help in Iraq
(despite massive public protest), endured a continuing
economic gloom, adopted the Euro and said goodbye to
Pope John Paul II (see section 8.3 for more on Berlusconi
and Italian politics).
Leaden legacy
Unanswered questions
about the Years of
Lead still hang in the
air. Conspiracy theories
abound. Did the police
collude with the CIA
and Gladio, the covert
NATO stay-behind
operation in post-war
Italy, to exaggerate the
left-wing threat in the
Cold War era? Why
didnt the Government
do more to save Aldo
Moro (i.e. compromise
with his captors)? Groups
claiming a connection
to the old Red Brigades
still sporadically commit
murder, helping to keep
the bad old days fresh
in the collective psyche,
as does the enthusiasm
for pursuing gures like
Cesare Battisti, a left-
wing extremist wanted
for murders in the 1970s
but living as a refugee
in Brazil (hes now a
successful thriller writer).
I AM THE JESUS
CHRI ST OF
POLI TI CS. I AM A
PATI ENT VI CTI M,
I PUT UP WI TH
EVERYONE, I
SACRI FI CE MYSELF
FOR EVERYONE.
Silvio Berlusconi
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1. Identity: the
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Nothing speaks of Italys
regional variation like language,
even while the creeping national
tongue threatens the dozens of
local dialects still in everyday
use. Similarly, Italian identity,
such as it exists, appears to
resist the call to national unity,
preferring instead the ties of
family and community.
1.3 Language and belonging
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modern Italy
Language, like much else in Italy, is complicated (and
enriched) by regional variation. Virtually everyone in Italy
can speak Italiano commune, standard Italian, the sort
used in government, in education and in phrasebooks
for foreigners. However, most Italians also speak a local
dialect half of them as a mother tongue of the sort
youre unlikely to understand unless you were born and
raised in the corresponding region, district or even town.
Oh, the vulgarity: where does Italian come from?
Of all the languages derived from Latin, Italian retains the
closest ties to its ancient forebear. The basics emerged
in the Middle Ages, born of vulgar (spoken) rather than
written Latin. From the 14
th
century onwards, a standard
written Italian, based on Florentine Latin (the language
of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio (see section 2.1.3 for
more)) remained constant, even while most people on the
peninsula were speaking one of numerous bastardised
local versions of Middle Ages Italian. Florentine won out
as Italian because it was close to old Latin, offered a
rough linguistic bridge between north and south and had
the inuential sponsorship of wealthy, culturally aware
merchants. Throughout, the Church plodded on with
old school Latin. When Italy unied in the 19
th
century,
the new nation looked to the Florentine standard as a
national tongue.
As Italian was assimilated by the regions in the 20
th

century (a process helped by industrialisation, migration
and the growth of national media (God bless TV) as much
as centralised education), they nudged it around with their
own dialects, and so each region today has (aside from a
dialect) its own version of Italian.
I LOVE THE
LANGUAGE, THAT
SOFT BASTARD
LATI N, WHI CH
MELTS LI KE KI SSES
FROM A FEMALE
MOUTH, AND
SOUNDS AS I F I T
SHOULD BE WRI T
ON SATI N, WI TH
SYLLABLES WHI CH
BREATHE OF THE
SWEET SOUTH.
Lord Byron pondered
the Italian language in
Beppo
Its ofcial: Italians speak
Italian
Italian only acquired
ofcial conrmation as
the national language in
2007, when Parliament
added a new statute
to the constitution.
Seventy-ve MPs
actually voted against
the move, complaining
about cultural
imperialism. One Lega
Nord MP who spoke up
in Venetian to protest
had his microphone
turned off MPs are
only allowed to speak
standard Italian in the
chamber.
1.3.1 Speech patterns: language in Italy
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1. Identity: the
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4. Music, theatre,
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Brogue states: Italian dialects
Italy abounds in regional dialects. They are sister
languages to standard Italian, rather than variants, with
their origins in the devolved Latin of the Middle Ages.
Despite the shared ancestry, the differences in grammar
and vocabulary between, for example, the Ladin dialect
of the Dolomites and the Calabrese of the far south make
mutual understanding almost impossible. Italian dialects
are preserved orally; when they do nd their way into
literature, its usually on a limited scale. And most are
in decline, or becoming more Italianised, despite the
post-war Republics assurances of protection after years
of suppression (the state now takes a relatively relaxed,
passive stance on the use of local dialects). Today, around
70 per cent of Italians speak a local dialect alongside
standard Italian, and dialect mixing (within a single
sentence as well as a conversation) is frequent.
The dialects are often grouped into three portions (north,
centre and south), within which common phonetic and
grammatical characteristics are found. A line is drawn
from La Spezia on the Ligurian coast to Rimini on the
Adriatic: north of this the dialects are divided broadly
between Gallo-Italic styles, including Piedmontese and
Emilian, and those spoken in the Veneto. In the centre
grouping, Tuscan is usually set apart from neighbouring
tongues like Osco-Umbro and Marchigiano. Another line,
this one from Rome to Ancona, separates centre from
south. To the south, dialects group around a Neapolitan
type (Pugliese, Campano) and a Sicilian type (Calabrese,
Siciliano). Confused? If in doubt, just use Italian.
As you might expect, the more geographically disparate
dialects share fewer common factors. Similarly, the closer
a dialect is to the national border, the further removed it
will be from standard Italian. Three dialects, Sardo (spoken
on Sardinia), Friulian (widely used in the north-east) and
Ladin (Trentino-Alto Adige) are deemed separate languages
by the federal government, such is their deviance from the
Italian standard and the large number of speakers.
Minority report
Italian linguist Tullio De
Mauro has estimated
that only 2.5 per cent of
Italians could actually
speak Italian in 1861.
Two thirds of them lived
in Tuscany.
Turns out he was talking
about someone called
God all along
The Catholic Church
in Italy nally began
conducting Mass in
Italian (rather than Latin)
after the Second Vatican
Council, held between
1962 and 1965.
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modern Italy
Accents speak volumes
Accent or dialect can play an important role in how
Italians judge each other, particularly on a rst encounter.
Speaking in standard, accentless Italian engenders an
aura of good education and relative prosperity but also,
perhaps, a certain stiff reserve. A regional accent wont
convey the same air of intellect but people are more
likely to warm to you. But its a ne line: go overboard on
the accent and theyll assume youre a poorly educated
rustic. The origin of your dialect and that of whoever
youre speaking with will, of course, colour any snap
judgements: a Milanese accent usually commands
respect, while a Sicilian brogue may elicit condescension
or even mistrust.
Happy hour in dictionary corner
The best efforts of the Accademia della Crusca, the body
charged with safeguarding standard Italian (see section
2.1.4 for some history), dont stop Italians enthusiastically
adopting English words (babysitter, smog, happy hour
etc). Dropping some Anglo-Saxon in your conversation
is still considered cool. Certain academics are perturbed,
but Italy doesnt generally display the same hysteria as,
say, France when it comes to protecting the language.
Theyve seen it all before, adopting bits of Greek in the
late Roman Empire and embracing various Germanic
words when the Barbarians arrived soon after. Similarly,
the Italians are keen on slang and neologisms, mashing
old words together to create something new, as in the
case of tagentopoli, or bribesville, coined in the early
1990s to describe a particular brand of political corruption.
The perfect delivery
The modern usage of
dialect in Italy varies
according to certain
socioeconomic factors.
In short, if you want to
hear the local burr at its
broadest, seek out an
old, working-class, rural,
modestly educated,
excitable male (the
language ows better
when emotions are
roused) in an informal
setting (i.e. at home).
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1. Identity: the
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modern Italy
Making conversation
The Italians talk like no one else in Europe. Conversation
is not only constant, but also always accompanied by
gesticulation, adding nuance and meaning to the words.
Beyond the ubiquitous improvised ailing, certain
gestures have established meaning: the ngers upturned
in a cone to signal impatience, or icked from the chin to
say I dont care (or something ruder). Occasionally the
gestures dont even have a verbal accompaniment. Dont
be alarmed if you see a man patting his genitals (unless,
perhaps, theyre exposed) outside a football ground or
cemetery; its supposed to ward off bad luck. As for
protocol, the Italians maintain eye contact throughout
conversation (looking away implies you have something
to hide), love discussing their culture (or at least
professing some knowledge of it) and avoid the universal
mineelds (religion, Maa, death etc) unless in very close
company.
The minority languages
Aside from the three
Italian dialects of Sardo,
Friulian and Ladin,
various other languages
within Italian borders
(used collectively by
two-and-a-half million
people) enjoy ofcial
minority status. German
dialects pepper the
Alpine regions, as does
Provenal, which also
crops up in the south
thanks to medieval
migrants. Franco-
Provenal is still spoken
around Turin. Slovene
is used by some in the
north-east, and Albanian
by a few towns in the
central and southern
highlands. Finally, a
smattering of Greek-
speaking communities
cling on in Puglia and
Calabria. All of the
above are in decline, and
all were brought to Italy
by migrants centuries
ago.
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modern Italy
Identity begins at home
Italians dont expend much energy contemplating a
collective, national identity. Unless theyre screaming
for the national football team, they view life in a much
narrower frame. Italian society is based on individual
social cohesiveness loyalty is to family or at most the
local community, not to the nation, democratic ideologies,
a belief in intellectual, logical or rational behaviour, any
abstract expectations of justice or, indeed, society at large
(an explanation, perhaps, for why Italians are sometimes
perceived as aloof or rude when dealing with strangers).
Just smile and pretend you care: a collective
disobedience
The Italians live in spite (not because) of governments,
institutions and authority. The distrust of all authority, so
deeply embedded in the psyche of Italians, governors
and governed alike, stems from centuries of exploitation
by ruthless, despotic rulers, both native and foreign.
Participatory democracy, the idea of the self-made man
and a sense of civil rights and the common good: Italians
had little truck with such ideas when Unication came
along in the 19
th
century. Not even a new, unied Italy
could change mans ancient human nature and condition:
those in power would keep the rest in ignorance. Mere
survival putting a good face on the bad game of life
had been and would remain the Italian struggle.
The struggle has ebbed for most in the modern era,
but the Italians still rely on a combination of wits and
gut instinct, using larte di improvvisare (the art of
improvisation so rened in Italy).
Green, white and red
The Italian ag, Il
Tricolore, with its
vertical line-up of green,
white and red, was
rst waved in 1798 by
Napoleon Bonaparte
for the Cisalpine
Republic of northern
Italy. Milanese militia
uniforms apparently
inspired the colours.
Vittorio Emanuele II,
the Risorgimento king,
adopted the ag for
Sardinia in 1848 and for
the new Kingdom of Italy
in 1861. The royal coat
of arms was removed
when Italy became a
Republic.
1.3.2 Being Italian: identity and psyche
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Easy on the eye: the individual outlook
Italy is reputedly the place where everything looks
incredible and nothing works. Certainly the Italians own
love affair with their lifestyle resounds in one Italian
proverb: locchio vuole la sua parte (the eye claims
its due). Life is about seizing the day and ensuring its
memorable moments are clothed in beauty beauty
affording a necessary illusion of control over ones own
fate. The Italians slavish attention to personal appearance
and their talent for posturing, loud performance (even if
its only in the queue to buy bread) and even attery, fall
within this commitment to la bella gura, to maintaining
at least the veneer of beauty.
Most Italians practice tolerance even if, on occasion, it
may only be the tool of opportunity. Furthermore, they
assume that consistency and logic are as superuous as
they are unachievable, and that it is madness to believe
that anything beautiful should be functional, human nature
consistent or democracy a two-way street.
Regional rhetoric
Most of the elements that dene the Italian character
the amboyance, preoccupation with beauty, insincere
deference to authority and love of culture are
nationwide. Similarly, the famous chauvinism towards
their roots, the campanilismo that narrows loyalty to one
village or locale (and encourages rivalry, even hatred
towards neighbouring boroughs), can be described,
paradoxically, as a national characteristic. Place of origin
remains very important in Italy, even while psyche and
character may not be noticeably different from one place
to the next. Each region shouts about its heritage, about
the pre-Unication escapades that, they say, shaped its
modern character, whilst also taking time to disparage the
other regions: Romans are laid back but deluded about
their imperial lineage, the Milanese are hard working but
self-obsessed, Neapolitans are amboyant but shiftless.
Rhetorical discussions about these and other regional
I TALI ANS COME
TO RUI N MOST
GENERALLY I N
THREE WAYS:
WOMEN,
GAMBLI NG AND
FARMI NG.
Pope John XXIII
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modern Italy
identities (often simply stereotypes) account for miles
of newsprint, endless hours around the dinner table and
abidingly popular comedy routines.
None of this, of course, denies the wholly genuine
variations in culture in customs, food, media and wealth
between the regions, or the desire in some for greater
autonomy. Nor does it dismiss the serious, long-held
identity gulf between north and south. Even second-
generation settlers born in Milan or Turin to parents who
moved north in the post-war era can suffer the slur of
being dubbed terroni, southern peasants (see section 8.4
for more on the north/south split).
How Italy sees the rest of the world
There is no word in the Italian language for self-
conscious. Hardly surprising, then, that most Italians are
blissfully unconcerned with outsiders opinions of their
lifestyle or persona. If pressed to consider what others
think of them, the Italians seem eetingly ummoxed,
unable to understand why others devote their lives to
ideals or principles outside themselves, their families
or the local community. And yet, when the question is
reversed, the Italian self-condence wavers a little; they
seem eternally fascinated by anything foreign. Indeed, the
Italians cast an envious glance at other Western countries
that appear to make things work with improved
legislation, speedy justice or public services. With
childlike awe, they consider the balanced budgets and
seemingly widespread wealth of neighbouring modern,
industrialised and democratic nations, and lament their
own systems upon reading media reports of corrupt
bureaucracy, cronyism and nepotism. Italys persistent,
popular enthusiasm for the European Community since its
post-war inception reects the belief in improvement by
association.
The sound of patriotism
Goffredo Mameli wrote
the words to Fratelli
dItalia (also known as
Inno di Mameli) in 1847,
setting it to music by
Michele Novaro not long
after. While it served
as a rallying call for the
Risorgimento, Fratelli
dItalia didnt replace the
House of Savoys tune
as the national anthem
until 1946 (a provisional
arrangement that was
nally made permanent
in 2005).
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Finally, though, with every effort and impeccable circular
reasoning, the Italians can dismiss the seeming sanity of
other nations with an equanimity that verges on pity. The
childlike foreigners, poor things, are the naive ones after
all, striving and anguishing, suffering guilt, remorse and
nervous breakdowns. To most Italians, the foreigner cant
accept lifes limitations or their own fate; they cant enjoy
what theyve got.
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2 Literature and philosophy
2.1 Literature p55
2.1.1 A book shy
nation p56
2.1.2 Classically
trained: the Roman
authors p58
2.1.3 The Three
Crowns of the early
Renaissance p61
2.1.4 The anti-
climax of the High
Renaissance p65
2.1.5 Telling it like
it is: literature in the
modern era p68
2.2 Philosophy p79
2.2.1 The greatest
hits of Italian
philosophy p80
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54
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foundations
of British culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema,
photography
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Britain
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modern Italy
In the land governed by aesthetics,
literature slips under the radar
somewhat. Its a shame, because Italy
has a long and distinguished literary
tradition; one that began with the
authors of Classical Rome, ourished
through the early Renaissance with
Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, and
continues today with a raft of good
modern authors.
2.1 Literature
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There seems to be an innate Italian apathy towards the
written word. Recent stats from the Italian Publishers
Association reveal that more than half the population
fails to read a single book in the course of a year. Only
3.2 million get through a book each month. Of those that
do read, the majority are females and are far more likely
to live in the north of Italy than the south. According to
Mondadori, Italys biggest publisher, an elite six per cent
of the adult population is responsible for half of all book
sales. Throw in the fact that one in every ve books sold
is a foreign work in translation and the gloom thickens.
On a more positive note, at least young Italians appear to
be reading more than their parents.
The ve Italian classics to read rst
La divina commedia (c.1321) by Dante Alighieri. The most famous Italian book
of them all, detailing the poets journey from hell to heaven, with a stopover in
purgatory.
Il decamerone (1353) by Giovanni Boccaccio. A hundred, often bawdy, novellas
told by ten different people over a ten-day period in plagued 14
th
century Florence.
Il canzoniere (c.1368) by Petrarch. A collection of 366 poems to the authors
beloved Laura. No pressure Laura
Il principe (1532) by Niccol Machiavelli. The treatise on statecraft and power that
shaped Machiavellis uncompromising posthumous reputation free velvet glove
with every copy.
I promessi sposi (1827) by Alessandro Manzoni. A classic from the Romantic era: a
novel set in 17
th
century Milan, a city under Spanish rule.
2.1.1 A book shy nation
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Five foreign classics set in Italy
The Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James. Isabel Archer is rich and unhappy,
mainly in Rome.
A Room with a View (1908) by EM Forster. The room in question is at the
Pensione Bertolini in Florence.
Death in Venice (1912) by Thomas Mann. The story of Gustav von Aschenbachs
obsessive love for a Polish boy on the Lido island, Venice.
The Enchanted April (1922) by Elizabeth von Arnim. Four women escape the
British weather and talk a lot in Portono on the Italian Riviera.
A Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway. Semi-autobiographical tale set
in Milan and on the Italian front line during the First World War.
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The Etruscans almost certainly had their own literature.
Maybe they even had bookshops with cafes and 3 for
2 deals. Alas, none of it survives. Instead we look to the
Classical Latin texts of Ancient Rome for the beginnings
of Italian literature. Although much of this too has been
lost, a considerable body of work does survive, the
most signicant portions of which were produced in
late Republican and early Imperial Rome during Latin
literatures so-called Golden (rst century BC mid
rst century AD) and, somewhat inferior, Silver (mid
rst mid second century AD) Ages. Disappointingly,
a Bronze Age of Classical literature didnt follow. Each
era bore its share of poetry and prose (more epistolary
and historical than potboiler in style). Inspired by earlier
Ancient Greek works, the most signicant Classical Latin
literature, especially in terms of its inuence on later
Italian Renaissance writers, was produced by the poets.
However, both formats, poetry and prose, threw up
names and works that, remarkably, still nd a readership
2,000 years on.
Latin prose: the magnicent seven
Cicero. The eloquent, detailed letters (epistulae) and
political writings of the great orator and statesman
established a model for Latin prose. He was put to death
by Mark Antony in the power struggle after Caesars
demise.
Julius Caesar. The dictators Commentarii de bello
Gallico (c.50BC) gave a good account of nine years spent
ghting the Gallic War.
Livy. The main man of Golden Age history, full name
Titus Livus, came up with Ab urbe condita (c.9BC)
literally from the founding of the city (that city being
Rome) a work of considerable length (he squeezed the
original into 142 books) and literary merit.
2.1.2 Classically trained: the Roman authors
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Pliny the Younger.
Among his letters he gave
an eyewitness account of
the eruption of Vesuvius
in 79AD, the big bang that
destroyed the towns of
Pompeii and Herculaneum
and also killed his uncle,
Pliny the Elder.
Pliny the Elder. Before choking on Vesuvian ash, the
elder Pliny spent years compiling his massive Naturalis
historia (77AD), a kind of guide to everything that found
popular use for centuries afterwards.
Tacitus. Another historian, Tacitus brought a slice of
wit to his writing on the governance of various Roman
Emperors in his Historiae (105AD) and Annales (117AD).
Suetonius. De vita Caesarum (121AD) was a biography
of the Twelve Caesars that began with the reign of
Julius Gaius.
Latin poetry: the famous four
Catullus. Known for his 116 carmina (songs), especially
the erotic and obscene ones.
Horace. The writer of many odes and also of Ars poetica
(18BC), a treatise on poetic theory.
Ovid. Best remembered for his love poems and for
Metamorphoses
(c.8AD), an opus
on mythology that
would resonate
throughout Europe
for centuries. Had a
charming way with
an elegiac couplet.
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I SI NG OF ARMS
AND THE MAN.
Opening line of Virgils
Aeneid
No faith in the future
The phrase carpe diem,
still given as advice
today by annoyingly
decisive people, was
coined by the original
dead poet, Horace, in
the Ode 1.11 (23BC).
The full line, carpe diem,
quam minimum credula
postero, translates as
seize the day, trusting
the future as little as
possible.
Virgil. The greatest Ancient Roman poet followed his
early works, the farming-inspired Bucolics (c. 37BC) and
the Georgics (29BC), with a masterpiece, the Aeneid
(19BC). Taking Homers epics as a model, the 12-book
Aeneid, written in dactyllic hexameters, told the story
of Trojan prince Aeneas, whose wanderings led to the
founding of Rome. Virgil spent the last ten years of his
life writing the Aeneid but was never entirely satised
with it. Fortunately, his deathbed instruction that it be
burned was disregarded on the orders of the Emperor
Augustus.
You Lesbia, me frank
Catullus has always been the schoolboys favourite Latin poet. The erotic poems
about his idealised lover, Lesbia, and her metaphorical pet sparrow have caused
many a spotty snigger over the years. He also wrote frankly obscene invective
poems that have never found their way onto any school syllabus, including his
infamous Carmen 16 (c.60BC), censored in both Latin and in translation for many
years. In its opening and nal line, Paedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, Catullus
graphically invites two male critics of his poetry to come and be sexually demeaned
by him.
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The path to Florence
From the fall of the Roman Empire until
the early 13
th
century, the literature of
Italy continued to be written in Latin.
Much of it comprised unremarkable
hagiographies, chronicles and histories
such as Paul the Deacons Historia
gentis Langobardorum (a history of the
Lombards), written in the late eighth
century. Poetry continued to trickle
forth, some of it religious, some of it
chivalric, relaying tales of Charlemagne
in the French dialect of the trovatori, the
Occitan troubadours.
Some of the earliest literature written
in Italian (or something close to it)
came from Saint Francis of Assisi,
whose Laudes creaturarum, a rather
fawning missive to God about the wonders of creation,
was written in the Umbrian dialect in about 1224. The
same tradition also produced the sacred songs (laudi) of
Jacopone da Todi later in the century. The earliest secular
literature written in Italian was produced by the Sicilian
School of poets notably Giacomo da Lentini, who is
credited with having invented the sonnet at the court of
the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II.
Later in the 13th century the centre of literary activity
moved north to Tuscany, and to Florence in particular,
where, it could be said, the real story of Italian literature
began. In these, the nascent years of the Renaissance,
three big writers stood above the rest: Dante, Petrarch
and Boccaccio. Each has had an immense inuence
on Italian and European literature, an inuence that still
resonates today. In Italy theyre celebrated as Le Tre
Corone (The Three Crowns) and remain required reading
in schools. Many Italians can still quote whole passages
of their work.
2.1.3 The Three Crowns of the early Renaissance
St. Francis of Assisi talks
to the birds, probably in
Umbrian
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ABANDON ALL
HOPE, YE WHO
ENTER HERE.
Inscription on the gate of
Hell, La divina commedia
A very suspended
sentence
The sentence passed on
Dante in 1302, forcing
him into exile, stipulated
that he would be
executed if he ever set
foot in Florence again.
The judgement was
only revoked in 2008,
and even then only by
a majority decision
ve members of the
Florentine council voted
to keep it in place.
Dante: three steps to heaven
Almost 700 years after he
died, possibly from malaria,
Dante Alighieri remains the
most important gure of Italian
literature. Indeed, in his use
of the Tuscan vernacular, hes
often regarded the founder
of the Italian language itself. Born into a fairly noble
Florentine family in 1265, Dante addressed his early
poetry to his beloved Beatrice (a woman it seems he
never actually spoke to) in La vita nuova (1295), written in
the dolce stil novo (sweet new style), a mode of writing,
pioneered by Guido Guinizzelli, which added a spiritual
dimension to love poetry, painting the adored woman as
an angel of salvation.
As well as being a poet and scholar, Dante was also
deeply involved in the turbulent political life of Florence.
His involvement in the power struggles between the rival
Ghibelline and Guelph factions, and then just between
the Guelphs themselves, led to him spending the last
20 years of his life in exile from the city (most of it in
northern Italy, although he did stray as far north as Paris,
and possibly even England). It was in exile that Dante
produced his masterpiece, the epic narrative poem La
divina commedia (c.1321).
The Divine Comedy (comedy meaning it doesnt have a
tragic ending as opposed to being in any way funny) is a
huge work of over 14,000 hendecasyllabic lines (of eleven
syllables) written in terza rima (a three-line rhyming
pattern of Dantes own invention: aba, bcb, cdc etc). It
describes Dantes Easter weekend journey through Hell,
Purgatory and Paradise in search of his and mankinds
goal a vision of God. For the rst two parts, the Ancient
Roman poet Virgil guides the way before Beatrice takes
over because Virgil, being pagan, isnt allowed into
Paradise. The work succeeds on many fronts: its poetic,
dramatic, allegorical and moral. He wrote in the vernacular
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language so that more of his contemporaries could
understand the storys connection to their own lives and
the medieval society in which they lived. Incidentally, the
author called it simply La commedia; the divina bit was
only added in an edition of 1555.
Petrarch: more than just a
sonnet
Petrarch, full name Francesco
Petrarca, a poet and scholar
from Arezzo but of Florentine
stock, is a towering gure in
the history of Italian literature.
Hes deemed the father of
Renaissance Humanism, an
intellectual movement that emphasised the dignity and
worth of the individual, and encouraged the rediscovery
and study of Classical pagan Latin and Greek texts.
Not content with launching Renaissance Humanism,
Petrarch added various other rsts to his name: in
1341 he became the rst writer since Ancient times
to be crowned Poet Laureate; he was the rst poet to
perfect the sonnet form; hes been called the rst Italian
nationalist; and has been credited as the rst ever tourist
and the rst mountaineer. Beat that.
Inspired by the writings of Virgil and Cicero, Petrarch
produced many scholarly works and letters in Latin such
as De vita solitaria (1346), Epistulae familiares (1325-66)
and Seniles (1361-73), but its poetry written in the Italian
vernacular that gives the author his true importance. Il
canzoniere (literally, Song Book) is a collection of 366
poems mainly in sonnet form written between 1327 and
1368 and addressed to Laura, the object of his agonising
and unsatised love. Petrarch wrote of the power and
pain of love with an intensity and introspection that would
make Il canzoniere one of the most inuential works in
European poetry.
Perhaps he just had
delicate features
Its clear from his poetry
that Petrarchs heart
was stolen by a young
girl named Laura; what
remains a mystery,
however, is the identity
of whoever stole his
head. In 2003 the poets
body was exhumed
from his tomb in Arqu
Petrarca, Veneto,
in order to create a
computer-aided facial
reconstruction for the
700
th
anniversary of his
birth. However, while
the body was certainly
his, the attendant skull
belonged to an unknown
woman.
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Boccaccio: the power of ten
The third great literary gure of the 14
th
century was
Giovanni Boccaccio. The son of a wealthy Florentine
merchant, Boccaccio was possibly born in Paris, almost
certainly illegitimately, and was an admirer of Dante,
a friend to Petrarch and was another Renaissance
Humanist. His most celebrated works include De
mulieribus claris (1362), a biographical study of 106
mythological and historical women written in Latin;
Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta (c.1343), a novel narrated
by an unfaithful wife; and his masterpiece written in the
vernacular, Il decamerone.
Set in the summer of 1348, Il decamerone is a collection
of 100 novellas narrated by ten young Florentines,
seven female, three not, who take refuge in the hills
to escape the Black Death that ravages the city below.
They amuse themselves by each telling one story a day
for ten days (decamerone means the work of ten days).
Through the novellas, Boccaccio gave a vivid picture
of 14
th
century society, discarding established literary
models and drawing instead on human experience for
earthy, sometimes bawdy, tales, the themes of which
were often revealed in their
title. An example: Masetto da
Lamporecchio pretends to be
a deaf-mute and becomes
the gardener for a convent
of nuns who all compete
to lie with him.
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Were only human
Under the patronage of the wealthy Renaissance courts,
scholars and poets in 15
th
century Italy further indulged
the Humanist taste for Classical writing. However, after
Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio there was, perhaps
inevitably, a dip in the quality of new literature, and much
of what was written turned away from the vernacular and
back to Latin. Only in the later 1400s did writers emerge
who, in addition to their scholarly
offerings in Latin, produced works of
merit written in Italian. Their growth
was due in part to the inuence of
Lorenzo de Medici, the Magnicent
Florentine ruler and patron of the
arts. Aside from Lorenzos own, not
undistinguished, vernacular poetry,
a handful of 15
th
century poems are
worth tracking down:
Morgante (1483) by Luigi Pulci. Irony-infused epic
chivalric poem about a giant.
La giostra di Giuliano de Medici (1475) by Angelo
Poliziano. Weaves mythology into a Medici jousting
victory.
Orlando innamorato (1495) by Matteo Maria Boiardo. An
unnished romantic epic charting the exploits of Roland,
heroic French knight.
Machiavelli: not really that Machiavellian as it happens
By the 16
th
century, Italian literature had managed
to extricate itself from the Humanist obsession with
Classical texts, and the writers of the period displayed
a greater awareness of the age in which they lived.
Among them was one of the most signicant writers of
the Italian Renaissance, Niccol Machiavelli, a Florentine
statesman and scholar who wrote histories, plays and
songs but whose greatest achievements were in the eld
of political theory. He famously wrote Il principe (1532),
a posthumously published and much maligned treatise
How Italian became
the peninsulas written
language
Two hundred and
twenty years after
Dante advocated the
use of the vernacular
in literature, Pietro
Bembo, a Venetian
scholar and poet, tried
again in his treatise
Prose della volgar lingua
(1525). Bembos effort
was more successful
and by the time the
Accademia della Crusca
had published their
Vocabolario, the rst
dictionary of Italian,
in 1612, the Italian
vernacular (derived
largely from the
Florentine dialect; a
connection that spoke
of the regions cultural
prominence) had nally
been established as the
literary language of Italy.
Accademia della Crusca
actually means Academy
of Bran, so called
because they cleaned
up the language in the
same way that grain is
cleaned by discarding
the bran (obviously).
Its still going strong,
dutifully protecting the
purity of the Italian
language.
2.1.4 The anti-climax of the High Renaissance
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concerning the acquisition and maintenance of political
power by whatever means necessary, regardless of all
moral and religious considerations. Although the work
was intended as a clear, scientic study of statecraft, its
often been regarded as a kind of tyrants handbook.
Aside from Machiavellis Il principe, the 16
th
century
deposited a few other notable works of Italian prose,
including Il Cortegiano (1528), a guide for training the
perfect Renaissance gentlemen, by diplomat Baldassare
Castiglione. It also gave us the father of modern history,
Francesco Guicciardini, whose Storia dItalia (1561-1564)
was lauded for its objectivity and use of ofcial records as
source material. Giorgio Vasaris Le vite dei pi eccellenti
pittori, scultori e architettori (1550) left more details (some
highly spurious) about the lives of the great Renaissance
artists than any other source, while the notorious,
posthumously published autobiography of the sculptor
(and probable murderer, rapist and thief) Benvenuto
Cellini, is an engaging, impressively frank read.
Brace of bards: the two major 16
th
century poets
Ludovico Ariosto was known for his majestic and
imaginative verse, which, while conforming to classical
models, reected the secular spirit of the time.
Orlando furioso (1516) was his masterpiece, a lengthy
epic recounting the adventures of the paladins of
Charlemagne, including the one where Astolfo ies to the
moon to nd the bottle that contains Orlandos sanity.
Torquato Tasso is considered both the most inuential
and the nal poet of the Italian Renaissance. He had to
deal with the constrictive atmosphere of the Counter
Reformation and also with his own deteriorating mental
health, yet he wrote with a owing grace and melancholic
beauty, as evidenced in the pastoral poem Aminta
(1573) and his greatest work, the verse epic on the First
Crusade, Gerusalemme liberata (completed in 1581).
I T I S MUCH SAFER
TO BE FEARED
THAN TO BE LOVED
WHEN ONE OF THE
TWO MUST BE
LACKI NG.
Niccol Machiavelli Il
principe
Dear Sir or Madam
When he wasnt making
statues or decorating
the Sistine Chapel,
the Renaissance artist
Michelangelo found
time to write 300 or so
impassioned homoerotic
sonnets addressed to
Tommaso dei Cavalieri,
a young nobleman 34
years his junior. When
they were published
posthumously in 1623,
they were altered by
his grandnephew,
Michelangelo the
Younger, to make them
sound like they were
written to girls.
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Loss of form
In Italy, the Renaissance had ebbed by the 17
th
century.
The subsequent 200 years saw the nations creative spirit
crushed by Spanish and then Austrian rule, engendering
one of the dullest periods in the history of Italian
literature.
The predominant literary style in the 17th century was
Baroque, characterised by extravagant ornamentation and
very little substance, and typied by the poetry of the
most popular writer of the period, Giambattista Marino.
In his best-known work, LAdone (1623), a massive poem
of more than 40,000 lines, he tells the story of Venus and
Adonis and countless other mythological characters while
employing every literary device he can think of.
Towards the end of the century, in reaction to the
affectations of Baroque, the Academy of Arcadia (ofcial
title Ponticia Accademia degli Arcadi) was founded in
Rome by a group of writers who took the pastoral poetry
of Ancient Greece as their model. However, while the
Academy was well respected, its effective contribution to
the story of literature was negligible.
The creative vacuum remained until the end of the
18th century when the independent spirit of the French
Enlightenment and the French and American Revolutions
rippled out to Italy, stirring a national pride and sense
of identity that would permeate the coming years. Two
writers of particular note emerged. The rst, Giuseppe
Parini, famously satirised the aristocracy in his poem Il
giorno (1763), detailing a pointless day in the life of a
pointless gentleman. The second, Vittorio Aleri, wrote
the inuential odes LAmerica libera (1784) and Parigi
sbastigliata (1789) and a treatise on the overthrow of
tyrannies, Della tirannide (1789).
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The fervent nationalism of the Risorgimento movement
that spread throughout Italy in the rst half of the 19
th

century had a profound effect on the countrys literature,
both for the Classicists, who employed classic stylistic
models, and the Romantics, who concerned themselves
with sentiment and cared little for style.
The Classicists
The key Classical writers in the early part of the century
were the poets Ugo Foscolo and Giacomo Leopardi.
An ardent patriot (who was born in Greece and died in
England) and soldier, Foscolos most important work,
Dei sepolcri (1807), urged readers to remember heroes
past, to take inspiration, in particular, from their graves.
Leopardi is one of the greatest and best loved of all Italian
poets. Although his purity of style was technically of the
Classical school, the majestic desolation and nostalgia
of his poetry made him an unintentional Romantic. Hes
best known for his patriotic poems, AllItalia (1818) and
Sopra il monumento di Dante (1818), and for later, deeply
pessimistic poems such as Linnito (c.1821) which
concludes: And to shipwreck is sweet for me in this sea.
In the second half of the 19
th
century, a more vehement
Classicism appeared in the poetry of Giosu Carducci,
whose zeal for mother Italy was equalled only by his
hatred for the Catholic Church. He achieved great
notoriety with his anti-clerical and blasphemous poem
Inno a Satana (1865) which ends, Great Satan passes
by, oh people, bringing blessing from place to place upon
his unstoppable chariot of re. However, his best work
lay within the three volumes of classically themed Odi
Barbare (1877-1889). Carducci won the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1906, the rst Italian to do so.
2.1.5 Telling it like it is: literature in the modern era
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2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
The Romantics
The major gure of the Italian Romantic school, and one
of the most important names in Italian literature, was the
poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni. Like most Italian
Romantics of the time, he was both a loyal Catholic and
a erce nationalist. He achieved great fame with a book
of religious lyrics, Inni sacri (1810), and an ode written
on the death of Napoleon, Il cinque maggio (1822), but
is best known for the historical novel I promessi sposi
(1827). The Betrothed, as it translates, was a veiled social
critique set in Milan whilst under Spanish rule. Today its
regarded as a masterpiece and has become one of the
most famous and widely studied Italian novels.
The Realist and the rebel
The mix of styles and movements inltrating literature in
the late 19
th
century threw up two interesting characters.
The rst, Giovanni Verga, was a leading gure in the
Verismo (Realist) movement that emerged in reaction to
both Classicism and Romanticism. His best-known novel,
I Malavoglia (1881), depicts the hardship and poverty of a
Sicilian shing community in a stark, realistic way. Verga
would prove an important inuence on the post-war
Neorealist writing of the 20
th
century. By contrast Gabriele
DAnnunzio, soldier, journalist, all-round agitator and
favourite author of Benito Mussolini, rejected Realism,
alongside Classicism, Romanticism and pretty much
anything on offer in favour of the beauty and irrationality
associated with the Decadent movement. Among his
works are the novels Il piacere (1889) and Il trionfo della
morte (1894), and, considered his best, a collection of
verse, Alcyone (1904), evoking the sensorial delights of a
Tuscan summer.
Manzonis Requiem
Of the many tributes
paid to Alessandro
Manzoni, the greatest
came from Giuseppe
Verdi. In memory of
Manzoni, Verdi, despite
his own atheism,
composed one of the
most famous pieces of
sacred music, Messa
da Requiem. It was rst
performed on 22 May
1874, marking the rst
anniversary of Manzonis
death. The piece is also
sometimes referred to as
the Manzoni Requiem.
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Turn of the century tumult
The instability of Italian society in the early 20
th
century,
the turmoil of political unrest, of war and dictatorship,
seeped into the countrys literature. When the Fascist era
arrived, with its constraints on cultural and intellectual life,
many authors were censored, forced into exile or even
imprisoned. Of the writers at work in that period, three in
particular live on in the popular consciousness:
Grazia Deledda. Deledda is remembered for Verismo
novels of love, pain and death among the Sardinian
peasantry. Elias Portolu (1903), Cenere (1904), and La
madre (1920) are all ne examples. In 1926 she became
the rst and so far the only Italian woman to receive
the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Italo Svevo. Now regarded as among the most important
in modern Italian literature, Svevos work was almost
totally ignored until championed by Irish novelist James
Joyce. Svevo had a gift for capturing human psychology
in print. Titles include Una vita (1893), Senilit (1898),
and his most famous contribution, La coscienza di
Zeno (1923), a thoroughly modernist novel about
psychoanalysis and cigarettes.
Luigi Pirandello. Although hes known best as a
playwright (see section 4.2.1 for more), Pirandello also
pushed his talent for questioning objective truth and
the nature of identity into short stories and the novels Il
fu Mattia Pascal (1904) and Uno, nessuno e centomila
(1926). Nobel rewarded Pirandello in 1934.
THOU PARADI SE
OF EXI LES, I TALY!
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Oh its all too much
Im off to Venice
Over the years, perhaps
because of the climate
and the wine, Italy has
served as a cultural
refuge for numerous
foreign writers: poet
Lord Byron left England,
where hed been
accused of sodomy and
incest, and had sex
all over Italy, breaking
off when necessary to
write Don Juan (1823);
John Keats and Percy
Bysshe Shelley both
lived and died in Italy,
the former in a house on
Romes Spanish Steps;
the Russian novelists
Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor
Dostoevsky wrote their
respective classics Dead
Souls (1842) and The
Idiot (1869) while in
Italy; James Joyce lived
and taught English for
many years in Trieste
where he wrote (most
of) his masterpiece
Ulysses (1922); and
D.H. Lawrence ed
England accused of
being a German spy,
making his home near
Florence where he wrote
Lady Chatterleys Lover
(1928).
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modern Italy
String him up
Pinocchio (1940), the
Disney cartoon with the
wooden puppet that
had no strings to tie
him down, was based
on the most famous
Italian childrens story Le
avventure di Pinocchio
(1883) by Carlo Collodi.
The tale began life
as a series of stories
published in the Giornale
dei bambini, a childrens
newspaper. However,
Collodi never intended
the story, which
concludes when the
puppet becomes a boy,
to have such a happy
ending: if it hadnt been
for a public outcry, the
serialised stories would
have concluded with
little Pinocchio hanging
by the neck from the
bough of a tree.
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2. Literature
and philosophy
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Key gures of 20
th
century poetry
Italian poetry in the early 20
th
century was dominated by
groups of writers with tremendous collective names:
Crepuscular Poets. Guided chiey by Marino Moretti and
Guido Gustavo Gozzano, the Crepusculars used subdued,
commonplace language and subject matter with irregular
metre and rhyme but had little idea of what they were
trying to achieve and didnt produce much of great note.
Futurist Poets. Led by Filippo Marinetti, the Futurists
knew exactly what they wanted a literature born of
speed and war that would explode visually and sonically,
stripped of anything, verbs and adjectives included,
that might slow it down. As a result, although Futurism
was inuential in the visual arts, it was somewhat
disappointing in poetry. Marinetti would later cosy up to
the Fascists.
Trieste in Bloom
Novelist Italo Svevo
(real name Aron Ettore
Schmitz) was Jewish,
had a Hungarian father,
and provided the model
for one of literatures
most famous characters,
Leopold Bloom, the
anti-hero of James
Joyces Ulysses (1922).
Joyce had been Svevos
English teacher in
Trieste where the two
had formed a close
friendship. When asked
why he had decided to
make Leopold Bloom
Jewish with a Hungarian
father, Joyce replied,
Because he was.
Futurist Filippo Marinetti wrote the poem Zang Tumb Tumb (1914); it was the sound of
war, specically the Battle of Adrianople
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2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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modern Italy
Hermetic Poets. While the Hermetics often expressed
their pessimism and isolation in illogical and cryptic verse,
they were fortunate to have in their ranks the three great
Italian poets of the 20
th
century. Giuseppe Ungaretti led
with his vivid imagery and economy of language, nding
worldwide acclaim with Allegria di naufragi (1919) and
Sentimento del tempo (1933). The second star, Eugenio
Montale, was renowned for collections like Ossi di
seppia (1925), typical in its post-war pessimism and
sparing, hermetic use of words, funnelled here through
impressions of the Ligurian coast. In 1975 Montale
received the Nobel Prize for Literature, an award given
16 years previously to the third heavyweight Hermetic,
Salvatore Quasimodo, author of Ed subito sera (1942), a
collection of verse that strove to capture the tragedies of
modern life. Quasimodo later turned to Neorealism.
Realism, new and improved: post-war ction
Italian literature emerged from the disasters of the
Second World War and the strictures of Mussolinis
regime with a new spirit of freedom and lots of source
material. The novel was to become the predominant
literary form, characterised initially by the social
awareness and stark language of Neorealism, a genre
that had its roots in the pre-war Verismo but which took
on new impetus after the ordeals of life with the Fascists.
As the century progressed, literature became directed
more by personal and existential concerns.
Post-war ction: the ten authors to read rst
Carlo Levi. Levis most famous work, and perhaps the
best known text of Italian Neorealism, Cristo si fermato
a Eboli (1945), told of the plight of peasant farming
communities in the south of Italy, to where the author had
been internally exiled by the Fascist regime for his political
activism. The title, Christ Stopped at Eboli in English, was
taken from a local saying suggesting that Christianity,
modernisation and money hadnt made it that far south.
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2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Cesare Pavese. Pavese, another Neorealist, is a tragic
gure for whom isolation, disillusionment and betrayal
were central themes in both his writing and his life. The
novella Il diavolo sulle colline (1949) looked back to his
youth in Turin, while La luna e i fal (1950), a novel, framed
betrayal, sex and death in a post-war Piedmont town.
Pavese committed suicide in 1950 following a failed love
affair with American actress Constance Dowling. Among
the unpublished poems found in his desk was his now
famous Verr la morte e avr i tuoi occhi (1951), or in
English, Death Will Come and Will Have Your Eyes.
Alberto Moravia. Moravia, whose early novels (he
published his rst aged 23) were banned by the Fascists,
wrote prolically in unadorned Neorealist prose about
social, moral and emotional dilemmas. His many novels
include Il conformista (1947), a scything, clever appraisal
of repression under Fascist rule, and, most famously, La
ciociara (1957), about a mother and daughter in war torn
Italy. Typically of Moravia, both novels deal frankly (and
often) with the subject of sex.
Giorgio Bassani. Remembered primarily for Il giardino
dei Finzi-Contini (1962). Set in Bassanis native Ferrara,
its an unrequited love story placed amid a Jewish-Italian
familys struggles under fascism.
Natalia Ginzburg. A poet and novelist who examined
personal relationships, family life and the place of women
in a society in ux. Tutti i nostri ieri (1952) and Le voci della
sera (1961) both feature ordinary folk living through the
Fascist era and the war. Ginzburgs rst husband, an anti-
Fascist, had died after being tortured in Rome in 1944.
Primo Levi. A unique voice in Italian literature, Levi was a
chemist and Holocaust survivor who used his learning and
experience to produce highly regarded memoirs, poetry
and ction. Se questo un uomo (1947) is based on his
imprisonment in Auschwitz during the war. Novels include
La chiave a stella (1978) and Il sistema periodico (1975) in
which each of 21 stories is linked to a chemical element.
PRI MO LEVI DI ED
AT AUSCHWI TZ 40
YEARS EARLI ER.
Elie Wiesel, on hearing
of Primo Levis death
(usually assumed a
suicide) in 1987
NO ONE EVER
LACKS A GOOD
REASON FOR
SUI CI DE.
Cesare Pavese
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modern Italy
Italo Calvino. Among the most widely read and
translated of Italian authors, Calvino used imaginary
worlds and fabulous plots to present his version of
modern life. Titles include Fiabe Italiane (1956), the rst
comprehensive collection of Italian fairytales, Le citt
invisibili (1972) and Se una notte dinverno un viaggiatore
(1979) which (brace yourself) is about someone reading
the same book you are reading, but which then changes
into the beginning of a different book by a different
author, and which then does the same thing again and
again.
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. The aristocratic
Tomasi (11
th
Prince of Lampedusa no less) only wrote one
novel, Il gattopardo (1958), centred on a wealthy Sicilian
family in the 1860s, which was published to international
acclaim a year after his death.
Leonardo Sciascia. Sciascia set his crime ction in his
native Sicily, his major themes being the Maa, corruption
in high places and the frequently
unfullled quest for justice. Il giorno
della civetta (1961), Il consiglio dEgitto
(1963) and Il Mare Colore del Vino
(1973), a collection of short stories,
were among his best.
Umberto Eco. Philosopher and expert
in medievalism and semiotics (see
2.1.1 for more), and perhaps the most
celebrated Italian novelist of the late 20
th

century, Eco made his literary fortune
with a medieval murder mystery, Il
nome della rosa (1980). Il pendolo di
Foucault (1988), usually described as a
thinking mans Da Vinci Code, enjoyed
similar commercial and critical success.
Eco has stated that his 2004 novel, La
misteriosa amma della Regina Loana,
will be his last.
Prose prize
Italys most prestigious
literary prize is the
Premio Strega, awarded
each July to the years
best work of prose
ction. A group of
literary types initiated
the award in 1947; one
of their number, Guido
Alberti, owned the
company that produced
Strega, the herbal
liqueur from Campania
which lends the award
its name.
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2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
A love of crime
If Italians are going to pick up a book, invariably they
reach for crime ction. The nations favourite genre is
generally held to have begun in 1929 when publisher
Mondadori issued mysteries, often translated from
English, called Gialli after their garish yellow covers. Its
a name that stuck; the genre is still referred to as Gialli
today. Early on, Italian Gialli writers found their work
banned by the Fascist regime, but after the war the genre
ourished, helped along by the eagerness of cinema to
adapt new books. Important authors include Leonardo
Sciascia (see previous page); Carlo Emilio Gadda, whose
Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana (1957), set in
the Fascist 1920s, made a considerable impact; Giorgio
Scerbanenco, best known for Venere privata (1966) and
Traditori di tutti (1966); and Carlo
Fruttero and Franco Lucentini,
the crime writing duo par
excellence responsible
for La donna della
domenica (1972),
a ripping yarn
of rape and
murder
among the
Turinese
bourgeoisie.
Scene of the crime
The best-selling
Inspector Montalbano
crime novels of Andrea
Camilleri are set in the
ctitious Sicilian town
of Vigta, modelled on
the authors hometown,
Porto Empedocle. In
2003 Porto Empedocle
ofcially changed
its name to Porto
Empedocle Vigta.
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and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Crime ction remains as popular as ever in Italy, its
traditions maintained by a clutch of very good writers
including Massimo Carlotto, author of the popular series
featuring Alligator (a private dick), Il maestro di nodi (2002)
being one of them; Gianrico Caroglio, whose Testimone
inconsapevole (2002) was a huge seller; Niccol
Ammaniti, author of Io non ho paura (2001), a disturbing
tale of child kidnap in the anni di piombo; and the most
successful crime writer of them all, Andrea Camilleri,
author of the Inspector (Commissario) Montalbano series.
Camilleris books have been a publishing phenomenon,
achieving that hard to nd mix of critical and public
support. He published the rst in the series, La forma
dellacqua (1994) at the age of 69.
21st century best-sellers
La rabbia e lorgoglio ( 2001) by Oriana Fallaci. Controversial commentary on Islam
and European Muslims, originally published as a series of articles in the Corriere
della Sera.
Io non ho paura (2001) by Niccol Ammaniti. A boy nds a kidnap
victim in an old farmhouse, and then discovers his parents are in
on the secret.
Senza sangue (2002) by Alessandro Baricco. A young girl hides
from the murderers of her parents, but grows up to avenge their
deaths.
100 colpi di spazzola prima di andare a dormire (2003) by
Melissa P (Panerello). Blockbuster diary of a schoolgirls sexual
odyssey.
La pazienza del ragno (2004) by Andrea Camilleri. The eighth in
the wildly popular Inspector Montalbano series of crime novels.
Gomorra (2006) by Roberto Saviano. A frightening non-ction
novel about the Camorra, the Naples maa. The author lives in
hiding following death threats.
Letters to America
If the stats are to be
believed, the best-
selling book of post-war
Italy is Va dove ti
porta il cuore (1994) by
Susanna Tamaro, with
global sales of more
than 14 million copies.
Its an epistolary affair:
a series of letters from
an old, dying woman
in Trieste, imploring
her granddaughter in
America to Follow Your
Heart. Have the tissues
at the ready.
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1. Identity: the
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
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and philosophy
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4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
The Italians were pondering the stuff of
life when the rest of us were concerned
simply with animal husbandry. And since
the days of progressive Roman thought,
Italy has produced a consistent roll call
of philosophers, gures who spent much
their time trying to reconcile science,
nature and religion.
2.2 Philosophy
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1. Identity: the
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Mention Aquinas or Machiavelli to most Italians and
theyll give a nod of recognition. Some may even know
the key tenets of their respective philosophies; others
will pretend they do. However, more generally, if you
nd yourself in a bar confessing your ignorance of
Logical Positivism you wont be alone. Italians dont pride
themselves on any great knowledge of abstract thought
or its proponents, nor do they strive for intellectual
credibility over the dinner table, in the manner of, say, the
French. Debate usually focuses on more tangible matters.
And yet, Italy does have its list of signicant philosophers,
stretching right back to the days of the Roman Republic.
Stealing ideas from the Greeks
The philosophy of Ancient Rome was in fact the
philosophy of Ancient Greece with some of the trickier
theories removed; the Romans simply selected the parts
that suited their more practical approach to life. Little
of any great originality emerged, and the importance of
Roman philosophers lies more in their translation and
preservation of Greek texts. Certain gures stood out:
Cicero picked and chose what he liked from the Sceptics
and the Stoics, using it to try and prop up the principles of
the dying Republic in the rst century BC; and Seneca the
Younger (a Roman born in Spain) was rmly in the Stoic
camp a century later, urging people to simplicity, virtue
and reason.
Heavy reading: two Roman works of philosophy
De rerum natura (c.50BC) by Lucretius. An epic philosophical poem on the
nature of things deemed the most complete example of Greek Epicurean thought,
advocating a simple, pain-free life in a universe ruled by chance. Lucretius advised
that we should have no fear of death and then he killed himself.
Meditations (c.170) by Emperor Marcus Aurelius. A monumental work of Greek
Stoic philosophy, which regarded the avoidance of both pain and pleasure as the key
to a happy life.
2.2.1 The greatest hits of Italian philosophy
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1. Identity: the
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Adding God to the equation
When the Western Roman Empire fell in the fth century,
Christianity became the dening inuence on Italian
thought, and remained so for a thousand years. The major
Middle Ages school of philosophy was Scholasticism,
an academic approach to reconciling Christian faith with
Ancient Greek reason (particularly the logic peddled by
Aristotle). Two gures stood above the rest:
Boethius. One of the last great Roman statesmen was
a Christian (although not a Scholastic) and an inuential
translator and advocate of Aristotle and Plato. In the
Consolatio Philosophiae (c.524), written in prison while
awaiting execution for treason, Boethius trawled through
Ancient reason (rather than Christian belief) for an answer
to his predicament. The work also popularised the Rota
Fortunae, the Wheel of Fortune (sometimes called the
Boethian Wheel) representing the vicissitudes of life.
Saint Thomas Aquinas. The Angelic Doctor, a
Dominican priest, was the most important gure of
medieval Scholastic philosophy. He developed the
synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian logic that
effectively became the Roman Catholic Church handbook.
Aquinas best-known work is the Summa Theologica
(left unnished on his death in 1274), in which you can
nd, if you wish, his Quinque Viae, ve very complicated
arguments to prove the existence of God.
Renaissance Humanism: what was it?
The dominant philosophical school of the Italian
Renaissance was Humanism. Inspired by the writings
of Petrarch (see section 2.1.3), the Humanists moved
away from the cold logic of Scholasticism, preferring
rediscovered Ancient texts, especially those of Plato, for
exploring the importance of the individual (and individual
expression) and the relationship between the human and
the divine.
I NCONSTANCY I S
MY VERY ESSENCE,
SAYS THE WHEEL.
RI SE UP ON MY
SPOKES I F YOU
LI KE BUT DON T
COMPLAI N WHEN
YOU RE CAST BACK
DOWN I NTO THE
DEPTHS. GOOD
TI MES PASS AWAY
BUT THEN SO DO
THE BAD.
From Boethius
Consolatio Philosophiae
Is that a poker in your
hand or are you just
displeased to see me?
Saint Thomas Aquinas
family apparently tried
to prevent him from
becoming a Dominican
monk by locking him in a
room for two years. They
even hired a prostitute
to help change his mind,
but Thomas chased her
out of the room with a
red-hot poker.
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
The major philosophers of the Italian Renaissance
Lorenzo Valla. His treatises on pleasure, De voluptate
(1431), and free choice, De libero arbitrio (1439), pushed
individual happiness, achieved through measured virtue
rather than Stoic abstinence. Valla, something of a
pedant, also spent considerable time criticising the
standard of Latin used by his contemporaries.
Marsilio Ficino. Fifteenth-century Florentine thinker
whose translations of Plato proved highly inuential. He
saw the universe in layers (from God downwards), and
in line with Renaissance values, gave humans a starring
role. Ficino coined the phrase platonic love.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. A handsome chap
whose study of free will and human perfection, Oratio de
hominis dignitate (1486), is considered the manifesto of
Humanist philosophy.
The theological backlash
The Counter Reformation, beefed up
by the muscle of the Roman Inquisition
(see section 1.2.2 for the full story),
sought to expunge the Humanists
suggestion of balance between man
and God, and to reassert Catholic
authority. Three brilliant heretics had a
bit of trouble:
Giordano Bruno. The Dominican monk,
philosopher and astronomer was tried
and executed for his pantheism (the
idea that God, nature and the universe
are essentially the same thing) and the
conviction that our universe is innite
and lled with numerous worlds moving
about in space. He wrote it all down in
De linnito, universo e mondi (1584),
before being burned alive in 1600.
Giordano Bruno stand grim watch over Romes
Campo de Fiori
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Galileo Galilei. The father of
modern science had a profound
effect on philosophical thought.
Like Bruno, he was tried by
the Inquisition for supporting
the heliocentric cosmology of
Copernicus, in which the sun,
not the earth, forms the centre
of the universe. His Dialogo
sopra i due massimi sistemi del
mondo (1632) was banned until
1835, almost 200 years after
he died, aged 70, under house
arrest.
Tommaso Campanella. He
tried to reconcile Renaissance
Humanism with Catholic
theology and duly spent most of his life either on trial or
in prison. Campanellas best-known work, Civitas Solis
(1623), is a Utopian affair advocating a universal theocratic
monarchy.
Waiting in vain for Enlightenment
The Counter Reformation proved disastrous for free
thought in Italy. Whilst other parts of Europe spent the
next 200 years deep in debate, most notably during the
Enlightenment, Italy only produced a handful of original,
signicant philosophers. Giambattista Vico emerged in
the 18th century, best known for the principle of verum
factum (truth is deed) mankind creates society and
therefore shapes what it believes to be the true world.
Vico also concluded that history is cyclical it begins with
barbarism, becomes civilised and then eventually returns
to barbarism as detailed in Principi di una scienza nuova
(1725). Later in the 18th century, Cesare Beccarios
inuential treatise, Dei delitti e delle pene (1764), called
for penal reform, argued against the death penalty and
was perhaps Italys closest brush with the Enlightenment.
The 19th century brought minor contributions from
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FOR TWENTY
YEARS WE
MUST STOP THI S
BRAI N FROM
FUNCTI ONI NG.
Prosecutor at the trial of
Antonio Gramsci (who
then proceeded to write
his best work in prison)
Roberto Ardig, the leader of Italian Positivism
(knowledge is derived from what can be scientically
observed), and Antonio Rosmini-Serbati with his notion of
the ideal being, a reection of God found in every man.
Ideological differences: the early 20
th
century
philosophers
Like their predecessors, Italian intellectuals in the rst half
of the 20
th
century were both shaped and restricted by
prevailing political and social factors. Three stood out:
Benedetto Croce. The most important Italian philosopher
of the modern era worked in the Idealist tradition but
developed his own theories, notably maintaining that
thought constitutes the only reality and that all history
and artistic activity are forms of thought, as outlined in
Filosoa dello spirito (190217). Croce opposed fascism
and was under constant surveillance as a result.
Giovanni Gentile. In Teoria generale dello spirito come
atto puro (1916), Croces one-time friend and fellow
Idealist stressed how important the act of thinking is
to articulating experience. Unlike Croce, Gentile was
a fascist; he took a ministerial post in Mussolinis
government and became known as the Philosopher
of Fascism, tarnishing his academic reputation in the
process.
Antonio Gramsci. The Sardinian was a Marxist and
leader of the Communist Party of Italy at almost precisely
the wrong time and in almost exactly the wrong place.
Whilst imprisoned by Mussolini he wrote his acclaimed
Lettere dal carcere (1929-35) in which he developed his
theory of Cultural Hegemony how the capitalist state
keeps revolution at bay by making bourgeois values the
norm in society.
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Signs and sex appeal: the post-war philosophers
Italian philosophy has continued along its rather
unremarkable path in the years since the Second World
War. The key characters have included Luigi Pareyson
and Nicola Abbagnano, each with his own version
of Existentialism, and Norberto Bobbio, who wrote
extensively on the philosophy of law and politics. Among
the current crop, Umberto Eco is the most popularly
received, a best-selling novelist whose Trattato di
semiotica generale (1975) argues that all intellectual and
cultural activity can be interpreted through the systems
of signs (see section 2.1.5 for more on Ecos novels).
Another philosopher still at work, Mario Perniola, has
written radical stuff on art and aesthetics, including Il sex
appeal dellinorganico (1994).
Five sticky philosophical ends
Lucretius. St Jerome tells us that the Roman philosopher killed himself after being
driven mad by a dodgy love potion.
Seneca the Younger. Nero commanded Seneca to commit suicide (or else be
executed) following a failed plot. It proved a lengthy procedure: wrist and leg
slashing, poisoning and suffocation in a steam bath were all involved.
Boethius. He was arrested and imprisoned on charges of treason, suffered days of
excruciating torture and was then clubbed to death.
Giordano Bruno. The Roman Inquisitions trial of Bruno on charges of heresy lasted
for seven years, after which he was stripped, his tongue was bound and he was
burned at the stake in the Campo de Fiori, Rome, where his statue now solemnly
stands.
Giovanni Gentile. After actively supporting both the Italian and German fascists,
Gentile was shot by communist partisans in Florence, in 1944.
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and design
3 Art, architecture
3.1 Art and design p89
3.1.1 The eternal
template: Ancient
Italian art p90
3.1.2 Killing time
til Giotto arrives:
medieval art p93
3.1.3 Master strokes:
the Renaissance in
Italian art p98
3.1.4 Back to reality:
the power of Baroque
p107
3.1.5 To the avant-
garde and back:
modern Italian art p110
3.1.6 Style and
substance: modern
Italian design p113
3.2 Architecture p117
3.2.1 Built to last:
Ancient architecture
p118
3.2.2 Classical
leanings: the medieval
builds p121
3.2.3 Designing
harmony: Renaissance
architecture p124
3.2.4 The high drama
of Baroque p128
3.2.5 In the shadow
of greatness: modern
Italian architecture p131
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Italy has the richest artistic heritage
in the world. Enter a church, palazzo or
museum anywhere in the country and
you trip over the stuff. The heroes of the
Renaissance Michelangelo, Leonardo,
Raphael are undimmed, 400 years after
they left the stage, to be followed rapidly
by Titian, Caravaggio, Bernini et al.
Inevitably, modern Italian artists feel the
pressure.
3.1 Art and design
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Copying the Greeks: Etruscan and early Roman art
The Etruscans were inspired by the urbane air of the
Greeks with whom they shared Italy for long periods
during the rst millennium BC (see section 1.2.1 for
more), and duly decorated their walls, oors and tombs
with gurative frescos and mosaics. For a time, early
Republican Rome took this Greek style second hand
from the Etruscans before eventually going direct to the
source, having conquered the Mediterranean and founded
an empire on the ruins of ancient Greek kingdoms in the
second century BC. Many of the artists at work in Rome
were Greek, and the steady trickle of looted Hellenistic
statuary being sent back by victorious generals helped
develop the style. Efciently and with great ingenuity,
they took the bits they liked; indeed, often we have the
Romans to thank for copying Greek originals that have
long since disappeared.
3.1.1 The eternal template: Ancient Italian art
Three great Ancient works of art from Italy
Apollo of Veio. An expressive, life-sized Etruscan
statue of Apollo in attack mode, created in painted
terracotta in the sixth century BC. On show in the
National Etruscan Museum in Rome.
Roman husband and wife. An early naturalistic
sculpture from the late Republic (c.63AD), depicting a
couple we all know: he, scowling slightly, dying for a
drink, having just arrived at a dinner party; she trying
to ignore him. Its in the Louvre.
Bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. The
oversized statue from c.173AD survived destruction
in the later Empire after being mistaken for the
Christianising Constantine. The original is in Romes
Palazzo Nuovo.
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Caracallas airbrush
The painted Severan
Tondo (c.200AD)
panel (held in the
Antikensammlung,
Berlin) depicts Emperor
Septimius Severus with
his family. The head of
one of the sons has been
scratched out; he was
murdered by the chubby,
beaming little beast
next to him, his brother,
Caracalla. He became a
fairly disgusting emperor
by all accounts, and it
was he who ordered
the damnatio memoriae
(damnation of memory),
taking the Roman
airbrush to his brothers
portrait. Gratifyingly,
Emperor Caracalla was
eventually murdered
while urinating by the
side of the road.
Warts n all: sculpting faces the Roman way
The ourishing art of the Roman Empire took Greek
models and topped up the naturalism. While the idealised
statuary of the Greeks attered their Gods, its Roman
descendant happily sculpted the warts on an emperors
face truth took precedence over beauty. The bust
of Emperor Vespasian in Naples Museo Archeologico
Nazionale, while it carries the somewhat distracted look
of a hung-over accountant at a golf club bar, is a ne
example.
Sculpture was treated with religious awe (the Christians
refusal to burn incense in front of the emperors bust
became the original cause of their persecution), and
artists were permitted to make it more lifelike than the
Greeks had ever done. Its also worth noting that realism
was usually limited to the face; it wasnt unusual to nd
a rather sardonic, unromantic Roman head glued to the
torso of a beefy Greek god. The best-known statue of
Augustus (the Augustus of Prima Porta) shows him
looking youthful on a torso thats copied from the fth
century BC Greek sculptor, Polykleitos.
Floor to ceiling: Roman paintings and mosaics
The Romans were prodigious portrait painters. Alas, little
of what they hung on the wall survives, save the odd
encaustic painting (mixing pigment and hot wax), daubed
on wooden panels. Thanks in no small measure to Mount
Vesuvius, Roman frescos (in which paint is applied direct
to wet plaster) survive in far greater number. The wall
paintings of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae were
created as decoration by decorators practitioners were
seen as tradesmen rather than maestros. Similarly,
commissioning a fresco or a sculpture was an assertion
of wealth and status as much as patronage of the arts.
Subject matter included scenes of daily life (the maiden
gathering owers on the wall of a house in Stabiae
is achingly lovely), landscapes, mythology, still life (a
wonderful couple of lemons and a glass of water) and
post-watershed naughtiness, usually in a brothel or a
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So, yes, this is you
burning in hell. A good
likeness I think?
The fresco from the
Catacomb of Priscilla
in Rome showing three
men in a ery furnace,
their arms outstretched
beseechingly, and the
dove the symbol of
Divine help hovering
reassuringly above,
was typical of early
underground Christian
art and its undecorative
urgency.
decadent villa. Mosaics were usually used as
oor art, although there are extant examples
on walls. Military escapades and historical
events were often portrayed, and geometrically
arranged motifs were also popular. Pieced
together with coloured stone, Roman mosaics
never quite achieved the lustre of Byzantine
examples made from glazed stone or glass
fragments.
Gloating in stone: triumphal art
Wealthy Romans used art to announce their social
standing and, similarly, politicians and emperors used it
for propaganda. Several accounts of Roman triumphal
painting exist (if not the paintings themselves), made
after military victories. They captured episodes from the
war and the conquered, devastated landscapes. Similarly,
sculpture embellished triumphal arches and columns,
often with a documentary frieze carved in stone. Trajans
Column, dating to 113AD and still standing in central
Rome, commemorates the emperors victory in the
Dacian Wars with a spiralling 30-metre bas-relief of the
wars events.
The underground art of the early Christians
The catacomb paintings of ancient Rome, none of which
predate 200AD, are the earliest surviving examples of
Christian art. Families were keen to see their loved ones
(and later themselves) off with an image or two of the
afterlife. When Emperor Constantine converted in 313,
an edict of toleration was issued and, with imperial favour
and protection, Christianity and in turn Christian art was
allowed to move above ground and to ourish. While early
Christian art maintained the realistic Classical representation
of gures, the Greek-led idealisation of beauty was rendered
irrelevant. God and death became the main themes of
work that was unheroic and modest. Sculpture was now
utilitarian, crude and typically unfussy, yet had an intensity
and focus that portrayed people who had witnessed, and
nally accepted, the onset of Christianity.
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PAI NTI NG CAN DO
FOR THE I LLI TERATE
WHAT WRI TI NG
DOES FOR THOSE
WHO CAN READ.
Or so said Pope Gregory
No pictures please
In the eighth century,
Italy was about
the only portion of
the now distinctly
un-Roman Roman
Empire to seriously
resist the Iconoclasts,
a destructive group
spurred on by Emperor
Leo IIIs demands that
all human images
in religious art be
smashed. Italys non-
compliance ensured the
survival of Ravennas
mosaics.
When West met East: Byzantine art in Italy
When the Roman Empire split in the fourth century, the
focus of art moved from Rome to the small Greek city
of Byzantium. Here, the expressive, instructive early
Christian art of the Roman catacombs clashed with the
contemplative icons of the Orthodox Church. The latter
won out, and by the sixth century the prevailing taste
in the Empire was for stylised, impassive gures, for
enigmatic reections of a supernatural world.
Despite the restrictions, Byzantine art, in the hands of
several unknown geniuses, deposited some stunning
work in Italy. Sculpture was largely abandoned (the
spirit, not the body, was all important), replaced by
wall paintings and mosaics. Ravenna was the centre of
activity. Here, in the new capital of the Western Empire,
mid-sixth century Greek craftsmen revived the sumptuous
decoration of ancient Oriental art. The best mosaics
(perhaps the nest ever laid) were completed in the
Church of San Vitale in 547, where stylised nature, biblical
scenes and the emperor were made kaleidoscopic.
As Italy felt its way through the Dark Ages in the
following centuries, the best Byzantine art was created
elsewhere. However, the artistic meld of East and West
did periodically return, notably in the mosaics of Monreale
Cathedral, Sicily, created by Byzantine craftsmen some
time around 1190. Byzantine style, particularly Ravennas,
also appeared in the art and buildings of early medieval
Venice, notably inside St Marks basilica.
What a relief: Romanesque and Gothic art
The Romanesque (a rather misleading term for the art
of the period; the Roman element was conned largely
to architecture) and subsequent Gothic styles that took
root in northern and central Europe from the tenth
century struggled in Italy, where the jumble of territories
produced only isolated successes. Ecclesiastical
architecture usually led the way (see section 3.2.2 for
more) and art followed up with the essential
3.1.2 Killing time til Giotto arrives: medieval art
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The family stone
The Cosmati were a
Roman family famed
for geometrically
patterned church
oors, tabernacles
and altarpieces in the
12
th
and 13
th
centuries.
Four generations of
Cosmati mixed small
segments of coloured
stone with large stripes
and discs of marble in
the churches of Rome,
although one of their
best patterns turned up
in Westminster Abbey,
London.
accoutrements: carved reliefs, wall paintings, illuminated
manuscripts and mosaics. Gulielmo da Modenas
simplistic but signicant narrative carvings on Modenas
Romanesque cathedral were a high point.
In the south, the Saracens Sicilian adventure turned up
in the islands geometrically decorated churches and
lived on through the Normans tenure to blend with
both Romanesque and Byzantine elements. Puglia was
similarly pleased with Norman design; Otranto cathedral
has the largest Norman mosaic in existence, a 700-
foot tree of life design dating to c.1163. The Gothic
style of the 13
th
and 14
th
centuries, its gures less stiff
than Romanesques, struggled to impact on Italian art,
although it appears in chunks of northern sculpture and
decoration, particularly in the lavish medieval palazzos of
Venice.
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Whats that up ahead? Its the past
While Gothic design was doing
its best to penetrate Italy, certain
painters and sculptors began looking
back to the animation and naturalism
of Classical art. The seeds of the
Renaissance were being sown.
Nicola Pisano, a Puglian sculptor, was
the rst key gure to take inspiration
from Roman statuary, basing his
sensuous 1260 nude Fortitude, for
Pisa Cathedrals new pulpit, on a
Roman model of Hercules. Pisanos
son, Giovanni, and his pupil, Arnolfo
di Cambio, moved things along,
blending the physicality of Roman
sculpture with Gothics growing
interest in drama and expression.
I N MY OPI NI ON PAI NTERS OWE TO GI OTTO, THE FLORENTI NE
PAI NTER, EXACTLY THE SAME DEBT THEY OWE TO NATURE, WHI CH
CONSTANTLY SERVES THEM AS A MODEL AND WHOSE FI NEST
AND MOST BEAUTI FUL ASPECTS THEY ARE ALWAYS STRI VI NG TO
I MI TATE AND REPRODUCE.
Giorgio Vasari
AFTER THE
DARKNESS HAS
BEEN DI SPELLED,
OUR GRANDSONS
WI LL BE ABLE TO
WALK BACK I NTO
THE RADI ANCE OF
THE PAST.
Petrarch urges rebirth
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So he was quite
good then?
There are lots of stories
about Giottos genius.
He was apprenticed
to Cimabue (aka Cenni
di Pepo) himself
experimenting with
greater realism in art
and had his master
shooing a y off one
of his paintings, such
was Giottos realism.
Later on in his career he
reputedly demonstrated
his talent to the pope
(whod sent a messenger
to uncover evidence of
the painters skill) by
drawing a freehand, but
perfect, circle Giottos
O as it became known.
Damned by Dantes
praise
Giotto, a man of lively
wit, bore a certain
self-deprecatory charm
where his alleged
lack of prettiness was
concerned. When Dante,
who knew Giotto well,
saw him at work in the
Scrovegni Chapel, he
remarked on the beauty
of the frescos just
completed, a quality, he
felt obliged to point out,
the painters children,
scattered underfoot,
lacked. After such
devastating, poetic
rudeness, Giotto simply
replied that he shouldnt
be surprised since hed
made them in the dark.
Giotto the proto-Renaissance man
Fifty years after the Pisanos put Classical uidity back
into sculpture, a Florentine artist did the same for
painting. Giotto di Bondone was the rst genuine hero
of a beckoning age, a proto-Renaissance man. He was
applauded in his own lifetime as a radical artist; as a
true revolutionary who wrested art away from at and
formulaic Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic modes and
made it three-dimensional, realistic and dynamic. In truth,
Byzantine and Gothic art were already moving towards
greater authenticity in their depiction of the human form,
but undeniably, Giotto made the big, celebrated leap.
His most acclaimed frescos, a cycle celebrating the lives
of the Virgin and Christ, belong to the Scrovegni Chapel
in Padua. Completed c.1305, the stunning work lls
the chapel. In emphasising the human rather than the
divine (his gures looked more like real people in real
landscapes than the stylised, over-coloured embodiments
of virtue), Giotto chalked up one of the most important
achievements in art history.
The Giotto comedown and the Sienese School
Nobody followed on Giottos heels exactly, although
a slew of pale imitators known as the Giotteschi did
their best. Taddeo Gaddi, apprentice to Giotto, seemed
content to produce good work that was in no danger of
marking out another big change. Even though Giotto was
revered and his work understood, it would take another
century before other artists furthered his exploration of
naturalism. It was as if Giotto had done too much, too
quickly.
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At the same time that Giotto was breaking boundaries in
the Veneto, his best contemporaries were gathering in
Siena to give Italy its most vibrant, colourful encounter
with Gothic. Duccio di Buoninsegna was the leading
gure. His great success was the Maest (1308-11) in
Siena Cathedral, an exquisite painting often likened to
detailed and opulent Persian miniatures. Movement and
space became more important in the beautiful, though
still somewhat static work of Simone Martini in the early
14th century. This Sienese School also produced the
Lorenzetti brothers, Pietro and Ambrogio, who gave a nod
to Giottos naturalism but were more important for their
increasingly secular subject matter.
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What the Renaissance was and why it centred
on Florence
The Renaissance now seems like a nicely rounded
burst of creativity spanning the 14th to 17th centuries,
providing a bridge between the Middle Ages and
the modern era. In some ways it was, but its also
worth remembering that Renaissance only became a
fashionable term in retrospect. Its suggestion of light
after centuries of darkness shouldnt be taken as read.
The work of Giotto, the Pisanos and later Byzantine and
Gothic artists all helped feed the key Renaissance theme:
reviving the culture of Antiquity.
In Florence in the 15th century (confusingly called
the quattrocento), fortuitous circumstances collided:
Petrarchs Humanism (see section 2.1.3 for more) had
initiated a revival of all things Classical; Florentine rulers
were championing the city, a republic (in name at least),
as the protector of Roman values and culture; and the
citys wealth, accumulated from textiles and banking,
created rich patrons keen to buy the artwork that would
conrm their association with those Classical, Humanist
values. The major players of the Renaissance all worked
in Florence at some time or another. It was home to the
fabled Medici dynasty, and in particular Lorenzo di Medici
(il Magnico) who, while not commissioning personally,
made life easier for Botticelli, Leonardo and Michelangelo
by recommending their services to private patrons. The
Ufzi, the ofces designed by Brunelleschi, and the
countless churches, museums and piazzas littered with
the most famous artistic heritage on earth, all attested to
Florence being the centre of the new universe.
3.1.3 Master strokes: the Renaissance in Italian art
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Five key gures of the early Renaissance in Florence
Filippo Brunelleschi. Not only was Brunelleschi the
extraordinary genius behind the vast dome of Florence
Cathedral (see section 3.2.3 for more), he also codied
the laws of perspective some time around 1415,
providing painters with a foolproof formula.
Donatello (born Donato di Niccol di Betto Bardi).
Brunelleschis friend, the nest quattrocento sculptor,
went through three phases: from realism, through
Classical idealism and back to realism and the portrayal
of character. The lifelike qualities, particularly the
apprehensive, alert face of concentration, on his statue
of St George, completed early in his career, in 1416, and
stood in a niche outside the church of Or-San-Michele in
Florence, marked a real break with the past.
Perspective, better than
sex
Paolo Uccellos Rout of
San Romano (c.1450)
is artfully littered with
lances, dead soldiers
and bits of armour, all
expertly foreshortened.
Indeed, it was as if
perspective took over
the Florentine painters
life. He loved it. So
much so that his poor
wife, calling him from
bed, would often hear
him answer, glued to his
easel, What a sweet
thing perspective is.
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Lorenzo Ghiberti. A contemporary of Donatello, sculptor
Ghiberti made two sets of bronze baptistery doors for
Florence cathedral, produced over a 40-year period. The
rst set had the grace of International Gothic, the second,
all the new depth, verve and perspective of the Classical
Renaissance. Ghibertis Baptism Of Christ relief on the
font in the Baptistery of Siena Cathedral (also featuring
Donatellos Herods Feast) was another milestone.
Masaccio (meaning Messy Tom he was born Tommaso
Cassai). The most important (albeit dishevelled) Florentine
painter of the quattrocento reacted against medieval
artice, creating depth and drama with a profound
understanding of perspective. His paintings celebrated
Humanism their gures existing as solid bodies in
space. His Trinit (c.1427), in the church of Santa Maria
Novella, Florence, is a breathtaking example.
Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro). A Dominican friar
from Fiesole, near Florence, Angelico painted natural,
unforced religious pictures of motion and depth, in
perfect understanding of the new rules introduced by
Brunelleschi and Masaccio. The wall paintings in the
monastery of San Marco, Florence, completed in the
1430s, are among his best.
The early Renaissance outside Florence
A generation after Donatello, Masaccio and co lit up
Florence, the preoccupation with perspective and Classical
realism seeped out to other regions. Rome, relatively slow
on the uptake, only began searching out the Renaissance
style in the later 15th century. Further north, the Veneto
produced a ne artist in the shape of Andrea Mantegna,
a Paduan painter who achieved a heightened sense of
drama using perspective and Classically solid, anatomically
correct gures. From southern Tuscany came Piero
della Francesca, creating paintings that, like Mantegnas,
were dramatic and truthful but relied on light as well as
perspective for their potency. His Dream of Constantine
(c.1460) fresco in Arezzos church of San
Painting in the
background
A clever and industrious
man, Ghiberti was a
collector and writer as
well as an artist. His
written Commentarii,
a mix of autobiography
and observation, spread
ideas on Humanism and
left a revealing account
of the man and his
times.
Messy Toms messy end
If the standard line is
to be believed then
Masaccio died by
poison, killed by a rival
artist when he was
just 27 years old. The
more likely story is that
he succumbed to the
plague.
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Francesco, reputedly the rst nocturnal scene in Western
art, delivered dazzling illumination and compositional
perfection. Della Francesca also expressed his passion for
geometry in various mathematical treatises.
Venus envy: Botticelli and friends
Back in Florence, artists like Antonio del Pollaiuolo,
painter and sculptor, moved closer to Classical form. Fra
Filipo Lippi started out painting in the style of his tutor,
Masaccio, before turning to a more informal, decorative
style, expert in its grasp of perspective (apparently after
he abandoned the clergy to get married). However,
the later quattrocento in Florence belonged to Sandro
Botticelli, pupil of Lippi and cohort of Pollaiuolo. He
painted his best work for the Medici family. Botticelli
overcame the problem of presenting a complicated
knot of people in a tight landscape, employing a kind of
elongated Classicism to do it. Part of his unique skill lay
in selecting just what he needed to convey a story, as
Fra Angelico had done before him. Much of Botticellis
painting was religious, but his most famous work, The
Birth of Venus (c.1485), rendered a classical myth. As
Florentines urgently tried to recapture the splendour
of Ancient Rome, such mythology, formerly discarded,
achieved a renewed and potent power.
If you can remember it, you probably werent there:
the High Renaissance
As the 16th century (cinquecento) began, the
Renaissance went into overdrive. Artists were becoming
celebrities, although not immediately the sort of people
who would be invited to rich dinner tables. Snobbery
still dictated that intellectuals, writers and poets were
superior to the artists who (ugh, how horrible) worked
with their hands. Even so, for numerous small courts in
need of honour and prestige, commissioning a tomb, a
fresco or a building from a well-known maestro could
secure a place in posterity. Subject matter broke out,
expressing more than just godliness (although this
Giorgio Vasari,
Michelangelos biggest
fan
Vasari gets its all down
Giorgio Vasari, born in
the midst of the High
Renaissance, was the
great Florentine critic
and chronicler of the
period. The Lives Of The
Artists (1550) is still
considered essential
reading, however biased
and spurious some of
its biographies may
be. His great hero,
Michelangelo, was
also his friend. Vasari
was an accomplished
painter in the Mannerist
style himself, although
his work was more
admired then than
now. Principally he
was renowned as an
architect, constantly
engaged by the Medicis
in Florence, Rome and
Naples.
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remained the prime theme). Some artists even got a say
in what they painted.
The geography of the Renaissance shifted slightly too,
moving with the ow of wealth and power. Florence
remained important, but Venice and Rome (with its
strengthening papacy) grew to rival its creative output,
each with its own, subtly regional version of Renaissance
art. In common, the key gures of the brief High
Renaissance (it was over by 1525) combined the Classical
realism of the early Renaissance with an eye for idealised
grandeur. They made some monumental works of art.
The big three of the High
Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci. The
Florentine elder of the High
Renaissance was a quick-
learning apprentice whose
powerful, enquiring brain
strove to understand the
world and its wondrous
workings, both artistic and
scientic. He started much
but nished little; few of his
paintings (and none of his
sculpture) actually reached
completion. Da Vincis large masterpiece, The Last
Supper (1497), painted during a long spell in Milan, broke
new ground in its composition with a calm Christ anked
by agitated, richly characterised apostles. If only he hadnt
experimented with painting it in oil on dry plaster (it
began to deteriorate within three years of completion). A
later work, Mona Lisa (1504-5), innovated with sfumato,
the gradual, almost imperceptible, blurring from one tone
or colour to another, and also with chiaroscuro, the use
of light and shade for dramatic emphasis. The work is
a deliberate picture-riddle; the eyes and mouth either
betraying a smirk, a slight sneer or a very calm look of
recognition.
Da Vinci in code
Da Vinci made
conceptual notes
(multiple notebooks
worth of which survive)
about double-hulled
ships, tanks, helicopters,
solar power, plate
tectonics and blood
circulation (which he
almost gured out).
Most of his writing was
completed in mirror
script (i.e. the mirror
opposite of normal
writing); no ones quite
sure if he wanted to
keep his thoughts
hidden, was left-handed,
and therefore trying to
avoid smudging the ink,
or was just showing off.
Mona on the move
Da Vinci was as
impressed with his
Mona Lisa as the rest
of us. He carried it
around with him for
years, taking it on trips
to Rome and France.
Incidentally, in Italy
they call it La Gioconda
because the sitter was
married to Francesco del
Giocondo.
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Michelangelo Buonarroti. The poet, painter, sculptor
and architect of unprecedented fame who came
a generation after Leonardo was fascinated with
earlier masters, Masaccio in particular, and the Ancient
sculptors who captured the human body in motion. He
was attracted by the challenges that awkward poses and
funny angles threw at him. Michelangelo, who spent
most of his career in Rome in the employ of popes,
grudgingly accepted a commission on Pope Sixtus Sistine
Chapel; he considered painting beneath him sculpture
was his passion. The four years of work (he shut himself
away after getting rid of his assistants) resulted in a
colossal, brilliant painting of the Genesis story complete
with muscular, emotive and complex gures. It was the
apogee of the High Renaissance. Michelangelo nished
the ceiling in 1512, aged 37. A year later his Dying Slave
An artist to look up to
Michelangelo was so
used to standing on
scaffolding and looking
up whilst working on
the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel that he would
instinctively read letters
held above his head.
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(1516), for the tomb of Pope Julius, was a sculpture of
almost supernatural skill. The artists later work, which
played an important role in the emergence of Mannerism
(see overleaf), substituted poised grandeur for writhing
distorted shapes, possibly coloured by Charles Vs attack
on Rome and its Renaissance treasures in 1527.
Raphael Sanzio. By all accounts the painter known
simply as Raphael was as sweet natured as Michelangelo
was terse. He sauntered into Florence from Urbino,
Marche, in 1504, to soak up the spirit of Leonardo and
Michelangelo, and completed his Madonna del Granduca
a year later. The graceful work, one of many of the Virgin
and Child by Raphael, displays a stunning control of paint
and use of sfumato. His most important paintings came
later, in Rome. Summoned by Pope Julius II, he was
commissioned to paint frescos in the Vatican ofces and
produced The School of Athens (1509-11), a work that
embodies the best Renaissance art with its balanced
composition, perspective, mastery of the human gure
and Classical gravitas. He wasnt a slave to nature, unlike
his quattrocento predecessors; his beauty was more
idealised and imagined, as seen in the beautiful gures of
another masterpiece, The Nymph Galatea (1512-14).
Three Venetian masters of the Renaissance
Giovanni Bellini initiated the Venetian trend for painting
with far richer colours than those used in Tuscany. He
borrowed a sculptural style of painting from his Paduan
brother-in-law, Mantegna, albeit creating more human,
less idealised gures. Bellini painted his best, Madonna
with Saints (1505), towards the end of his long life,
mastering the harmony of gures and surroundings; it
sits above the altar in the little church of San Zaccaria, in
Venice.
Giorgione, or Giorgio Barbarelli, didnt live very long,
dying aged around 32 in 1510, and he didnt leave many
paintings behind (only a handful, all unsigned, are
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assumed to be his), but he did exert a great inuence
on the Venetian style with moody, hazy and imagined
landscapes supporting the gures, often female nudes,
in his work. His Sleeping Venus (c.1510) has been called
the rst painting to make a female nude the uncontested
centre of attention.
Titian, full name Tiziano
Vecellio, ofcial painter
to the Venetian Republic,
drew on Bellinis colour
and Giorgiones nudes
and smoky landscapes
(some of his work directly
copied, or perhaps even
nished off, Giorgiones).
He brought drama to
religious and mythological
scenes and portraits with
a faultless sense of colour
and light; Madonna with
Saints and Members of the
Pesaro Family (1528) was an amazing work that broke
the unwritten rules of symmetrical composition. He
fullled every bit of promise in a great, long life before
succumbing to the plague in Venice, rumoured to be
99 years of age, and had a profound inuence over the
Baroque painters who followed.
What and who were the Mannerists?
Elongation, compositional strangeness (ignoring the
rules established to lead the eye through the painted
narrative), discordant colours, cryptic subject matter: all
became grist to the mill of the Mannerists towards the
end of the High Renaissance. Sculptors and painters,
most of them in Rome, twisted their gures, some
elegantly, some with a hint of the grotesque, and created
confused, crowded compositions. They grew from the
Classical tradition of realism but moved it on, inspired by
Correggio: how on earth?
Antonio Allegri, better
known as Correggio,
bathed his subjects in
light. His style was well
suited to Italys renewed
taste for religious
art in the 1520s. The
Assumption of the Virgin
(1530) ceiling fresco
in Parma cathedral
took foreshortening
and illumination to
breathtaking new
heights, depicting Mary
ascending to heaven
through a vertical tunnel
of angels perched on
clouds. At rst glance
it looks like a huge
celestial sauna. His
paintings pregure both
Mannerism and the
Baroque style.
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Raphael and Michelangelo. Its as if the Mannerists were
saying, I can do anything, it doesnt have to look real,
its just got to look brilliant. In truth, some werent quite
good enough; as art historian E.H. Gombrich put it, their
pictures didnt so much record a religious experience as
a roomful of squabbling athletes. Mannerism lasted until
the end of the 16th century and, in a way, became a
template for Modernism. Three Italian artists stood out:
Jacopo da Pontormo, from Florence, stretched his
gures and crowded the canvas, instilling emotion in
works like Visitation (1528-29), a painting that dees its
time, glowing with charm and eloquence.
Tintoretto, the Venetian-born Jacopo Robusti, studied
briey with Titian before the pair fell out. The Finding
of St Marks Remains (1562), with its strange sanguine
colours, unusual viewpoint and contrasts between gloom
and bright light, typied his style.
Parmigianino, the little one from Parma who also
answered to the name of Girolamo Francesco Maria
Mazzola, eschewed natural beauty in favour of
something radical and unexpected. The Madonna of the
Long Neck (c.1535), an image of sophisticated distortion,
is true to its title, with the addition of a stretched,
disquieting baby Jesus.
Colourful character
Jacopo Robusti earned
the nickname Tintoretto,
the little dyer, because
his father worked
colouring fabric. Later in
his career the artist was
referred to as Il Furioso,
such was the rapid pace
at which he produced
paintings.
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Art of the people for the people
The expression and exibility of Mannerism fell from
favour near the end of the 16th century. Instead, amid
growing ardour for the Counter Reformation, patrons (i.e.
the Church) demanded truth, or at least a Catholic version
of it. The return to naturalism revived a High Renaissance
spirit, yet often ditched the idealised Classical
interpretation of reality for something more visceral and
tangible, something people could actually relate to and,
the Church hoped, learn from. It was the beginning of
Baroque. Two Early Baroque painters rose above the rest:
Annibale Carracci. The best painter in a famous
family of Bolognese artists, Carracci was a big fan of
Raphaels work and sought to capture its simplicity
and essence. His was the more idealised form of
Early Baroque style, best seen in frescos painted for a
ceiling at the Palazzo Farnese, Rome, between 1597
and 1604. The mythological narrative was placed within
painted, illusory statuary and picture frames, recalling
the High Renaissance but also pre-empting the elaborate
decoration of High Baroque.
Michelangelo da Caravaggio. Where Carraccis art was
pretty, almost sentimental, the painter from Caravaggio in
Lombardy (he was born Michelangelo Merisi but became
known by the name of his hometown) produced gutsy,
emotional pictures appealing directly to the senses.
Famously, he painted biblical gures like theyd been
plucked from the poor back streets of Rome (which his
models had he didnt simply sketch classical statues as
per contemporary fashion). His Doubting Thomas (1602-
3) with its workaday-looking Christ and three apostles,
dressed in contemporary clothing, was typical. The
Church often found his work a bit too real his truth was
considered ugly, even disrespectful, at the time and
he was obliged to repaint a number of commissions.
However, this very intensity, the hyperrealism bolstered
by a brilliant use of chiaroscuro, made his work as devout
as Carraccis.
3.1.4 Back to reality: the power of Baroque
When artists attack: the
enigma of Caravaggio
Caravaggios life was
as famously wilful as
his paintings. Born
to a Lombardian
administrator in 1571
(or possibly 1573), he
arrived in Rome in
1593 after a four-year
apprenticeship in Milan.
He became known
(perhaps erroneously) as
a thug albeit one with
a God-given (so they
said) talent for painting
and rapidly accrued
quite an arrest record. In
1606 he went too far and
killed a tennis opponent
in a dispute over the
score. With a price on
his head, Caravaggio
ed to Naples, found
new commissions and
painted increasingly
dark pictures. Moving
on to Malta he was
made a knight, before
being arrested again.
He escaped and ed to
Sicily where he painted
several seminal works,
notably David with
the Head of Goliath
(c.1609) in which the
stricken giants face
is Caravaggios own,
before, in 1610, he died,
probably of typhus.
Famed in his own
lifetime, Caravaggio was
all but forgotten for 300
years, until his stock rose
again in the 20
th
century.
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High Baroque: Rome recovers its mojo
A band of lesser, imitative artists followed and worked
with Carracci and Caravaggio. The latters were called
the Caravaggisti, naturalistic painters who featured
Artemisia Gentileschi in their ranks, the rst female
painter to gain any real recognition in Italy. Carraccis
corner included Guido Reni, a fellow Bolognese who
arrived in Rome in 1601 and worked closely with the
master. His Aurora (1614) fresco, painted for the Palazzo
Pallavicini-Rospigliosi in Rome, shows an idealisation of
nature, but more importantly an evocation of the Classical
past. Rome rapidly became the centre of the Baroque
world, attracting artists from abroad, notably French
Classicist landscape boys, Nicolas Poussin and Claude
Lorrain. Caravaggios naturalism slipped from favour in
Italy 20 years after his death and Baroque took a turn for
the fancy. Grand, illusory painting and sculpture became
fashionable, executed by artists like Pietro da Cortona
who painted vast frescos packed with movement, colour
and illusion. This, with all its orid bombast, was High
Baroque.
Bernini: no friend of restraint
The high priest of High Baroque was Gian Lorenzo
Bernini. The Neapolitan son of a Mannerist sculptor,
Bernini shot to fame in Rome in the 1620s and remained
busy as a sculptor and architect for the rest of his life,
working for seven different popes in all. Bernini was
all about drama. He had the striking ability to render
emotion and movement faithfully in stone. His gures,
like Caravaggios, had a eshy reality; they werent the
idealised humans of Michelangelo. Berninis sculptures
are dotted through the public spaces and buildings of
Rome, from St Peters to Piazza Navona, but his most
famous work resides in the church of Santa Maria
della Vittoria: The Ecstasy of St Theresa (1635) is an
astonishingly complex, expressive creation. It recreates
Theresas mystic vision of an arrow-wielding angel of the
Lord, with the eponymous, swooning saint in a tumble of
Caravaggios camera
British artist David
Hockney has speculated
that Caravaggio
achieved his trademark
expressive accuracy by
projecting his intended
image onto the canvas
using a lens. Before
the lens, artists used a
concave mirror to reect
and project the subject
matter. An Italian
researcher has gone
further, suggesting that
Caravaggio used light
sensitive chemicals to
x an image on the
canvas, and then painted
in the lines.
Superstar sculptor
When he wasnt making
sculptures or designing
buildings, Bernini found
time to paint, write plays
(a scribbled text was
discovered in the 1970s),
design stage sets
and even orchestrate
rework displays. On the
few occasions that he
left his beloved Rome
he was recognised as
a genius; in Paris they
mobbed him in the
streets in 1665 (well,
maybe not mobbed
exactly, but perhaps
looked at him quite
intently in that knowing
Parisian way).
drapery and light (from a hidden skylight). Some modern
observers question whether Theresas rapture comes
from spiritual enlightenment or more earthly satisfaction,
such is the realism.
Spluttering embers: Rococo and Neoclassicism
Baroques nal, 18th century ourish, the French-led
amboyance of Rococo, found few signicant Italian
practitioners. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, like other Rococo
artists, was akin to a brilliant decorator. The Banquet of
Cleopatra (c.1755), painted in Tiepolos native city, Venice,
was typical in its colourful, dramatic, showy and fun style.
Other Venetians were more concerned with landscape.
Giovanni Antonio Canale, known better as Canaletto,
painted colourful, literal scenes of Venetian waterways,
traders and festivities that were snapped up by Grand
Tourists. Francesco Guardi brought a delicate Rococo
touch to the Canaletto style, showing a mastery of brush
strokes that would interest the Impressionists years later.
Despite the best efforts of
Tiepolo, Canaletto and Guardi
in Venice, the res of Italian
art were becoming spluttering
embers. By the time Rococos
gingerbread style provoked
the austerity of Neoclassicism
in the later 18th century,
the best artists at work in
Italy were foreign, drawn
to Rome by its Ancient and
Renaissance art. Only Antonio
Canova won international
fame as the leading sculptor
of Neoclassicism. The Three
Graces (1817), amongst the
most celebrated of Canovas
delicate nudes, shows how
Berninis intense freeze-frame style had been replaced by
the old, considered elegance of Ancient sculpture.
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Italys pre-Impressionists
A small group of
painters from Tuscany
formed the Macchiaioli
school in 1850, with
similar aims to the more
famous and enduring
French Impressionists.
Macchie means patches
or spots areas of light
and dark the elements
that gave the groups
paintings their strength
and radiance. Giovanni
Fattori and Silvestro
Lega were two of the
prime adherents. Many
of the Macchiaioli
took part in the 1848
uprisings; they were
politically engaged
and sought a return
to the boldness of the
old masters. Alas, the
majority died in poverty,
misunderstood and
reviled.
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Ive seen the future and its sort of blurred looking
The most dynamic force in early 20th century Italian
art was Futurism. Poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
(see section 2.1.5 for more) was the chief founder and
polemicist of a movement that launched in 1909 intent
on celebrating the energy and movement of the modern,
technological age at the expense of traditional forms.
Parisian Cubism was an inuence, as was the now largely
forgotten late 19th century Italian Divisionist movement
with its social realist style and love of light.
Giacomo Balla was an important Futurist painter; his
Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) was typical of the
schools efforts to render motion, in this case with the
frantically blurred legs of its sausage dog star. Umberto
Boccionis Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913),
its gure slurred by speed, was Futurism in sculptural
form. Futurism had largely died out by 1918 (they were
less celebratory about the mechanised age after the big
industrial war), although re-emerged briey under the
Fascists, notably with the state-sponsored art of Mario
Sironi. Although Futurism was short-lived, its components
movement, the celebration of youth, speed, technology
and power emerged not only in Art Deco and the
conceptual work of Marcel Duchamp but also inuenced
much of todays modern culture, from Ridley Scotts
Bladerunner to the comics of Manga and Anime.
Introspection selection: the Metaphysicals
While the Futurists were busy ripping up the order,
glorifying the external, mechanised world, another
group of artists quietly turned their gaze inwards, to
the subconscious. The Metaphysical school painted
dreamlike scenes that would prove highly inuential to
the Dada and Surrealist movements. Giorgio de Chirico,
a Greek born of Italian parents, was the big name, famed
for strange, haunting images of colonnaded piazzas. He
studied philosophy in Germany and loved the Nietzschean
squares of Turin. Belgian painter Ren Magritte described
3.1.5 To the avant-garde and back:
modern Italian art
Out with the old
The key artists of
Futurism, Umberto
Boccioni, Carlo Carr,
Giacomo Balla, Luigi
Russolo and Gino
Severini, all signed the
Technical Manifesto
of Futurist Painting in
1910. First up on its list
of declarations was: All
forms of imitation must
be despised, all forms of
originality gloried.
Aerial perspective
Aeropittura (aero
painting) was a
vital component of
the second wave of
Futurism, in the interwar
period. The technology
and excitement of ight,
directly experienced
by most aero painters,
offered up aeroplanes
and aerial landscapes as
new subject matter.
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de Chiricos Song of Love (1914) as a complete break
with the mental habits of artistsa new vision. Giorgio
Morandi and Filippo De Pisis were other important
Metaphysical artists, as was Futurist defector Carlo Carr.
Why the long face? Ask Modigliani
Although the Expressionism that grew in early 20th century
Europe struggled to make a signicant impact in Italy, the
nation did produce one of the movements most thrilling
exponents, albeit one who spent most of his working life
in France. Livorno-born Amedeo Modigliani had a short
and tragically shambolic life, curtailed by ill health (aged
35) and aggravated by various bohemian addictions. And
yet his work, inuenced by Romanian sculptor Brancusi,
is instantly recognisable and idiosyncratic: heads were
painted at and mask-like, with almond eyes and long
necks, their form vaguely reminiscent of ancient Egyptian
painting, or the African masks, exhibited in Paris, that had
nudged a thrilled Picasso towards Cubism. Modigliani also
produced sculpture, adopting the same approach as he did
to painting.
Art on a budget
It was the critic Germano Celant who rst used the term
Arte Povera (impoverished or poor art) in relation to a
small group of Italian artists producing radical work in the
1960s and 70s. The radical, unrestrained manner in which
they expressed a politically charged standpoint (in the era
of student protests and anti-war demos) would shape the
art of the later 20th century with its ephemeral modes
of performance, installation, interaction and assemblage.
They were inspired by Marcel Duchamp and by Piero
Manzoni, a brilliant, ironic conceptual Italian artist who
died, aged 29, a year or two before Arte Povera got
started. The poorness of the Arte Povera clique related
to the cheap materials they used, from newspapers to
vegetables. By using rudimentary ingredients they hoped
to cross the divide between life and art, to trigger a
reaction from the viewer and also subvert the
Devoted companion
Upon hearing of
Modiglianis death in
1920, his 21-year-old
muse and mistress,
Jeanne Hebuterne,
eight months pregnant
with their second child,
committed suicide by
jumping from a fth-
storey window in Paris.
It does what it says on
the tin
In 1961 Piero Manzoni
created an artwork of 90
small, sealed tin cans
labelled artists shit.
One of the cans sold for
$80,000 in 2007.
United nations of art
The Venice Biennale,
the most famous festival
of international art
(dance has recently
been added to the
menu), is held every
two years. It began in
1895, and has struggled
to maintain a truly
representative showcase
of world art ever since.
Attending countries
get their own pavilion
to show in, aided by a
central exhibition space
and numerous fringe
activities and displays.
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commercialisation of art. Arte Povera produced a number
of signicant gures, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giovanni
Anselmo and Alighiero Boetti among them.
Beyond the avant-garde
After the Arte Povera storm came the Transavanguardia
calm. Meaning, literally, beyond the avant-garde, the
movement arose in the late 1970s and survived well into
the 80s as part of a wider neo-Expressionist movement.
They reacted against conceptual art, adopting a more
gurative, joyous approach, using traditional methods
(painting and sculpture) if not traditional styles. The
themes chosen by Transavanguardia artists were always
eclectic, poaching subject matter from both Antiquity and
the modern world. Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente,
Enzo Cucchi, Nicola de Maria and Mimmo Paladino (all
still at work) were among the key gures.
Niche work if you can get it: contemporary Italian art
Although plenty of contemporary artists are providing the
modern curatorial scene with challenging, arresting and
ironical post-modern work, Italian art suffers from a lack
of cohesion. There is no It Pack. The Italian public would
be hard-pressed to know what Italian modern art is. Or
who Vanessa Beecroft is, for example shes a Genoese
performance artist, working in America in a style that still
references Classical art, usually through the grouping of
static nude bodies.
Seven
contemporary
Italian artists
Luca Trevisani.
Conceptual artist
creating multimedia
meditations on beauty
and energy.
Vanessa Beecroft.
Arranges (and lms)
tableaux of (mainly)
nude women.
Luisa Lambri. Film-
maker producing simple
light-xated work in
modern, empty buildings.
Nico Vascellari.
Punk rocker turned
performance artist.
Diego Perrone.
Conceptualist and
image-maker inspired by
Arte Povera.
Rosella Biscotti. Film-
maker documenting
ordinary lives.
Paola Pivi.
Photographer and
lm-maker; often puts
animals in unexpected
landscapes.
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A genetic blueprint: la linea Italiana
Italy seems to have an innate sense of design, a natural
afnity with aesthetics. Maybe the origins lie somewhere
in the architecture of Ancient Rome, although the modern
Italian talent for design only really emerged in the 1930s,
led by American ideas and money. Italian architects (all
the key designers of this formative period trained in
architecture, and most favoured the simple Rationalist
style (see section 3.2.5 for more)) applied a restrained,
unadorned touch to the streamlined, industrially made
consumer products of the period. After the war, this
Italian style became internationally renowned, dubbed
la linea Italiana amid the excitement of the economic
miracle.
Because it began in architecture and industry, before
crossing enthusiastically to interior design, the Italian style
has always come from within the established order; it
hasnt had to rely on avant-garde outsiders in the same
way that, for example, British design has. As such,
its more ingrained in Italy than it might be elsewhere.
However, its also worth noting that while Italy retains
Taken for a ride by
Giugiaro
In 1999 Giorgetto
Giugiaro was named
Car Designer of the
Century by a cabal of
the industrys great and
good. Hes designed
dozens of cars since the
1960s. Many of you will
have ridden in the more
utilitarian triumphs, the
VW Mk 1 Golf (1974) or
the Fiat Panda (1980);
some may even claim a
ride in the shark-nosed
Maserati Ghibli (1966) or
the Lotus Esprit (1972).
Who begat Bugatti?
Bugatti, perhaps the
most famously elegant
of all Italian motor
manufacturers, was
actually founded in
Alsace (then part of
Germany), France, in
1909. However, the
man behind it all,
Ettore Bugatti, was
Milanese, the son of an
Art Nouveau designer.
A Bugatti car, the Type
35B, won the rst
Monaco Grand Prix,
held in 1929. Bugatti
went out of business
in the 1960s, although
the name lives on today
under Volkswagen
ownership.
3.1.6 Style and substance: modern Italian design
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its reputation for design, and Milan continues to be the
centre of the design universe, the majority of Italians
arent hooked on contemporary style. The small scale
of most Italian design manufacturers such as Cassina
furniture, Artemide lighting or Alessi utensils reects
the wealthy niche market for which they cater.
Design talent on show
Compasso dOro. An internationally recognised prize for excellence in Italian
industrial design since 1954.
Triennale di Milano. One of the most important (permanent) exhibitions of design
and architecture around; rst set up in 1923.
Salone Internazionale del Mobile. The most important interior design show in
the world has been held annually in Milan for nearly 50 years.
Pop culture, plastics and the Memphis collective
Pop culture collided with new production processes and
materials (in the age of plastics and bre glass) in the
1960s. Consumerism and a growing afuence spurred
design on (interior design in particular), fostering iconic
items created in Italy and enjoyed the world over. Vico
Magistretti was designing plastic furniture for Cassina,
blending utility with smooth lines. Joe Colombo, with his
stackable polypropylene Universale chair (1965), the rst
chair moulded from a single material, followed a similarly
unfussy mantra. Another iconic seat of the Pop era, Blow
(1967) by Jonathan De Pas, Donato DUrbino and Paolo
Lomazzi, was the rst mass-produced inatable armchair.
By the late 1960s, the simple Rationalism that had
informed so much Italian design fell victim to its own
success; detractors called it irrelevant and capitalistic.
So-called Anti-Design groups emerged advocating
individual creativity and the use of ornamentation for
its own sake. The most important were the Memphis
collective founded in Milan, in 1980, by Ettore Sottsass, a
key gure in modern Italian design (he produced Olivettis
Three designers
who shaped
Italian style
Marco Zanuso.
Zanuso loved a chair:
the Antropus (1949)
and Lady (1951) were
designed for the Arex
company using foam
rubber upholstery.
Gio Ponti. The founder
of the inuential Domus
design magazine also
designed a certain
gleaming La Pavoni
coffee machine
(1948) and the robust
Superleggera chair
(1957), so light you could
lift it with
one nger.
Flaminio Bertoni. His
best work went into two
iconic French designs:
the Citron 2 CV (1948)
and the long, sleek
Citron DS 19, unveiled
at the 1955 Paris Motor
Show and soon dubbed
The Goddess.
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bright red plastic Valentine typewriter (1969)). They
replaced the sleek but sensible styling of Rationalism with
lurid colours, kitsch motifs and cheap materials, winning
international acclaim.
Shape shifters: ve contemporary Italian designers
Mario Bellini. Architect and designer (from typewriters to taps) since the 1960s;
his Cab chair (1976) (four legs, a back and a seat) is sublimely simple.
Alessandro Mendini. Veteran post-Modernist; youll recognise his Anna G
corkscrew (1994), designed for Alessi.
Alberto Meda. Known for his furniture and, among other designs, the Titania lamp
(1989). Won the Compasso dOro in 2008 for Mix, an LED table lamp.
Antonio Citterio. Renowned for furniture, notably Spoon (2002), a bar stool that
looks like a bent yes, thats right spoon.
Andrea Branzi. A theorist and designer, acclaimed for his Revers chair (1993), its
beechwood arms curving over a utilitarian frame.
Italian design classics
Vespa scooter. Designed by Corradino
DAscanio in 1946 for the Piaggio rm, the
Vespa (Italian for wasp) is the epitome of
Italian design with its simple, functional
elegance. Initially DAscanio, an aeronautical
engineer, made the scooter from leftover
ghter plane starter motors and based its
front wheel fork on the design of aircraft
landing gear.
Olivetti Lexicon 80 typewriter. The Olivetti company produced several stylish
typewriters over the course of the 20
th
century, beginning with Camillo Olivettis
robust and elegant M1 (1910), but none became as iconic as the sculptural Lexicon
80 (1948) designed by Marcello Nizzoli.
Arco oor light. You know the one: square marble base with a looping stainless
steel stem and shining upturned bowl. It was designed by Achille Castiglioni with
his older brothers Luigi and Pier Giacomo in 1962.
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2. Literature
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4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema,
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and fashion
6. Media and
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modern Britain
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You cant help but notice the standout
feats of Italian architecture, from Romes
Pantheon to Pisas baptistery, but the
staggering physical heritage is more
often woven, unceremoniously, into the
fabric of everyday life, whether the
buildings are Ancient, Baroque,
Rationalist or Fascist.
3.2 Architecture
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Vitruvius DIY manual
The oldest surviving
book on architectural
theory was written
by Marcus Vitruvius
Pollio, a Roman
architect and engineer.
The ten volumes of
De architectura (rst
century BC) reveal how
extensively the Romans
borrowed from earlier
Greek models.
All in order: the Roman style of building
The Romans most obvious, not to say startling,
achievements came in civil engineering and architecture.
The world that was once theirs is still littered with
aqueducts, public baths, roads, theatres, temples and
houses (both grand and humble). Their early architecture
took its cue from the Etruscans who enjoyed a
rectangular colonnaded temple as much as the Greeks
(although none survive), before that same Greek
inuence, with its Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders (each
with its own column), became the overriding style of the
later Roman Republic era. Embellished by Latin ingenuity
and swayed by local tastes throughout Romes vast
territories, the Classical Greek style dominated during the
Empire period. Although several cities in Asia Minor and
the Middle East rivalled Rome for the quantity of its large
structures, none could match its complex variety in size
and scale.
Set in concrete
Perhaps, though, we should marvel more
at the Romans construction techniques
than their styling (however artfully they
borrowed and absorbed). They were very
big in concrete. The mixture of aggregate,
lime and a volcanic ash called pozzolana
enabled Roman architects to take the
Greeks rectilinear buildings and to add
huge arches and domes (the Greeks had
used arches, but the Romans took them to
new heights). Concrete provided the solidity
required for large-scale projects like the
Colosseum or ve-storey insulae (apartment
blocks). Bricks, or marble if the clients
pockets were deep enough, usually covered
the concrete. In some instances, most memorably the
dome of Romes Pantheon, the raw material was cast
into a coffered pattern. It all had (and continues to have) a
far-reaching effect on architecture.
3.2.1 Built to last: Ancient architecture
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Five structures of Ancient Italy
Paestum. The best-preserved city of Magna Graecia, in Campania, contains three
monumental, podgy-columned Doric temples, the oldest dating to 550BC.
Colosseum. Romes amphitheatre has a complex but utilitarian centre and a ne
Greek-inspired exterior, its arches telling a mini-story of Greek temple building: the
ground oor columns in Doric style, the second in Ionic and the third in Corinthian.
Begun by Emperor Vespasian in 75AD, it once held 80,000 spectators, all braying for
blood.
Pantheon. The most complete extant temple of Ancient Rome (a temple to all the
Gods), resident in Piazza della Rotonda since 126AD, remains staggering with its
vast dome and portico. The architect Palladio would be inspired, like many others, in
the 16
th
century.
Forum baths, Pompeii. Wander through dressing rooms, the cold room, the slightly
less cold room (the tepidarium), building up to the hot room complete with marble
fountain, all with barrel-vaulted ceilings.
Villa Adriana. Hadrians second century residence in Tivoli, near Rome, partly of
his own design, broke through the opulence barrier with porticoed pools, a maritime
theatre and steam baths.
The big circus
The Circus Maximus in
Rome, a 600-metre-long
hippodrome dating back
to the Etruscan era, once
held 300,000 spectators,
more than Rio de
Janeiros Maracana
(200,000 in its heyday)
and the current worlds
biggest, the Rungrado
May Day Stadium in
fun-lled Pyongyang,
North Korea (150,000).
Nearly all of the Circus
Maximus structures are
long gone, but the open
space remains a place
for Roman celebration
in 2006, 700,000
squeezed in to celebrate
the football World Cup
victory.
THE COLOSSEUM
WAS NAMED AFTER
THE COLOSSUS OF
NERO THAT ONCE
STOOD NEARBY
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Having it large: the birth of the basilica
The rst Christian churches built in Rome were
authorised, and mostly nanced, by Emperor Constantine.
They were vast colonnaded halls, simply built in spite of
their size. Little use was made of vaulting, except over
the apse, where the main altar stood. Churches werent
modelled on pagan temples there wasnt room enough
inside for the congregation. Instead, they imitated the
large Roman assembly halls known as basilicas, a word
that meant, roughly, royal halls. In Romes Forum, the
remaining northern aisle of the Basilica of Maxentius and
Constantine (completed in 312), its concrete barrel vaults
intact, hints at the enormous scale these new churches
took. The simple basilica style spread to the Eastern
Roman Empire and bounced back to Italy with lavishly
decorated Byzantine interiors that belied the bare, sombre
(although now multi-sided) exterior. Ravennas three
sixth-century Christian basilicas are the best preserved in
the country (see section 3.1.1 for more).
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A twist on Romanesque
The Romanesque style of architecture that prevailed in
Western Europe from the tenth to the 13th centuries
was eetingly important in Italy. Where it did emerge,
the motifs of Romanesque thick columns, round arches
and small windows were tweaked by local tastes. The
Lombard style, which actually had its nest hour south
of Lombardy in Modenas 12th century cathedral, stuck
closest to the solid Romanesque standard. As you might
expect, in Rome the style rubbed up against Classicism,
in monumental basilicas lined with Corinthian columns.
Florence and Siena brought a ourish to their buildings
with layers of coloured marble, but Tuscanys
Romanesque experience reached its apogee in Pisa
where the cathedral (begun in 1064), baptistery (1153)
and campanile (1173) with its famous lean all drew
heavily on Classical pomp. Pisas ensemble included the
odd Islamic ingredient (notably the cathedral dome), but
in southern Italy this exotic inuence enjoyed greater
leverage, mixed with Byzantine, Classical and Norman
elements (much of southern Italy was in Norman hands)
in a number of ne cathedrals.
Three sublime Romanesque buildings
Pisas campanile. Italys most famous Romanesque building, bell tower to the
adjacent cathedral, has marble band after marble band of arcading. It was leaning
by the time three of its eight tiers were completed see what happens when you
build on sand?
Basilica di SantAmbrogio, Milan. A humble, brick-built church begun c.1080 that
became the model for the Lombard Romanesque style with its repetitive arches.
Monreale Cathedral, Sicily. Built in the decade after 1174, Sicilys most stunning
Norman build blends an austere Romanesque exterior (towering bronze doors aside)
with a dazzling, golden Byzantine interior. The builders even threw in pointy Arabic
archways.
3.2.2 Classical leanings: the medieval builds
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Getting all defensive: castles, hill towns and towers
Petulant medieval rulers built fortresses across
Italy, some featuring the basic elements of the local
architectural brand, be it Lombard, Byzantine or Arabic.
The Normans left the most enduring structures,
depositing castles across southern Italy. They began as
simple stone boxes, but by the reign of Frederick II, King
of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor (who married into the
Norman dynasty), had become increasingly aesthetic.
Fredericks Castel del Monte, an octagonal, Puglian
wonder of 1240, is perhaps the most impressive fortress
in Italy.
At the other end of the land, notably in the Valle dAosta
region, dozens of feudal castles were built to control
alpine valleys in the 13
th
century. Elsewhere, fortied
towns, most famously on the hills of Tuscany and
Umbria, helped shape civil architecture. Many of the
grand town halls built in this period, such as the Palazzo
Vecchio in Florence, have the look of fortresses. In central
and northern Italy, where local lords felt threatened by
neighbours, they built intimidating stone towers. As
alliances and hierarchies were established, the height of a
tower spoke of wealth and status. One survivor, the Torre
degli Asinelli in Bologna, reaches up 97 metres.
Dabbling in Gothic
In northern Europe, Gothic had superseded Romanesque
by the 13th century. French master builders used ying
buttresses and pointed arches to give buildings soaring
new height. Italy, remaining faithful to its solid Classical
roots, didnt pay that much attention. The buildings that
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did go up (most of them ecclesiastical), like the ne green
and white layered cathedral in Siena, were selective
with their Gothic features. They didnt race to reach
the heavens like French churches, so ying buttresses
werent required for support. Instead they incorporated
pointed arches and the odd piece of rib vaulting into tried
and trusted Classical shapes. In Venice, where Gothic
met Byzantine and Arab inuences, architects added
facades to older structures and bits of Gothic style to
new ones, notably the arches lined up along the Doges
Palace in St Marks Square. Only Milan did Gothic in its
full, amboyant northern mode. The citys huge duomo,
commissioned in 1386 (and only completed 400 years
later), had soaring archways, ne stone tracery and over
100 spires.
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3.2.3 Designing harmony: Renaissance architecture
Brunelleschis wet dream
Not only did Brunelleschi
come up with Florences
famous dome, make the
rst one-point linear
perspective paintings
and design theatrical
machinery, he also
devised and built a
huge ship, Il Badalone
(The Monster), to carry
marble from Pisa to
Florence on the River
Arno. It sank on its
maiden voyage in 1427.
Even genius has its
limits.
I T S AS THOUGH THE SKY I S ENVI OUS, AS I T KEEPS ON SHOOTI NG THUNDERBOLTS DOWN
AT I T, BELI EVI NG THAT I TS HEI GHT HAS ALMOST EXCEEDED THE HEI GHT OF AI R.
Giorgio Vasari on Brunelleschis dome for Florence Cathedral
Brunelleschi starts something big
Unlike art, the architecture of the quattrocento didnt
evolve gradually from Gothic. Rather, its instigators
sought a deliberate change of direction, recalling the
symmetry, proportion and harmony of Classical buildings.
Gothics pointed, ill-disciplined shapes were updated
with semi-circular arches, Classical columns and, if at all
possible, a whacking great dome. Even so, in his nest
hour, the Florentine genius who initiated the change,
Filippo Brunelleschi (he of the artists perspective see
section 3.1.3), introduced Classicism to an essentially
Gothic building. He designed the dome for Florence
Cathedral (1418-36), solving the old problem of how to
span the cavernous space between the buildings pillars.
In researching the past (he patented a hoisting machine
for the masonry based on Vitruvius texts), and adding his
own 15th century ingenuity, Brunelleschi set the standard
for Renaissance architecture.
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Karma by design
Bramantes original
designs for St Peters
swallowed up so
much money that the
pope was forced to
sell indulgences to
maintain cash ow.
This, apparently, led
somebody called Martin
Luther, in Germany, to
his rst public protest.
Whoops.
Another Florentine, Leon Battista Alberti, was
Brunelleschis most notable immediate successor. He
was faithful to Classical forms, but like Brunelleschi
modied the principles to suit contemporary
requirements. His masterly facade for the Palazzo Rucellai
(1446-51) in Florence mixed Gothic window forms
and Classical proportion without the slightest hint of
awkwardness. It was one of various Renaissance palaces
built in Florence in the mid 15th century.
Three key architects of the High Renaissance
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the focus of
Renaissance architecture moved from Florence to Rome,
drawn by the popes deep coffers. Three architects
stood out:
Donato Bramante moved on from the pick n mix of
Brunelleschi and Alberti to unadulterated Classicism,
intent on creating perfect structures to mirror the
ambitions of the age. With its dome and Doric colonnade,
the Tiempetto (rst decade of 16th century) of San
Pietro in Montorio Church, Rome, is small but perfectly
formed; the high point of the High Renaissance no less.
Bramantes most famous designs, commissioned for St
Peters Basilica in Rome by Pope Julius II in 1506, were
on a different scale altogether the eventual build was
actually a scaled down compromise. Bramantes plan for
a church with a dome resting on gigantic arches was too
expensive, even for the papacy.
Antonio da Sangallo, the youngest in a family of Tuscan
architects, became chief designer on St Peters Basilica
after the death of his tutor, Bramante. Like Bramante, da
Sangallo employed a simple, monumental Classicism, as
seen in the church of Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome. His
fanciest build was the Palazzo Farnese in Rome; his most
beguiling, a well, 62 metres deep and surrounded by a
double spiral staircase, cut into the rock of Orvieto, Umbria.
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Michelangelo took over the St Peters job in 1547, when
he was 72 years old (12 successive designers, painter
Raphael among them, worked on the building in all). He
didnt dismiss his predecessors designs but drew on
them, and the basilica, with its massive, condent sense
of order (its the biggest in the world), became a signal
precursor of Baroque grandeur.
Stretching the Classics: Mannerist architecture
Bramantes honest simplicity was overtaken by the
manipulation of Mannerism in the 1520s. While
Michelangelo stuck closely to the Classical rules for St
Peters (albeit contorting the dome slightly), his earlier
buildings often joyfully disregarded convention in pursuit
of capricious invention. The vestibule he designed for
the Biblioteca Laurenziana (c.1524) in Florence messed
around with the order and spacing of Classical motifs,
grafting false windows and columns onto the interior.
Giulio Romano did something similar in Mantua, using
blind windows and stretched, irregular columns in the
Palazzo del T (1524-34). Giorgio Vasari (see section 3.1.3
for more), president of the Michelangelo fan club, also
used Mannerisms exaggeration in his design for the
Ufzi (1560-80) buildings in Florence.
Palladio goes in search of perfection
Like other Renaissance masters, Andrea Palladio dallied
with Mannerism, lining up the columns for purely
aesthetic affect, but his was a cooler, more assured
approach, one that trusted to knowledge (no one studied
Roman architecture, the temples in particular, so intently)
and built on Bramantes sense of serene Classical order.
He lived and worked chiey around Vicenza, near Venice,
where his palaces and villas, symmetrical and perfect,
soak up the light of northern Italy and the praise of
generations of architects.
Three great
Renaissance
buildings outside
Rome
Ospedale degli
Innocenti (1419-27),
Florence. Brunelleschis
best secular building
was an orphanage. After
the years of Gothic, here
was an elegant loggia of
ordered proportion, with
semi-circular arches,
round columns and
pediments. Unwanted
children were deposited
in a basin at the front of
the building.
Santa Maria della
Consolazione (begun
1508-1607), Todi,
Umbria. Probably the
work of Bramante
(although some credit an
architect called Cola da
Caprarola), this simple
but large-scale church,
a dome atop a serene
and ordered Greek
Cross, may well be how
St Peters in Rome was
originally supposed to
look.
Villa Capra (or La
Rotunda) (1566-71),
Vicenza. The exemplar
Palladio building.
Inspired by Roman
temples, with a portico
on each of four facades,
the villa is completely
symmetrical.
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Palladio was the most persuasive architect of the Italian
Renaissance; some say the most inuential Western
architect of all time. Although his work is concentrated
on a few Italian acres including the Venetian island
on which he squeezed the large Church of San Giorgio
Maggiore (1566-1610) his reputation spread, helped
by the publication of his architectural treatise I Quattro
Libri dellArchitettura (1570). Palladio set the Neoclassical
standard that would
dominate European
architecture for centuries;
his inuence can be seen
in Londons St Pauls
Cathedral and in the
Louvre, Paris.
Palladios Church of San
Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
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modern Italy
Praise be, its Baroque
The decoration that began appearing on buildings in
Michelangelos day the embellished facades, faux
windows and coloured marble became the industry
standard by the 17th century. In Italy, at least, Palladio-
derived restraint would have to wait its turn. This was
Baroque, a dazzling, unrestrained assault on the senses
designed to reinforce the majesty of heavenly pageantry.
Curvy and audacious, Baroque architecture was the
Catholic Church Counter-Reformation PR drive realised
in stone. Rome was the epicentre. Indeed, the Rome of
today is fundamentally a Baroque city. The rest of Italy
struggled to keep up (even while Baroque journeyed
around Europe and the New World with remarkable
success), although certain regions produced their own
version, from the showy style of Naples and Lecce, in
Puglia, to the elegant palaces and hunting lodges of Turin.
The key Baroque architects
Giacomo della Porta. He got the Baroque ball rolling
with an action-packed facade (1584) for Il Ges, the
rst Jesuit church in Rome. It brought a new uidity to
Classicism with its large volute scrolls on either side, and
was duly copied the world over. As the prime architect in
late 16th century Rome, della Porta also completed the
dome for St Peters after Michelangelos death.
3.2.4 The high drama of Baroque
Pearl of wisdom
The term Baroque
(barocco in Italian)
has its origins in the
Portuguese word for
a misshapen pearl.
Like Renaissance, the
term was only applied
years after the period it
describes was over.
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Gianlorenzo Bernini. The theatrical genius of Baroque
sculpture (see section 3.1.4 for more) was also a ne
architect. He worked extensively on St Peters, from
the baldacchino (altar canopy) (1624-1633), a twisting
bronze marvel, to the
tombs of successive
popes and the
vast, colonnaded
Piazza San Pietro
(1667) that still
grabs worshippers
approaching the
basilica like a pair
of giant forceps.
However, the small
elliptical church
of SantAndrea al
Quirinale (begun in
1658), its facade
bending this way and
that, was Berninis
personal favourite.
Francesco Borromini. The prime architect of Italian
Baroque did more to shape the look of Rome than any
other. He didnt quite share Berninis sense of theatre
(nor his personality they didnt get on at all), but he did
rival his talent for bending the rules, designing complex,
curving, agitated buildings that smudged the distinction
between sculpture and architecture. Despite the busy
pediments, elliptical domes and tongue-like scrolls, each
Borromini building was underlain with a strict geometrical
plan. His facade for the church of SantAgnese in Agone
(1653-66), in Piazza Navona, is quintessential Baroque, but
Borrominis masterpiece is the petite church of San Carlo
alle Quattro Fontane (1638-67), on the Quirinal Hill.
This town aint big
enough for both of us
Where Bernini was good
looking, charming and
popular with women,
his rival Borromini was
terse, depressive and
possibly homosexual.
Berninis growing fame
was a contributory factor
as Borromini slid into
despair in the 1660s.
He became housebound
and was advised to give
up work. Eventually,
one torrid Roman night
in 1667, it all got too
much and he fell on his
own sword. He did a
good enough job to kill
himself, but it took some
time; during which he
was able to repent and
write a will. He was
buried anonymously, as
per his wishes. Berninis church of SantAndrea al Qurinale
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Guarino Guarini. He was born in Modena, but the
priest, mathematician and architect Guarini made his
impression in Turin. He built churches and palaces with
complex domes, windows and arches almost Moorish in
their delicacy. At the Palazzo Carignano (1679) he took
Borrominis love of a rolling, wavy facade to new levels.
Guarinis texts on architecture would help push Baroque
out around Europe in the 18th century.
Been there, done that: Italys brush with
Neoclassical building
Despite a love of both Palladio and good old Roman form
(Pompeii had been recently discovered), Neoclassical
architecture didnt make the impression on 18th
century Italy that it did elsewhere, perhaps because
the movements Republican spirit was a long way
from most Italians thoughts. When Neoclassicism did
appear in the 19th century, urged on by the Napoleonic
Empire style, it emerged in oversized trophy buildings.
Giuseppe Mengonis Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (1865-
1877), a polished shopping arcade in Milan, showed how
modern construction methods (namely glass and steel)
could work with
Classicism. Another
building named
for the king, the
giant colonnaded
marble monument,
Il Vittoriano (1885-
1911), leering over
Romes Piazza
Venezia, has
endured decades
of general derision.
A medieval
neighbourhood was
cleared to make
room for it.
Going down with the
shop
Giuseppe Mengoni
designed the poised
Galleria Vittorio
Emanuele II shopping
arcade in Milan. It was
whilst he was on a
platform at the top of
the building, making
nal checks shortly
before the buildings
grand opening in 1877,
that he slipped and fell
to his death.
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Dipping a toe in Art Nouveau
Industrial age architecture blended with the organic
shapes of Art Nouveau at the turn of the 20th century. In
Italy they called it Stile Floreale or Stile Liberty (after the
London store that stocked Art Nouveau designers). Stile
Floreale was concentrated in Italys northern cities. Turin
set the pace with the Prima Esposizione Internazionale
dArte Decorativa Moderna of 1902, an exhibition of
modern design resolute on killing off the past. The
pavilions were designed by Raimondo DAronco, a key
Italian exponent of Art Nouveau. In truth, Art Nouveau
made only a modest impact in Italy (most of DAroncos
work unfurled in Turkey). The buildings that did appear in
Milan, Genoa and Turin featured stone and wrought iron
decoration (of lithe tendrils and listless women) rather
than great architectural leaps. Giuseppe Sommarugas
Palazzo Castiglioni (1903) in Milan is usually cited as
Italys nest Stile Floreale building.
Function rooms: Italy does the International Style
The Modernist International Style, with its simple lines,
functionality and craving for reinforced concrete (as
championed by foreign form follows function heroes
Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius),
appeared to Italian architecture after the First World War in
the shape of Rationalism. The rationale was that design
should be based on the logical requirements of living.
Seven Rationalist architects, led by Giuseppe Terragni,
formed the Gruppo 7 in Milan in 1926 to pursue the aims.
The movement got sucked into the rise of fascism and its
members designed buildings for Mussolini.
3.2.5 In the shadow of greatness:
modern Italian architecture
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Two important Rationalists
Giuseppe Terragni. The most celebrated of the Gruppo
7 clique designed Casa del Fascio (1932-36), a study
in minimalism and the new modern aesthetics of the
International Style. Tainted by its Fascist links, the
building was later renamed Casa del Popolo.
Adalberto Libera. Another of the Gruppo 7 Fascist gang,
Libera designed the vast Palazzo del Congressio (1938-54)
in Rome, but is perhaps known best for Villa Malaparte
(1938), the red box house on a Capri cliff top which
starred in the Brigitte Bardot lm, Le Mpris (1963).
Buildings youll love to hate: Fascist architecture
Widely mocked or ignored in the 50 years after the war,
Fascist architecture is receiving a more balanced appraisal
in Italy these days, amongst some at least. Indeed, say it
quietly if youre in company, but the Fascists put up some
rather interesting buildings. Terragni, Libera and cos
mixture of International
Style and Mussolinian
grandeur (however
deluded) generated a
certain harmony between
Modernist and Classical
elements. The famous
E42 suburb of Rome,
now called EUR (after the
Esposizione Universale
Roma for which it was built
but which it never staged),
includes the Palazzo della
Civilt Italiana, or Square
Colosseum, and also
proved a highly successful
out-of-town business
district.
Terragni left out in
the cold
Giuseppe Terragni may
have been the Fascists
architect of choice a
number of commissions
came from one of
Mussolinis mistresses
but it didnt stop the
regime packing him off to
the Russian front as an
artillery ofcer in 1941.
He returned to Como
in an ambulance two
years later, broken in all
senses, and died soon
after, aged 39, apparently
after renouncing fascism.
Cousin Ernie
The revered British
architect Richard Rogers
had an elder Italian
cousin. Ernesto Rogers
was also an architect.
He was involved in
the design for Milans
famous Torre Velasca
(1954), a top-heavy
Brutalist tower block.
The Fascist behind
Watergate
Luigi Morreti, who
devised various
monumental buildings
and plans for the Fascists
(he helped design Romes
Foro Italico (1934-40)
sporting complex,
stocked with athletic
Classical statuary),
designed the Watergate
complex in Washington
after the war.
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The Pantheon what a
load of rubbish
When Bruno Zevi
died after a coughing
t in 2000, Italy
lost its greatest
architectural historian
and theoretician. His
was a passionate
voice of dissent. For
Zevi, the Pantheon,
being symmetrical,
was catastrophic.
He deplored Classical
architecture as the
language of repression,
but he also hated
post-Modernism.
Fragmentation,
dissonance and rupture
were, he felt, modern
virtues to be upheld. His
1945 book, Towards an
Organic Architecture,
brought worldwide fame.
I F ROME CARRI ES
ON I N THI S WAY,
I T WI LL BECOME
A BEAUTI FUL
NECROPOLI S,
BEAUTI FUL FOR THE
JAPANESE WHO
COME FOR THE
SHOPPI NG AND THE
AMERI CANS WHO
GET DRUNK I N THE
CENTRE. BUT I T
CERTAI NLY WON T
BE A MODERN
CI TY.
Roman architect
Francesco Coppari
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Nervi, the concrete king
One gure outshone all others in the post-war period. Pier
Luigi Nervi wasnt so much an architect as an ingegnere
edile (building engineer), whose mastery of reinforced
concrete (echoing the Romans) generated memorable and
beautiful buildings. His talent became obvious early on
with the Giovanni Berta Stadium (1932) in Florence, typical
Nervi with its aesthetic solution to a structural conundrum.
Latticed concrete roofs became a Nervi motif, as seen on
the glass and concrete Turin Exhibition Building (1949).
Later in his career, he collaborated with designer Gio Ponti
(see section 3.1.6 for more) on Milans Pirelli Building
(1958), the structural embodiment of 50s Italian chic.
Three other interesting post-war architects
Carlo Scarpa was inspired by the historic architecture of
his native Venice, mixing its craftsmanship with modern
functionality for an organic mode of architecture. Not many
of his designs came to fruition; the most celebrated is the
concrete, rectilinear Brion-Vega cemetery near Treviso, in
which Scarpa himself is entombed, standing up.
Aldo Rossi presided over a Neorationalist movement in
the 1960s and 70s. Unlike their inter-war predecessors,
they enjoyed Neoclassical style (mixed with the bare
Rationalist functionalism). The Spartan Gallaratese II
(1969-73) housing development in Milan made esh
the Rossi philosophy, as described in the inuential
Larchitettura della citt (1966) treatise.
Paolo Portoghesi, still working today, pursues an
organic architecture blending new ideas with the stylistic
achievements of Baroque (hes a big Borromini fan).
Romes luminescent Central Mosque (1974-95) is his
best work.
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The state of contemporary architecture in Italy
In renown at least, one gure looms above the rest.
Renzo Pianos international reputation was rst built
in collaboration with Richard and Sue Rogers on the
exoskeletal, colour-coded Pompidou Centre in Paris. His
style has matured quietly over the intervening 30 years
and his buildings, commissioned from San Francisco to
Sydney, have highly original structures. The Parco della
Musica (2002) complex of concert halls in Rome reects
Pianos idiosyncrasy, shaped, as it is, like a family of giant
armadillos. Another contemporary gure, Massimiliano
Fuksas, grows in stature; the Fiera di Milano exhibition
centre, with a large, owing
canopy of glass and steel, is one
of a handful of Fuksas works
completed in Italy.
Some of the most exciting
architecture unfurling on Italian
soil is being set down by foreign
designers. The steel and glass
loggia extension to the Ufzi in
Florence, for instance, designed
by Japans Arata Isozaki, is due
for completion in 2013. And
the government response to its
imminent arrival says much about
attitudes to modern architecture
in Italy, where theres a reluctance
to mingle modern with ancient.
Culture Minister Sandro Bondi
questioned how Isozakis
structure would live alongside
the adjacent loggias designed by
Giorgio Vasari without shocking
Florentines and visitors from all
over the world.
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4 Music, theatre, dance
and comedy
4.1 Music p139
4.1.1 The sounds of
tradition: Italian folk
music p140
4.1.2 Life in operas
shadow: classical
music p143
4.1.3 Italian by design:
opera p148
4.1.4 Rock, pop, rap,
hip hop, dance and the
rest p154
4.2 Theatre, dance and
comedy p161
4.2.1 Dramatis
personae: the key
gures of Italian theatre
p162
4.2.2 Italy on the
danceoor p169
4.2.3 Laughing matter:
Italian comedy p173
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Opera translates from Italian as
labour, and to the outsider it might
seem like Italy labours rather over its
music, particularly the modern stuff. Not
that Italians care what we think of their
efforts listen to Calabrias mournful
canto di malavita or the gruff emotion
of Paolo Conte and youll hear why they
delight in home-grown sounds.
4.1 Music
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The assortment of regions, city states, dialects and
cultural traditions that made up pre-Unication Italy (and
which still exert a strong inuence today) bequeathed
each portion of the country its own work songs, love
songs, dance tunes and lullabies, passed down through
generations in the oral tradition. There is no common
national character to Italian folk music. However, divide
the country into north and south and there are discernible,
if rather broad, trends to be found. In the north, the
music displays Celtic and Slavic inuences. Usually its
polyphonic (having two or more lines of melody) and
choral in nature with clear, deep-pitched, harmonised
voices. In the south, the inuences are Arabic, Greek
and African. Solo performance predominates, with high-
pitched, often strangulated singing.
Certain regional folk music traditions are more noteworthy
than others. Piedmonts valleys stand out with the
medieval songs of the trovatori (the Occitan troubadours)
and Sicily has its share of extant styles, notably the
friscaletto (ute music), baride (brass bands), and the
ancient ottava rima (the improvised singing of eight-line
stanzas) of the poeti contadini (peasant poets). Few
traditions have gained much attention beyond the limits
of their own region, although three particular forms are
well recognised in much of the country:
Tenores of Sardinia
Sardinia is home to the ancient tradition of cantu a
tenores (tenores singing), a polyphonic chant for four
male voices. The quartet form an intimate huddle, the lead
voice (boghe) introduces the chant and the other three,
the middle voice (mesa boghe), the counter (contra) and
the bass (bassu), respond aggressively in harmonised
overtones with meaningless words such as ba, bom
and bam. The best-known contemporary performers are
the Tenores di Bitti and the Tenores de Oniferi, both of
whom have attained some international recognition. In
2005, UNESCO designated tenores singing
4.1.1 The sounds of tradition: Italian folk music
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A Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity, which means it is a joy to behold but could
soon go the way of the dodo.
Trallaleri of Genoa
The trallalero singers of the Genoese dockyard taverns
were traditionally longshoremen, gathered in groups of
between ve and nine. Each group features a tenor, a
baritone, a bass (sometimes as many as ve), a voice
that weirdly imitates a guitar (la chitarra) and another
that imitates (even more weirdly) a woman (la donna).
Considered by Alan Lomax, the American song collector
of the 1950s, to be the most perfect choristers in
western Europe, the trallaleri sing in intricate and largely
improvised harmony and counterpoint, producing a
haunting and sometimes disturbing result, as heard on
the best-known trallalero song La Partenza. Contemporary
groups include La Squadra (Compagnia del trallalero) and
La Squadra di Canto Popolare Valpolcevera.
Canto di malavita of Calabria
You want folk music with an edge? Go to Calabria. In
recent years, the controversial canto di malavita (songs of
a life of crime) and canto di carcerato (songs of prison life)
have emerged from a century or more of secrecy. Theyre
the folk songs of the Ndrangheta, the powerful Calabrian
maa. The music was released on three albums under
the title La Musica Della Maa (2000-05) featuring songs
like Sangu chiama sangu (Blood Cries for Blood), Cu
sgarra, paga (Who Fails, Pays) and the terrifying U ballu
da famigghja Muntalbanu (The Dance of the Muntalbanu
Family). The albums are only available in Italy as a German
import, as it seems no Italian record company has quite
got round to releasing them yet
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How to play the
launeddas
Its not easy. There are
three differently sized
cane pipes involved.
Hold the longest one,
the tumbu (the one with
no holes), in your left
hand. Grapple with the
second longest, the
mancosa manna (ve
holes), in the same
hand, before taking the
third and shortest
pipe, the mancosedda
(also ve holes), in your
right hand. Place all
three in your mouth and
blow, producing a drone
with the long pipe and
playing simultaneous
melodies with your
ngers on the pipes with
holes. If youre doing
it right, the launeddas
should now be making
a sound similar to a
swarm of bees attacking
a guinea pig. The sound
must be continuous
and, since there is no
air bag, you must use
circular breathing, a
tricky technique that
effectively involves
breathing in and
breathing out at the
same time. Oh, and
each tune lasts for over
an hour.
Hit it with a stick and see what
happens: instruments of Italian
folk
The instruments of Italys folk
music include all the usual utes
and guitars, alongside some more
offbeat devices including the
organetto (an accordion), of which
Riccardo Tesi is the best-known
modern exponent, the zampogna
(a type of bagpipe), which comes
in different shapes and sizes, some
the size of a grown man, and the
ancient launeddas (the Sardinian
triple pipes), reputedly once made from the legs of the
pink amingo. Italy also boasts numerous percussion
instruments, notably the friction drum. Called the putipu
in Naples and the cupa-cupa in Puglia, the friction drum
consists of a long stick attached to a membrane stretched
over a terracotta or tin pot. The player rubs the stick with
wet hands causing vibrations that resonate inside the pot,
producing a rhythmic, distinctly lavatorial sound.
Too niche for its own good: modern folk
The Sardinian tenores singers occasionally appear on TV,
and bands such as Fiamma Fumana and Gai Saber have
achieved a degree of acclaim on the World Music circuit
by combining tradition folk elements with modern beats.
However, folk music in modern Italy has a rather weak
pulse. Ethnomusicologists made eld recordings of Italian
folk music in the 1950s, and the Instituto De Martino was
set up to document and preserve the traditions a decade
later, but documenting and preserving doesnt necessarily
equate to popularity not many people actually listen to
the music. There are folk festivals, notably the Appennino
Folk Festival held in the north-west each summer, but
most cater for tourists searching for an authentic taste of
a cultural heritage very few Italians care or even know
about.
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Is that classical music? It just sounds like youre
chanting
The origins of classical music in Italy lie in the
monophonic (containing a single line of melody) liturgical
plainchant of the Roman Catholic Church. You know the
stuff: the haunting, unaccompanied male voices found
in Gregorian chant (named after Pope Gregory, although
he had little actual involvement) and Ambrosian chant
(a similar but separate tradition), typical of music before
the 11
th
century, before the simple polyphonic organum
and motet (plainchants with more than one melodic line)
forms stormed the charts. In the 14
th
century, the French
ars nova (new style) began to inuence Italian polyphonic
music, as evidenced in the richer harmonies of surviving
secular ballate and madrigals (both are types of song) by
the blind Italian composer Francesco Landini.
The Do Re Mi man
Guido of Arezzo was a Benedictine monk from, not
coincidentally, Arezzo in Tuscany. He was also a music
teacher, theorist and, as detailed in his Aliae regulae
(c.1030), the inventor of modern musical notation. An
earlier system used a series of unhelpful squiggles and
blobs known as neumes, but Guidos had a staff with
lines and spaces and that made all the difference. Guido
was also responsible for the words Do Re Mi etc being
used in the teaching of music, a practice still common
in classrooms and Julie Andrews movies. He taught his
students using Ut queant laxis (c.774), a plainchant hymn
to John the Baptist written by Paul the Deacon (another
Benedictine monk), giving the rst syllable of each line a
successively higher note in the scale:
UT queant laxis
REsonare bris
MIra gestorum
FAmuli tuorum
SOLve polluti
LAbii reatum, Sancte Ioannes
4.1.2 Life in operas shadow: classical music
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The Albinoni Adagio
mystery
Albinonis Adagio, as its
commonly called, is one
of the most popular and
oft recorded pieces of
Italian Baroque music.
Famously, it was used
in the closing sequence
of the Peter Weir lm
Gallipoli (1981), while
American rock band
The Doors released a
version on the album An
American Prayer (1978).
Tomaso Albinoni, the
18
th
century Venetian
composer, is also known
today for his oboe
concertos, notably the
Concerto in D minor
(1722), but primarily
hes celebrated for that
famous Adagio in G
minor. All of which is
ne, except that the
piece was actually
written in 1958 by an
Italian musicologist
named Remo Giazotto.
A large number of
Albinonis manuscripts
were destroyed in the
bombing of Dresden
State Library during
the Second World War,
but Giazotto claimed to
have reconstructed the
Adagio from a surviving
fragment. However,
expert opinion has since
deemed the work to be
Giazottos alone.
(In translation: In order that your servants might, with
loosened voices, resound the wonders of your deeds,
wash the guilt from our stained lips, Saint John.)
A Ti was added later and then the Ut was changed to a Do.
Setting Renaissance trends
As the Renaissance found its stride in the 16
th

century, Italy became the centre of European music.
Polyphonic sacred and secular music had continued
their development, aided by the appearance of new
musical instruments like the clavichord and the viol, and
patronage from the Church and the wealthy courts in the
north colluded with the development of printed music
using movable type as invented by Ottaviano Petrucci
in Venice to give Italy its primacy. Three particular
composers emerged:
Giovanni Gabrieli of the Venetian School of music
pioneered advances in instrumentation and is often
labelled the father of orchestration.
Claudio Monteverdi published revolutionary collections
of madrigals and would become an inuential gure in
Italian opera (see section 4.1.3 for more).
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina of the Roman School
was the leading composer of Renaissance music, and
is sometimes credited with saving polyphony in the mid
16
th
century. When the Church was considering banning
polyphony in favour of Gregorian chant, in the belief
that the increasingly elaborate music was becoming a
distraction from the sacred words, Palestrina came up
with his masterpiece of simple, restrained beauty, Missa
Papae Marcelli (c.1562), a mass for six voices, and the
Church changed its mind.
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It was all going so well damn that new fangled opera
By the 17
th
century, when music entered the amboyant
and ornate Baroque era, Italian ears and eyes were being
drawn away to opera, as they would be for the next 300
years (see section 4.1.3). Those that remained faithful
to the instrumentation of classical music were rewarded
with the work of Gregorio Allegri, whose masterpiece,
the Miserere mei, Deus (c.1630), was so well regarded it
was forbidden to perform it anywhere other than in the
Sistine Chapel. Arcangelo Corelli was another important
Baroque composer; his posthumously published 12
Concerti Grossi (1714) would prove a strong inuence
on the most famous Italian Baroque composer of the lot,
Antonio Vivaldi.
A man for all seasons: Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi, the son of a Venetian barber, was a gifted violinist
and composer, imaginatively known as il Prete Rosso (the
Red Priest) on account of his red hair and the fact that
he was a priest. He turned his back on the priesthood
early in his career (apparently for health reasons), opting
instead to school hundreds of young orphan girls in
music at the Ospedale della Piet, where, as part of his
duties, he had to compose two concertos a month for his
students to play. Although Vivaldi also wrote many operas
and sonatas, his importance lies in these concertos. He
took the concerto (a three-part musical
work for one solo instrument accompanied
by other instruments and later by an
orchestra) to a level near perfection,
employing a simple clarity and imaginative
melodic themes stripped of all unnecessary
pomposity. The nest were Il cimento
dellarmonia e dellinventione, a set of 12
concertos, the rst four of which are known
as Le quattro stagioni (1725).
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I AM NOT
HANDSOME,
BUT WHEN WOMEN
HEAR ME PLAY,
THEY COME
CRAWLI NG TO
MY FEET.
Niccol Paganini
For a while Vivaldi drew widespread fame and no small
fortune from his music. But it didnt last, and, with
his popularity declining and his proigate spending
rendering him at broke, the composer left Venice for
Vienna in search of new patronage. The plan failed, and
he was buried in Vienna in a paupers grave. After his
death Vivaldi was largely forgotten, but in 1926 over
300 unknown works by the composer were discovered
in a monastery and his legacy was reassessed. It
transpired that Vivaldi had composed a staggering 500
concertos. The critical re-evaluation has been almost
universally complimentary, although a rather ungracious
Igor Stravinsky concluded that Vivaldi didnt write 500
concertos, he just wrote one, 500 times. Today, Vivaldi is
more popular than hes ever been. His music is in almost
constant performance in Italy, especially in Venice, and
violinist Nigel Kennedys recording of The Four Seasons
(1989) has become one of the best-selling classical music
albums of all time.
The Niccol Paganini experience
Classical music in the rst half of the 19
th
century (when
it was ingesting the Romantic tastes of the age) was
illuminated by a strange young man from Genoa called
Niccol Paganini. Paganini was the original rock n roll
star: a compulsive gambler, drinker and womaniser
by the age of 16, he was also the most charismatic of
performers and reputedly the greatest violinist the world
has ever seen. Playing his own compositions, written
to show off his talent, he embarked on lengthy tours on
which he would astonish his audiences with his ability
and showmanship. A favourite trick was to play with
three deliberately distressed strings that would break one
by one, leaving Paganini to complete the piece using just
the one remaining string. His importance lies not only in
his considerable contribution to violin technique, but also
in creating the cult of the solo performer and the notion
of the instrumental virtuoso. Franz Liszt would later state
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The Devil has all the
best tunes
Niccol Paganinis
virtuosity was so
astounding that some
believed he had sold his
soul to the devil in return
for musical prowess, and
in some quarters they
called him Hexensohn,
the son of a witch.
Paganini cultivated his
Faustian image with
his long black hair
and black cloak, and
on occasion he would
arrive at concerts in a
black carriage pulled
by four black horses.
His diabolic credentials
were further enhanced
by refusing the last rites
on his deathbed and by
the fact that his body
was denied burial in
consecrated ground. In
truth, the circumstances
of Paganinis interment
were rather mundane:
the Archbishop of Nice
denied him a Christian
burial because he had
refused the last rites,
and Paganini had only
refused the last rites
because he thought he
was going to get better.
his desire to
become the
Paganini of the
piano, while
Liszt, Schumann,
Brahms and
Rachmaninov
would all write
variations on
Paganini themes.
Hes remembered
best for his 24
Capriccio per
violino solo (1801-
7), of which
Capriccio No. 24 in
A minor, an almost
impossible piece
to play, is the
most famous.
Struggling to be
heard: modern
classical
In the 20th century, Italys classical music made several
attempts to crawl out from beneath operas shadow.
Works such as Giuseppe Martuccis Symphony No.2 in
F major (1904) and Ottorino Respighis Roman Trilogy
(1915-28) were critically acclaimed, as were the atonal
compositions of Luigi Dallapiccola, and the experimental
music of Luciano Berio, notably his Sinfonia (1967-69),
but they only ever achieved limited popular appeal. Today,
most Italians who like instrumental classical music will
always prefer the more traditional works, which usually
means Vivaldi.
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An accident waiting to happen
Opera as we know it today, with its striking stage decor
and dramatic text set to music, was conceived largely
by accident in late 16
th
century Florence. A group of
musicians and intellectuals known as the Florentine
Camerata used to meet up and discuss the burning
issues of the day, the main one apparently being how
best to recreate Ancient Greek drama. There was
evidence that the Greek tragedies had been staged with
some musical accompaniment, but the Camerata had
no idea what it sounded like. All they knew for certain
was that it didnt sound like the overblown polyphony
that characterised Italian music in their own era. So,
they came up with monody, a single vocal part with an
instrumental accompaniment that follows the rhythms
and inections of the words.
The development of this new style culminated in a
performance of Jacopo Peris Dafne, the rst opera ever
produced, at the palace of Jacopo Corsi in Florence in
1597 (maybe 1598). The success of Dafne, the score
of which has been almost entirely lost, was followed
in 1600 by Peris Euridice, written for the marriage of
French King Henry IV and Maria de Medici. Euridice is the
earliest opera for which a score survives. The new form
of entertainment, with singers enacting the entire drama
to musical accompaniment, delighted its aristocratic
audiences. Operas popularity duly began to spread
among the noble courts of Italy and Europe.
Monteverdi takes over
The rst genuine genius to try his hand at opera was
Claudio Monteverdi, a composer whod already found
fame with the madrigal. Being a genius, his rst attempt
at opera was, of course, a masterpiece. La favola dOrfeo
was composed for the court of Mantua in 1607 and is
the earliest opera still in regular performance. With its
lavish staging, sophisticated orchestration and coinciding
musical and dramatic climaxes, La favola dOrfeo was a
coherent whole that demonstrated the true potential of
4.1.3 Italian by design: opera
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The rst rst night
The rst public opera
house anywhere, the
Teatro San Cassiano,
opened in Venice in
1637. The building was
demolished in 1812, ve
years after holding its
last performance.
the form. Monteverdis second opera, Arianna (1608),
was similarly well received, although only the famously
sad Lamento dArianna survives from it. In 1612
Monteverdi moved to Venice, the city that soon became
the centre of opera in Italy. Although Monteverdi wrote at
least 18 operas other than La favola dOrfeo, only his nal
two survive and they, of course, are both masterpieces
as well: Il ritorno dUlisse in Patria (1641) and perhaps his
nest work, Lincoronazione di Poppea (1642), delving
into the ancient love story of Nero and his wife Poppea.
Quantity over quality: opera in the 18
th
century
Many followed in Monteverdis footsteps, notably Stefano
Landi, Francesco Cavalli and Alessandro Scarlatti, further
developing Baroque opera. They established a clearer
differentiation between the arias and the recitative, made
greater use of the chorus and introduced comic elements
into the plot. By the mid 18
th
century, opera had become
hugely popular across Italy, but, unfortunately, most agree
that the quality had nosedived. There was too much
choice, and composers had yet to become the dominant
gures they soon would. Instead it was all about the
performers: opera had been reduced to a showcase for
the vocal abilities of the castrati (grown men with little
boys voices and no testicles) and the prima donnas
(grown women with the same), who attracted large
audiences and were paid a fortune in return.
The predominant form of opera in the 18
th
century was
opera seria (serious opera). Historical or mythological
plots extolling the virtues of friendship and loyalty, and
relieved of all comic elements, were the norm. Although
hundreds of operas were being written, almost all of
them with a libretto by the poet Metastasio, hardly any
are worthy of mention. In the latter 18
th
century, opera
buffa (comic opera), which used comic plots involving
everyday characters sung by tenor and bass parts, began
to rival the popularity of its serious counterpart. The
great composers of the next century would write in
both forms.
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Play it Again Dom
The premire of Il
matrimonio segreto
(1792) by Domenico
Cimarosa witnessed the
longest encore in the
history of opera. It was
performed for Emperor
Leopold II, who enjoyed
it so much that he called
for a rerun of the whole
damn thing.
GI VE ME A
LAUNDRY LI ST
AND I LL SET I T
TO MUSI C.
Gioachino Rossini
Return to form: Romantic opera
The good times returned in the 19
th
century. Most of the
great Italian operas that make up the modern repertory
emerged in this period. The early part of the century has
been called the bel canto era, named after a smooth style
of singing (literally beautiful singing). Three composers
dominated:
Gioachino Rossini. Born into a musical family (although
his father also inspected slaughterhouses to bring in
some extra cash), Rossini composed his rst opera at
the age of 14. He achieved great fame, writing 40 operas
in all, the best remembered of which are Il barbiere
di Siviglia (1816), a comic opera, and his last effort,
Guillaume Tell (1829), with that famous overture. Rossini
composed his nal opera at the age of 37, and spent
most of the remaining 39 years of his life in Paris,
mainly eating.
Vincenzo Bellini. Born in Sicily in 1801, and apparently
able to sing arias at the age of 18 months, Bellini died
aged just 34 but was the undisputed master of the
bel canto style. His best known operas include La
sonnambula (1831), Norma (1831) featuring the famous
aria Casta diva and I puritani (1835).
Gaetano Donizetti. Donizettis was a veritable rags to
riches story. Born in a windowless cellar in Bergamo,
Lombardy, in 1797, he became a prolic bel canto
composer, writing 75 operas in all, achieving great
success with Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), with its
famous mad scene, La lle du rgiment (1840),
featuring the aria Ah! Mes amis, quel jour de fte! with
the dreaded nine high Cs in quick succession, and Don
Pasquale (1843). Alas, the rags to riches story didnt
have a happy ending: his wife died of cholera, he caught
syphilis and then he went insane.
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Verdi goes up the wall
Nationalist activists
in pre-unied Italy
apparently used to
scrawl Viva Verdi! on
walls in a coded show
of deance, the letters
of Verdis surname being
an acronym for Vittorio
Emanuele Re dItalia
(Vittorio Emanuele King
of Italy), under whom
the nation would be
(relatively) unied in
1861 (see section 1.2.3
for more on Italian
Unication).
The personication of Italian opera: Giuseppe Verdi
As bel canto gradually gave way to a more robust and
forceful style in the second half of the 19
th
century, Italian
opera became dominated by one gure, Giuseppe Verdi.
A staunch nationalist, Verdi came to prominence with
his third opera, Nabucco (1842). The work demonstrated
his growing musical prowess but also caught the mood
of many Italians with its perceived political statement
the famous chorus of the Hebrew slaves in Babylon, Va,
pensiero, became an anthem for those demanding self-
governance for Italy. Four years on, at the premire of
Verdis Attila, when the Roman general refused an alliance
with the invading Hun You may have the universe, but
leave Italy to me the nationalist sentiment brought the
house down.
By the early 1850s, Verdi
was at the height of his
powers, producing a hat trick
of masterpieces Rigoletto
(1851), Il trovatore (1853) and
La traviata (1853) each of
which showed off his dramatic
mastery and melodic gift to
the full. In all he wrote over
30 operas, including the later
works Aida (1871), Otello
(1887) and, his last, the comic
opera Falstaff (1893). Despite
being an atheist, he also
composed an important piece
of instrumental sacred music,
Messa da Requiem (1874). At
the time of his death in 1901,
Verdi was regarded as the
personication of Italian opera.
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I AM A MI GHTY
HUNTER OF WI LD
FOWL, OPERATI C
LI BRETTOS AND
ATTRACTI VE
WOMEN.
Giacomo Puccinis
success brought him
great wealth. At the
time of his death he
was worth, by todays
standards, about 175
million euros. His almost
constant adultery has
led several people over
the years to try and get
their hands on the family
fortune: Nadia Manfredi
is the latest claimant,
convinced that shes an
illegitimate grandchild.
The other personication of Italian opera:
Giacomo Puccini
Verdis nal opera premiered in February 1893. Eight days
later, Giacomo Puccini, the only composer to rival Verdis
place in history, premiered his rst truly great work,
Manon Lescaut. Born into a musical family in Lucca,
Tuscany, in 1858, Puccini was a talented but lazy student;
only on seeing a production of Verdis Aida in 1875 was
he inspired to take his studies more seriously. He formed
a lasting relationship with the librettists Luigi Illica and
Giuseppe Giacosa and, following the success of Manon
Lescaut, went on to write some of the most popular and
widely performed operas ever produced.
In a relatively short period, Puccini wrote three
masterpieces: La Bohme (1896), Tosca (1900) and
Madama Buttery (1904). The operas fed on the late 19
th

century taste for verismo (realism) in the arts; in contrast
to the historical and mythological themes of opera seria,
Puccinis verismo opera depicted the crime and violence
of real life. His nal opera, Turandot (1926), was left
unnished on his death, and the nal two scenes were
later completed by Franco Alfano. Although some critics
have dismissed Puccinis work as overly melodramatic
and sentimental, his indelible, luxuriant melodies are
unsurpassed any list of The Five Best Italian Arias Of
All Time could easily be stocked purely by the work of
Puccini.
If you only ever hear ve Italian ariasmake sure its these
Nessun dormafrom Turandot (1926) by Giacomo Puccini.
La donna mobile from Rigoletto (1851) by Giuseppe Verdi.
Che gelida manina from La Bohme (1896) by Giacomo Puccini.
Largo al factotumfrom Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816) by Gioachino Rossini.
Una furtiva lagrima from Lelisir damore (1832) by Gaetano Donizetti.
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Living on past glories: opera in the modern era
Puccini was the last great composer of Italian opera and
Turandot (1926) was the last opera to enter the main
repertory. The work of composers in the 20
th
century,
notably Luigi Dallapiccolas Il prigioniero (1949) and Luigi
Nonos Intolleranza 1960 (1961) and Prometeo (1984),
found critical acclaim but little popular appeal. Gian Carlo
Menotti wrote some of the nest opera of the 20
th

century but did so largely in America, having left Italy
aged 16. Despite the contemporary drought in creativity,
opera remains an enduring symbol of Italy and continues
to play a large part in national culture. The opera houses
are full (albeit often with tourists), and even the Italians
who dont like opera are happy to declaim its international
status and to hum you an aria or two.
Italian opera
singers: ve
legends
Farinelli. The most
famous 18
th
century
castrato. For obvious
reasons, usually only
poor families had their
sons castrated, but
strangely Farinellis
family were loaded.
Faustina Bordoni.
A renowned 18
th
century
mezzo-soprano whose
great rivalry with soprano
Francesca Cuzzoni
apparently led to a st
ght on stage during a
production of Bononcinis
Astianatte (1727).
Enrico Caruso.
Legendary tenor and
defendant in the Monkey
House Case. In 1906 he
was ned $10 for pinching
a ladys bottom in Central
Park Zoo, New York. His
claim that a monkey did it
was rejected.
Luciano Pavarotti.
The great tenor was born
in Modena in 1935. His
career high came 37 years
later, in a performance
of Donizettis La lle du
regiment in New York.
Andrea Bocelli. The
Tuscan tenor is blind,
suffers from stage fright
and has sold over 65
million records.
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Yesterday once more
At least one famous pop
hit from the 1960s was
based on a 19
th
century
Neapolitan song. Its
Now or Never (1960), a
song that sold over 25
million copies for Elvis,
was simply O sole mio
with a new lyric. Some
have also commented
that The Beatles
Yesterday (1965), a
song covered by over
3,000 different artists,
bears a resemblance
to another Neapolitan
effort, Piccere che vene
a dicere (1895).
Naples: cradle of pop
If were looking for the beginnings of popular music in
Italy, perhaps we should start with La Canzone Napoletana,
the songs that rst echoed round Naples in the mid 19
th

century. The songs were melodic, sentimental ballads
written and performed in the Neapolitan dialect for an
annual songwriting contest at the Festival of Piedigrotta.
Composer Gaetano Donizetti won the rst competition.
By the early 20
th
century, the songs popularity had spread
across Italy, and went on to reach the rest of Europe and
America thanks to the Italian diaspora and, in particular,
to the performances of Enrico Caruso, the famous tenor.
A number of Neapolitan songs entered the standard
repertoire of popular music, including O sole mio (1898),
Torna a Surriento (c 1903) and Funicul, funicul (1880).
Alas, when rock n roll arrived in Italy in the 1950s, the
Neopolitan song became pass.
A love for jazz
Despite placing an effective ban on the foreign rhythms
of jazz in the 1930s, Mussolinis Fascist regime couldnt
dent Italys enthusiasm for the music. Even today, jazz
clubs can be found in every Italian city, and there are
several festivals dedicated to the genre, the annual
Umbria Jazz Festival held in Perugia being the most
famous. Post-war jazz guitarist Franco Cerri was an
inuential gure, while it seems a sweet irony that
Romano, Mussolinis son, went on to become a well-
respected jazz pianist; in particular, the album Jazz allo
Studio 7 (1963) by The Romano Mussolini All Stars
received widespread acclaim. Of the current jazzers,
trumpet player Enrico Rava, drummer Aldo Romano and
pianist Stefano Bollani are perhaps the most prominent
characters.
4.1.4 Rock, pop, rap, hip hop, dance and the rest
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The Mussolini menagerie
Jazz pianist Romano
Mussolini was 17 when
his father, Benito the
dictator, was hung
upside down and dead
from a meat hook. The
musician always refused
to criticise his father,
preferring instead to
recall a playful gure.
He spoke of the
childhood home in
Rome, the Villa Torlonia,
with its pet jaguar,
gazelles, lions, monkey
and tortoises. These
days, the grounds of the
villa host a memorial to
the Holocaust.
The Sanremo sing-off
The Festival della Canzone Italiana (Sanremo Music
Festival) is a very, very popular popular song contest
that has been held on the Italian Riviera every February
since 1951. For decades, success at the festival usually
awarded to a syrupy balladeer meant credibility and a
week or two at the top of the Italian charts. Italian singers
and songwriters always took the contest very seriously,
throughout the rock n roll 1960s and on into the era of
the singer-songwriter a decade later. Luigi Tenco took it a
little too seriously: he apparently (although not denitely)
committed suicide after Ciao amore ciao, his entry for the
1967 contest, was eliminated from the competition. Alas,
Sanremo isnt the force it was; indeed, the fact that it
inspired the Eurovision Song Contest says much about its
contemporary quality.
Italy does the 60s
Like most European countries, in the late 1950s and 60s
Italy eagerly embraced American and British rock n roll
music, and, also like most European countries, produced
predominantly pale imitations of the anglicised original.
Male and female solo stars took centre stage, known in
Italy as the urlatori, the screamers, although a handful of
beat bands heavily inuenced by The Beatles and The
Rolling Stones also became popular. Certain Italian acts
dened the era:
Domenico Modugno. The original Italian crooner won
Sanremo in 1958 with Volare, nel blu dipinto di blu and
changed the course of Italian music. He later became an MP.
Mina. The Queen of the Screamers was more than a
mini-skirted starlet; hits like Il cielo in una stanza (1960)
revealed a voice ranging over eight octaves. In 1963
she was briey banned from the airwaves after falling
pregnant by a married man.
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Success out of the blue
Domenico Modugno
began his career
in lm but became
better known for
music. His rst big
(and subsequently
unsurpassed) success
came with Volare,
nel blu dipinto di blu,
written in 1958 with
Franco Migliacci. Initially
Modugno suggested the
song was inspired by a
Marc Chagall painting,
but later claimed the
words came to him in
a dream. Whatever the
case, Volare won two
Grammy Awards and
sold 800,000 copies
in Italy and 22 million
worldwide. Everyone
from Ella Fitzgerald to
David Bowie recorded
their own version.
Screaming success
Adriano Celentano and
Mina have sold 200
million records between
them.
Adriano Celentano. Italys most famous rock n roller
sold a million copies of 24,000 baci (1961).
Gianni Morandi. The parentally acceptable face of
rock n roll mixed the new sound with traditional Italian
balladry, selling 25 million records along the way.
Equipe 84. As close as youll get to the Italian Beatles,
the Modena four-piece launched in the mid 60s, enjoying
chart success with songs like Ho in mente te (1966).
Rita Pavone. A balladeer and actress who, despite being
distinctly Italian, found success overseas too. Cuore
(1963) was among the biggest of her hits.
Words and music: the cantautori
The Italian cantautori, or singer-songwriters, emerged in
the 1960s and 70s. The catch-all term is generally used to
refer to the socially and politically aware artists inuenced
by the likes of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Luigi
Tenco, he of the Sanremo suicide (see previous page),
was a founding father. Prominent among the cantautori
were Francesco De Gregori, known as Il Principe Poeta
(The Poet Prince); the reclusive Lucio Battisti, whose
Il Paradiso became an international hit for Welsh band
Amen Corner in the guise of If Paradise is (Half as Nice) in
1969; and Fabrizio De Andr, whose 1968 album was the
marvellously titled Tutti morimmo a stento, All of us Died
in Hardship, and whose most celebrated work is the 1984
release Creuza de m, sung in his native Genoese dialect.
Lucio Dalla was another popular cantautori, at work
for many years before nding popular success with an
eponymous album in 1978; his best-known song, Caruso
(1986), sold millions of copies when Luciano Pavarotti
offered to do the vocals. Another noteworthy Italian
singer-songwriter, although not always considered one of
the cantautori, is the timeless Paolo Conte, an artist who
delivers his melancholic songs with dry wit and a gritty off-
key voice. Conte, in his 70s, is considered something of a
national treasure; his 2008 album Psiche was a top ve hit.
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foundations
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2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
THEY WERE THE
REAL PRI SONERS,
NOT I .
Singer-songwriter
Fabrizio de Andr shows
his hippy solidarity with
the Sardinian bandits
who kidnapped and
held him captive in their
mountain hideout in
1979.
A avour of
modern Italian
music: ten albums
Per Un amico
(1972) PFM.
Felona e Sorona (1973)
Le Orme.
Rimmel (1975)
Francesco De Gregori.
Paris milonga (1981)
Paolo Conte.
Creuza de m(1984)
Fabrizio De Andr.
Profumo (1986) Gianna
Nannini.
Oro incenso e birra
(1989) Zucchero.
Tutte storie (1993) Eros
Ramazzotti.
Gli spari sopra(1993)
Vasco Rossi.
Buon compleanno
Elvis! (1995) Ligabue.
Love affair built on solid rock
In the 1970s, Italy took a particular shine to progressive
(prog) rock. A number of the bands involved were actually
1960s beat combos who shed the jingle jangle in favour
of something moodier, inspired by the likes of British
band Pink Floyd. Among the prog rockers, Le Orme
produced concept albums including Felona e Sorona
(1973), all about two contradictory planets, and achieved
some success outside Italy, as did PFM (or Premiata
Forneria Marconi in full). Pooh, another 1960s outt that
went progressive in the 70s, are still going in one form or
another; the success of Ancora una notte insieme in 2009
proved their enduring popularity. Punk was also popular in
the 70s, most of it made in Emilia-Romagna, a connection
that suited the regions subversive left-wing leanings. The
best-known punk band, Skiantos (still going strong), have
never taken themselves too seriously; indeed theyre
more like a parody of punk rock. By contrast CCCP,
formed in 1981, were a militant bunch, using punk to
push a socialist agenda.
Mainstream rock has
maintained an enduring
Italian popularity for the
past three decades. Home-
grown artists such as
Vasco Rossi, Ligabue and
Eros Ramazzotti pack out
stadiums and shift albums
by the truckload. On the
softer side, Al Bano paired
up with his one-time
wife Romina Power for
much of his career, selling
millions of albums and
winning at Sanremo in
1984. Zucchero has been a
rarity in Italian rock, selling
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communications
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modern Italy
He aint heavy
Fratello Metallo are
an Italian heavy metal
band whose name
translates as Metal
Brother. Theyre named
so because Cesare
Bonizzi, the lead singer,
is a Capuchin monk.
Watching the 62-year-
old Bonizzi strut his
heavy metal stuff on
the stage with his long
white beard and wearing
his monks robes is
enough to test your
faith inwell,
everything really.
well in English-speaking countries as well as his own.
In 1990 he released an album of his previous hits sung
in English (to avoid any confusion it was titled Zucchero
Sings His Hits in English), which featured his best-known
song, Senza una donna, a duet with British singer Paul
Young. Another collaborative Zucchero album, Zu & Co
(2004), reads like a whos who of world music, featuring
Sting, Miles Davis, Pavarotti and, oh, Ronan Keating. More
alternative rock comes from bands like Marlene Kuntz,
inuenced by the American grunge scene, and Massimo
Volume.
Big noises in contemporary music
Hip hop and rap
Italy took to rap and hip hop with enthusiasm in the late
1990s, using it as an expression of national (or often
regional) identity that was rare in modern Italian music.
Even while the stylistic inuences were clearly American,
the language and themes were homespun. Articolo 31
and 99 Posse got the genre moving, and Gemelli Diversi
and Fabri Fibra, the Italian answer to Eminem whose
2006 album Tradimento was an acclaimed hit, have
maintained the momentum. On the lighter side of rap,
Jovanotti is a versatile singer-songwriter who has added
rock and ethnic elements to his music to great effect;
the albums Buon sangue (2005) and Safari (2008) both
reached number one in the Italian charts.
Electronic
Italy doesnt shy away from electro music, and the
national charts usually feature a lightweight techno track
or two with vocoded lyrics and an irritatingly catchy
chorus (for a while the genre was labelled Italo Dance).
The prominent DJs behind Italian dance music in the last
decade include Gigi DAgostino, Benny Benassi and Alex
Gaudino. Dance bands like Livin Joy and Eiffel 65 have
found it harder to get past the one-hit wonder phase.
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modern Italy
Pop
The Italian music chart
divides its time fairly
evenly between native
and foreign (usually
American) artists. Most
of the Italian stuff falls
within the bounds of
pop, usually made by
solo artists. Modern
Italians, it seems, still
have a weakness for
the romantic ballad.
Old rockers like Eros
Ramazzotti and Vasco
Rossi continue to loom large, supported by younger
solo artists like Tiziano Ferro, a man whos sold seven
million albums of inoffensive pop, and Grammy-winning
Laura Pausini. Solo singer-songwriter Elisa, R&B (in the
modern sense) duo Zero Assoluto and Giusy Ferreri, an
Italian X-Factor nalist, all fall roughly within the bounds of
contemporary Italian pop. For something more alternative,
seek out indie bands like Settlesh or Disco Drive, both of
them singing in English.
Five 21
st
century Italian albums you should hear
Fuego (2002) Gemelli Diversi.
Buon sangue (2005) Jovanotti.
Tradimento (2006) Fabri Fibra.
Things to Do Today (2008) Disco Drive.
Sotto una pioggia di parole (2009) Zero Assoluto.
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160
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2. Literature
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and design
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema,
photography
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Britain
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modern Italy
After the success of Roman theatre, Italy
waited roughly 1,800 years for a second
coming. When it arrived, the work of
Pirandello and those who followed
in the 20
th
century brought a distinctly
Italian brand of drama: innovative,
uncompromising and subversive.
4.2 Theatre, dance and comedy
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4.2.1 Dramatis personae: the key gures
of Italian theatre
Italy doesnt have a Shakespeare or a Molire, and the
countrys theatre tradition hasnt left a bountiful (or even
average) legacy of notable dramatic works. Theres no
golden age, no era of great playwrights, but rather a
scattering of isolated hits. Why? Various theories have
been offered: the suffocating popularity of opera, pushing
theatre to the margins; the pre-Unication absence of
a common language or cultural identity; and the Italian
primacy of actor over playwright. However, while Italian
theatre cant call on a rich back catalogue of work,
there are numerous theatres in towns and cities all
over the country, and the plays of their few theatrical
heroes, Goldoni and Pirandello in particular, are regularly
performed.
Greek lessons: Ancient theatre
The story of Italian theatre begins in Ancient Rome, where
drama was heavily inuenced by Classical Greek models.
All of the surviving Roman plays, tragic or comic, are
translations or adaptations of earlier Greek works. If there
was a golden age of Roman theatre it came in the later
years of the Republic and early stages of the Empire, when
theatres were built throughout Europe. They had a wooden
platform at the front, usually a street in which the action
unfurled, backed by a building which, decorated with
columns, porticos and doorways, served as houses lining
the ctional street. By the rst century BC theatres were
being built in stone. Many remain remarkably intact today,
arrayed from Orange in southern France to Bosra in Syria.
While drama played its part in Roman life it was only
one of the many public entertainments on offer during
the ludi (festival games) held each September, and the
average Ancient Roman preferred the wordless theatre
of pantomime artists or the blood and guts of gladiatorial
combat. As the Empire grew, theatre became increasingly
bawdy and bloody, moving away from thespian niceties
to something more like extreme circus.
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Oh yes he did
Dont confuse the c-list
stars of the formulaic
Christmas entertainment
served up in some
parts of the modern
world with the Ancient
Roman pantomimus
(pantomime artist), who
was a highly skilled and
respected performer.
They didnt speak;
instead, wearing masks,
they used movement
and gesture to act out
scenes of love and
hate, and sometimes
to mock the gods, all
to the accompaniment
of utes and a chorus.
The pantomimus could
achieve great fame and
move in the highest
circles of society. The
revered Paris was one
such gure; or he was
until Emperor Domitian
had him killed in 83AD
for having an affair with
his wife.
The Roman playwrights
Ancient historians recorded the
importance of theatre in Roman life and
also the names of various playwrights,
even if few of the actual plays have
survived. We know that they did tragedy and comedy (like
the Greeks), usually employing a cast of stock, sometimes
masked, characters, from the eloquent slave to the cocky
legionnaire and randy old man. The work of three writers,
two comedians and one tragedian, has survived:
Plautus
An Umbrian who wrote comedies in the early second
century BC, Plautus based all 21 of his extant plays (he
actually wrote over 100) on Greek works, but added song,
dance and in jokes for his Roman audience. Outlandish
stock characters, fantasy and farce took precedence
over reality. Plautus plays would inspire the likes of
Shakespeare, who took inspiration from Menaechmi
(perhaps Plautus best) for The Comedy of Errors.
Terence
Terence, a freed slave, pre-empted the modern comedy
of manners, satirising Romes ruling elite with a subtlety
and realism of wordplay, plot and character that moved
theatre on from the farce and slapstick of Plautus. Six of
his plays survive, written between 166 and 160BC, all
of them based on Greek originals. Eunuchus (161BC),
complex in its portrayal of the titular Eunuch, was typical
of the Terence style.
Seneca
Ancient Romes great tragedian, the Stoic philosopher
Seneca (the Younger), was at work in the rst century
AD. His nine surviving plays were written in verse (they
may not have been intended for performance); their
titles, Oedipus and Agamemnon among them, give the
Greek origins away. Senecas use of soliloquies and the
division of plays into acts would have a big inuence on
Renaissance drama in France and England, on writers like
Corneille and Shakespeare.
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What Renaissance?
After the fall of the Roman Empire, drama fell largely
into the hands of the Church and, from the Middle
Ages through to the Renaissance, a variety of morality,
miracle and mystery plays formed the main course of
the theatrical diet. By the 16
th
century, the intellectual
elite of the Renaissance courts were busy rediscovering
the dramatic works of the Ancient Greeks and Romans
with the result that very little new material of note
was produced, apart from the vernacular commedia
erudita (learned comedy) of Ludovico Ariosto, such as I
Suppositi (1509), and Niccol Machiavelli. Machiavellis La
Mandragola (1518), a bitter critique on Florentine politics
in the early 16
th
century played out in the story of a cocky
young man and a virtuous married woman, is considered
the nest comedy of the Italian Renaissance (see section
2.1.3 for more on both Ariosto and Machiavelli).
Played for laughs: the commedia dellarte
From obscure beginnings, the commedia dellarte
(comedy of artists) became wildly popular in Italy in the
16
th
century. Performances were given in public squares
and later in theatres by professional touring companies
of ten to 15 actors who improvised within a set scenario
stage directions were along the lines of Someone
enters and does something funny. Each performer wore
a mask and played one of the genres stock characters,
typically an old man, a doctor, the lovers, a soldier and so
on. The comic elements were provided by a collection of
zanni (foolish servants), some of whom we still recognise
today: Arlecchino (Harlequin), Pedrolino (Pierrot), Pulcinella
(Punch) and Scaramuccia (Scaramouche). By the late 18
th

century, the popularity of commedia dellarte was waning,
but its inuence had spread far and wide (well beyond
Italy), to be felt, in particular, in the development of opera
buffa (see section 4.1.3 for more on opera buffa).
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What a fantastic stage if only we had some
decent plays
Although little drama of note was produced in 17
th
century
Italy, important advances were made in theatre and stage
design, innovations that would be adopted across Europe.
Sophisticated scenery painting techniques brought a
greater sense of perspective to the stage, while Giovanni
Battista Aleottis new Teatro Farnese, opened in Parma
in 1618, enhanced the illusion of distance and depth with
the rst permanent proscenium arch. Scene changes
improved in the 1640s with Giacomo Torellis invention of
the chariot and pole system, featuring sliding at wings
that slotted through the stage and moved on wheels
along a rail. Other new stage machinery allowed for the
illusion of clouds and for ying; an inuential text, Nicola
Sabbattinis Pratica di fabricar scene e macchine ne teatri
(1638) (Manual for Constructing Theatrical Scenes and
Machines), explained the mechanics behind the magic.
Goldoni goes it alone in the 18th century
Opera was all the rage in the 18
th
century, to the extent
that it obscured any great development in theatre.
Almost anyone who could spell was writing librettos,
not least Carlo Goldoni, who also wrote several plays of
importance. Goldoni had already devised a few scenarios
for the most popular dramatic fare of the age, the
improvised comedy in the commedia dellarte tradition,
before he presented Antonio Sacco, a leading improv
actor, with Arlecchino, servitore di due padroni (1745),
a partly scripted, partly improvised comedy. It led to
Goldonis attempted reform of the crude, self-obsessed
improvised comedy hed long detested, with a series of
completely scripted, realistic comedies that featured a
previously unseen depth of character. La vedova scaltra
(1748) and La famiglia dellantiquario (1749) were two
of the best. Goldonis comedies were a great success
with audiences but his peers and the actors werent so
enthusiastic and, unfortunately for Italian theatre, no other
writer followed his lead.
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I HAVE TRI ED TO
TELL SOMETHI NG
TO OTHER MEN,
WI THOUT ANY
AMBI TI ON, EXCEPT
PERHAPS THAT OF
AVENGI NG MYSELF
FOR HAVI NG BEEN
BORN.
Luigi Pirandello on a
good day
The two Pirandello
plays to see rst
Sei personaggi in
cerca dautore. Widely
acknowledged as
Pirandellos masterpiece,
it features a collection of
half-nished characters
who, without a story of
their own, interrupt the
rehearsal of another
play hoping to nd their
destiny. The play was
revolutionary for the
intimacy and immediacy
it brought to theatrical
production. Hecklers at
the premiere shouted
madhouse but the play
quickly found a more
sympathetic audience.
Enrico IV. An actor
concussed on stage
playing Henry IV awakes
believing himself to be
the character. As his
madness grows, so do
the questions about
whether its better
to reside in reality or
fantasy.
Italian theatres lead act: Luigi
Pirandello
Italian theatres dry spell wasnt
really sated in any way until the
20
th
century, when a handful of
playwrights stirred interest both at home and abroad. The
rst and best (indeed, without doubt the most important
and inuential dramatist in the history of Italian theatre)
was Luigi Pirandello. Pirandello was a novelist and short
story writer before he turned to the plays that lifted Italian
theatre from centuries of stagnation. The themes of
isolation and illusion explored in his work (often with grim
humour) were born of tragic personal experience. In 1904,
his wife, Antonietta, suffered a mental breakdown from
which she was never to recover. Despite her increasingly
violent paranoid episodes, Pirandello cared for her himself
for more than 15 years before nally handing her over
to an asylum. He was a prolic writer: his two best
plays, Sei personaggi in cerca dautore (1921) and Enrico
IV (1922) were written within a ve-week period, and
many of his earlier plays were completed within a week.
Pirandello was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1934 for his bold and ingenious revival of dramatic and
scenic art.The two Pirandello plays to see rst
State-sponsored mediocrity: modern Italian theatre
Theatre had a tough time in post-war Italy, starting as it
did from a very low ebb the Fascist approach to culture
hadnt left room for creativity. Good intentions abounded
in the 1950s and 60s, the key aim being to create socially,
politically aware theatre for the people, but the small
theatres that took up the task, the stabili (the rst, the
Piccolo Teatro, was opened in Milan in 1947 by Giorgio
Strehler), tended to undermine their own progressive
intent by being reliant on state funding. However, they
did help enlarge the role of directors like Strehler (perhaps
at the writers expense) in Italian theatre.
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A Nobel cause?
Luigi Pirandello was a
well-known Fascist and
supporter of Mussolini.
He even donated his
Nobel Prize medal to the
Italian Government to
be melted down for the
campaign in Abyssinia.
Led by foreign inuences, experimentation dominated
theatre in the 1960s and 70s. It left the masses cold,
despite the efforts of writers like Carmelo Bene, the
enfant terrible who produced a troubling version of
Pinocchio (1961). Throughout, the most popular theatre
portrayed everyday people who spoke in local dialects,
which, understandably, didnt progress much beyond a
regional stage. Small collettivi, left-wing theatre groups,
emerged in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s,
fostering talent like Dario Fo (see below) and pushing
decentralisation. Their social themes touched a nerve
and nally Italian theatre, led by alternative ideas yet still
heavily subsidised by the state, began attracting a wider
audience, a slow trend that continued through to the 21
st

century. However, any progress hasnt assuaged the
feeling that Italian theatre continues to underperform.
The post-Pirandello scene: three playwrights
Eduardo De Filippo was a singular talent, a playwright
and actor who often wrote in the Neapolitan dialect of
his home city. Typically, his plays shed light (some of it
comedic) on the daily concerns of the poor and middle
class in mid 20
th
century Italy. Filumena Marturano (1946)
was a ne example.
Ugo Betti produced theatre of some importance in the
same period as de Filippo. He was a qualied judge
and often set plays in the law courts, confronting the
psychology of justice, guilt and atonement; Corruzione al
palazzo di giustizia (1944) provides a ne introduction.
Diego Fabbri, another important mid-century playwright
(although somewhat forgotten now), created existential
theatre in the likes of Processo a Ges (1955).
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First Lady of Italian
theatre
Dario Fos wife, Franca
Rame, was an important
playwright and stage
actress in her own
right. She and Fo set up
Nuova Scena, a left-wing
theatre company, in 1968;
often she co-wrote with
her husband, writing
monologues with a
feminist, occasionally
blackly comic approach.
Stupro (1983) took rape as
a theme, while Una madre
(1980) told of drugs and
violence. Rame herself
was abducted and raped
by a neo-fascist gang
in 1973.
I T S TRUE -
WE RE I N THE
SHI T RI GHT UP TO
OUR NECKS, AND
THAT S PRECI SELY
THE REASON WHY
WE WALK WI TH
OUR HEADS HELD
HI GH!
From Morte accidentale
di un anarchico by
Dario Fo
Ticket trends
In 2007 almost 36
million theatre tickets
were sold in Italy,
up nearly nine
million from 2001.
One in ve Italians go
to the theatre at least
once a year.
The Fo show
The most signicant contribution to theatre in the last
50 years has been made by Dario Fo, a playwright from
Lombardy. Fo gained national recognition in the 1960s
for left-wing political satire, notably Loperaio conosce
300 parole, il padrone 1000: per questo lui il padrone
(1969) (or, in English, The Worker Knows 300 Words,
the Boss 1000: Thats Why Hes the Boss), before more
openly revolutionary plays in the following decade brought
him international success. The best known among
these are Non si paga! Non si paga! (1974), the tale of
an everyday mans victory against bureaucracy, and his
most famous work, Morte accidentale di un anarchico
(1970), about the mysterious death of a political activist
in police custody (a play based on events that followed
the notorious Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan in 1969).
Fo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997 for
emulating the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging
authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.
Hes still an active force in
Italian life; in 2006, aged 80,
he ran a failed campaign in the
Milanese mayoral elections, not
long after he raised eyebrows
with Lanomalo bicefalo (2003),
a play in which Vladimir Putins
brain is transplanted into Silvio
Berlusconis body.
Two contemporary Italian playwrights
Alessandro Baricco. Cultural polymath Baricco has authored novels, directed lms
and, when time allows, written for theatre, most famously creating Novecento (1994), a
monologue that begins with an abandoned baby discovered on board a ship.
Marco Paolini. Another one who directs, writes and acts, Paolinis politicised theatre rst
came to prominence in 1995 when he was lauded for Il racconto del Vajont 9 Ottobre
1963, about an Alpine dam disaster.
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modern Italy
Forgotten but not gone: folk dancing
The varied, regional traditions of Italys folk dances echo
the diversity inherent in the nations folk music (see
section 4.1.1 for more). And, similarly in tune with folk
music, folk dancing has little popularity in modern Italy,
although the tarantella (see below) is often enacted at
wedding celebrations or on less formal occasions, usually
after a certain quantity of alcohol has been ingested.
Many of Italys folk dances, usually performed to a tune
of the same name, have fuzzy pagan roots. Some are
more famous than others: the furlana is a courtship
dance from the north of Italy; the saltarello, a lively
dance featuring a fair share of leaping, is found in many
areas; and the tammurriata is a southern erotic dance for
couples who simulate having sex and being exorcised at
the same time, while playing castanets to the improvised
accompaniment of the tammorra (a large drum).
Bitten with the dance bug
One Italian folk dance is more famous than the rest.
There are many versions of the tarantella, but essentially
its an up-tempo affair, danced by a group moving round
in a circle, clapping or playing tambourines and taking
turns to dance in the middle, either in a couple or alone.
The origins of the tarantella are unclear, although a
popular myth ties it to Taranto, a port in Puglia. Legend
declares that in the 16
th
century the city witnessed an
outbreak of tarantism, a fatal malaise brought on by
the bite of the tarantula spider (named after the city).
The victim, known as a tarantata, was almost always a
woman and could only be cured by dancing in a frenzied
manner for days on end. The dance was known as the
tarantella. Of course its all nonsense the bite of the
local tarantula is no worse than a bee sting. It seems
more likely that these victims were merely looking for a
way to get round a Church ban on pagan ritual dancing.
4.2.2 Italy on the danceoor
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A brief affair with ballet
The early footsteps of classical ballet can be found in the
Italian Renaissance courts of the late 15
th
century, where
dance formed a part of the lavish entertainment on offer.
In fact, Italy can claim credit for what is considered to be
the rst ballet. Le Ballet Comique de la Reine, a ve-and-
a-half hour spectacle, was staged by the Italian Baltazarini
di Belgioioso (Balthazar de Beaujoyeulx to the French) in
Paris in 1581. Catherine de Medici had taken Baltazarini
with her as chief musician when she left Florence to
become queen of France in 1547. However, having begun
with a ourish, Italys input into the development of ballet
soon dwindled to minimal, until the 19
th
century when it
rose to being marginal.
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A right performance in
Umbria
In June and July, the
small Umbrian town of
Spoleto comes alive for
Italys chief performing
arts festival. The Festival
dei Due Mondi (or the
Spoleto Festival more
commonly) has been
mixing dance, opera,
music, cinema and
theatre since composer
Gian Carlo Menotti
launched the inaugural
event in 1958.
Those who cant do, teachballet
Opera took centre stage in 19
th
century Italy, and although
ballets were performed and produced, notably Luigi
Manzottis Excelsior (1881), the nations contribution
to the form lay chiey in providing ballet teachers
and dancers. Italians played an important role in the
development of ballet technique, beginning with the
publication, in French, of Trait lmentaire, thorique,
et pratique de lart de la danse (1820) by choreographer
and teacher Carlo Blasis. Later on, Enrico Cecchetti,
formerly a famous dancer, became a highly sought after
teacher, instructing the legendary Anna Pavlova. His
ballet instruction, which involved a strict but apparently
inspirational training regime, known as the Cecchetti
Method, is still in use today.
The dancers
Over the years, Italy has cultivated some of the worlds
nest ballerinas, including Carlotta Grisi (19
th
century),
Carla Fracci (20
th
century), Alessandra Ferri (retired in
2007) and Mara Galeazzi (still dancing with the Royal
Ballet in London). Its a shame that theyve spent most of
their time abroad, dancing foreign ballets for foreign ballet
companies. In the pantheon of Italian ballerinas, two
stand above the rest:
Pierina Legnani
Born and instructed in Milan, Legnani was the rst
dancer awarded the rank of prima ballerina assoluta, an
extremely rare best of the best title given for lifetime
achievement. In 1892 she became the rst ballerina to
perform the famous series of 32 fouetts en tournant (a
dizzying spin), a sequence she perfected to great acclaim
in Cinderella (1893).
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WI LL THAT LI TTLE
HUNCHBACK EVER
LEARN TO DANCE?
Ballet teacher instructing
Marie Taglioni, aged six
Parmesan? Black
pepper?
Marie Taglioni was so
revered as a dancer
that a group of Russian
fans bought a pair of
her ballet shoes for 200
roubles in 1842. The
shoes were then cooked
in a sauce, garnished,
and eaten.
Marie Taglioni
Taglioni never let her looks get in the way of a dancing
career; despite (or perhaps because of) her unusually
long arms and legs, she became one of the most famous
ballerinas of the 19
th
century. Her role in La Sylphide
(1832), created by her father Filippo, is regarded as a
dening moment in Romantic ballet. It was in La Sylphide
that Taglioni popularised the now iconic tutu, although
they werent quite so short in her day.
The modern dance scene
Ballet has never enjoyed the same status as opera in
Italy and its popularity remains limited. However, there
are regular performances throughout the country, and
the major opera houses all have their own resident
ballet companies, the Corpo di Ballo del Teatro alla Scala
in Milan being the best known. Modern dance is in a
similarly stable condition, with a handful of companies
performing contemporary work, notably the Balletto di
Toscana, Movimento Danza and Aterballetto, which gives
acclaimed performances around the world under artistic
director and choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti. Performers
such as Fabio Grossi and Simona Lisi have helped extend
the scope of Italian modern dance in recent years.
Festivals devoted to modern dance include Di Seconda
Mano, held annually at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples.
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Comedy plays a signicant role in Italian culture. The
tradition of staged humour reaches back to the comedies
of Ancient Rome and the improvised commedia dellarte
of the 16
th
century (see section 4.2.1 for more). Much
of that was about buffoonery, and the Italian taste for a
fool remains (they often laugh loudest at the bloke in a
dress tripping over a dog). However, there has always
been a healthily satirical element to Italian comedy too,
a cynicism that blended with the clowning around in
the early 20
th
century in the satirical cabaret sketches of
avanspettacolo, or curtain raiser, the stuff that often
warmed the audience up before a lm or a play.
The most famous avanspettacolo performers were solo
caricaturists like Ettore Petrolini and Tot, the mimic with
a dextrous face and funny turn of phrase who became the
nations favourite comic actor in a stream of movies in the
1940s and 50s, most of which had his name in their title,
and most of which are still making regular appearances
on Italian TV. Film was the prime vehicle for comedy from
the 1950s, found largely in the genre known as commedia
allItaliana. From the 1970s, the emphasis switched to
television, where Roberto Benigni was the prime star. He
came to prominence in the 70s show Onda Libera before
going on to make the Oscar-winning lm La vita bella
(1997) (see section 5.1.5 for more).
A little bit of politics
The Italians have always had a hearty appetite for political
satire, a reection, no doubt, of the governments theyve
had to suffer over the years. In the press, there is the
comic tradition of the vignetta (political cartoon), like
those found on the front page of Italys leading national
daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera. Similarly, television
has hosted many, often short-lived, satirical shows.
Frequently, they provide a launch pad for the new, edgy
stars of Italian comedy. In recent years, three gures in
particular have emerged to raise a laugh, stirring up the
establishment along the way:
Cut out for comedy
Theres nothing
funnier than a man
in a cardboard outt
imitating Tina Turner.
Agreed? It certainly
worked in the 1980s
for Ennio Marchetto,
a Venetian comedian
who drew on the
masked entertainment
of the Ancient Roman
pantomimus and the
commedia dellarte
of the Renaissance.
Known as the One Man
Living Cartoon Factory,
Marchetto enjoyed
acclaim at home and
abroad for mime shows
involving quick changes
of the aforementioned
cardboard costumes
whilst aping everything
from a Benedictine
monk to Eminem to the
Titanicand, of course,
Tina Turner.
4.2.3 Laughing matter: Italian comedy
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Beppe Grillo. A comedian and political activist who came
to prominence in the 1980s attacking the Governments
foreign policy on the television show Fantastico 7. Grillos
Internet blog is the most visited in the country (see section
6.1.4 for more) and among the top ten blogs in the world.
In September 2007 he staged his own V Day (Vaffanculo
(Fuck Off) Day) calling for MPs with criminal convictions
to be removed from ofce, a demand that found support
across the country.
Rosario Fiorello. A Sicilian showman who sings, mimics
and acts, Fiorello rst entered the public consciousness on
Karaoke, a TV show. More recently Fiorello has built a loyal
following hosting a daily radio show, Viva Radio 2, on which
he impersonates everyone from Carla Bruni to Kim Jong-
il. He even popped up singing in The Talented Mr Ripley
alongside Jude Law.
Sabina Guzzanti. A comedienne who also upset Berlusconi
on TV, but is more famous for winding up the pope and
nearly landing in jail. At a political rally held in Romes Piazza
Navona in July 2008, she proclaimed that, because of the
Churchs treatment of homosexuals, the pope would soon
be going to Hell where he would be tormented by great
big poofter devils and very active ones.
Keep on smiling
Comedy in contemporary Italy is in rude health. Television
is the main outlet, hosting satire and straight comedy
shows in large numbers; the country also has its own
cable cousin to the American Comedy Central channel,
dedicated solely to mirth. For the live stuff, every city in
the country has its own (usually small) club hosting cabaret
and comedy evenings, while the more famous comedians
like Beppe Grillo, Antonio Albanese, Paolo Rossi and Paola
Cortellesi all regularly tour larger venues. Comedy festivals
are also popular, including the annual Faccia Da Comico at
the Teatro Ambra Jovinelli in Rome, as are competitions
for new talent like La Zanzara dOro (The Golden Mosquito)
at the Teatro delle Celebrazioni in Bologna.
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5 Cinema and fashion
5.1 Cinema p179
5.1.1 The importance
of Italian cinema p180
5.1.2 Epic tastes: from
silent classics to noisy
propaganda p182
5.1.3 Grit and
determination:
Neorealist cinema p186
5.1.4 The golden age
of Italian cinema p188
5.1.5 The era of false
dawns: modern Italian
cinema p195
5.2 Fashion p201
5.2.1 Made in Italy
p202
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Some of Italys most rewarding
encounters with modern culture have
come in the movie theatre, from the
silent epics to the Neorealists and the
golden age of Fellini and co.
5.1 Cinema
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modern Italy
Three Italian lm
festivals
Mostra
Internazionale dArte
Cinematograca di
Venezia. Thats the
Venice Film Festival,
second only to Cannes in
the roll call of European
fests. Held on Venice
Lido in late summer
every year since 1932, it
claims to be the oldest
lm festival in the world.
The main prize is the
Leone dOro, descendant
of what used to be the
Coppa Mussolini.
Strappami le Lacrime.
Festival dedicated to the
tearjerker; held in Rome
in late February and
early March.
Le Giornate del
Cinema Muto The
largest festival in the
world dedicated solely
to lm from the silent
era. Held in Pordenone,
Friuli-Venezia Giulia,
every October.
Italy has a distinct cinematic tradition. Guilty pleasures
aside (theres a weakness for pulp horror and sex
comedy), the best moments of Italian cinema have
often been characterised by naturalism, by an honest
(and regularly cynical) appraisal of contemporary Italian
life. Even in the silent era, when effusive ailing was
considered imperative in American cinema, Italian actors
were giving nuanced, intelligent performances. In the
short but inuential post-war Neorealist period, directors
shaped a new genre of candid lm-making, before subtly
adapting a decade later to pass comment on society
and money when the good times arrived. Even today,
the best Italian cinema pokes around in murky truths,
uninching in its dramatisation of corruption and crime.
Taking on Hollywood
Cinema-going remains a popular Italian pastime. The
gures for attendance have remained relatively steady
through the rst decade of the 21
st
century (around
115 million tickets sold each year). However, most
lmgoers (around two thirds) are paying to watch dubbed
Hollywood blockbusters. Around a hundred native lms
get made every year, and theres an almost annual
discussion about the resurgence of Italian cinema, but
the heady days of the 1950s and 60s are a long way past
(a regularly made comparison that itself probably holds
modern Italian cinema back). The best-sellers tend to
be lightweight comedies rather than auteur affairs. For
example, in 2008, the year of Gomorra, Matteo Garrones
acclaimed lm about the Neapolitan Maa, the Italian box
ofce charts were topped by Natale a Rio, the latest in a
series of screwball comedies, this one about a Christmas
holiday in Brazil (Gomorra was tenth on the list).
5.1.1 The importance of Italian cinema
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Celebrate with a Dave
The Premi David di
Donatello are Italys
equivalent of the Oscars.
Handed out each spring
since 1955 by the
Accademia del Cinema
Italiano, the gongs, as
the name suggests,
are miniature copies
of Donatellos David
statue.
Italian lm-makers apply to the Ministry for Cultural
Heritage and Activities for funding (repaid if box ofce
receipts reach a certain level), and many are successful,
as long as the projects staff and content are sufciently
Italian. However, additional cash is usually required from
a TV company to get a lm made. In recent years many
lms have secured funding by working as co-productions
with other European countries, although this process
appears to be in decline. The growth of multiplex cinemas
and their preference for reliable American blockbusters
isnt helping the situation.
On location: three lms shot in Italy
The Talented Mr Ripley (1999). The adaptation of Patricia Highsmiths thriller
used various Italian backdrops, from the Caff Florian in Venice to the beach of
Bagno Antonio on the island of Ischia.
The Italian Job (1969). The crime caper starring Michael Caine unfurled in the
narrow streets of Turin (although the famous tunnel drive was actually lmed in a
Coventry sewer) and ended teetering on the edge of a cliff at Ceresole Reale in the
Alps.
The Godfather (1972). The real
Sicilian town of Corleone, ancestral
home of Mario Puzos ctional crime
dynasty, was too developed to use for
lming; the village of Savoca stood in.
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Romantic hero to die for
The most famous Italian
gure of early cinema
didnt actually make any
Italian movies. Rodolfo
Guglielmi di Valentina
dAntonguolla (Rudolph
Valentino) moved from
Italy to New York aged
18, in 1913, unable to
nd work in his native
Puglia. He lived rough
before getting a job
as a ballroom dancer,
which led to acting and
romantic leads in some
memorable lms, The
Sheikh (1921) and Blood
and Sand (1922) among
them. When Valentino
lost out to peritonitis,
aged 31, some female
fans apparently
committed suicide.
I TALY S FI RST
CI NEMA I S STI LL
I N BUSI NESS; THE
CI NEMA LUMI RE
I N PI SA OPENED I N
1905.
So thats what the Romans looked like
Italy took to cinema like a natural. After getting over the
simple wonder of creating moving images a smiling
Pope Leo XIII, blessing anything in sight, was lmed
in 1896 shortly after the Lumire Brothers reported
making the rst lm in Paris early lm-makers turned
to narrative, seemingly inspired by the grand spectacle
of Italys operatic tradition. Historical epics prevailed in
the nascent industry, hugely popular in Italy and similarly
successful when exported to the USA where they set the
standard for early cinema. Ancient Rome was plundered
for storylines: grand sets, swarms of sandaled extras and
muscled torsos did much to shape the epic cinematic
tradition. The rst Italian movie (or lm with a plot at
least), La Presa di Roma (1905), actually celebrated more
recent history the capture of Rome by the new Italian
army in 1870. When they werent cutting historical epics,
early lm-makers made melodrama.
Giovanni Pastrone was a leading gure early on; a director
and producer who wrote screenplays, set up cinemas and
invented new equipment, not least the carrello, a camera
that could move with the action. Italys silent lms also
produced the rst real stars of international cinema,
reared as such by the industrys budding lm companies
and directors. It was the divisimo culture, built around
well-paid actresses who became known as dive divas.
Francesca Bertini and Lydia Borelli were among the
early female stars. Bertinis fame was transatlantic (she
apparently earned $175,000 in 1915) and long-lived her
nal screen appearance came in Bernardo Bertoluccis
1976 epic, Novecento.
5.1.2 Epic tastes: from silent classics
to noisy propaganda
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Three Italian classics from the silent era
Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (Mario Caserini 1913). The last days of Pompeii,
caught with impressive air and unexpected subtlety. Its silent, of course, so
remember to go boom at the appropriate moment.
Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone 1914). The best of Italys silent epics was written by
nationalist poet and all-round show-off Gabriele DAnnunzio. Bartolemeo Pagano,
a Genoese docker, found stardom playing Maciste, a muscular Roman slave, in the
story of a damsels distress in the Second Punic War. Cabiria was a hit well beyond
Italy; the American premiere was held in the White House.
Assunta Spina(Gustavo Serena 1915). The nest
of the early Italian melodramas starred Francesca
Bertini (who also helped out with the writing). She
brought an impressive realism to the titular role,
a Neapolitan washerwoman with a murderously
jealous anc.
Letting the Americans in
The Futurist movement (see 3.1.5
for the details), with its taste for
modernity and movement, was
impressed with the new medium
of lm. However, whilst the
collective published a manifesto
on Futurist cinema in 1916 (they
were big on manifestos), they
didnt make many lms. Thais
(1917), directed by Anton Giulio Bragaglia, author of the
aforementioned manifesto, probably got most attention.
The Futurists contribution to cinema lay more in
championing new technology. Unfortunately, Italys post
First World War governments didnt pay much attention:
they didnt regulate the ow of foreign lms into Italy
and the formerly vibrant Italian industry was swamped
by cheap American movies, a situation made worse by
Italys post-war economic discomfort.
Francesca Bertini
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CI NEMA I S THE
MOST POWERFUL
WEAPON.
Cinecitt slogan, 1937
Film with the Fascists
The Italian lm industry recovered somewhat in the
1930s. The arrival of talkies helped (audiences had a
new reason for choosing Italian over American) and so did
the Fascist government: nancing studios, encouraging
directors and limiting the inux of foreign lms. Like
Hitler, Mussolini used newsreel for propaganda, but
the regimes cinema wasnt as blatant as it was in
Nazi Germany; in Italy, they used historical parallels to
glorify the Fascist party. For instance, the Fascists paid
accomplished director Carmine Gallone to make Scipione
lAfricano (1937), set in Ancient Rome but commissioned
to bolster public support for the shameful campaign in
Abyssinia.
Figures like Alessandro Blasetti, whose 1860 (1934)
anticipated Neorealist cinema with its commonplace
hero, showed how directors could make very good
lms and still satisfy the regime (in this case with
stirring stuff about the Risorgimento). Other lms were
inevitably more plodding, diluted by the restrictions on
subject matter. Many fell into the telefoni bianchi genre:
moralising, derivative (of American) movies made in the
late 1930s and named for the white telephones found
in the living rooms of their afuent characters. Il Signor
Max (1937), a comedy about a newspaper salesman done
good, was typical.
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Europes biggest lm set
Mussolini spent a considerable sum building Cinecitt, the
sprawling lm studios on Romes south-eastern fringe.
Unveiled in 1937, it became the hub of the Italian lm
industry after the war (but not before briey serving as a
refugee camp). Cinecitts cheap post-war rates enticed
American lm-makers over in the 1950s: Charlton Heston
went hell for leather sandals here in Ben Hur (1959) and
Liz Taylor met Richard Burton for the rst time on the
set of Cleopatra (1961). Italian director Federico Fellini
made all his lms at Cinecitt. After some lean years in
the late 20
th
century, Cinecitt (now privatised), still the
largest lm studios in Europe, is back on the lmic map,
attracting directors like Martin Scorsese, who shot Gangs
of New York (2002) there.
Gangs of New York set at Cinecitt
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I VE LOST ALL MY
MONEY ON THESE
FI LMS BUT I M
GLAD TO LOSE I T
THI S WAY.
Vittorio De Sica
Is that the postman at
the door? No dear, its
Neorealism
Critics rarely agree
on what the rst lm
of Italian Neorealist
cinema was. Some cite
Rossellinis Roma, citt
aperta (1945); others
point to Ossessione
(1942), Viscontis
unglamorous adaptation
of The Postman Always
Rings Twice, which
moved James M. Cains
story of murderous
passion from California
to northern Italy.
Mussolini allowed the
lms release, even
though his son Vittorio
famously walked out
of a screening shouting
This is not Italy.
However, the Fascists
would later sentence
Visconti to death for
hiding Partisans in
his villa. He escaped
prison, and the capital
sentence, with the help
of his jailors.
Shooting from the ruins
A new strain of Italian lm-making took shape in the
Second World War. Neorealism was born in part of
necessity: the wartime sacking of Cinecitt compelled
new directors to shoot on location, amid the rubble, in a
documentary style, whilst a lack of funding often gave the
lead roles to non-professional actors, with mixed results.
There was also an urge to purge the articiality of telefoni
bianchi (the genre in which many Neorealist directors and
actors got their rst break), to capture instead the real
social (usually-working class) concerns of the times, often
in real language. All these factors gave Neorealist cinema
a rawness that articulated Italys post-war pain.
Who were the important Neorealist directors?
Neorealist cinema was largely conned to Rome, where
three key directors were at work. Roberto Rossellini took
the most documentary, guerrilla approach, invariably
using wartime as a theme. Vittorio De Sica, a matinee
idol in the Fascist era, was a more conventional directorial
talent. He took Cesare Zavattinis scripts and made
emotive, engaging lms that used the personal stories of
betrayal and love to comment on social themes ranging
from crime to the elderly. The third great director, Luchino
Visconti, an aristocrat, made more overtly political lms
on the plight of the poor most memorably of Sicilian
shermen.
All three directors made signicant lms in later
decades, reinventing their style, but each remains closely
associated with Neorealism. It was a short-lived genre
(and never a formal school), essentially over by the early
1950s. Its end was speeded by poor box ofce receipts
(most post-war Italians wanted escapism not grim
reality), and by the easing of the socioeconomic strife
it portrayed. Despite the abrupt end, Neorealism would
prove hugely inuential on subsequent Italian cinema.
5.1.3 Grit and determination: Neorealist cinema
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The ve Neorealist lms to watch rst
Roma, citt aperta (Roberto Rossellini 1945). An early milestone in Neorealist
cinema, shot on Roman streets six months after the Nazis left. It told the tense story
of partisans ghting Germans. Anna Magnani emerged as Neorealisms leading lady.
Sciusci(Vittorio De Sica 1946). Two shoeshine boys, played with impressive
subtlety by a couple of untrained actors, come unstuck in unsympathetic post-war
Rome.
La terra trema (Luchino Visconti 1948). Another cast of non-professionals, here
using Sicilian dialect, rendered the lives of poor, exploited shing folk in a lm
commissioned by the Italian Communist Party.
Ladri di biciclette
(Vittorio De Sica 1948).
A destitute man and his
son (non-actors) scour
Rome for the stolen bike
on which his job hanging
posters depends. Bleak
but utterly compelling:
the best lm youll ever
see about a stolen bike
(probably).
Riso Amaro (Giuseppe
De Santis 1949). Two
jewel thieves hide out
amid tough migrant
workers in the paddy
elds of the Po Valley.
Silvana Manganos feisty,
busty character helped
sell the lm.
What a Cary on
Vittorio De Sicas Ladri
di biciclette has become
the most acclaimed of
the Neorealist lms,
combining, as it did,
critical and commercial
success. The plausibility
of its central father and
son characters, played
by amateur actors, is
key to its authenticity.
However, it could all
have been very different.
Iconic American
producer David O.
Selznick offered to fund
the lm so long as De
Sica placed Cary Grant
in the role of the father.
De Sica suggested Henry
Fonda instead, before
deciding on his cast
of amateurs and other
sources of funding.
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In the pink
As Neorealism waned in the early 1950s, a new golden
age of Italian cinema developed in tandem with the
nations economic miracle (see 8.4 for more). One genre
was dubbed neorealismo rosa (Pink Neorealism), which
kept the location shoots and working-class characters of
Neorealism but swapped edgy social critique for matters
of the heart, usually tinged with comedy. Pink Neorealism
rapidly withered, being superseded by the popular
commedia allitaliana genre in the late 1950s. It wasnt as
lightweight as it might sound: the lms were bittersweet,
nding humour in mocking the posturing of Italys new-
found prosperity. Commedia allitaliana made repeated
use of the same actors, notably Vittorio Gassman, star
of the genres rst big hit, I soliti ignoti (1958), a Mario
Monicelli-directed effort about a gang of bungling crooks.
The age of the auteurs
While commedia allitaliana was the commercial success
story of the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s,
critically the period is better remembered for its auteur
directors, gures who drew on different genres and
themes to produce distinctive, highly personal cinema.
Some used the cynicism of commedia allitaliana, pointing
the nger at Italys new consumerist society; others used
sex or the ideological clash of the era as themes.
Five legends: the auteurs and their lms
Federico Fellini. Recognised by many as the greatest
of all Italian directors, Fellini began writing scripts in the
Neorealist era (he worked on Rossellinis Roma, citt
aperta) before turning to direction. In 1956 he won an
Oscar for La strada (1954), in which Anthony Quinn
played a callous circus strongman, before producing La
dolce vita (1960), a satire on celebrity that broke new
ground with its unusual structure (a series of set-piece
episodes) and themes. Fellini stretched reality. His
5.1.4 The golden age of Italian cinema
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modern Italy
characters were extreme, used to parody the excess
and superciality of modern life La dolce vita was
typical with Anita Ekbergs voluptuous actress and
Mario Mastroiannis shiftless journalist trailing rather
pointlessly around decadent, modern Rome. Another
Fellini masterpiece, 8 (1963), came soon after, before
his allegorical style became increasingly surreal and the
narrative looser, spoiling the legend somewhat.
Michelangelo Antonioni. A clutch of stylish early
1960s lms cemented the Antonioni brand. He shunned
traditional structure: plotlines zzled out or didnt exist at
all; the editing was intentionally abrupt and jarring; and
the characters were cool and undemonstrative, revealing
little of themselves as they struggled with psychological
angst. Why explain when you can stare moodily out of
the window making vague existential comments? It was
demanding stuff, but audiences and critics responded
positively. The rst big hit was Lavventura (1960); a
missing young woman, frustratingly, is never found but
the disappearance sheds light on her friends.
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6. Media and
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modern Italy
Antonionis rst colour lm, Il deserto rosso (1964),
is often considered his masterpiece. Later lms were
made in English, notably Blow Up (1966), set in swinging
London.
Francesco Rosi. Like Fellini and Antonioni, Rosi cut his
teeth on Neorealism, helping out Visconti on La terra
trema, but unlike his contemporaries kept the focus on
social and political misdeeds in the 1960s. In the golden
age, he made movies about the corruption of power,
laying out the evidence in documentary style, waiting for
the public to draw its own conclusions. Il caso Mattei
(1972), perhaps his best work, explored the demise of an
oil tycoon in a plane crash.
Pier Paolo Pasolini. The Catholic Marxist homosexual
Pasolini threw his religious, ideological and sexual
concerns into his lms. His directing career began with
Accattone (1961), a realist slice of the rough lowlife
Rome he knew well, and his talent was conrmed
with Il vangelo secondo Matteo (1964), a rendering
of the Gospel according to Matthew. Pasolini is best
remembered, however, for the scandalising trilogy of
Decameron (1971), I racconti di Canterbury (1972) (in
which Pasolini himself played Chaucer) and Il ore delle
mille e una notte (1974), sexed-up classics that voiced a
disdain for modern life.
Bernardo Bertolucci. His rst job in lm was working for
Pasolini, and he shared some of the older directors taste
for allegorical commentary even while developing more
psychological themes and a much slicker cinematic style.
In La strategia del ragno (1970), his rst major success,
a young man searches for answers about the murder
of his father by Fascists. Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972),
starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider as the
intimate strangers, brought worldwide renown as well as
notoriety. Bertoluccis subsequent lms grew more epic
and visually impressive.
Pasolini, the movie
The furore generated
by Pier Paolo Pasolinis
lms, cited for
blasphemy and obscenity
but also greatly admired,
mirrored the directors
own turbulent life. His
brother was murdered
by Yugoslav communist
partisans in the war,
and yet Pasolini became
a staunch leftist. He
took a teaching job
after the war but lost
it after being convicted
of obscene acts and
corrupting minors. By the
time the conviction was
reversed and Pasolini
cleared of all charges,
hed spent two years
living in the slums of
Rome. He was arrested
again in 1963, this time
charged with blasphemy
over La ricotta, a short
lm starring Orson
Welles as a director
making his own lm
about the Crucixion.
Pasolinis death in 1975,
aged 53, was suitably
nonconformist; he was
found dead on the beach
at Ostia, near Rome,
after being run over
several times by his own
car. A 17-year-old male
prostitute pleaded guilty
and was convicted of
murder, but has since
retracted his confession.
Conspiracy theories
abound.
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and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Classics on a plate: the spaghetti westerns
Its a derogatory title, but one that has stuck and which
lacks an alternative. The Italian westerns made in the
1960s eschewed the clean-cut cowboys of Hollywood for
mean, dirty gunslingers. Around 400 were made, many
of them co-productions between European and American
companies, as reected by the mixed line-up of Italian and
American actors, among whom the memorably reticent
and ponchoed Clint Eastwood stood out. Sergio Leone
was the key director, shooting ve westerns in all; the
music of Ennio Morricone did much to sharpen Leones
long, sparsely dialogued sequences. Try Per un pugno di
dollari (1964) for starters (better known to millions as A
Fistful of Dollars). Damiano Damiani and Sergio Corbucci
also made thoroughly watchable spaghetti westerns.
Water with your vodka, Marcello?
The famous Trevi fountain scene of Fellinis La dolce vita was shot one March
evening in 1959. Anita Ekberg apparently had no problem with wading through the
chill waters for hours on end; Marcello Mastroianni, so Fellini said, wore a wetsuit
under his clothes and was only tempted into the fountain after warming up with a
bottle of vodka.
I T WAS I WHO
MADE FELLI NI
FAMOUS, NOT
THE OTHER WAY
AROUND.
Anita Ekberg
Princely performer
Antonio de Curtis, stage
name Tot, was the
Italian lm comic of the
20
th
century. He made
over a hundred movies
between the 1930s
and 60s, starring in
both original work and
parodies of other lms.
He brought his talents
to a wide range of roles
but was at his best as
a commedia dellarte
style character: the
Neapolitan underdog
who sticks it to the
Establishment with
his devious wit. He
always claimed to be
the illegitimate son
of a marquis, and
apparently liked to be
addressed as Principe
(Prince). Towards the
end of Tots career,
Pasolini gave him a
role in Uccellacci e
uccellini (1966), bringing
the actor the serious
appraisal hed always
craved. Watch Guardie
e ladri (1950), a cops
and robbers caper, for a
taste of the Tot magic.
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2. Literature
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Sorry, no, espadrilles wont do
Peplum movies (or sword and sandal if you prefer; the
peplum was a loose Greek tunic) had been around in
one form or another since the days of silent Italian lm,
but found new life in the early 1960s. They took Ancient
mythology as a (very rough) base, placed a muscle-
bound (often American) actor in the midst and then
proceeded morally towards a happy ending. Le fatiche
di Ercole (1958), starring American actor Steve Reeves
as Hercules, was the rst big box ofce hit. There were
no standout lm-makers, although spaghetti western
auteur Sergio Leone did make his directorial debut with Il
colosso di Rodi (1961), a better peplum lm than most.
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Five golden age actors
Sophia Loren. A sex symbol with considerable talent, Loren won an Oscar for La
ciociara (1960), one of ve lms she made with Neorealist director De Sica.
Vittorio Gassman. Theatre actor who got his lm break playing the criminal in De
Santis Riso Amaro, and became a golden age legend in the likes of Il Sorpasso.
Monica Vitti. Vittis alluring, understated style contrasted with the demonstrative
Loren and Lollobrigida. Antonioni got the best from Vitti in Lavventura, La notte
(1961) and Leclisse (1962).
Marcello Mastroianni. The leading man of the golden age is forever tied to
Fellini. Excellent in 8 but at his best as the shallow, manipulated journalist in La
dolce vita.
Alberto Sordi. The comic star of numerous commedia allItaliana lms played the
puerile male with aplomb, but also worked for the auteurs, notably in Fellinis Lo
sceicco bianco (1952).
Directors cuts: the giallo lms
The low-budget giallo (yellow) lms of the 1960s and
70s took their lead from a literary genre of the same
name (see section 2.1.5), bringing crime ction to the
big screen. However, the style soon bled out towards
horror and, eventually, full-on gore. Flesh became a key
theme in the 1970s, either for slashing or titillation (giallo
directors were unashamedly misogynistic), and in some
instances for both. Mario Bava was the accomplished
directorial force: his La ragazza che sapeva troppo (1963)
helped launch the genre, whilst Ecologia del delitto (1971)
brought inventive new types of death to lm (in one
scene a couple in the throes of passion are skewered
with a single spear) and proved highly inuential on the
American slasher movies of the 1980s and 90s. Dario
Argento, one-time scriptwriter to Bertolucci and Leone,
was another important giallo director; Profondo rosso
(1975) was amongst his best lms.
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foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The ten golden age lms to watch rst
La dolce vita (Federico Fellini 1960). Seven episodes in the week of Mastroiannis
bored, ckle journalist, used to comment on the shallowness of Romes post-war
party set.
Le mani sulla citt (Francesco Rosi 1963). Damning portrayal of corrupt
construction practices during the economic boom; Rod Steiger plays the lead. Better
than it sounds.
Il gattopardo(Luchino Visconti 1963). Sweeping Risorgimento drama adapted from
Lampedusas novel (see section 2.1.5), starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and
Claudia Cardinale.
Il sorpasso (Dino Risi 1963). A ne commedia allItaliana lm (in which Risi
specialised) about a road trip, expertly satirising Italys new economic success.
8(Federico Fellini 1963). Mastroianni stars for
Fellini again, this time in a dreamy, disorientating
and critical stab at the art of directing and its
attendant distractions.
Il deserto rosso(Michelangelo Antonioni 1964).
Ravennas foggy industrial backdrop ts perfectly
with Monica Vittis depressed housewife. A lip-
synched Richard Harris is her husband.
Cera una volta il west (Sergio Leone 1968). The best of Leones westerns pitched
Charles Bronson (and his incessant harmonica) against Henry Fondas ruthless killer.
Better known outside Italy as Once Upon a Time in the West.
Il conformista(Bernardo Bertolucci 1970). Sex and violence (and the links between)
in a psychological drama; a closet homosexual gets drawn into killing for the
Fascists.
Il decamerone (Pier Paolo Pasolini 1971). The rst of Pasolinis trilogy of life
caused a stir with its sex, but offered an entertaining run through Boccaccios bawdy
original (see 2.1.3 for more).
Mim metallurgico ferito nellonore (Lina Wertmller 1972). Tragicomedy set in
the 1968 student uprisings, with a Maa twist. From a rare female Italian director.
THERE WERE
THREE MEN I N HER
LI FE. ONE TO TAKE
HER. . . ONE TO LOVE
HER. . . AND ONE TO
KI LL HER.
Tag line for Cera una
volta il west
8
1
2
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
5.1.5 The era of false dawns:
modern Italian cinema
Screen angst
The word crisis crops up a lot in analyses of Italian
cinema in the 1970s and 80s. They were lean years.
Italian lms struggled against the countrys new-found
obsession with TV and the dominance of Hollywood. The
auteurs of the 1960s continued working but produced
little of great merit. Antonionis Identicazione di una
donna (1982), about a lm director searching for a leading
lady, was typical it was good, but not as good as it
used to be. The successful lms that did appear were
unconnected by any consistent theme or style. Some
directors, notably Bertolucci, made English-language
lms.
Of the new directors to emerge, the Taviani brothers,
Paolo and Vittorio, were well received. Padre Padrone
(1977), the (true) story of a Sardinian shepherd boy and
his barbaric father, was their breakthrough lm. Other
cinema was less erudite. This was the era when giallo
lms reached their height, and also the period when
director Tinto Brass found success (and heavy censorship)
with a series of sexploitation lms.
Padre Padrone
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A taste of the 1970s and 80s: ve lms
Salon Kitty (Tinto Brass 1976). Ever wondered how you make a box ofce smash
about Nazis and sex? Here you go. (The Salon Kitty brothel did actually exist in
1930s Berlin, lled with hidden microphones and used by the Nazis to gather
secrets.)
Lalbero degli zoccoli (Ermanno Olmi 1978). Three-hour Grapes of Wrath-style
epic about Bergamo peasants at the turn of the 20
th
century, inspired by stories Olmi
heard from his grandmother.
Cristo si fermato a Eboli (Francesco Rosi 1979). Rosi made a good st of lming
Carlo Levis book about southern destitution (see section 2.1.5 for more).
Otello (Franco Zefrelli 1986). Zefrellis fast-moving take on Shakespeare,
channelled through Verdi. Placido Domingo blacked up for the lead role.
Lultimo imperatore(Bernardo Bertolucci 1987). The most successful of
Bertoluccis English-language productions, depicting the last days of Chinas Manchu
dynasty, won nine Oscars.
New Italian Cinema
A resurgence of sorts occurred in the late 1980s. New
Italian Cinema, as the owering was called, began with
Giuseppe Tornatores Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988),
Scenes of crime
From the late 1960s
through to the 80s,
Italy had its own
pulpy version of the
American crime lm.
The poliziotteschi,
often categorised as an
offshoot of giallo lms
(see previous section),
were heavy on car
chases, shoot-outs and
moustachioed cops.
The Italian problems
with political corruption
and the Maa, which
wasnt glamorised on
lm here like it was in
America, provided an
endless fount of subject
matter. Fernando di Leo
was the key director;
Il boss (1973) and I
padroni della citt (1976)
amongst his best lms.
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foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Lip service
Virtually every foreign
lm shown in Italy is
dubbed. The demand
is such that the people
doing the dubbing
become stars in their
own right. The king
of dubbing, Oreste
Lionello, died in 2009
after a long career
lip-synching everyone
from Bugs Bunny to Dr
Strangelove. He was
known best as the
Italian voice of Woody
Allen. In one Fellini lm,
Prova dorchestra (1978),
Lionello dubbed the
parts of eight separate
actors.
Troisis last post
Massimo Troisi, the
writer and star of Il
Postino (he plays the
postman whose one
daily delivery is to Pablo
Neruda, the Chilean
poet exiled on a Sicilian
island), postponed
heart surgery in order
to complete the lm.
The day after lming
nished, he suffered a
fatal cardiac arrest.
an internationally acclaimed (and undeniably mawkish)
period piece about a fatherless boy who nds succour
at the local cinema. Similar sentimentality owed
from Il postino, directed by Michael Radford, a Brit,
characterising the New Italian Cinema as one pining
for the values of a bygone Italy. Other lms tackled
this sense of disappointment about modern Italy more
directly. Gianni Amelio was an important director,
reigniting the social conscience of Neorealist cinema with
Il Ladro di bambini (1992), a depressing but engrossing
childs eye view of modern Italy. Marco Risi did
something similar with Mery per sempre (1989), set in a
Palermo reform school. A third director, Daniele Luchetti,
turned the spotlight on corruption with Il portaborse
(1991), a satire on the kickbacks and favours endemic in
the Italian establishment.
New Italian Cinema did produce some interesting, highly
individual work. Nanni Morettis eccentric, amusing lms
covered a range of themes, the most diverse appearing
in Caro diario (1993), a documentary-style lm in three
sections, in which Moretti (kind of) plays himself, rst on
a Vespa in Rome, then journeying through the Aeolian
Islands and, nally, seeking treatment for a strange, itchy
illness. Like Moretti, Roberto Benigni has often starred in
his own lms, although his comedy is more direct, largely
reliant on a rather surreal slapstick. Johnny Stecchino
(1991), about a school bus driver who gets entangled with
a Maa boss, did well at the box ofce. However, Benigni
has become best remembered for a later work, La vita
bella (1997), the most acclaimed Italian lm of the last 30
years.
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foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Five lms of New Italian Cinema
Mediterraneo(Gabriele Salvatores 1991). A group of Italian soldiers posted to a
remote Greek island in 1941 get forgotten about and become slowly absorbed into
local life.
Unanima divisa in due(Silvio Soldini 1993). A shop security guard falls head
over heels for a gypsy girl who steals on his watch. Once they marry, the cultural
differences begin to grate.
Il grande cocomero (Francesca Archibugi 1992). Arturo, a psychiatrist, establishes
an intense and revealing relationship with a young female patient whose epilepsy
may be psychosomatic. Archibugis restraint sidesteps sentimentality.
La scorta (Riccardo Tognazzi 1993). A new judge in Sicily, lling a dead mans
shoes, tries taking on the local Maa; a lm very much of its time, coming in the era
of the mani pulite investigations (see section 1.2.3)
La vita bella (Roberto Benigni 1999). Shot, admittedly, after New Italian Cinemas
prime-time, but essential viewing nevertheless. Benigni won a best actor Oscar,
rising above critics who questioned using humour in a story set in the Holocaust.
The modern movie scene
The promise of New Italian Cinema, such as it was,
receded in the later 1990s. Today, Italian lm is in
reasonable health, helped by moderate public funding
(although 2009 cuts have hit hard). Good movies are
released every year, even if the rest of the world rarely
sees them. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to success is
that not enough Italians see them either; the top-selling
lms in Italy are nearly always American productions, a
fact not helped by cinemas reluctance to show home-
grown work. Directors like Moretti, Amelio and Olmi
continue to make good personal lms, and Benigni had a
crack at an Italian blockbuster in the shape of Pinocchio
in 2002. Other directors make lms about politics (the
political biopic in particular), or tackle Italys ongoing
relationship with organised crime. Some, like Vincenzo
Marra with his story of Neapolitan shermen, Tornando a
casa (2001), attempt a return to the tenets of Neorealism,
shooting in regional dialect.
THE I TALI AN
FI LMS I VE SEEN
OVER THE PAST
FEW YEARS ALL
SEEM THE SAME.
ALL THEY TALK
ABOUT I S BOYS
GROWI NG UP,
GI RLS GROWI NG
UP, COUPLES
I N CRI SI S AND
HOLI DAYS FOR
THE MENTALLY
DI SABLED.
Quentin Tarantino
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6. Media and
communications
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modern Italy
The ten 21
st
century lms to watch rst
La stanza del glio (Nanni Moretti 2001). Morettis
lm (in which he stars) about a family coping with the
death of their son won the Palme dOr at Cannes.
Lultimo bacio (Gabriele Muccino 2001). Superior
rom-com in which the prospect of being a rst-time
father brings the lead man out in a cold sweat.
La nestra di fronte(Fezan zpetek 2003). A married
woman falls in love with a stranger in a nearby
apartment; delicate lm from an acclaimed Turkish-
Italian director.
Io non ho paura (Gabriele Salvatores 2003). A boys
disappearance in the anno di piombo (see section
1.2.3), takes a sinister turn; but who exactly wants
him dead?
La bestia nel cuore (Cristina Comencini 2005). A
disturbing nightmare awakens memories of sexual
abuse for a young woman, who goes in search of
answers.
Il caimano (Nanni Moretti 2006). The left-wing
director launches his assault on Silvio Berlusconi,
albeit with a light, witty touch.
Il divo(Paolo Sorrentino 2008). A dark, intricate look
at the career of former prime minister Giulio Andreotti
(see section 8.3 for more on Andreotti).
Gomorra (Matteo Garrone 2008). Naples Maa 21st
century style, stripped of any possible glamour, as
adapted from Roberto Savianos book.
Baaria (Guiseppe Tornatore 2009) A lush epic
following the 20th century life of a Sicilian village.
Communists, Fascists, Maoso, priests theyre all
in there.
Vincere (Marco Bellocchio 2009). Tells the little-
heard story of Mussolinis rst wife, and the child that
he refused to acknowledge.
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200
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foundations
of British culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema,
photography
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Britain
201
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2. Literature
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4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Fashion has become ingrained
in modern Italian life few nations
are as committed to looking good.
However, fashion here is more about
style than invention. Its rarely
ephemeral they dont throw
perfection out on a whim, scrabbling
for the next big thing.
5.2 Fashion
202
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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modern Italy
THE DI FFERENCE
BETWEEN STYLE
AND FASHI ON I S
QUALI TY.
Giorgio Armani
Getting high on shoes
Practicality rarely directs
an Italian womans shoe
collection. However
cobbled the street,
however big the puddles,
a stiletto will be worn
(in Italian the word
means little dagger)
and tottering or wincing
will not be allowed.
The high heel was
apparently popularised
by the diminutive Italian
Catherine de Medici
who, aged 14, wore
two-inch heels on the
occasion of her marriage
to the future King Henry
II of France in 1533.
For goodness sake, dont go to the shops in your
tracksuit
The Italian sense of style is well documented; to fare
bella gura (make a beautiful gure) is important to the
daily ritual for most. The volume of Italian names in the
fashion industry and the enduring quality of Italian clothes
and accessories speak of this omnipresent concern for
appearance. But theres more at work here than simple
aesthetics. The understated elegance that has dened
Italian fashion since the economic boom of the 1960s
is as much about exuding prosperity, condence and
control (all of which may be only cloth deep) as slavishly
following the latest trends. The label is often as important
as the garment, which is why so many Italians are happy
to buy counterfeit clothes making the right impression
is more important than authenticity.
There is, of course, the simple pleasure of looking good
too, and the Italians have indeed mastered sleek, timeless
fashion, aware that trends come and go but that style,
born of good tailoring and wearing the right clothes for
your frame and age (the Italians have a uniform for each
age bracket), will never fade. New Italian trends tend to
maintain this reserved, industry-led approach; fashion
doesnt come up from the streets, or if it does, it comes
from an American or British street and appears in Italy
with a designer label attached.
How Italy became a world leader in fashion
Milans function as a hub of not only Italian but also
international fashion is a relatively recent phenomenon.
The city has long been renowned for its textiles industry
and luxury accessories, and its inhabitants for cutting
a certain, jaunty gure (the term milliner derives from
Milans talent with hats), but the fashion industry as
we know it, with its mass market and ready-to-wear
collections, only set up shop in Milan in the 1970s.
Before, the industry, such as it was, centred on Florence,
and had done since the 12
th
century when the city grew
wealthy on its ne textiles. There, in 1951, Giovan
5.2.1 Made in Italy
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Battista Giorgini, an entrepreneur, gathered Italys
disparate designers together to show Italian haute
couture to foreign buyers and journalists, recalling the
sartorial opulence of the citys Renaissance heyday and,
hindsight now suggests, launching Italian fashion on the
international stage. A second event, held by Giorgini the
following year, was equally revolutionary in introducing
separate shows for boutique (ready-to-wear) and haute
couture clothing.
In the 1960s and 70s the focus of Italian fashion moved
to Milan, nudged by various factors: the countrys new-
found love of consumerism, the economic boom of the
northern cities (where the textile mills grew in size) and
the emergence of designers willing to lower themselves
to prt--porter clothing, Armani, Versace and Prada
amongst them. And there it remains, with the biannual
Milan Fashion Show (held in spring and autumn) helping
to maintain the citys primacy. Italy has become globally
renowned for the elegance of its ready-to-wear fashion,
while the amboyance of haute couture has dwindled,
reduced to a handful of exclusive designers producing
more accessories than clothes. Various levels exist within
the Italian ready-to-wear market, from Benetton, Miss
Sixty and Max Mara, accessible to most, up to Missoni
and co, producing small lines for big budgets.
The Roman bikini
Whilst Frenchmen
Jacques Heim and Louis
Reard introduced modern
culture to the bikini,
named in 1946 after
the nuclear weapon
test site in the South
Pacic (Jacques and
Louis claimed similar
explosive properties for
their new outt), the
frescos of gymnasts in
bandeau tops and bikini-
like bottoms unearthed
in the Villa Romana del
Casale, Sicily, would
suggest the two-piece
has its origins in the
Ancient Roman world.
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Knock-off Gucci
By the time Maurizio
Gucci got his hands on
his grandfathers famous
fashion house it was a
bloated empire made
weak by family feuds
and greed. He reined
the business in, closing
shops and re-orientating
Gucci back to its
accessory-led roots,
but prots suffered and
he ended up selling
the family stake in the
rm in 1993. Two years
later he was shot dead.
Various suspects were
rounded up but no one
was charged until 1997,
when the investigation
turned its sights on
Maurizios ex-wife, the
notoriously grasping
Patrizia Reggiani. When
her former husband
stopped making a prot
from Gucci so did she,
and so she decided
to have him killed.
Convicted of Maurizios
murder, Patrizia received
a 26-year prison
sentence.
Label conscious: ten mighty
Italian fashion houses
Gucci. Former dishwasher
Guccio Gucci started selling
luxury distressed leather bags
stamped with a double G logo
in Florence in 1906. From the
1930s, his son, Aldo, made
Gucci a global brand, defrauding
the US tax ofce of $7 million
along the way; one of various
family scandals that plagued the
Gucci brand. Creative director
Tom Ford saved Gucci from the abyss in the 1990s.
Prada. Founded to sell leather goods in 1913 in Milan by
Mario Prada and revitalised in 1978 by his granddaughter
Miuccia. Miu Miu, a lower-priced Prada line, launched
with garish colours in 1992 earning the nickname Prada
Ugly.
Max Mara. The rst Italian company to design good but
affordable ready-to-wear womens clothes, founded in
Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti in 1951. The business
remains in family hands, although none design for the
brand. Instead, they get well-known designers like Karl
Lagerfeld and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac to moonlight
for them, only revealing their identity after theyve left the
company.
Valentino. After learning the tricks of the trade at
Guy Laroche in Paris, Valentino Garavani dressed the
Hollywood greats of the 1960s from his shop in Rome.
Jackie K became Jackie O in a Valentino gown in 1968.
Like his designs, Valentinos life has been grand, colourful
and luxurious. The perma-tanned designer (he spends
a lot of time in St Tropez) staged his last show before
retirement in 2007.
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modern Italy
Giorgio Armani. Giorgio began his
career dressing windows in Milans La
Rinascente department store before
founding the Armani Company in
1975. He gave mens jackets narrow
lapels and large pockets while the
traditional padding and stiffness of
suit tailoring was ripped out. Today
you can dress in Armani, smell of
Armani, sleep in Armani sheets, carry
an Armani bag, kick back in Armani
sunglasses and stay in an Armani
hotel.
Bottega Veneta. The purveyors
of hand-woven leather accessories
coveted throughout the world. British
designer Giles Deacon initiated
something of a renaissance for the
brand in recent years. Not one for splashing the logo,
Bottega Veneta usually only labels its bags on the inside.
These days the company is owned by Gucci.
Roberto Cavalli. On the wilder side of Italian fashion,
Cavalli began designing one-off pieces in the 1970s,
claiming a love of dangerous dressing. His collections
have always been heavily inuenced by animal prints and
exotic fabrics.
Dolce & Gabbana. Partners in business (and love until a
recent break-up), Domenico Dolce (Sicilian) and Stefano
Gabbana (Milanese) met working as assistants in a Milan
tailors shop in the early 1980s. Their primary aim has
always been to design attering clothes, closely followed
by the desire to shake up fashion trends. D&G trademarks
have included underwear as outerwear, pinstripe gangster
suits and fending off frequent accusations of tax evasion.
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DON T BE I NTO
TRENDS. DON T
MAKE FASHI ON
OWN YOU, BUT YOU
DECI DE WHAT YOU
ARE, WHAT YOU
WANT TO EXPRESS
BY THE WAY YOU
DRESS AND THE
WAY TO LI VE.
Gianni Versace
Versace. Tailors son Gianni Versace sold his own
designs in the family store in Reggio di Calabria before
setting up on his own in Milan in the 1970s. His sexy,
colourful style contrasted with the androgyny of Armani
in the 1980s. Gianni was gunned down outside his Miami
home in 1997, after which his sister, Donatella, upheld
the rms reputation for bright colours and feminine
dresses.
Diesel. A younger, moderately more affordable face of
Italian off-the-peg fashion, Diesel was founded 30 years
ago in Molvena, Veneto, by Renzo Rosso. The scruffy-
chic style is perhaps as close as Italy gets to original
street fashion; the core business is based on jeans, but
has branched out to include apparel of all sorts and the
inevitable range of fragrances.
The naughty boy of fashion photography
Oliviero Toscani was the photographer behind the infamous United Colours of
Benetton marketing campaign of the 1990s. He began shooting for the likes of
Vogue and Elle in the 1960s and went on to work in Andy Warhols Factory in New
York. However, it was the Benetton campaign that won Toscani, son of a Corriere
della Sera photojournalist, his enfant terrible tag. Shots for the campaign included
a nun kissing a priest (eyes closed in rapture), a family sitting bedside with a dying
AIDS patient and a newborn baby with umbilical cord still attached. More recently
Toscanis advert for Nolita clothes, featuring a naked anorexic model, was banned
by Italys advertising watchdog. Some say its social commentary, others that its a
cheap trick for selling clothes All Ive done is put a news photo in the ad pages,
says Toscani.
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Five Italian style icons
Sophia Loren. Elegant, glamorous and genuinely curved, actress Loren embodied
Italian femininity in the 1960s.
Carla Bruni. Supermodel, singer and First Lady of France who keeps it simple with
understated elegance, as per the Italian uniform.
Marcello Mastroianni. The unfussy archetype of an Italian in a suit, Mastroianni,
star of more than 170 lms, helped shape the slim-cut Italian look.
Anna Piaggi. The antithesis of cool Italian reserve, fond of outrageous colour,
multiple layers and blue hair, and yet the fashion writer is an undoubted style icon.
Monica Bellucci. The most guiding of Italian cinemas contemporary lights when it
comes to fashion adheres to the shaped elegance of classic Italian style. A modern-
day Loren.
If you have to ask, you
cant afford it
Bulgari, a jewellery
manufacturer, was
founded in Rome in 1884
by Sotirios Voulgaris,
apparently descended
from a line of Greek
silversmiths. It took
nearly a century for
the rst Bulgari shop
to open overseas, in
New York, by which
time the companys
chunky jewellery had
become highly prized.
Today, the exclusive
brand also incorporates
perfumes, hotels and
accessories. Sotirios
son, Constantino,
distinguished himself
by hiding Roman Jews
in his house during the
Second World War.
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6 Media and communications
6.1 Media p211
6.1.1 Best of the
press: newspapers and
magazines p212
6.1.2 Thinking inside
the box: Italian television
p217
6.1.3 Radio: an Italian
passion p220
6.1.4 New media: Italy
online p222
6.2 Communications
p225
6.2.1 Staying in touch:
sending letters and
making calls p226
6.2.2 Italy on the move:
transport types and
habits p228
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modern Italy
The Italian media isnt renowned
for balance: it has an eminent
press that few people read and a
distinctly un-eminent TV diet that
almost everyone devours. Behind
it all, as in other countries,
powerful moguls, rich and
politicised, add to the sense that
things arent as even-handed as
they might be.
6.1 Media
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Lines of enquiry
The tradition of
investigative in-depth
reporting in Italy is
commonly referred
to as the inchiesta
giornalistica.
The bad news
It seems strange that a people as politically savvy,
passionate and opinionated as the Italians can be so
blas about their national press. Only ten per cent read
a national daily paper; compare that to almost 40 per
cent of UK residents and 50 per cent of Scandinavians.
Instead, four out of ve Italians get their news from
television and the Internet. Some see the low readership
as a blow for democracy. Perhaps the problems lie
with content: while some applaud the Italian taste for
broadsheets (they dont really have sensationalising
tabloids), the rather dry intellectual tone of Italys
main papers excludes many. A tradition of intricate
commentary, of long and complex analysis by big
name journalists, means that comment and opinion can
obscure (or become confused with) the actual news.
Increasingly, anyone in search of a straight story goes
to the burgeoning number of free dailies, such as Leggo,
Metro or City, handed out in the major cities.
and the good news
The countrys regional press, especially newspapers in
the major cities, does better, no doubt thanks in part
to the Italians staunch regional pride. Most regional
papers carry the major national and international news
stories alongside the important local stuff. Papers such
as Il Mattino in Naples and Bolognas Il Resto del Carlino
outsell many national titles. Milan in particular is home
to a large number of dailies, including Italia Oggi and La
Padania. Southern Italy is covered by various editions of
the historic La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. In common
with the regional press, the big sports papers in Italy
remain enduringly popular, particularly on a Monday when
the nation catches up with its football reports.
6.1.1 Best of the press: newspapers and magazines
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Hack attack: the
journalists who wound
up the Maa
Mauro de Mauro. A
celebrated investigative
journalist (so good they
named him twice) who
disappeared suddenly in
Palermo in 1970 whilst
investigating the Maa.
He was never found.
In 2007 a supergrass
claimed de Mauro had
been dissolved in acid.
Roberto Saviano.
LEspresso reporter
who developed his
undercover horror stories
about Naples Maa
into a best-selling book,
Gomorra. These days
he lives under 24-hour
guard in a secret
location.
Lirio Abbate. News
editor for the ANSA
press agency in Sicily
whos published books
on the Maa. He
steadfastly remains in
Palermo, protected by
the police, who found an
undetonated bomb under
his car not so long ago.
The best of the national press
On the left
Corriere della Sera. First published in 1876, the
venerable Evening Courier is the most widely read
broadsheet in Italy. Over the years, the intelligent content
has drawn some of Italys greatest intellectuals and
novelists to its reporting ranks. Publishing one national
and four regional editions, Corriere della Sera currently
sells about 600,000 a day.
La Repubblica. A relative newcomer which rst hit news-
stands in 1976, the Rome-based paper blends general
interest content with centre-left politics, and battles it out
with Corriere for the highest sales. Like Corriere it prints
regional editions. Total sales amount to around 580,000 a
day.
La Stampa. A centrist, mildly left-leaning daily rst
published in Turin in 1867 (and originally titled Gazzetta
Piemontese). Circulation hovers around 330,000.
On the right
Il Giornale. Launched in 1974 in reaction to the left-wing
parties of the era, the Milan-based paper (with regional
editions) sells around 200,000 copies a day.
Il Messaggero. Essentially a Roman newspaper but with
sister publications in other regions, Il Messaggero sells a
conservative line to more than 200,000 readers daily.
Il Foglio. The low-circulation Sheet is best described as
a neo-conservative, pro-Vatican newspaper.
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Sports bulletins
The Italian passion for sport, football in particular, is fed
by various well-thumbed sports dailies. Two stand out:
La Gazzetta dello Sport. Its big, pink, sensationalist and
ingrained in Italian culture. With a circulation that dwarfs
many regular dailies (sometimes three million a day read
it), the Milan-based Gazzetta was launched in 1896 to
cover the rst modern Olympics but devotes the majority
of its pages today to football. The paper did much to
expose the corruption scandal that shook Italian football
in 2006 (see section 8.8 for more). A limited English-
language edition of the newspaper is available online.
Il Corriere dello Sport. The second biggest selling sports
daily does something similar for Rome and the south to
what the Gazzetta does for the north.
The other papers
Financial
Il Sole 24 Ore. Italys biggest selling daily business
paper with a circulation of just under 400,000. First
published in 1965, the liberally minded Milan-based paper
focuses on all matters nancial, but also carries weekend
supplements.
Milano Finanza. Provides a similar daily business digest.
Who controls the press?
Many Italian
newspapers trace their
origins back to the 19
th

century when political
parties and businessmen
used print to extend
their inuence across
the nascent state. Not
much has changed since:
negotiate your way into
the boardroom of a large
Italian newspaper today
and youll invariably
end up at the desk of
a wealthy industrialist.
The Fiat group has a
controlling interest
in the biggest daily,
Corriere della Sera,
and owns the third
biggest, La Stampa.
Sandwiched between
the two, La Repubblica
is controlled by Carlo de
Benedetti, founder of the
CIR Group (Compagnie
Industriali Riunite). As
for Silvio Berlusconi,
his interference is more
vocal than nancial,
although his brother,
Paolo, does own Il
Giornale, the largest
centre-right daily.
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No, no I think youll
nd it happened like this
Historians have
described fascist Italy
as the reign of the
journalists, and its
true that Mussolini did
everything he could to
control the press. His
sizeable press ofce
sent out the correct
version of daily events.
Any mention of the
dictator had to reference
his masculine presence
or his ability to work
through the night. By the
late 1920s, newspapers
were forbidden to report
crime and disorder to the
extent that many Italians
believed Mussolini really
had brought order to
the nation. Newspapers
that opposed the
regime were forced
underground.
Rabble-rousing
Il Manifesto. Thoroughly left-wing but still independent
Roman daily that has outlived communisms role in
modern Italian life. Scathing headlines and wicked
cartoons are the norm, as is the papers proximity to
nancial collapse.
Umanit Nova. An anarchist newspaper that traces it
roots back to the early 20th century. Closed down by
Mussolini in 1922, it regrouped after the Second World
War and still continues its weekly assault on capitalism,
the state and much more.
Godly
LOsservatore Romano. The semi-ofcial Vatican
mouthpiece, rst sold daily in 1861, is widely read across
Italy and is published in nine different languages, including
an English edition distributed to 129 countries. Today, it
claims more objectivity than of old in its role of reporting
on the pontiffs daily comings and goings.
Avvenire. Another daily Catholic affair, one of the few
newspapers in Italy with a growing circulation it recently
topped 100,000.
Backward steps on freedom
In a recent study on the freedom of the press around the world, the Freedom
House organisation downgraded Italys media from free to partly free (on a
par with Albania and Mongolia), blaming the courts restriction on free speech, the
intimidation of journalists by criminals and the constraints on pluralism brought by
the dominance of certain media moguls.
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modern Italy
Film script
The term paparazzi
derives from the
name of a character,
a photographer, in
Federico Fellinis La
dolce vita.
Sex, religion and politics: Italian magazines
Italian magazines more than compensate for the
newspapers reluctance to print celebrity gossip. Many
of the best-selling titles Oggi, Novella 2000 and Chi
(which famously printed photographs of Princess Diana
in her nal moments) build their copy around paparazzi
photographs. And yet, Italy also has some of the best
current affairs magazines in the world. Two are legendary:
Panorama, a right-of-centre mix of thorough journalism
and scantily clad women, which has the highest
circulation at 300,000 copies a week; and LEspresso,
which has similar content but takes its stance on the left,
and numbers Umberto Eco (see section 2.1.5) among its
former contributors.
A raft of womens titles (from native efforts like Grazia to
international giants Vogue) are also on sale, but none sell
more than Famiglia Cristiana, the Catholic mag founded
in 1931 and owned by the Paulist Fathers, which still
circulates around a million copies a week (and regularly
falls out with Silvio Berlusconi). Only television listings
magazines generate similarly massive sales, most of
them for the weekly TV Sorrisi e Canzoni.
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I N THE BUI LDI NG
TRADE YOU PLAN
SOMETHI NG
TODAY AND SEE I T
REALI SED I N TEN
YEARS. I N TV YOU
THI NK OF I T I N THE
MORNI NG AND I N
THE EVENI NG I T S
ALREADY ON THE
SCREEN.
Silvio Berlusconi
Paying for Rai
Each Italian household
pays a licence fee to the
state broadcaster, which
still shows adverts to
make up its funding. The
current licence fee is
slightly over 100 euros.
The drug of the nation
The Italians are gripped by television. On average they
watch four hours a day (only the Americans turn on the
tube more). You could argue that its the prime cultural
force in many Italian lives. But that raises a troubling
question: how can Italian culture be led by something
so consistently banal? Game shows, dubbed American
soaps, chat shows with male compres fringed by semi-
dressed dancing girls these are the tried and tested
constants of Italian TV. In fairness, the news coverage
can be OK, even whilst subject to accusations of bias.
Italian television has been like this since the 1970s,
when the system was deregulated. Before 1976 the
nation had one state-owned black and white channel,
its content heavily inuenced by Catholic mores. The
free-for-all that followed deregulation created a thousand
(largely unwatched) regional channels virtually overnight.
At a national level, Radiotelevisione Italiana (Rai), the
state broadcaster (it isnt an independent trust like,
for example, the UKs BBC), found itself up against an
emergent mogul, Silvio Berlusconi, and his company,
Mediaset. Today, the Rai/Mediaset duopoly, with its
audience share of 85 per cent, remains in place. Rai
(public) and Mediaset (commercial) control three channels
each. Another channel, La7, a relatively recent creation, is
independent. Italians can also buy into satellite TV, with
Rupert Murdochs Sky the only large scale provider.
6.1.2 Thinking inside the box: Italian television
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Terrestrial TV: the main stations
Public stations
Rai Uno. The most popular channel in Italy provides
general programming, with news, lms, football, soaps,
game shows, dubbed American drama and the occasional
lightweight documentary.
Rai Due. Predominantly broadcasts dubbed American
shows.
Rai Tre. The most highbrow channel on Italian TV
(although the competition isnt erce) broadcasts news,
current affairs and history programmes, alongside lms
and childrens TV.
Commercial stations
Canale 5. The Mediaset channel that brought Grande
Fratello (Big Brother) to the land of Botticelli sets its sight
on family audiences with a mix of entertainment and
news.
Italia 1. Mediasets second offering captures a younger
audience with a somewhat chaotic mix of dubbed
American drama, cartoons, reality shows, music and
sport.
Rete 4. A bit of everything from Mediasets third
signicant channel North American imports, news and
soaps.
La7. The lone terrestrial channel free of state or Mediaset
control, owned by Telecom Italia, dubs American comedy
and also carries news programmes, sport and bits of
MTV.
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The dubbed generation
Italian TV doesnt do
subtitles; the public
dont want to be busied
with reading whilst
trying to watch foreign
soap operas or lms.
The daily diet of foreign
telly proceeds with
what sounds like (but
surely cant be) the
same set of voices; men
are commanding and
resonant, women are
xed with a silky, sexy,
slightly vulnerable tone.
Some commentators
have suggested TV
dubbing is changing
the way Italians talk,
cultivating a hammy,
clipped speaking style.
Crowd pleasers: ve Italian TV shows
Incantesimo (Rai Uno). A soap opera set in a Rome hospital that has been
broadcasting since 1998 and currently airs ve times a week. MPs on all sides of the
Italian parliament spoke up for the show when it faced the axe in 2007.
Che tempo che fa(Rai Tre). From George Clooney to Carla Bruni, if a big star is
going to do an Italian talk show, its usually this one. Fabio Fazio asks the questions.
Ti lascio una canzone (Rai Uno). A variety show in which amateur contestants
sing Italian classics aided by a special guest singer with a modicum of genuine
talent.
Grande Fratello (Canale 5). The Italian version of Big Brother is the most popular
version of the worldwide franchise.
Striscia la notizia (Canale 5). Perhaps the best indicator of recent Italian TV,
this satirical show strips the news, investigating corruption and playing amusing
outtakes. Includes a couple of veline, attractive young women, in shot whenever
possible.
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Nice invention, shame
about the black shirt
It was an Italian (born
in Bologna to an Irish
mother), Guglielmo
Marconi, who sent
and received the rst
radio signal in 1895.
He travelled to England
to secure backing for
further development, and
the rst transatlantic
radio telegraph message
was sent from Cornwall
to Newfoundland in
1901. Marconi was
awarded the Nobel Prize
for Physics in 1909,
sharing it with fellow
wireless bofn, Karl
Braun. He later joined
the Fascist party and
was made president of
Mussolinis Accademia
dItalia in 1930,
receiving membership
of the Fascist Grand
Council as a fringe
benet. Mussolini even
performed best man
duties at Marconis
wedding to Maria
Cristina Bezzi-Scali in
1927.
Were all ears
Almost 40 million Italians tune in to the radio every day,
a higher proportion of the population than in virtually
any other country. Many are there for the music, for the
background noise, but a signicant proportion rely on the
news services regarded as more impartial than their TV
equivalent.
Radio was deregulated here in the same year as
television, 1976, and grew in an equally unrestrained,
organic way. As a consequence, more than 2,500 stations
now clutter the airwaves. The overwhelming majority are
commercial, listened to by a handful of devoted followers
(most are specic to region; some are specic to just a
street or two). Rai operates as the state broadcaster on
radio (as it does on TV), and its three prime stations still
regularly clock up the highest listener gures. Indeed,
Rai captures more than 50 per cent of the total radio
audience. A dozen or so additional stations some of
them public, like Rai GR Parlamento (a live feed from
Parliament); others commercial have a national reach.
6.1.3 Radio: an Italian passion
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BBCs Bari story
The BBC in the UK
launched its rst foreign
language radio service,
broadcast in Arabic, in
1938, in a bid to counter
Italys Radio Bari, which
was broadcasting anti-
British propaganda to the
Middle East.
Frequency jungle
A standard receiver in
a major city like Milan
can pick up more than a
hundred radio stations.
The glut is such that
stations will operate on
the same channel from
locations just a few
miles apart.
Six national radio
stations
Rai Uno. Italys
rst radio station,
launched in 1924,
mixes pop with chat,
news and a regular
dose of football
commentary.
Rai Due. The second state station has a light
entertainment base with music, news, talk and comedy
shows.
Rai Tre. Italys most cultural station, with classical
music, plays and weighty discussion.
Radio Deejay. The nations most listened-to station plays
pop to more than ve million people a day. Its owned by
the same group controlling LEspresso magazine and La
Repubblica newspaper.
Radio 24. A radio station linked to the nancial
newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore (see section 6.1.1), focussing
solely on news and discussion.
Radio Vaticana. DJ Pope in da house. Its news, music
and reportage from the Holy See. Correspondents are
located the world over and broadcasts can be heard in 40
different languages.
Three popular radio shows
Lo zoo di 105 (Radio 105 Network). A comedy show with impersonations and prank
phone calls, led by Marco Mazzoli. Subtlety isnt a strong point, but the show is
wildly popular with younger audiences.
Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto (Rai Uno). A venerable football show (on air
since 1959) with commentary, analysis and opinions from pundits, players and fans.
Viva Radio 2 (Rai Due). Light-hearted programme hosted by Rosario Fiorello and
Marco Baldini. Amusing chat, satire and impersonations ll most of the airtime.
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modern Italy
Slow starters
Italians took their time going online. The factors that got
most of us on the Net early in the 21st century, most
signicantly buying stuff, didnt control behaviour here
in quite the same way. Italians are less inclined to buy
on credit cards and still prefer the old face-to-face mode
of shopping; factors that both hindered the growth of
e-commerce. However, ten years on, theyre catching
up; almost half of all Italians are now regularly online,
broadband usage is spreading and Internet cafes are
dotted throughout towns and cities.
Recent polls suggest that Italians now spend more of
their leisure time (around a third) surng the Internet
than other Europeans. A high number use it for reading
the news: some hundred newspapers and countless
magazines have full or partial online versions. Surprisingly,
the enthusiasm for social networking isnt that strong,
and a wariness about online shopping still remains.
Italians are more inclined to use the Internet for blogging
or chatting in a forum. Downloading TV programmes
is also popular. In line with modern Italys wider
development, Internet usage is signicantly higher in the
north of the country than in the south.
6.1.4 New media: Italy online
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Three popular Italian websites
Beppe Grillo (beppegrillo.it). One of the worlds most visited blogs no less, from
crusading comedian Beppe Grillo, the man who calls Silvio Berlusconi Psychodwarf
(see section 4.2.3 for more on Grillo).
Panorama (panorama.it). Italians can now go online for all the gossip (and a fair
stab at the news) from the leading magazine.
Corriere della Sera (corriere.it). Italys biggest newspaper has made the online
transition successfully. An English version is also available.
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Whenthe Italians connect with each
other on the roads or the rails,
through the post or down the
telephone line, they dont stray far
from the old stereotypes. At times its
all very slick, elegant and precise;
but more often than not its slow,
chaotic and emotional.
6.2 Communications
Heaven sent
Nothing draws attention
to the failings of the
national postal service
quite like the smooth
efciency of the
Vaticans (admittedly
much smaller) operation.
The Holy Sees delivery
service is famously
competent, and Romans
apparently go out of
their way to use it.
Tourists are similarly
keen to use the service,
hoping to impress the
folks back home with
a postcard franked
by the Vatican. As a
result, proportionally
more mail is sent from
the Vaticans 00120
postcode than from
anywhere else in the
world.
It all started so well
The Romans had the
most developed postal
system of the Ancient
world, the Cursus
Publicus, delivering
mail across the
Empire via relay. The
service continued for
a time after the fall
of Rome, adopted by
the Ostrogoths, before
slowly zzling out. Italy
wouldnt see its like
again for a thousand
years, when the national
postal system was
established in 1862.
Waking the beast: the Italian postal service
In 1998 the Italian postal service, a giant slumbering beast
of inefciency, was poked with the stick of liberalisation.
More than a decade later its still waking up. Today, the
service, managed by Poste Italiane S.p.A (the government
still owns the majority), remains amongst the slowest and
most expensive in Europe, although, remarkably, it has
already advanced signicantly since partial privatisation
occurred. Modernisation is underway: the service has
nally been computerised and the chances of spending
an entire morning queuing in the post ofce have been
reduced. Poste Italianes infamous torpor stems partly
from the range of services it deals with; Italians can pay
utility bills, buy life insurance and do their banking at the
local post ofce. In its favour, the service appears eager
to retain its vast network of branches, an important
feature of community life in small villages.
Post stats
Each Italian send 120 pieces of mail a
year (on average) (Americans send more
than 700).
Poste Italiane employs 150,000 people in
14,000 ofces.
The national postal service delivers
around four billion items of mail a year.
6.2.1 Staying in touch: sending letters
and making calls
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Blah, blah, blah: Italians and their phones
The age of the mobile phone indulges an Italian
enthusiasm for both chat and performance. Cell phones
they seem to prefer the ip variety have become as
essential to the Italian look as sunglasses or the satchel
(most children under the age of ten have a mobile,
apparently in case mamma calls). There are more mobile
phones in use in Italy than there are people; around 70
million at last count more than anywhere else in Europe.
If theyre not talking on them theyre texting, revealing
a love for the electronic written word thats spilling over
into email a 2009 survey by TNS Global suggested that
Italians are as likely to converse with friends via email as
they are face to face. Mobile phone network coverage,
dominated by Vodafone and Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM)
but with other operators doing their best to muscle in, is
extensive. By contrast, the old landline network is heavy
footed. It was
privatised in
the late 1990s
but the old
state monolith,
Telecom Italia,
still owns most of
the infrastructure,
keeping costs
high and ensuring
the multitude
of new service
providers
struggle to get
a foothold in the
market.
Addressing a letter
House numbers come
after the street name;
postcodes are written
before the town name,
and the double letter
province code is placed
at the end of the line in
parentheses.
Press one for
deliverance, two for
damnation
In 2008 Father Paolo
Padrini launched the
Vatican-approved
iBreviary, a free
application for the Apple
iPhone that provides
daily prayer updates.
The iRosary was
launched soon after.
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Scooter culture
Italys passion for the
scooter is undimmed,
60 years after Enrico
Piaggio designed the
Vespa. Anyone over
the age of 14 can ride
a 50cc scooter, and
usually does; no licence
or test is required. They
have their own speed
limit 40km/h and
arent allowed on the
autostrade. At 16,
Italians can move up to
a 125cc engine, which
requires a licence. Unlike
other nationalities, the
Italians dont really buy
old scooters to restore,
they dont worship them
as the motorised deities
of Mod culture; they do
what theyve always
done they use them
for getting around town.
He who hesitates is lost: life on the roads
Few cultural experiences in Italy are as intense as driving.
Its a vibrant, nerve-jangling manifestation of the Italian
approach to life. Timidity is punished and rules are
outed. Drivers pull out unexpectedly, push in, crowd
the road around you (white lines are there to be ignored)
and regularly jump red lights. Because nearly everybody
drives like this (dangerous as it might sound), the Italians
are primed for trouble and duly have the reexes to avoid
it (in town centres at least the motorways are more
prone to carnage). The battle scars on Italian cars are
more often incurred in the scrimmage of urban parking;
the reluctance of offenders to own up and the stress of
ling an insurance claim leave damage unrepaired. As
for road rage, its rare: hand gestures and shouting are
common but rapidly forgotten its all part of the show.
Pedestrians are expected to be as pushy as drivers: step
rmly (although not suicidally) into the road if you want
to cross waiting patiently at the crossing is a fruitless
experience.
6.2.2 Italy on the move: transport types and habits
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modern Italy
Road to redemption
The death toll on Italys
open roads is high. In
Europe, only France
loses more people in
trafc accidents. An
apparent indifference
to seatbelts doesnt
help. In 2007 Pope
Benedict XVI issued ten
new commandments
to motorists in a bid to
change behaviour on the
roads; rude gestures and
the use of cars for sinful
purposes were both off
limits. The Vatican also
suggested making the
sign of the Cross before
setting off on a journey
and having a passenger
recite the rosary to calm
everyones nerves.
If you make it out of town alive, youll nd Italy has a
good network of autostrade connecting the main cities.
Most have tolls (only Calabria and Sicily escape), and are
well maintained as a result, with good lighting and service
stations at regular intervals. Congestion is a regular,
accepted feature of life (car ownership here is amongst
the highest in the world) on motorways, strade statali
(the toll-free A roads) and in and around towns and cities,
but on strade provinciali (B roads), although the tarmac
deteriorates, theres usually ample space to be had.
Speed limits
Motorway 130km/80mph
Dual carriageway 110km/68mph
Provincial roads 90km/55mph
Built-up areas 50km/31mph
On the rails
Italys rail network is pleasingly comprehensive
(particularly in the north), punctual and cheap to use, even
while most Italians would sooner brave the congested
roads. The only grumbles involve overcrowding, which
may occur at peak times but can be avoided by reserving
a seat (mandatory on some services). As you might
expect, the further you get from urban areas, the older,
slower and emptier the trains become. The Ferrovie dello
Stato (FS), a state-owned body, run the railways. Within
FS, the main duties are split between Rete Ferroviaria
Italiana, which manages the track and infrastructure, and
Trenitalia, responsible for trains. A handful of other lines
are run by private operators.
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Italian railways: an express history
1839. Italys rst railway, from the royal palace in Naples to the sea at Portici,
ensured royalty could take to the waters without the riffraff getting in their way.
1871. After Unication began the laborious process of marrying the private regional
railway networks, with their varying track sizes and stock.
1905. The messy slew of rail companies were bought out by the state and the FS
took control of the nations 13,000km of track. (In the same year, railwaymen staged
Italys rst national strike).
1920s and 30s. Mussolini invested heavily in the rail network. The disputed notion
that Mussolini made the trains run on time may not actually be so far from the
truth by 1939 the ETR 200 was travelling from Milan to Florence at over 200km/h.
However, much of the new infrastructure was destroyed in the Second World War.
1960s. The rebuilt Italian railways improved greatly; the network was reorientated
on a north to south axis, lines were electried and trains got quicker.
1980s. Despite post-war mainline improvements, the neglect of regional and goods
services and an oversized, inefcient workforce dogged the Italian railways.
Modern era. Streamlining and partial privatisation helped the network into the 21
st

century. Showpiece lines and trains, like the ETR 500 AV that reached 355 km/h on
the Milan to Bologna line in 2008, help distract from the archaic state of other bits
of the system.
Slow, medium and quick: train types
Regionale, Interregionale and Diretto. Essentially commuter trains. Slow and
local, they stop at every platform along the line but give some great views of scenic
Italy.
Intercity. A decent service running the length of Italy, stopping at all major towns
and cities.
Eurostar. The high-speed pride of the eet, unconnected to the inter-Europe trains
of the same name (Italys came rst), connect Italys main cities (Milan to Naples in
six and a half hours, for example).
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Get it stamped
Tickets for travel on
Italian public transport
generally need stamping.
You have to do it
yourself; on the platform
before you board a train,
or onboard if its a tram,
bus or subway car.
Going underground: three Italian subways
Rome. The Metropolitana di Roma has just two lines, running, cruciform, over
38km of track. The citys glut of archaeology has long proved an obstacle to further
expansion, although a third line is in construction. The subway here has always
been more about getting in from the suburbs than getting around the city. A vast bus
and tram network lls in the gaps.
Milan. The three lines (red, green and yellow) of Milans slick metro cover 76km
between 86 stations. The rst two lines opened in the 1960s; the third began
operating in 1990. Further lines are in the ofng.
Naples. One original (rather scruffy) line is about to be complemented by the
addition of another. Elsewhere in the city there are three funicular railway lines.
Italy in the sky
Italys length, its two large islands and the relative
cheapness of tickets have made internal ights a popular
means of travel. Two airports, Malpensa in Milan and
Fiumicino in Rome, are international hubs, but dozens
of smaller airports also take passengers abroad. Not
that Italians y long haul very often, preferring to stay
on home soil or to travel overland in Europe. Italys
national carrier, Alitalia, established in 1946, nally applied
for bankruptcy protection in 2008 after years of poor
performance. The Alitalia brand was kept in the skies
after being bought from the state in the following year by
a consortium that includes Air France-KLM.

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modern Italy
7 Food and drink
7.1. Food p235
7.1.1. Home
advantage: the culture
of Italian food p236
7.1.2 Regional tastes:
the avours of Italy
p238
7.1.3. Food rituals:
eating and buying p246
7.2. Drink p253
7.2.1. The culture of
Italian wine p254
7.2.2. The Italian wine
regions p257
7.2.3. Thirst for
knowledge: beyond
wine p264
7.2.4. Drinking habits:
when and where to
indulge p268
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Italians dont love food; they love
their food.And their food doesnt
mean the nationalcuisine; its the
food specic to their home region,
their home town even.
7.1 Food
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I T WI LL BE
MACCHERONI , I
SWEAR TO YOU,
THAT WI LL UNI TE
I TALY.
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Gradually, the uniformity of modern life is making Italian
regional foods more national, but the subtle, creeping
homogenisation dees the usual trend in Italian society
the south is outstripping the north. Southern peasant
food, as easy on your wallet as it is on your health with its
multiple vegetables and cheap cuts of slowly cooked meat,
has become fashionable. Insalata caprese and Mozzarella
di bufala are, for example, both simple Campanian efforts
that can now be had anywhere, while the perfumes and
tastes of Sicilian food pervade Italys top restaurants.
Similarly, the regional notion of pasta shape (there are
dozens), and increasingly of pasta sauce, is less dened
than of old. Tagliatelle alla Bolognese isnt eaten solely in
Bologna anymore and trenette pasta drenched in pesto alla
Genovese is found well beyond Genoa.
Ingredients and dishes vary with location, but Italians
share a common love of simple, nourishing and colourful
cuisine. While the food is sometimes deceptively simple
dishes may require time and effort to prepare it is
rarely, if ever, complex in the French sense. Anything
more radical nouvelle cuisine or molecular cooking has
made little impact in a nation content with its centuries-
old recipes. Indeed, over-elaboration is frowned upon.
Key moments in Italian food
Ninth century. Muslims introduce almonds, rice, spinach, ice cream (made with
snow from Mount Etna), aubergines, spaghetti, oranges, lemons, apricots, nutmeg,
cloves, cinnamon, rice, raisins, couscous and saffron to Sicily.
1492. Genoese merchant Christopher Columbus brings the tomato, potato, capsicum
and chilli pepper (peperoncino), cocoa, squash (whence zucchini), corn and maize
(whence durum wheat and polenta), vanilla (for ice cream) and turkey back from the
New World.
1570. Publication of Opera by Bartolomeo Scappi, chef to Pope Pius V, listing over a
thousand recipes.
1891. Pellegrino Artusi makes the rst record of a recipe for pasta with tomato
sauce in La scienza in cucina e larte di mangiar bene.
Late 19th century. Mass emigration, particularly from Campania and Sicily,
introduces pasta and pizza to the Americas.
1989. Slow Food movement launched in protest at the opening of a McDonalds
burger restaurant in Rome.
7.1.1 Home advantage: the culture of Italian food
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modern Italy
Worshipping the Red
Prawn
When reaching for a
restaurant bible, Italians
are more likely to choose
the Gambero Rosso than
the Michelin.
The last supper
Historian John Varriano
recently asserted that
the meal in Leonardo
da Vincis epic, aking
portrayal of the Last
Supper is grilled eel
garnished with slices
of orange, not, as
previously assumed,
bread and lamb. Oranges
and eel were eaten by
the wealthy in da Vincis
era.
Standard bearers: DOP, IGP and STG
DOP, the Denominazione di origine protetta, or
Designation of Protected Origin, is the EU-sponsored
label assigned to protect the authenticity of Italian
foodstuffs. Its the food equivalent of Italian wines
DOC mark (see section 7.2.1). Italy also has the similar,
slightly looser denomination called IGP, the Indicazione
geograca protetta, or Indication of Protected Origin. Italy
has 164 DOP/IGP food products, about 20 per cent of the
European total (France has 152 and Spain 105). A third
denomination, the Specialit tradizionale garantita (STG),
or Guaranteed Traditional Speciality, has been introduced
recently. At present, only Mozzarella cheese is covered by
the STG, although Naples pizza is up before the selection
committee.
Bringing it all back home
Whatever regionalism may be at work on home soil,
internationally Italian food has become widely known
and lauded. The global appreciation went unnoticed
in Italy itself for many years. A lot of exported Italian
food was made purely for overseas markets and wasnt
available at home. An Italian would have given you a
blank stare if you asked for pesto rosso ten years ago
(theres nothing red in pesto), a foodstuff on sale
overseas. However, today the exports are coming home
to roost. Pesto is sold in Italy in all its forms: red, yellow,
with parsley, rocket or even coriander, with all forms of
nut and all forms of cheese. Similarly, ciabatta (meaning
slipper) bread was hardly known beyond
Naples 25 years ago, but it became popular
abroad and has returned to Italy, embraced
across the land as panciabatta.
i. Northern Italy
Valle dAostas hearty meat broths t its alpine setting,
but the region is better known for fontina DOP, a
characterful cheese akin to a rich, creamy Gruyre.
Ripened in the local caves, the cheese is used in
fonduta, similar to neighbouring Switzerlands fondue but
incorporating egg yolk (rather than wine) and mopped up
with crostini. A luxury, seasonal Piedmontese version of
fonduta incorporates white trufes.
In Piedmont, the quest for gastronomic excellence, for
renement and for the ofcial categorisation and control
of its nest products reects a close afnity with French
traditions. The greatest prize in the Piedmontese larder
is the tartufo bianco, the most expensive trufe in the
world. Unlike black trufes (worth ten times less), the
white Alba trufe (named for the Piedmontese town) is
used raw; grated over fresh pasta, fried eggs or risotto.
Piedmontese beef is also renowned, often served up in
stews like bollito misto, a dish common to much of north-
eastern Italy and featuring multiple types of meat and
veg.
The Ligurians preference for coastal living prioritises sh
over meat (when theyre not eating vegetarian). Pesto
is the iconic dish, a crush of basil, olive oil, garlic, grated
pecorino or parmesan cheese and pinenuts, apparently
invented to keep scurvy at bay on long sea voyages. Its
added to Ligurias long at pasta, trenette, stirred into
vegetable soup, minestrone alla Genovese, and can also
appear on the local focaccia bread. Other staples
born of the regions seafaring traditions are
baccal (salted cod) and stoccasso (dried cod),
still popular today but often imported due to over-
shing locally.
Pig spittle: the elixir
of love
The smell of Piedmonts
Alba trufe a musky,
gamey fragrance
reminiscent of the great
local red wine Barolo
attracts certain animals,
especially boars, which
eat the tuber and then
spread its spores in their
droppings. Sows are
often used to hunt out
trufes, chosen because
the fungus apparently
emits a pheromone
similar to that found in
the saliva of a male pig.
Human sweat contains
the same pheromone,
lending credibility
to claims about the
aphrodisiac properties of
the trufe.
THE TRUFFLE I S
NOT EXACTLY AN
APHRODI SI AC BUT
I T TENDS TO MAKE
WOMEN MORE
TENDER AND MEN
MORE LI KEABLE.
Jean Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin, French
gastronome
7.1.2 Regional tastes: the avours of Italy
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modern Italy
Bashing the basil
Pesto takes its name
from the action used in
its preparation: pestare
means to pound or
crush.
Polenta, making stodge
interesting since Roman
times
Polenta, an old peasant
staple in the north,
is corn or maize our
boiled up into a kind of
porridge. It can be as
bad as it sounds, but
if made with care and
combined with other
ingredients (which it
usually is) polenta can
be a great catalyst for
other avours. Venetian
merchants brought the
dish home from Mexico
in the 17
th
century,
although the Romans
had an undoubtedly
mouth-watering pearl
barley mush that they
called polenta. A later
recipe made with
chestnut our also
took the name, and on
Corsica (now French but
once Italian) they still
make their polenta, or
pulenda, with chestnut
our. A type of crostini
is made from cooled,
solidied polenta cut
into wedges and fried.
Love for the cold stuff
The Italians are the doyens of ice cream. Gelato, as they call it, has origins in
Antiquity, when northerners used snow from the Dolomites to produce a refreshing
avoured foodstuff. Emperor Nero apparently sent slaves to collect snow from the
Apennines so that he might dine on fruit avoured ice, although it was the Arabs
who later brought something resembling sorbet to Italy. In the medieval period, with
the addition of cream or milk, gelato evolved. Some credit the Neapolitans with the
rst true Italian ice cream, produced in the 18th century. Today youll nd gelato all
over Italy, sold in small parlours (gelateria) in a range of fruit and sweet avours.
Lombardys professional spirit often precludes the
long leisurely lunches found elsewhere in Italy, and yet
Milan has many of the countrys most feted restaurants.
The regions famous dish is risotto alla Milanese (see
overleaf). Mostarda di frutta from Cremona is similar
to British piccalilli but uses fruit rather than vegetables;
it often accompanies bresaola, a thinly sliced air-dried
beef with Swiss origins. Lombardy is spoilt for cheese,
producing Gorgonzola (blue-veined crumbler), Mascarpone
(soft, mild and creamy), Taleggio (semi-soft and stinky)
and Grana Padano (hard, milder relative of parmesan).
Cross-border inuences sway the diet in Trentino-Alto
Adige where many dishes have an Austro-Hungarian
avour. Potatoes, dumplings (canderli) and pickled
cabbage (crauti) are regular staples and even goulash
makes it on to the menu on Sundays. The speck hams
work well with local beers (Italys brewing industry is
based here), while apfel strudel or sachertorte are popular
desserts.
Friuli-Venezia Giulias most famous foodstuff is
prosciutto di San Daniele, a ham to rival Parmas. Matured
in barns around the eponymous town, the hams notable
sweetness benets from a combination of cold Alpine air
and warm Adriatic sea breezes. Fresh gs often partner
prosciutto di San Daniele when in season. Polenta here
comes in three colours, white, yellow and black, the latter
made from buckwheat and served with sardines. The
sea and coastal lagoons provide ample varieties of sh to
accompany the regions fresh and fruity dry white wines.
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Going against the grain
Southern Italians
sometimes still
pejoratively label
northerners as polentoni,
polenta eaters.
Love, youre aking into
my gruel
Polentas lack of
nutrition used to
contribute to pellagra
(from pelle agra, or
chapped skin), a vitamin
deciency disease once
endemic among Italys
northern peasantry.
Raw talent
Carpaccio, thinly sliced
raw beef dressed
with a mustard and
Worcestershire sauce
avoured mayonnaise,
was named after
Vittore Carpaccio, a 15
th

century Venetian painter
with a gift for using
red pigment. Various
sources have claimed
the invention of the dish,
notably Harrys Bar in
Venice.
RI CE I S BORN I N
WATER BUT DI ES I N
WI NE.
Italian proverb
Venice, star of the Veneto, consumes a tremendous
amount of sh, often in a risotto coloured black with
squid ink. Inland the emphasis is on vegetables (again,
often eaten in a risotto); the region is famous for
asparagus from Bassano, radicchio salads from Treviso
and peas, eaten in risi e bisi (literally, rice and peas).
Beans are mixed with pasta for pasta e fagioli, a dish that
has its equivalent in most Italian regions. Most Veneto
households have a copper polenta pot and a long wooden
spoon for stirring (in a clockwise direction only please);
the dish is a traditional accompaniment to small birds
such as quail and to baccal. Tiramis, Venetos famous
pudding (it translates as pick me up), may be a relatively
recent invention, apparently rst conceived in a Treviso
restaurant in 1969. The regions ne pastries have older
roots.
The four grades of Italian rice
Superno. Includes arborio, carnaroli, baldo and roma; all used for risotto.
Fino. Also used for risotto.
Semino. For stufng vegetables.
Commune. For soups and puddings.
Cream of the crop: Italys favourite risottos
Risotto alla Milanese. Italys iconic risotto is bright yellow with saffron and
avoured with beef marrow. Often made to accompany osso bucco (veal shin stew).
Risotto al nero di seppia. A deep black dish from Veneto, coloured and avoured
with cuttlesh ink.
Risotto al Barolo. A bright red risotto from the eponymous wine region in
Piedmont.
Risotto al funghi Another Piedmont variety, this one made with wild mushrooms.
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The northern debt to
China: Italian rice
Before all Italy became
smitten with pasta,
the northern regions,
particularly Lombardy,
Veneto and Piedmont,
were more likely to
eat rice. Brought back
from China by Genoese
and Venetian traders
in the 15
th
century, the
grass ourished in the
fertile soils of the Po
Valley. Even today, the
region produces and
consumes more rice
than anywhere else
in Europe. The short,
stubby, hard-centred
grain typical of the
Po absorbent of large
quantities of avoured
broth yet still al dente
lends itself to risotto,
often served as a rst
course in its northern
homeland. Leftover
risotto is sometimes
rolled into balls, dipped
in breadcrumbs and fried
to produce arancini,
(meat, tomato and peas)
and suppli (tomato
and mozzarella), both
delicious snacks.
Emilia-
Romagna
and its cities,
Bologna (or La
Grassa, the fat
one), Modena
and Parma,
comprise Italys
gastronomic
heartland.
Ingredients here
resonate around
the world: parmigiano reggiano, prosciutto di Parma,
aceto balsamico di Modena and pasta fresca. Famous
dishes include pasta with rag, the superior parent of the
spaghetti bolognese that the rest of the world enjoys but
Bologna doesnt recognise; zampone, a Modena sausage
encased in a boned pigs trotter; and various stuffed
pasta including tortellini lled with cheese or mortadella
sausage.
Five certied foods from the north of Italy
Basilico Genovese DOP. Ligurian basil used to make pesto sauce.
Bresaola della Valtellina DOP. Seasoned and cured lean beef from Lombardy.
Asparago bianco di Bassano DOP. White asparagus of Veneto.
Mortadella di Bologna IGP. Pink, fatty Emilia-Romagnan sausage popular at
Christmas.
Laghi Lombardi DOP. Extra virgin olive oil from the lakes in Lombardy.
Vinegar so good you can drink it
After 25 years of aging, aceto balsamico di Modena DOP, the nest vinegar in the
world, is actually sweet and smooth enough to drink or add to puddings. This DOP
version (extravecchio) is traditionally aged in the cellars and attics of Modena;
an industrial, un-aged version (graded as a condimento) of the sort used in salad
dressings, doesnt have DOP status.
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Epicurean delight
Food festivals are
an important part of
culinary life across Italy
but in Umbria theyre an
obsession. Every village
in the region makes
some form of annual
paean to food, from ice
cream to gnocchi.
ii. Central Italy
The diet in Tuscany is simpler than elsewhere.
Vegetables, spelt and pulses are commonplace, often
turned into thick soups like ribollita or zuppa di farro.
Bread features more than pasta; the stale leftovers made
into bruschetta, rubbed with garlic and drizzled with
Tuscanys aromatic olive oil. Beef is simply grilled, as in
bistecca alla Fiorentina. While Tuscany ghts Sicily for
the provenance of ice cream, it claims sole ownership of
cantucci, the almond-avoured biscuits taken with coffee
and a glass of vin santo after a meal.
Landlocked Umbria likes its meat, particularly game,
although the lakes and rivers teem with sh, including
the fattest carp south of the Alps. The pork butchers
of Norcia are famed throughout Italy for their hams and
salami; the same town is also Umbrias black trufe
capital. Tighter budgets can feast on the lentils of
Castelluccio.
Like Umbria, Marche is big on sagre the food festivals
that celebrate specialities like porchetta (whole, boned,
roast suckling pig), brodetto (sh broth), and campolone
or vincisgrassi (both egg pasta). Meat, sh and vegetables
stuffed with various llings are also popular in the region;
even the olives in Ascoli are painstakingly lled with
forcemeat before being breaded and fried.
Lazio has traditionally dined on frugal peasant food.
Little is wasted in the preparation, and offal is still widely
eaten in dishes like coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew) and
trippa alla romana (tripe). Rome is enamoured with pasta,
variations of which include spaghetti alla carbonara (with
eggs and bacon) and penne all arrabbiata (with tomatoes
and chillies).
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Little devils
Peperoncini or hot chilli
peppers are called
diavoletti, little devils, in
Abruzzo.
Dishes in Abruzzo and Molise are often spiced with the
locally grown chilli peppers, peperoncini. Crocuses are
cultivated around LAquila and the saffron produced nds
its way into both savoury and sweet dishes. The
iconic dish is maccheroni alla chitarra, in which
the pasta is made by being attened and then rolled
against metal strings stretched over a wooden
board rather like the ngerboard of a guitar.
Five certied foods from central Italy
Lenticchia di Castelluccio di Norcia IGP. Italian equivalent to puy lentils, from
Umbria and Marche.
Marrone del Mugello IGP. Chestnuts grown to the north-east of Florence.
Chianti classico DOP. A single estate Tuscan olive oil (and also a wine), produced
between Siena and Florence.
Lardo di Colonnata IGP. Strips of cured pork fat aged in Carrara marble tubs,
Tuscany.
Vitellone bianco dellAppennino Centrale IGP. Meat from young cows reared in
the central Apennines.
iii. Southern Italy
Campania, Naples in particular, cherishes its food like
nowhere else. The mantra of rened simplicity inhabits
dishes like spaghetti alle vongole (with clams), spaghetti
alla putanesca (with anchovies and capers the name
means whores pasta) and pizza (native to Naples). The
marinara is the most authentic pizza; made with a slightly
puffed crust, baked in a very hot wood-red oven and
simply topped with tomato, garlic and oregano theres
no cheese topping, even while the countryside around
Naples produces Italys nest mozzarella di bufala. Pizza,
often sold here as street food, also comes fried (pizette)
and folded (calzone). Campania also enjoys prodigious
seafood and its taralli, sweet or savoury bread snacks.
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Gluttons for gluten:
Italians and their pasta
There are more than
350 varieties of Italian
pasta and yet the basic
ingredients number
just two or three: our
and water plus the
occasional egg. Eaten
as a rst course, before
the meat or sh, pasta in
Italy isnt heavily sauced
(the sauce should
stick to the pasta, not
submerge it). By law,
dried pasta can only
be made from durum
wheat, the hardest
wheat containing the
most gluten (durum
means hard in Latin),
ideal for producing
rm, al dente (to the
tooth) pasta. Fresh
pasta, made with eggs
for extra richness,
is still considered
a luxury foodstuff.
Emilia-Romagna claims
ownership of the original
(and best) version of
pasta alluovo (pasta
made with egg).
Puglia is Italys breadbasket, producing 80 per cent of
the durum wheat used in the nations bread and pasta. It
also makes more olive oil than all the other regions put
together, and vegetables grow easily in the fertile, sun-
baked soils. Pasta combined with vegetables, drizzled
with olive oil, is a mainstay of Puglian cooking. Fish,
mussels and oysters (both farmed) from the long Adriatic
coastline bring variety to the diet.
Basilicatas famous sausage, the lucanica (after the
regions ancient name, Lucania), is now produced
nationwide. Its one of many products here and in
neighbouring Calabria drawn from the pig, an animal
well suited to the inventive local cooking that stems from
generations of poverty theyve always extracted the
most from land and animal. Simple vegetable (typically
broccoli or aubergine) and pasta dishes, often spiced with
fresh peperoncino or dried black pepper, are the norm.
The seas surrounding Sicily dominate the islands diet
with abundant tuna, swordsh, anchovies, octopus and
sardines (a quarter of Italys sh comes from Sicily), while
the long history of foreign rule can be seen in fennel and
orange salads, couscous and sticky sweets featuring
marzipan, pistachios, lemons and gs.
As in Sicily, sh looms large in Sardinias diet, here
adding rock lobster to the mix. They have their own
version of bottarga, a pressed grey mullet roe with roots
in ancient Tunisia (Sicilians eat a tuna variety). However,
Sardinians have always been more at home shepherding
than shing; a third of Italys sheep graze here. Lamb
is popular grilled over open res, while the ewes milk
cheese, pecorino sardo DOP, is ubiquitous.
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Calabrian cake
The use of the word
gat for cake, from the
French gateau, reects
the legacy of Napoleonic
rule in Calabria.
The bloody business
of tuna
For generations, Sicilys
tuna were caught using
the mattanza, a practice
with long-lived cultural
resonance. Huge nets
corralled the sh, which
were then dragged to
the surface and grappled
with spears. It was a
bloody business. The
word mattanza has
since found use as a
description for Maa
kills. Today, as tuna
stocks dwindle, the
mattanza only occurs in
a few places off Sicilys
western coast.
Five certied foods from southern Italy
Soppressata di Calabria DOP. A slightly attened, seasoned Calabrian salami.
Pomodoro di San Marzano DOP. The nest sauce tomato in the world; produced
near Naples.
Fagiolo di Sarconi IGP. Basilicatas ne canellino-type bean; used fresh or dried.
Agnello di Sardegna IGP. Sardinian lamb grazed on wild mountain herbs.
Arancia rossa di Sicilia IGP. Seedless blood oranges at their best in the Sicilian
climate and soil.
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Slowing food down
The Slow Food
movement launched in
Bra, Piedmont, in 1989,
reacting to a decreasing
awareness of food
provenance and the
spread of burger bars
and supermarkets. It
promotes good, clean
and fair food and has
spawned the worlds
rst University of
Gastronomic Sciences
(with campuses in
Piedmont and Emilia-
Romagna) and the
biennial Terra Madre
gathering of food
experts in Turin. Slow
Food also helps to set
up farmers markets and
to educate children (and
teachers) on nutrition.
Italian food may be pleasingly bound to regional tradition,
but its not immune to the pressures of 21st century
life. The lengthy evening meal isnt quite the universal
certainty it once was, a consequence of more women
working, greater constraints on time and, perhaps, the
rising popularity of American-style fast food (no doubt
connected to a growth in obesity). However, most
families still sit together to eat and talk. Any change in
eating habits is a predominantly urban phenomenon; rural
diners take more time over their food. Most of the food
consumed in Italy is still very Italian (they wont attempt a
stir-fry or a curry) and still very seasonal. For example, an
Italian will only eat fresh tomatoes in the summer, turning
instead to the tinned or bottled variety at other times.
Most meals at home are freshly prepared, although
the absence of a nonna (grandma) in the kitchen might
mean some food will be bought ready prepared from a
rosticceria or salumeria (again, this is more likely in the
north than the south).
The Italian mealtimes
Prima colazione (taken between 7am and 10am)
Breakfast is a sweet affair, usually taken standing in a bar on the way to work.
Coffee, often cappuccino, might accompany a cornetto (croissant) or brioche lled
with jam (marmellata), confectioners custard (crema) or chocolate (cioccolato). The
old habit of taking a caff corretto as a sharpener (corrected with a shot of liquor)
is on the wane.
Pranzo (taken anytime from 12.30pm to 2.30pm in urban areas; at midday
in the countryside)
In towns and cities, lunch, traditionally eaten at home, is increasingly taken in
the workplace, restaurant or snack bar, where a panino (sandwich) or tramezzino
(triangular, crustless sandwich) is common. Rural Italians still rush home for lunch.
When time allows, the typical Italian lunch has at least four instalments:
Antipasto appetiser or hors doeuvre, typically of olives, cheese, veg or cold meat.
Primo piatto minestra (soup), pasta asciutta (pasta, usually with a sauce)
or risotto.
Secondo piatto meat and/or sh served with contorni (side dish) of vegetables.
Formaggio o dolce cheese or pudding (often simply fruit).
Cena (taken between 8pm and 10pm)
Dinner, usually taken at home, follows a similar pattern of courses to lunch.

7.1.3 Food rituals: eating and buying
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Table manners: three tips on etiquette
Its customary to take a gift wine, a cake or owers when invited to dinner.
Using a hunk of bread to mop the juices on a plate is ne when dining with the
family but frowned upon in front of strangers.
Dont cut your spaghetti with a knife; instead roll it around the prongs of a fork (but
not against a spoon).
Feast foods
Christmas. The main meal, taken on Christmas Eve, is
usually sh. Regional variations nd the Romans favouring
spaghetti with clams or tuna and the Modenese eating
tortellini followed by bollito misto. Dessert is panettone or
pandoro cake.
Carnevale (the week before Lent). Sweet food, much of
it deep-fried, is the norm. Sit down for fritters and cakes,
including chiacchiere, sweetened pastry fried and then
dusted with icing sugar.
Easter. Tortellini in broth or lasagne are followed by lamb
(often kid goat in the south) with artichokes or potatoes.
The traditional pudding is shaped like a dove; the colomba
cake symbolises peace and the Holy Spirit.
New Year. After an
evening of dancing
(and drinking), on
New Years Day
Italians eat zampone
sausage with lentils;
the more lentils you
eat the happier and
more successful youll
be in the coming
year (lentils being
representative of
money).
Give us this day
Bread, the universal
staple, has always been
more than a simple
foodstuff in Italy. The
signicance of the
daily pane to Catholic
doctrine, with its starring
role in the Eucharist,
has borne superstitions
that outlive Italys
peasanty past: bread
shouldnt be placed
upside down nor thrown
away (breadcrumbs and
bruschetta are both
culled from stale bread).
Bread is still taken
(usually unbuttered) with
virtually every Italian
meal, breakfast included.
Each area of Italy has its
own shapes and tastes,
from Ligurias oil-soaked
focaccia to Piedmonts
grissini bread sticks,
some of which are now
eaten nationwide.
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Five Italian breads
Pane carasau. Sardinias best-known bread (sometimes referred to as carta da
musica) looks more like a tortilla; its thin and crisp and lasts for weeks ideal for
the itinerant shepherd.
Pane di Altamura. A large, heavy, brown-crusted, slow-cooked bread with straw-
coloured esh and DOP status. Comes from the Puglian town of the same name.
Panettone. The rich, dome-shaped sweetbread (its actually more cake than bread)
native to Milan is prepared with eggs, fruit and butter, and traditionally given as a
gift to workers by employers at Christmas.
Pane Toscano. Tuscanys at, white loaf has been cooked without salt since the
13
th
century when local rulers imposed a salt tax.
Coppia Ferrarese. Made from soft wheat our, pork lard, olive oil and sourdough,
rolled into two twisted lengths knotted together to form an X-shape, as per medieval
statute. Native to Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna.
Going out for an Italian
Restaurants in Italy are popular and affordable but rarely
prescribed the same reverence as in France, Spain or the
UK. There are Michelin-starred restaurants, especially in
Piedmont and Lombardy, but many of the patrons are
foreign tourists and the food they serve isnt typically
Italian. Some chefs do buck the trend. Gualtiero Marchesi
imported nouvelle cuisine techniques from France to his
Lombardy restaurant in the 1980s and lightened some
of Italys heavier classics while also championing quality
ingredients and regional identity. Marchesis disciples,
Carlo Cracco in Milan, Enrico Crippa in Alba and Paolo
Lopriore in Siena, have introduced some elements of
fusion into their cooking. However, fusion in the Italian
sense tends to mean marrying ingredients and cooking
styles from different Italian regions, say Lombardy and
Sicily, rather than mixing Italian and foreign cuisines.
Similarly, molecular cooking, eulogised in Spain and the
UK, hasnt caught on in Italy.
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Where to eat
Ristorante.
Sophisticated eatery
likely to be serving
national or international
cuisine.
Trattoria. Serving local
dishes for a full meal of
multiple courses.
Osteria. A simple,
informal restaurant
serving local dishes
that can be ordered
individually.
Enoteca. Wine shop or
bar serving snacks like
salumi (charcuterie) and
cheese.
Pizzeria. Pizza
restaurant that will often
serve pasta too.
Spaghetteria. Simple
bar-cum-restaurant
serving pasta.
Paninoteca. Sandwich
bar.
Rosticceria. Snack bar.
Pizzerie al Taglio. The
original fast food joint;
pizza is made by the
metre and cut to order.
Gelateria. Ice-cream
parlour.
Bar/caff. For breakfast
or to grab a sandwich
with a drink.
Tavola calda. Bar
serving ready-prepared
food often displayed in a
cabinet.
As the number of migrants to Italy has grown, the
quantity of ethnic food takeaways and restaurants has
multiplied. Most are kebab shops. However, the majority
of customers are immigrants themselves; the Italians
remain quite parochial about food. And while burger bars
can be found easily in Italian towns and cities, they dont
enjoy the same patronage as in other European countries.
Prison food
Dont be tempted to ask your waiter about al fresco dining when in Italy. English-
speaking nations might have adopted the phrase to describe eating outside, but in
Italy the term is slang for being in prison (the cooler).
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Small is beautiful: food-buying habits
Italians havent been seduced by hangar-sized
supermarkets in quite the same way as other Europeans.
They do have them, used predominantly for buying long-
life foodstuffs, quick meals like pre-cooked risotto or
prepared ingredients such as frozen grilled vegetables or
tinned roast peppers. For ner ingredients fresh pasta,
cheese, charcuterie, sh or fresh meat Italians still
prefer small, specialist shops or street markets. Growing-
your-own remains an important element of Italian culture,
so grocers shops, although still essential, arent as
prevalent as might be expected, particularly in the south.
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252
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arts
5. Cinema,
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6. Media and
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Italy is mature with its drinking.
Wine, produced in almost every
region, is appreciated with food,
and, like food, retains an umbilical
attachment to its home province.
Excess is reserved instead for
coffee (and the odd digestivo):
innumerable varieties and rituals
reect its role in the daily routine.
7.2 Drink
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Italy is the most complex, diverse and potentially
confusing wine-producing nation in the world. Almost
every region has its vines and has made wine since
Roman times (some since the Etruscan era) and in
most years Italy makes more wine than anywhere else,
only occasionally being outperformed by France. But
where the French, with their innate sense of order, have
imposed a classication system (Appellation dorigine
contrle, AOC) that makes sense of the myriad styles
and qualities of wine, controlling origin and production,
the Italian approach (Denominazione di origine controllata,
DOC) is intrinsically awed. Many of Italys best wines
have fallen foul of a system routinely abused, ignored or
bypassed; labelled as table wine because they couldnt
match strict DOC criteria.
Efforts have been made to rene the system, but
choosing an Italian wine, particularly outside Italy, can still
be a struggle. The Italians, of course, are less confused
than foreigners, not least because theyve always taken
a regional approach to wine; local was (and often still is)
considered best, whatever its classication. Most Italians
will know something of the wines in their region but little
about those beyond. Similarly, whilst wine is ingrained in
the culture, taken as nourishment (rather than stimulant)
with almost every meal, theres a gratifying absence of
wine snobbery in either home or restaurant (theyre as
likely to order a quarto or mezzo litre carafe as anything
from the wine list).
7.2.1 The culture of Italian wine
Words you might
nd on an Italian
wine bottle
Spumante. Sparkling.
Frizzante. Semi-
sparkling.
Classico. Wine from
a limited, historic core
within a DOC zone.
Riserva. Wine aged for
longer in the cask before
bottling.
Superiore. Aged longer
and/or with a higher
alcohol content than the
DOC standard.
Understanding the wine classications
Vino da tavola (VDT). Table wine, the humblest
classication, had a reputation for rule-outing,
international-style wines made using forbidden, often
French, grape varieties, but has now been largely
superseded by IGT (see below). The label wont mention
geographic origin, vintage or grape variety. Many old
VDTs have been reclassied as IGT or absorbed into the
DOC system.
Indicazione geograca tipica (IGT). Introduced in 1992
because so many good wines could only get VDT status,
IGT wines, functioning rather like French vin de pays,
usually disclose geographic origin and grape variety.
Some IGT wines (there are about 120) can fetch a higher
price than their DOCG cousins.
Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC).
Introduced nationally in 1963, the DOC standard controls
geographic origin, production methods, grape varieties
(not mentioned on the label), yields and maturation
techniques. A DOC wine should only come from the
region, town or vineyard on the label. Progressive
growers ignoring DOC rules in the 1970s and 80s created
the Super Tuscan VDT boom (see page 259).
Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita
(DOCG). DOC with bells on, DOCG
is subject to more stringent testing,
is usually produced from lower
yields and comes sealed around
the neck with the governments tag
of authenticity. The classication,
introduced in the 1980s, has
successfully improved the image
and quality of some old DOC wines,
notably Chianti.
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The main grape varieties
Italy has more indigenous grape varieties than anywhere
else, most of them used in blends. Few are mentioned on
the labels of DOC and DOCG wines. Red varieties have
historically been more interesting, although the quality
and character of the whites has improved of late. The
late 20th century fashion for using international (mainly
French) varieties in Italian wine has waned. In spite of
their rich diversity, few Italian varieties are exported, with
the increasingly notable exception of Nebbiolo.
Red
Grape Region Characteristics
Barbera Throughout Italy Almost black, berry fruit, acidic
Dolcetto Piedmont Fruity and fresh, similar to Beaujolais
Lambrusco Emilia-Romagna Fizzy red, at its best dry though much is sweet
Montepulciano Abruzzo Dark, savoury, zesty, spicy
Nebbiolo Piedmont Dry, tannic, perfumed, very long-lived
Primitivo The south Alcoholic, coarse, related to Zinfandel
Sangiovese Tuscany Pale, savoury, fresh, variable, can age
White
Grape Region Characteristics
Arneis Piedmont Dry, grapefruit, fragrant
Cortese Piedmont Dry, lemon, mineral
Garganega Veneto Mineral, Chablis-like, but often bland
Greco Campania Dry, full-bodied
Moscato Throughout Italy Always sweet and grapey, sometimes zzy
Pinot Bianco North-east Dry, mineral
Pinot Grigio Throughout Italy Variable, usually dry, crowd-pleaser
Prosecco Veneto Usually dry, frizzante or spumante
Trebbiano Throughout Italy Usually very bland
Verdicchio Marche Variable, can be lemony or almondy
Vermentino Liguria, Sardinia Rich, full, but dry
PG tips
Pinot Grigio has stepped
into Chardonnays shoes
as the fashionable white
grape. The dry wine it
produces is often bland
and innocuous (partially
explaining its popularity)
but can, in the best
hands, be full and
velvety. White wines
made from Vermentino
in Liguria (Riviera Ligure
di Ponente DOC), Arneis
(Roero Arneis or Langhe
DOC) and Cortese (Gavi
DOCG) in Piedmont
and Greco in Campania
(Greco di Tufo DOCG)
may well have more
character.
A grape by any other
name
An Italian grape
variety may have
multiple names.
Barolos Nebbiolo, for
example, becomes
Spanna at Gattinara
and Chiavennasca
at Valtellina, and
Chiantis Sangiovese
becomes Morellino at
Scansano and Brunello
at Montalcino. Primitivo,
from the south, is
thought to be Zinfandel
in disguise, a grape that
thrives in hot and sunny
California, while Pinot
Bianco, Pinot Grigio and
Trebbiano all have their
French equivalents (Pinot
Blanc, Pinot Gris and
Ugni Blanc).
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Butch Barolo
At 13 per cent, Barolo
has the highest
stipulated minimum
alcohol level for an
Italian wine. Its style is
sometimes described as
majestic, or masculine,
and contrasted with
Barbarescos more
feminine charms.
i. Northern Italy
Piedmont
Italys nest wines are produced in Piedmont. Theyre
big, chewy, black reds, aged for years in Slovenian oak
casks and left on their skins for maximum extraction.
Piedmonts best vineyards surround Alba, where Barolo
and Barbaresco, both DOCG wines, face each other on
the Langhe hills. An autumn mist, the nebbia, gives its
name to the local grape, the Nebbiolo, which ripens late
for dark, tannic and acidic wines that demand 20 years in
the bottle. White, sparkling Asti Spumante DOCG, made
from Moscato grapes, is another Piedmontese legend.
Lombardy
Wealthy investment in Lombardys vineyards has bred
some ne wines inspired by leading French appellations,
not least Champagne. Franciacorta, one of the latest
Italian zones to win DOCG status, makes outstanding
Champagne-style wines (bottle-fermented using the
metodo classico) from Pinot Bianco, Pinot Nero and
Chardonnay grapes. Bellavista (Gran Cuve Brut) and Ca
del Bosco (Cuve Annamaria Clementi) are the leading
rms.
Trentino-Alto Adige
Italys northernmost wine region grows grape varieties
by the dozen, many used in varietals (wines pressed
from a single grape type). The relatively cool climate is
apt for aromatic whites Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and
Pinot Bianco are all ubiquitous but the star here is
Teroldego Rotaliano DOC, an abundantly fruity, low tannin
red with a bitter edge. Alto Adige is the original home
of Gewrztraminer, while another indigenous grape, the
Nosiola, has been dried and pressed into strong sweet
Vino Santo for centuries.
7.2.2 The Italian wine regions
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Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli has been making modern style whites for 40 years
(other regions are only just catching up). Its a region
of varietals rather than blends, a place where modern
techniques like cold fermentation allow the grapes
primary avours to sing. The wines are fruity and
aromatic, often made from the Friulano grape (aka Tocai),
although a plethora of other French grapes, notably
Pinot Grigio, are grown (if youre looking for an Italian
Sauvignon this is where to nd it). The best catch-all DOC
whites are Colli Orientali del Friuli and Collio.
Veneto
Italys most prolic wine-producing region grows vast
tracts of DOC vines. Soave, made principally from
Garganega grapes, is the big white name, but the
permitted yields are very high. For quality you have to
head to the hills. The best Soave comes from Soave
Classico and Soave Superiore DOCG where the permitted
yields are lower and the land less fertile: two producers
shine Pieropan and Anselmi. Similarly, the best
Valpolicella DOC (not necessarily classico or superiore)
originates on pebbly slopes with low yields. Nearer
Venice the big wine is Prosecco DOC, the dry or off-dry
white with a tang, produced either frizzante or spumante.
The best Prosecco has prolonged lees (sediment) contact
(labelled charmat lungo) to add the kind of complexity
found in Champagne. Masi and Dal Forno are notable
among Venetos reds, producing cherryish, appetizing
wines.
Serve chilled
So-called vino da
meditazione, wine to
meditate over, is made
for sipping without
food. Its a sweet affair,
usually produced from
dried grapes; sweet
white Picolit from Colli
Orientali del Friuli DOC
in Italys north-eastern
corner is one of the best.
Rush job
The Veneto has a talent
for drying grapes on rush
mats to concentrate the
sugars, making intense,
alcoholic, dry and bitter
(amarone) or sweet
(recioto) red and white
wines.
Ruminating with a
Ripasso
When red Amarone
della Valpolicella wine
is re-fermented on
its skins it becomes
fuller (over 15 per cent
alcohol), more complex
and longer lived, gaining
the name Ripasso along
the way. Perfect for
post-meal rumination,
Ripasso doesnt have
spirit alcohol added and
is therefore less likely to
give you a hangover than
port. Top up?
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ii. Central Italy
Emilia-Romagna
The land here is too fertile for quality wine on any
grand scale: only 15 per cent of the regions output has
DOC status. Lambrusco is the big name; traditionally a
frothing zesty red, dry or off dry, but now also produced
in white, pink, sweet and low alcohol versions made on
an industrial scale. The best dry Lambruscos (DOC di
Sorbara, Grasparossa di Castelvetro or Salamino di Santa
Croce) sometimes receive secondary bottle fermentation
as per Champagne. The leading quality producer is
Cavicchioli, near Modena, whose best cuve, Lambrusco
di Sorbara, is modestly subtitled Vigna del Cristo.
Tuscany
The main vine is Sangiovese, a ckle character with
several clones producing numerous styles of red wine,
not all of them terribly attractive. At their best, theyre
strong, full-bodied (if pale) and expert at aging. Chianti
DOCG, clustered around Siena, is the most famous;
others include Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, which
contends with Barolo as Italys best wine, and Vino Nobile
di Montepulciano DOCG. Sangiovese also contributes to
several highly prized but unclassied Super Tuscan wines.
LO AMO BRUSCO.
Or, I like it sharp,
the possible origin of
Lambruscos name
What are the Super
Tuscans?
Super Tuscan wines
emerged in the 1970s,
marketed as such by
progressive growers
fed up with the
credence given to poor
Sangiovese clones and
the use of inferior white
grapes in blends whilst
foreign improving
grapes like Cabernet
Sauvignon were banned.
A great wine like
Tignanello, selling for
ten times the price of a
Chianti, was classied
as mere vino da tavola
because it contained
too much Cabernet and
not enough Sangiovese
(today its an IGT wine).
The rules have been
revised to ofcially
recognise some of the
Super Tuscans. For
example, Sassicaia,
perhaps the most super
of Super Tuscans, now
has a DOC all of its own.
Pass the passito
Passito is wine made
from dried grapes.
The most famous
is Tuscanys honey
coloured Vinsanto, or
holy wine.
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Umbria
White wine predominates in Umbria, where Tuscan
makers like Antinori have moved in, invested, and begun
producing top wines, not least Cervaro at Castello della
Sala, potentially Italys greatest white wine. The regions
most famous white is Orvieto, traditionally sweet but
increasingly produced secco to suit modern tastes.
Umbrias most characterful whites have increased
Grechetto and reduced Trebbiano in the blend. Super
Umbrian reds are produced from Sangiovese grapes at
Torgiano, near Perugia.
Marche
As Tuscan and Umbrian wines grow in price, the
improving Verdicchio whites of Marche offer an
interesting alternative: Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and
Verdicchio di Matelica, both with DOC status, stand out.
Abruzzo and Lazio
Abruzzo produces mostly red wine and Lazio mostly
white, but in common their wines share a certain
mediocrity, the odd exception noted. Abruzzos Adriatic
red, Montepulciano dAbruzzo, is spicy, low in tannin
and fresh in acidity, while the hills around Rome produce
Frascati, the white whose fame can belie a paucity of
taste and character. Frascati uses Malvasia and dreary
Trebbiano grapes; only wines eschewing the latter can
claim any real taste, although the DOC limits Malvasia
content to 30 per cent, a requisite frequently ignored by
more conscientious growers. Lazio also produces Est
Est Est!, another white, apparently named after a 12th
century German bishop awarded it the vinum est bonum
(Est) standard not once but three times.
Umbrian rotter
Orvieto in Umbria is
one of the few places
in Italy where muffa
nobile (noble rot) occurs
naturally. The mould
attacks ripe grapes
in humid autumnal
conditions, shrivels
the skins, evaporates
the water content and
concentrates the sugars
to produce sweet,
luscious (but not cloying)
white wines. Castello
della Sala produces the
most notable Umbrian
variety.
The shape of things past
Verdicchio is
traditionally bottled in
an amphora-shaped
container, introduced
to boost sales half a
century ago by the
areas biggest producer,
Fazi-Battaglia. Today,
the Grecian touch
makes the wine look
frivolous; more serious
producers have ditched
the nostalgic amphora
shape.
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Late developer
Late to ripen,
Campanias excellent
Aglianico vines are often
planted at altitude to
mitigate the southern
heat. Harvesting in the
snow isnt unknown.
iii. Southern Italy
Campania
The sleeping giant of Italian wine, producing relatively
little of DOC standard but possessing all the right physical
and climatic qualities to do so. The local grape pool is
varied and interesting: the best red grape (and DOC),
Aglianico, of Greek origin, is best in Taurasi DOCG; the
white Greco di Tufo grape (also of Greek origin) produces
crisp, long-lived, appley whites; and Fiano, regarded as
southern Italys best white grape, goes into Fiano di
Avellino DOCG. The leading growers for all the above are
Mastroberardino and Feudi di San Gregorio.
Puglia
Grape yields in Puglia are
high but the quality is
often poor; most grapes
are destined for vermouth
production, distillation,
blending (sometimes with
thin French wines) or grape
concentrate. Quality can
be found in Salento, where
cooling sea breezes give the
vines some relief from the
torrid climate. The local grapes
are Negroamaro, thought to
have originated in Greece, and
Primitivo, which is identical
to Californias Zinfandel
but originates in Croatia.
Both produce dark, rich and
powerful reds.
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Basilicata
Italys central southern region uses altitude to defy grape-
withering heat, planting its better vineyards between
400 and 600 metres up. It has one DOC, Aglianico del
Vulture, a red from the vineyards of Monte Vulture. The
high acidity and tannin of the Aglianico grape make for
excellent, long-lived wines in the right hands; some
have called it the Nebbiolo of the south. DAngelo and
Paternoster are the best producers.
Calabria
Even while good fresh wines can be made on Calabrias
mountainous terrain, the region still produces an ocean
of plonk, apparently untroubled by recent advances in
oenology. One beacon of hope exists: the DOC of Cir
where strong reds are made from Gaglioppo grapes, and
fresh, fruity whites from varied Greco vines. Dried Greco
grapes are used to make a good dessert wine around the
village of Bianco. The regions one outstanding producer
is Librandi.
Sicily
The islands climate, topography and volcanic soils lend
themselves to a multitude of wine styles, and until
recently Sicily produced more wine than anywhere else
in Italy (indeed, it made more wine than Australia). Most
quality-conscious producers work outside the DOC
system, which accounts for just two per cent of Sicilian
wine. Having irted with foreign grapes in the 1990s,
enjoying some global success, today the emphasis is
back on indigenous varieties. Sicilys best-known wine,
sweet golden or brown Marsala, has slipped from fashion;
these days Nero dAvola is the grape of choice, producing
strong ripe reds.
The clues in the name
The town of Barile,
in the lee of Monte
Vulture, an extinct
volcano in northern
Basilicata, is famed
for wine barrels hewn
from oak and chestnut
felled in the surrounding
forests.
The land that wine forgot
Calabria lags behind in
the production of quality
wine, and yet it was
the regions prociency
at viticulture in ancient
times that led Greek
colonisers to call Italy
Enotria, the land of
wine.
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Sardinia
Sardinias subjugation to Aragn in the Middle Ages
explains the Spanish origins of some of its grape
varieties. Cannonau (Garnacha in Spain and Grenache
in France) accounts for 20 per cent of the islands
production, used in a variety of styles including sweet
and fortied (as in France). Carignano (Cariena in Spain
and Carignan in France) is particularly good in the Sulcis
DOC. The islands best dry white, and its only DOCG, is
Vermentino di Gallura.
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Beer
Although beer is consumed throughout the country,
Italy isnt a great brewing nation. The historic hub of any
production is Alto Adige, where the brewing traditions
of Austro-Hungarian and German neighbours spilled over
the Alps. Germanic-sounding brewers (Forst, Dreher,
Splgen, Theresianer, and Whrer) still operate, but
the biggest sh today are Moretti and Peroni (neither
of them Italian owned). When the Italians do reach for
a beer its usually of the lager variety, although darker
beers, variously described as birra nera or birra rossa, are
produced in small quantities, often by microbrewers. Beer
consumption in Italy is gradually increasing (although wine
is still the norm at home), especially amongst younger
drinkers who will often order foreign brands.
Aperitivos
Many Italians still drink an aperitif to stimulate the
appetite and enhance conversation before a meal. There
are two old favourites (see below), although sparkling
spumante wines like Prosecco are gaining in popularity:
their lower alcohol content may reduce the need for an
after-lunch siesta.
Vermouth. A Piedmontese legend made from white or
red plonk, with added herbs, spices and bitter avourings.
One of the additions is wormword, the digestive aid
from which the drink takes its name via the High
German, werimouta. Unlike French versions, white Italian
vermouth is off-dry and red is sweet, although they all
have a balancing savoury tang. Famous brands include
Martini & Rossi, Cinzano and Carpano, who make Punt
e Mes, a classic red. Vermouth-based cocktails like the
Dry Martini, Americano, Negroni and Manhattan attract
American tourists but few locals.
Good measure
Italians usually serve
their draught beer in
20cl (piccola) or 40cl
(media) glasses. The
pitchers and pints of
other nations dont make
an appearance.
Beer blues
Peronis Nastro Azzurro
beer was launched in
1963. The name means
blue ribbon, chosen in
honour of the SS Rex, an
Italian ocean liner that
held the blue ribbon
record for the fastest
transatlantic crossing
in the 1930s. Today its
consumed worldwide.
7.2.3 Thirst for knowledge: beyond wine
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Campari. A refreshing Milanese pick-me-up also drunk as
an aperitivo; usually taken neat on the rocks, with soda or
with orange. The recipe is secret but we know that much
of the tang and avour derives from cinchona bark. The
bright red colour comes from cochineal.
Digestivos
If the appetite has been over-stimulated and then over-
indulged, the Italians believe in the restorative properties
of a digestivo, taken after the meal or even the following
morning.
Amaro. Meaning bitter, amari come in many forms, all
of them wine or spirit based. Most are avoured with
herbs and roots that can include cinchona, angelica, anise,
wormwood, and gentian. The most bitter of all are called
fernet, of which Fernet Branca, invented by 19th century
spice trader Bernadino Branco and containing 27 herbs
and spices, is the most famous. Fernet is drunk neat
or added to coffee. In the 18th century, it was thought
to combat cholera and tapeworms. Other amari include
nocino, a bitter liqueur made from unripe walnuts in
Emilia-Romagna, carciofo, made from artichokes and
taken before or after dinner (the biggest brand is Cynar),
and tartufo, produced from black Umbrian trufes.
Amaretto. A sweet liqueur usually made from almond
kernels. The biggest brand name, Disaronno, actually
uses apricot kernels along with a secret mix of 17 herbs
and spices.
Sambuca. A sweet aniseed-avoured digestivo often
served with coffee as an ammazzacaff (coffee killer).
Restaurateurs sometimes serve it con mosca (with
ies), meaning they oat three coffee beans in the glass:
one to represent health, another happiness and a third
prosperity. Excitable tourists inevitably opt for a aming
sambuca, in which the neat liqueur is set alight. The
leading brand is Molinari.
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Limoncello.
Another sweet
ammazzacaff,
especially popular
in the south,
limoncello is made
by macerating
lemon peel in
alcohol. The best
comes from the
Sorrento lemon, a
fruit with its own
IGP label no less
(see section 7.1.1
for more on food
labels).
Grappa. The superstar of digestivos is made by distilling
pomace (the residual grape skins, pips and stalks of
wine making). Its usually a clear liquid, although some
grappas, labelled riserva, take on a golden hue from a
years cask aging. Grappa is often drunk with or in coffee
(caff corretto) or swirled around an empty coffee cup
(rasentin). Nardini is the leading brand.
The soft options
Italians are the biggest consumers of mineral water in
Europe drunk zzy (frizzante) or still (naturale) even
though their tap water is wholly palatable. Around 600
regional brands ght to compete with the big producers
like San Pellegrino and Ferrarelle. A glass of tap water is
normally served with coffee. Sicily is the prime source of
Italys citrus fruit, which is freshly squeezed (spremuta)
and served in bars across the country. Chinotto, a small,
bitter orange-coloured citrus fruit grown all over Italy, is
used in various soft drinks of the same name. The fruit is
thought to hail from China hence the name.
Rags to riches: the
grappa story
Grappa used to be made
in travelling distilleries
towed from village to
village by horse, and
could duly be quite
rough stuff. Today the
drink is taken more
seriously, with gourmet
restaurants serving a
range of versions in ne
tulip glasses. Some of
the pricier grappas are
made from individual,
perfumed grape varieties
such as Moscato or
Traminer or, in Veneto,
Picolit.
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Hot dark matter: coffee types in Italy
Caff. Ask for a caff and youll get an espresso in a small, heated cup. The
caffeine content isnt dramatic, and Italians will often drink espresso coffee after
dinner. Dont be fooled by the size, the Italians are reverential about espresso.
Caff doppio. A double espresso.
Caff lungo. Espresso diluted but with a higher caffeine content. Also called an
Americano, after the American servicemen who found a standard espresso too
strong.
Cafflatte. A lungo mixed with plenty of hot milk. Asking simply for a latte, as you
might in the UK or the USA, will get you a glass of milk.
Cappuccino. Caff lungo
mixed with frothy hot milk
and powdered with chocolate.
Traditionally taken as an
accompaniment to breakfast
pastries in a caf, where the
espresso machine has a special
nozzle for frothing the milk.
Usually only a morning drink,
and never taken after a full
meal (the milk would hinder
digestion).
Caff ristretto. Gulp-sized
espresso and consequently
stronger in avour. Drunk in a
single draught, often by people
rushing to work.
Caff corretto. An espresso
with added grappa.
Caff macchiato. Espresso
with a mere dash of milk;
macchiato means ecked.
Caff freddo. Chilled espresso
served with ice in a tall glass.
Granita di Caff. A coffee
fuelled dessert sometimes taken
instead of coffee after a meal.
Coffee for one
The origins of the
word espresso are
somewhat murky. It
doesnt mean express,
or fast, but rather
pressed out (as in hot
water through ground
beans) or an individual
cup made expressly
(espressamente) for you.
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One for the road?
Digestivos remain
popular but the
authorities clampdown
on drink driving has
pushed more to imbibe
a limoncello than a
powerful grappa. Even
so, alcohol consumption
remains a contributory
cause in 30 to 40 per
cent of road accidents
in Italy.
Something to wash that down with?
Italians dont often drink alcohol without food. They dont
share the northern European enthusiasm for bouts of
heavy drinking; for whiling away evening hours in a pub
or a bar. Italian bars are actually quite utilitarian neon-lit
places where drinks are cheaper taken standing at the bar
and where visits are usually brief; why hang around when
dinner is waiting at home? Women are far less likely to
venture into a bar for alcohol than men, especially in rural
areas. Drunkenness, or to fare una brutta gura, is still
frowned upon and rarely public. The best thing you can do
if drunk is to try and conceal it. Alcohol is usually mopped
up with food an aperitivo may well be accompanied by
olives, nuts or mini pizzas, and wine still forms a familiar
part of the evening meal. Wine is also often drunk at
lunchtimes, although in smaller quantities than used to be
the case.
Changing drinking habits
Most Italian children taste their rst alcoholic drink aged
11 or 12, a couple of years younger than the European
average. Usually theyre given watered down wine with
a meal by a parent, inculcating a responsible attitude
to drinking by the association with food. However, a
recent rise in binge drinking, a malaise from which Italy
was previously considered immune, has been recorded
amongst a minority of youngsters. Girls are the worst
offenders in the mid-teen age bracket, but are overtaken
by boys in their late teens. The binging seems to tail
off at around 25, and appears to be a largely urban
phenomenon. A recent government move to raise the
public drinking age from 16 to 18 failed; although they did
succeed in making the sale of alcohol after 2am illegal.
7.2.4 Drinking habits: when and where to indulge
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of Italian culture
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Viva il vino
In the 1990s, Italy
replaced France as
the worlds biggest
consumer and producer
of wine in terms of
actual volume. However,
as wine consumption
gradually falls in both
countries, the USA looks
on course to overtake.
In terms of consumption
per capita, Italy (28 litres
per person per year)
takes third place behind
Switzerland (29 litres)
and Portugal (33 litres).
Hitting the bottle
In 1996, 19,000 Italians
were receiving regular
treatment for alcoholism.
A decade later that
gure had grown to
more than 50,000.
Still going to the caf for a coffee
When merchants from Venice and Trieste traded with the
Yemeni port of Moka in the Middle Ages they brought
coffee back to Europe. Today, the average Italian drinks
more coffee (usually seriously sweetened) than anyone
else in Europe, preferring a heavily roasted bean for
that characteristically strong, bitter avour. Attempts at
domesticating the espresso machine (the snorting silver
Gaggia that brought steam pressure and a crema froth
to the espresso in the 1930s, balancing the inherent
bitterness of the coffee) havent succeeded in Italy
like they have elsewhere; Italians, particularly sociable
southerners, still prefer coffee from the caf. As for tea,
its always come a distant second to coffee. However,
there is a growing trend for tea supping among young,
middle-class northern Italians, either at home or in
tearooms. Tea automatically arrives with lemon (con
limone) unless you ask for milk (con latte). Herbal teas
(infusioni) are growing in popularity.
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of Italian culture
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and design
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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modern Italy
8 Living culture:
the state of modern Italy
8.1 Upsetting the
old order: class, race,
family and women p274
8.2 Issues of faith:
religion in Italy p278
8.3 Rule benders:
politics, the Italian state
and green issues p282
8.4 Money matters: the
economy, wealth and
social security p288
8.5 Law and order: the
police, the Maa and the
legal system p292
8.6 Class struggles: the
education system p297
8.7 Time out: holidays,
festivals and free time
p300
8.8 Passion plays:
Italian sport p303
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
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and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
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the state of
modern Italy
273
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of Italian culture
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Enjoyment appears to come easily to Italy.
Sport, festivals, family, food the ner
thing in life are celebrated with an
undisguised passion. However, turn to
the sober stuff of 21st century life, to
politics, religion, immigration and
economics, and the nation wrestles with
the big issues of the day.
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of Italian culture
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and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
650, 000 PEOPLE
FROM EUROPE,
NORTH AMERI CA
AND AUSTRALASI A
LI VE I N I TALY.
The Italian class structure
Rigid stratication was the hallmark of Italian society
for centuries. Italians were born, lived and died in
the peasantry, bourgeoisie or (for the fortunate few)
aristocracy. Today, social mobility, so slow to arrive, is
a key facet of life. The stereotypes that dene class in
other countries dont really exist in Italy any more; social
status is dictated almost solely by wealth. Accents speak
only of regional origin, not class, and Italians are as likely
to be judged by their clothes as by which school they
attended or what job theyre in.
The inequality of wealth distribution in modern Italy is
stark. Around ten per cent of the population still lives in
poverty, the south (as usual) faring far worse than the
north. The majority of Italians now belong to the growing
middle class, the borghesi, rising above the traditional
lower class of poor farmers, the contadini.
Struggling with multiculturalism
As a nation that knew only emigration for decades, Italy
wasnt prepared for the mass immigration of the 21st
century. Immigrant numbers have risen rapidly to four
million, seven per cent of the total population (still one
of the lowest proportions in the EU), in a short space
of time. The majority, over a million, have come from
Albania and Romania. Another half million have arrived
from North Africa, often illegally via the small Italian-
owned Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. In 2009, a
temporary centre for migrants on the island, built for 850
people, was found to have more than 2,000 boat people
crammed inside.
The unprecedented scale and pace of immigration has
created various tensions within Italian society. In summer
2008, a state of emergency was declared and troops
deployed on the streets of Rome, Milan and Naples
8.1 Italian society: class,
race, family and women
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants. A year
later, amid fervent media headlines about immigrants
committing rape, the Government gave ofcial backing to
the formation of citizens street patrols. Certain political
parties, not least the Lega Nord, have drawn clear,
inammatory connections between economic problems
and the new arrivals.
Becoming an Italian has never been an easy business.
Until 2006 it took ten years of uninterrupted residence
before rst-generation migrants could apply for
citizenship. Their Italian-born descendants had to wait
18 years. The 2006 Bill of Naturalisation improved the
migrants lot. The children of migrants now automatically
become Italian citizens as long as their parents can prove
long-term residence and an adequate income. Even so,
the bill received criticism for introducing language and
integration assessments.
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
People leakage
Many see immigration
as the only way to
reverse the countrys
negative population
growth and the prospect
of there being six million
fewer Italians by 2017.
( I T WOULD BE) A
SERI OUS MI STAKE
TO OBFUSCATE
THE VALUE AND
FUNCTI ONS OF
THE LEGI TI MATE
FAMI LY BASED
ON MARRI AGE BY
ATTRI BUTI NG LEGAL
RECOGNI TI ON TO
OTHER FORMS OF
LEGAL UNI ON FOR
WHI CH THERE I S
NO REAL SOCI AL
DEMAND.
Pope Benedict XVI
explains why same-sex
marriages should remain
illegal in Italy
Keep it in the family
Family remains the solid foundation of Italian life but the
pressures of modernity are taking their toll. The numbers
of divorcees, single parent families and people living alone
are all increasing. Falling birth rates (at about 1.3 children
per female its well below the EU average) have further
eroded the traditional image of the large Italian family.
By 2033, a third of the Italian population will be over 65.
What is unusual (in the context of western Europe) about
Italy, however, is that these older generations are cared
for within the family, remaining in the familial residence
with their adult children rather than put out to pasture
in a retirement home. The value and sense of identity
attached to family in Italy therefore remains central to
everyday life, maintaining a centuries-old commitment
to immediate kin that overshadows any loyalty to
community, region or state.
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foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
THE AGE OF
CONSENT I N I TALY
I S 14 ( BETWEEN
MI NORS) .
Contrasts of care
Italian women spent
more time caring for
children and aged
parents than women
from any other EU
country in 2004 three
hours 53 minutes a
day according to the
National Institute
for Statistics. Not
surprisingly, their
husbands were at the
bottom of the EU list
when it came to helping
out.
Women on the march
Fears about changes
in abortion legislation
brought more than
250,000 women out onto
the streets of Milan in
2006 to defend Law 194,
which decriminalised
abortion in 1978.
Mammas boys
Some blame the current lack of innovation and economic growth in Italy on blokes.
An astonishing number of Italian men, the Mammoni (mummys boys), stay at home
until well into their thirties. Indeed, the average Italian doesnt y the nest until
aged 36. They dont just stay for the cooking and home comforts; the average wage
for Italians aged between 25 and 30 is very low their peers in the UK, for example,
earn double. To help cut the apron strings, the Government plans to offer up to 700
in tax relief for Italians under 30 earning less than 10,500. The state will also pay
19 per cent towards rent costs for university students who study at least 65 miles
away from home.
How Italy treats women
It would be wrong to say that feminism missed Italy,
but it was slow to gain momentum. While a rush of
feminist activity brought legislative changes in the 1970s
(legalising abortion, divorce and adultery), personal beliefs
and attitudes have been harder to rene. Italian women
are still a long way from achieving parity of pay with their
male colleagues; they have the lowest representation
in parliament of any EU country; only received the vote
in 1946; and the laws on sexual violence were slow to
move forward. Today, Italian women are marrying later
than ever before, while low birth rates are no doubt
indicative of changing roles. Young Italians have accepted
equality between the sexes, even if Italy lags some way
behind other EU countries. However, progress is regional:
the greatest advances have come in the north and centre
the old stereotypes are taking longer to shift in the
south. In common, though, men all over Italy still present
women with yellow mimosa owers on International
Womens Day, 8 March (perhaps hoping to compensate
for the other 364 days in the year).
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of Italian culture
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and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The angels share
Italians can opt to give
0.8 per cent of their
income tax, the so-called
otto per mille, to the
Catholic Church or one
of six other religions
(including Waldensians,
Jews and Seventh-Day
Adventists but not
Muslims).
What is the Vatican?
The Vatican, the
Catholic Church State,
was shaped in the
Risorgimento when
troops from northern
Italy gobbled up the
Papal States and
then occupied Rome.
Pope Pius IX declared
himself a prisoner in
the Vatican and the
idea of a separate state
within the city took
hold. This city-state
status was formalised
by the Lateran Pacts of
1929. The word Vatican
derives from the Latin
Vaticanus, a hill in
Rome.
There in spirit, if not in body
At rst glance, Catholicism appears to drip from every
facet of Italian life, from the almighty physical presence
of St Peters in Rome to the statues of the Virgin Mary
staring down from alcoves and balconies across the
country. And with around 90 per cent of Italians claiming
to be Catholic, the religious make-up of the country
seems clear-cut. However, the reverence is somewhat
part-time. Only a quarter of Catholics still regularly attend
church, and a high proportion of those are getting on in
years. In a country where abortion and divorce are legal
and where contraception is widely used, the pope isnt
as powerful as he once was; religion is no longer a ritual
to live by. And yet, while Italy secularises, Catholicism
retains a vital cultural role. The majority may avoid church
on a Sunday, but will still embrace the major rites of
passage, from baptism to Holy Communion, wedding
day to funeral. Like most aspects of Italian life, religion is
subject to regional variation. Broadly, devotion is stronger
in the south than the north. The Red Belt of Emilia-
Romagna, traditional stomping ground for communists,
has long had a reputation for irreverence.
Original man of the papal
There have been 265 popes since St Peter, pontiff from
AD30 to 67. He (maybe one day she?) doesnt have the
same hold over the Italian people he once did. In the
privacy of the home or the local bar, the pope is no longer
out of bounds for satire. The bond hasnt been quite
the same since 1978 when the charismatic and popular
Albino Luciani, John Paul I, died just one month into his
reign and the job went to a foreigner, John Paul II, for
the rst time in 455 years. Pope John Pauls legacy is
still warm, recalled not least for surviving a shooting and
for canonising more people than any predecessor. The
current pope, Benedict XVI, is German-born Joseph Alois
Ratzinger.
8.2 Issues of faith: religion in Italy
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of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Doing a deal with il Duce
Mussolini started
his tenure in power
describing Catholic
priests as black germs,
but had a change of
heart when he spied
the opportunity to tap
Catholicisms 400 million
strong (a billion today)
worldwide audience. The
resultant Lateran Treaty
of 1929 gave Pope Pius
XI 109 acres in Rome
to form the Vatican
state with its own small
army, police force, post
ofce, train station
and weekend retreat
in the country. Perhaps
most signicantly, the
concordat in the treaty
cemented Catholicism
as the state religion
(this relationship was
eventually broken by a
revised agreement in
1984). The next pope,
Pius XII, incumbent from
1939 to 1958, is still the
subject of erce debate:
did he do enough to
protect Jews in the
Second World War?
Recruitment drive
The number of Italian men signing up to the cloth
has been plummeting for years, and so the Catholic
Church has been quick to mine Italys new migrant
communities for staff. More and more priests are
being recruited from Eastern Europe and Africa.
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of Italian culture
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and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Better late than never
Buddhists and Jehovahs
Witnesses nally had
their faiths recognised
as formal religions by
the Italian government
in 1990.
Power over life and
death?
Piergiorgio Welby
hit the headlines in
2006 when he refused
medical treatment for
the muscular dystrophy
that had paralysed him,
instead declaring his
wish to die. Liberals
aligned behind Welby, in
opposition to the Vatican
which, backed by right-
wing politicians, tried
to prevent doctors from
withdrawing treatment.
During the three months
it took for the patient
to die, the issues
surrounding euthanasia,
illegal in Italy, were
hotly debated. The
Vatican denied Welby
a church burial on his
death, asserting that
hed gone against
Catholic teaching by
choosing to die.
Italys other religious communities
Jews
Italy harbours one of the oldest, most integrated Jewish
communities in Europe (the Romanim Jews identify
themselves with Jews from Rome before the great
Diaspora); indeed, there were Jews in Italy as far back as
161BC. The term ghetto is an Italian/Jewish word dating
back to early Jewish populations living in Venice, where
the foundries were casting metal in a process known as
gettare.
Waldensians
A core of European Protestantism tucked away for
centuries in the Waldensian valleys of northern Italy. In
the Second World War they helped hide Jews eeing the
Nazis.
Muslims
Theres been an Islamic presence in Italy since the Arab
occupation of Sicily in the Middle Ages, although it was
barely visible when the country unied in 1861. Since
immigrants began arriving in Italy from Islamic countries
in the 1970s, the population has steadily grown. The
biggest mosque in Europe opened two miles from the
Vatican in 1995.
Greek Orthodox
Communities are scattered along the Adriatic coast
with bigger populations in Sicily. Recent migrants
from southern central Europe have helped boost
congregations.
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
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the state of
modern Italy
Have you heard the one
about the pope, the rabbi
and the
If you feel the urge to
recite a joke about the
pope, be careful where
you do it. Under the
Lateran Treaty, insulting
the pope, even for a
joke, can, in theory,
result in ve years
behind bars.
Mysterious ways
More than ten
million Italians pay
for fortune telling,
occult consultations
or a session with a
soothsayer every year.
The key religious dates
Epifania On 6 January, Befana, a warty old witch (but in a good way), visits children
and leaves gifts if theyve been good and a lump of coal if theyve misbehaved
(although these days solid fuel has been replaced by sweets).
Carnevale Italy bids goodbye to meat on Marted Grasso, or Shrove Tuesday.
In Venice they go overboard in the lead up with an intense ten-day festival of
costumed events. Elsewhere folks just sit down to a nice plate of lasagne.
Pasqua On Easter Sunday, Italians eat lamb and colomba, a dove-shaped cake,
while the pope blesses us from his balcony. Around the country, the Virgin Mary
is carried down the local high street in procession. On Easter Monday, Pasquetta,
families hit the road for a day in the country and a picnic.
Ferragosto The Assumption of the Blessed Mary is celebrated on 15 August with
a day off. Its one of various Catholic feast days borrowed from the Romans. Their
version marked high summer and honoured the Gods, in particular Diana, goddess of
the moon and hunting.
Ognissanti/Giorno dei Morti All Saints Day and All Souls Day, on 1 and 2
November respectively, are reserved for commemorating dead relatives. Flowers
are placed graveside before everyone settles down to a meal, traditionally featuring
fava beans.
Natale Its Christmas, so marvel at the presepe (the nativity crib usually laid out
on 8 December, LImmacolata Concezione), open your presents and write a letter to
your parents apologising for being naughty (usually left under their dinner plates).
Tuck into sh on Christmas Eve (traditional day of abstinence) and all manner
of dishes (tortellini in broth is about the most consistent) during the lengthy
Christmas lunch.
282
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foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Get out the vote
Article 48 of the
constitution reminds
Italians that to vote is a
civic duty. The country
has one of the highest
turnout rates (often up
to 90 per cent) in the
democratic world. Even
expats join in via post,
and have their own
representatives in the
Italian parliament.
282
Modern Italy has a fraught relationship with politics.
How can a Western democracy a country with G8
membership and a founder member of NATO have
been through 60 governments since the Second World
War? Corruption, factionalism, violence, mud slinging,
stagnation these have been the ceaseless themes of
Italian political life. As a bipolar system of government
evolves, so the political landscape begins to stablise.
The key dates of post-war Italian politics
1946. Italy becomes a republic, chosen by referendum. A pattern of government
rapidly develops: the centre-right Democrazia Cristiana (DC) party rule in coalition
with various centrist factions, essentially operating as a buffer to the Partito
Communista Italiano (PCI), a much stronger force in post-war politics in Italy than in
other Western nations.
1969. A neo-Fascist bomb in Milan begins the Years of Lead, in which extreme
elements from left and right bypass the usual (sleaze-clogged) channels of
democracy using violence. Events reach a grim climax with the murder of former DC
prime minister, the moderate Aldo Moro, in 1978.
1983. Bettino Craxi becomes the rst prime minister from the Partito Socialista
Italiano (PSI) in the post-war era, nally (and briey) wresting government from the
DC.
1992. The post-war status quo implodes amid arrests and trials for corruption. The
DC and PSI dissolve (the conjunction with communisms international demise wasnt
coincidental). Italians declare an unofcial second republic, hoping for a new start.
1994. The Freedom Alliance, a rightist coalition that includes Silvio Berlusconis
Forza Italia (FI) party, the separatist Lega Nord (LN) and the neo-Fascist Aleanza
Nazionale (AN), wins power. These and the former Communists are the new
players in Italian politics.
2001. Italians vote for greater autonomy for the countrys 20 regions in a referendum
on the constitution, increasing regional control over taxation, education and the
environment.
2008. Silvio Berlusconi returns for his third term as prime minister, his popularity
with voters apparently unaffected by ongoing media criticism about public and
private affairs.
8.3 Rule benders: politics, the Italian
state and green issues
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5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The structure of power
Italy is a democratic republic comprising 20 regions (each
with its own, popularly elected council), which divide
further into 109 provinces and 8,101 municipalities. The
Presidente della Repubblica is the head of state, elected
by a two-thirds majority of parliament for a seven-year
term. While the president heads the armed forces and
can disband parliament, the real power lays with the
Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri (prime minister) and
his cabinet. Usually (but not always), the PM is drawn
from the political party with the most seats in parliament.
Italy has a bicameral parliament. The lower chamber, the
Camera dei Deputati, serves a ve-year term (although
full-term governments are virtually unknown), elected
by all adult Italians. The chambers 630 MPs are voted
in using a complicated combination of proportional
representation and prizes for the coalition securing most
votes; a system, introduced in 2005, which appears to
have exacerbated the difculties of fragmentation, placing
increased, disruptive control in the hands of smaller
parties. The upper chamber, the Senato della Repubblica,
contains 315 senators. Most are elected by citizens aged
25 and over, but some are there for life (old presidents
and the like).
MORE THAN 150
PARTI ES WERE ON
THE BALLOT FOR
THE 2008 I TALI AN
ELECTI ON.
Defection imperfection
The multiple
governments that
characterised the
early years of Italian
unication led many
politicos to switch sides,
to change their stance
and set up new parties
to ensure their own
survival. Transformismo,
as it became known,
continues to blight
Italian politics;
discredited gures from
the left or right regularly
reappear in government
with a new outlook.
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The main political forces
While the political scene in the second republic has
always been a splintered affair, the factions have also
always been dened along clear left/right lines. The
last coalition government of the left, led by Romano
Prodi, contained nine political parties; the last from the
right, Silvio Berlusconis, embraced eight, although
ultimately slimmed down to two. Both sides seem keen
to initiate a more workable, two-party system, steadily
gobbling up factions to create large, broader parties less
reliant on coalition allies and therefore better braced for
government. The emergent Partito Democratico (PD) and
Popolo della Libert (PDL), on the centre-left and centre-
right respectively, work towards the aim. However, a
centrist coalition, the Unione di Centro (UDC) born of old
Christian Democrats, hopes to offer voters a third way. Of
the myriad political forces in Italy, these are the ones to
watch:
Right
Popolo della Libert (PDL). Created in 2009
when Forza Italia, Italys largest centre-right
party (launched by Silvio Berlusconi in 1994 as
a shiny centre-right replacement for the crippled
DC), merged with the Alleanza Nazionale (AN).
The ANs old leader, Gianfranco Fini, a former
neo-fascist, had been seen by many as the
natural successor to Berlusconi, until the pair fell
out in 2009.
Franco Frattini, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Popolo della Libert
government elected to power in 2008, is among the key gures of
contemporary Italian politics.
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modern Italy
Lega Nord (LN). Under the leadership of Umberto Bossi,
the LN has won votes with an anti-central government,
anti-immigrant ticket. In the 2008 election, the party
won eight per cent of the vote. Political commentators
suggest the Lega Nord have capitalised on the lefts
failure to represent the working class, although the party
also receives signicant white-collar support.
Left
Partito Democratico (PD). Born in 2007 from various
centre-left factions, the main ones being the Democratici
di Sinistra (DS) (heirs to Italys communist heritage) and
La Margherita (DL) (a more centrist strand), the PD covers
social democrat ground, pushing a pro-European, socially
progressive and green agenda.
Partito dei Comunisti Italiani (PdCI). Created in 1998
when it split from Italys other surviving communist
faction of note (there are many on a smaller scale), the
Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (PRC). In common,
they advocate a more even distribution of wealth and
oppose any military support for the USA.
Federazione dei Verdi. The Italian Green party rst
entered parliament in 1987, becoming one of the few
dissenting voices against the treatment of Roma people
and immigrants in general. The party has fared badly in
recent elections; coalitions with the communists havent
really helped their popular appeal.
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5. Cinema
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6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
POWER I S A
DI SEASE I HAVE
NO DESI RE TO BE
CURED OF.
Giulio Andreotti
Five memorable Italian prime ministers
Alcide De Gasperi. DC leader who signed the peace
treaty with the Allies, secured Italys place in NATO and
generally hauled Italy from post-war devastation. Died
within a year of losing the 1953 election.
Aldo Moro. Another two-times DC prime minister, Moro
worked hard to broker agreement with the left. His
attempt at a historic compromise got him kidnapped and
killed by the Red Brigades in 1978.
Giulio Andreotti. Italian PM seven times between the
1970s and 90s, the wily Andreotti is emblematic of post-
war Italian politics. All attempts to convict him on alleged
Maa connections (including implication in the murder of
journalist Mino Pecorelli) have failed. He still sits in the
upper chamber of parliament, despite being in his 90s.
The media once dubbed him the Prince of Darkness.
Bettino Craxi. As leader of the socialist PSI in the 1970s
and 80s, Craxi impressed with his moderation, intitiating
social and economic reform during two periods as PM,
and foreshadowing the wider European movement of
the left toward the centre. However, hes become better
remembered as the biggest scalp of the early 1990s
bribery investigations. Sentenced in absentia to 10 years
in prison, Craxi died in Tunisia in 2000. Craxis political
legacy is still being assessed.
Silvio Berlusconi. The key gure of Italian politics
since the early 1990s meltdown has established
an enviable reputation for longevity in ofce after
three periods as PM. Hes a self-made man, a
bank workers son who began selling vacuum
cleaners, moved on to property and then built a
media empire. Critics say he controls too much of
Italian life, but his popular support is undeniable.
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modern Italy
The smell of corruption
in Naples
In 2008, landll sites in
Naples reached capacity
and the city became
strewn with uncollected
rubbish; around 250,000
tonnes of waste was left
festering on the streets.
The ensuing health
hazard, not least rat
infestations, caused riots
across the region. Water
sources were poisoned
and air pollution soared
when people began
setting re to the waste.
The crisis was blamed
on decades of weak
political leadership in
the region, leadership
that allowed the
Maas control of waste
disposal. After activity
from Silvio Berlusconis
administration, sites
were reopened, although
thousands of tonnes of
rubbish were shipped to
Sardinia and set ablaze
while other parts of the
country were forced to
receive Naples garbage.
How green is Italy?
The volatile political landscape in Italy has held back a
consistent environmental policy and the country, despite
recent investment in onshore wind farms, is unlikely to
hit its green targets. The ineffectiveness of Italys Green
party hasnt helped. Green issues have taken longer to
concern the Italian public than other Europeans, although
they appear to be catching up 65 per cent of Italians
described themselves as green in a recent survey,
second only to Germany at 70 per cent.
Municipal and regional administrations are pushing green
building initiatives, while central government used the
2008 budget to approve plans to protect bio-diversity,
clean up contaminated industrial sites, reduce waste
and nally comply with EU rules on pollution control. By
2013, Milan should have completed a two million square
metre green village, complete with apartments, schools,
shopping centres and sports facilities all powered by
sustainable energy sources. Private industry is getting
involved too, not least Fiat with their hydrogen-powered
Panda (the car not the large mammal). Meanwhile,
supermarkets have been charging for plastic bags for
years. In the home, waste is increasingly bagged into
separate bins while recycling points for paper, plastic and
glass are appearing in apartment blocks.
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modern Italy
Foreign power
Italy imports more than
80 per cent of its energy.
Where Italy makes its
money
Agriculture: 2 per cent
Industry: 27 per cent
Services: 71 per cent
Small is beautiful
Major companies like
Fiat might grab the
economic headlines, but
small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs),
many of them family run,
comprise the backbone
of the Italian economy.
The backstreets of
Italian cities and towns
are packed with people
making things from
ne foods to bespoke
suits, glassware and
decorative tiles and
the stats on employee
numbers reect this:
99 per cent of
companies employ fewer
than 250 people.
The average company
employs between three
and eight people (the
European average is 15
people).
23 per cent of workers
are employed by a
company with fewer
than ten staff (in
England and the USA its
seven and three per cent
respectively).
The Italian economy underwent a miraculous
transformation in the second half of the 20th century.
It needed to. Flattened by war, stripped of its colonies
in North Africa and forced to pay huge reparations
after backing the wrong side, by 1945 Italy was
economically shattered. The Marshall Plan (American
aid) initiated dramatic recovery in the post-war period,
fuelling the switch from a largely agrarian economy
to a manufacturing one, and helping to secure Italian
membership of the edgling European Community
just 12 years later. The so-called miracolo economico
between 1958 and 1963 placed Italy in the top ten of
world economic powers and, despite some bleak years in
the 1970s and 80s, there it remains, currently in seventh
place (it duly has membership of the G8).
The miracle was fed by the large-scale migration of
workers from rural regions to cities, and in particular from
the impoverished south to the dynamic north. Famous
Italian companies, from Fiat to Olivetti, Vespa to Zanussi,
grew in strength and began to export their products.
Today, behind the stylish brands, the metallurgical,
engineering and textile industries give modern Italy its
economic clout. Tourism also plays an important role:
nearly 40 million visitors come each year, making Italy the
fth most popular tourist destination in the world. While
Italy was far from immune to the recent global recession
(GDP began shrinking fast in 2008 and into 2009), it has
the potential to emerge less bruised than other nations
the country already had one of the lowest annual growth
rates in the EU (about one per cent), individuals dont
adhere to the culture of credit found in other Western
nations (they dont borrow to the hilt) and Italian banks
arent as entrenched in the international marketplace and
are thus less likely to feel the global pinch.
8.4 Money matters: the economy, wealth and
social security
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Home economics
Between 1997 and
2007, Italian house
prices shot up by 100
per cent. Despite a
15 per cent annual
growth in mortgages
during the same period,
outstanding mortgage
debt was just 19 per
cent of GDP, compared
to the EU average of 50
per cent. The low level
of borrowing stems
from the Italian banks
reluctance to overextend
loans, an approach
that doesnt seem to
hinder home ownership
almost 85 per cent
of Italian households
own the properties they
live in.
The north/south split
The economic divide between north and south in Italy has
been stark for generations. The industrial, urbane north
can seem like a different country to the predominantly
agricultural south, which, despite Italys economic
standing, is one of the poorest regions in Europe. Even
the agricultural label is misleading: poor soil and baking
temperatures make farming the Mezzogiorno a frequently
subsistence affair, barely sufcient to sustain a family.
Only wine, olive oil and a few other products really
push Italian agriculture forward in the export market.
No wonder ve million southerners emigrated to North
America in the early 20th century. The history of poverty
and neglect in the south colludes with its physical
isolation and a reputation for corruption and organised
crime to dissuade industry from moving in.
The economic disparity has left a bitter taste on both
sides of the divide: the Lega Nords growing popularity
as a political party is stirred by its calls for secession for
the north and a tougher anti-immigration policy, while
southerners believe the northern industrial base was
built with their blood, sweat and tears after the great
migrations north in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
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modern Italy
The submerged economy
Some estimates claim that 15 per cent of Italian GDP is
produced by the economia sommersa, the submerged
economy (or black market), much of it centred on
construction, agriculture and the service sectors. More
worrying is the success of Italys crime syndicates, jovially
referred to as Maa Inc, whose economic muscle grows
as the world economy withers (they dont have the same
reluctance to loan as the banks). Government think tank
Eurispes estimates that, in 2008, Maa Inc earned 126
billion euros, almost eight per cent of Italys GDP, half of
it from drug trafcking.
The health of health
The longevity and general good health of most Italians
probably has more to do with a balanced diet and
strong family support than with its health service.
When the national health service, the Servizio Sanitario
Nazionale (SSN), was introduced in 1978, the aim
was an all-encompassing health system covering the
entire population. Essentially, thats what it does today.
However, the system seems dogged by excessive
bureaucracy, funding shortfalls and mismanagement.
Italy comes about halfway down the table of European
healthcare, but within the country itself there is signicant
regional disparity; generally, youre better advised falling
ill in the north of the country than in the south. The SSN
is funded by central government through the IRAP tax
(Imposta Regionale Sulle Attivita Produttive). Everyone,
including all EU residents, is entitled to free or subsidised
healthcare in Italy.
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modern Italy
Tax matters
Income tax in Italy
operates on a sliding
scale, kicking in at 23
per cent and rising
to 43 per cent for
the top earners. In
addition, each region
(up to 1.4. per cent) and
municipality (up to 0.8
per cent) levies a tax on
income. Tax evasion is
seen something as of a
national hobby in Italy,
and those that avoid
paying tax are even
admired.
Feeling the benets: pensions and unemployment
The unemployment rate in Italy hovers around seven per
cent, although a far greater proportion of people are out
of work in the south than the north. Any Italian losing
their job must have worked for at least a year to claim
indennit di disoccupazione (the basic unemployment
benet), and can only then claim for six months. If they
resigned from their job or havent worked before, theres
no support on offer. The high proportion of young adults
living at home with their parents undoubtedly reects the
expectation that families, rather than the state, will look
after the unemployed.
Until recently, Italys ever expanding legion of retirees
had it good, able as they were to give up work aged 57,
assuming theyd worked for 35 years and paid the right
contributions (in some sectors workers could retire after
less than 20 years of service). However, the good times
are coming to an end. High life expectancy levels, an
aging population and a growing national budget decit
have raised the retirement age. In 2009, the Italian
Government brought in a draft law to ensure the new
retirement age of 60 is introduced in 2010. By 2018, the
goal is a retirement age of 65 for both men and women.
Today just 19 per cent of Italians aged 60-64 are still
working compared to 45 per cent in the UK and 60 per
cent in Sweden.
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modern Italy
Shutting out the draft
Mandatory National
Service for men ended in
Italy in 2005.
Short arms of the law
The Carabinieri, Italys
oldest (1814) and most
visible police force, are
named for the carbines
(short ries) they once
carried.
Italy is a relatively safe place. Murder and assault rates
are lower here than in much of the EU and cases of
rape and sexual assault are well below average. Crimes
against the person are more likely to involve stealing,
and the worst felony rates are tied to car theft. As you
might expect, crime is worse in urban areas; indeed, rural
Italy can feel like a crime-free zone. There is, of course, a
conspicuous antidote to the good news about individual
crime, and thats the ongoing role of the Maa in Italian
life. Organised crime still sucks billions of euros from the
economy through racketeering, intimidation and extortion.
The police
Italy has one of the largest police forces in Europe,
employing twice the manpower of the UK, France or
Spain. Italian police have traditionally been perceived as
more militaristic than civilian seemingly better trained
and equipped for combating civil unrest than chasing
down bag-snatchers perhaps because the ministry of
Defence oversees certain sectors of policing. There are
three main national police corps, whose jurisdiction and
activities sometimes overlap:
Polizia di Stato. The standard Italian state police, a civil
(rather than military) force, responsible for dealing with
theft and patrolling the autostrade. Look out for navy blue
shirts, grey trousers,
a white belt and
powder blue cars.
8.5 Law and order: the police, the
Maa and the legal system
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modern Italy
Carabinieri. Answerable
to the Ministry of Defence,
but dealing with everything
from drug busts to
international terrorism
(sometimes on foreign
soil), theyre a familiar sight in Italian cities, seen on street
corners, gun in pocket, enjoying the slick uniform of red-
striped dark blue trousers
and white leather chest
strap.
Guardia di Finanza.
Another wing of the armed
forces but controlled by
the Ministry of Finance,
the grey-uniformed Guardia
di Finanza deal primarily
with tax evasion and money laundering but also help
maintain public order and patrol Italys coastal waters.
Aside from the big three, Italy has a series of other
policing outts working at municipal or provincial levels.
The Polizia Provinciale operate in some (but not all
theyre optional) of the countrys provinces, whist
Italys ve autonomous regions have their own Polizia
Regionale forces. Trafc cops, the Polizia Municipale,
hand out tickets and direct the chaos in their dark blue
uniforms and pristine white gloves. Other groups are
responsible for national parks (Corpo Forestale dello
Stato), the prison system (Polizia Penitenziaria) and the
coastline (Guardia Costiera).
Leave it to the amateurs
In 2009, a law was
passed allowing Italian
towns to maintain
private night time
vigilante patrols. It came
amid a urry of new
legislation targeting
illegal immigrants. The
patrols are allowed to
wear uniforms but dont
carry weapons or have
the power of arrest.
0 to 60 in a heartbeat
Road patrols by the
Polizia di Stato were
given a boost in 2004
when Lamborghini
donated two of its
Gallardo cars. Today the
top speed of 310kmph is
used to deliver plasma
and vital organs for
transplant operations.
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Femmes fatale
With many of the old
guard locked up, women
are beginning to exert
their authority as gang
leaders in the Maa. In
2002, in the valleys near
Naples, three women
were killed and dozens
seriously injured in one
of numerous power
struggles springing up
across the south.
Sicilian syndicate: the
Maa story
The Maa materialised in
the 19
th
century (although
they probably have
medieval roots), initially
intent on protecting Sicilians
from foreign invaders and
corruption. The noble aims
were soon replaced by the
organised crime staples of
racketeering and protection,
and by the time Mussolini
came to power the Maa had inltrated every layer of
Sicilian life. He tried to wipe them out, cutting off towns
to ush out the gang members and throwing thousands
of suspects in jail. He had some success, but the Maa
disappeared underground, into the fabric of society, setting
a now well-known trend: attempts to purge the Maa nd
them shrinking away, disappearing into the towns and
villages of rural Italy. A concerted effort to smash the Maa
in the 1980s made headway when a team of magistrates
handed guilty verdicts to 344 defendants, but the clans
struck back in 1992, killing two of the prosecutors,
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, in a brutal show of
strength.
The Maa today
Maa has become a catch-all label for Italys organised
crime clans. The Cosa Nostra is the prime outt on Sicily,
while the mainland is dogged by the Camorra of Campania,
the Ndrangheta in Calabria and the Sacra Corona Unita
in Puglia. Each has an inuence well beyond its region.
Theyve moved into lucrative new markets, dealing on the
stock exchange, trafcking drugs and trading arms with the
Middle East, but for many Italians, particularly in the south,
the Maa is still about protection and intimidation.
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modern Italy
Government gures suggest that up to 80 per cent of
businesses in Palermo, Sicily, are paying protection money
to the Maa. Every year brings new arrests and landmark
court cases. In 2006, Italys most wanted man, Bernardo
Provenzano, presumed head of the Sicilian Maa, was
captured; a year later, his replacement, Salvatore Lo
Piccolo, was brought in; and in 2009, 49 members of Lo
Piccolos family were jailed for running protection rackets.
And yet the Maa continues to function, even grow (see
section 8.4 for details of Italys submerged economy).
Slowly does it: the legal system
Italys judiciary is independent of the government, as
set out by the Italian constitution. The Italian code of
law can be traced all the way back to Roman law, which
informed the Napoleonic Code adopted across Italy after
Unication. Revision and reshaping have occurred in the
years since, notably in 1990 when an accusatorial system
replaced the old inquisitorial approach. The highest
court in Italy is the Supreme Court of Cassation, the
court of appeal, below which are the criminal, civil and
administrative courts.
The Italian legal system is renowned for being
complicated, expensive and slow, and most agree that
urgent reform is needed. Technicalities and the length of
time between indictment and trial have saved many from
prison under the statute of limitations in 2009, Italian
Justice Minister, Angelino Alfano, revealed that it took an
average of 31 months to bring a case to court.
The boundaries between politics and the judiciary have
become increasingly blurred in recent years, as judges
pursue politicans, notably Silvio Berlusconi, on charges of
corruption. In return, Berlusconi regularly attacks certain
judges, branding them as left-wing extremists.
Lucky break for the Maa
Lucky Luciano (everyone
forgot his real name,
Charlie, after he
survived having his
throat cut), the pre-war
New York Maa boss,
has been credited with
establishing the Cosa
Nostras stranglehold in
Italy after the Second
World War. When Allied
troops prepared for the
invasion of Sicily, the
Americans reportedly
sent Lucky in to favour
good relationships with
the locals and smooth
the imminent assault.
Lucky did a good job
and set up close ties
with the inuential
underground gangs in
Sicily. The help offered
up by certain Maoso
found them installed
in positions of power
(allegedly by the
American authorities)
after the war.
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modern Italy
Ripping yarns: three killing sprees
The Monster of Florence. He (or maybe she?) preyed
on courting Florentine couples in cars between 1968
and 1985, shooting 16 lovers with a Beretta pistol
before hacking off the womens vaginas. No one has
been found guilty for the murders but theories abound,
some featuring satanic gangs. The killings inspired
Thomas Harris chilling novel, Hannibal. A bungled police
investigation led to an innocent man (the rst female
victims husband) being imprisoned until, after six years,
another murder took place.
Olindo Romano and Rosa Bazzi. In 2006, the husband
and wife were convicted of slaughtering their neighbours
over a noise dispute in Rome. The unremarkable couple
stabbed and slit the throats of a two-year old boy, his
mother, grandmother and a female friend. During the
investigation it emerged that the murders were planned
over many months, carried out because Bazzi couldnt
stand the sound of the boy crying or the noise of his
parents.
Roberto Succo. He began in 1981 by stabbing his
mother and strangling his father in the family home in
Mestre, Veneto, when they refused to loan him the car.
Captured, he was then adjudged insane and was out on
parole after ve years. He ed to France and went on
a two-year spree of murder, rape and burglary. Finally
apprehended, he committed suicide in 1988. His life has
inspired a book, play and lm.
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modern Italy
Slow progress to literacy
The Legge Casati
(Casati education act),
implemented in Italy
in 1859, was heralded
as the new education
system for a progressive
nation on the eve of
Unication. The priority
of reducing illiteracy
rates and making
primary education
compulsory was slow
to take effect, but 70
years later, when the
act was nally reformed,
nine out of ten Italian
children were in school.
The 80 per cent illiteracy
rate that prevailed on
Unication in 1861
was only halved 50
years later. By 1951 it
was down to around
13 per cent and today,
ofcially, it sits at 1.5
per cent, although some
claim its much higher,
particularly in the south.
The most signicant
law in Italian education
was enacted in 1923
with the Legge Gentile
Reform Act. Under
Mussolinis instruction,
his education minister,
the neo-idealist Giovanni
Gentile, brought in
compulsory education
to the age of 14 in an
effort to raise standards
and to demonstrate the
academic prowess of
fascism.
The Italian education system isnt without its problems.
Schools have the highest teacher-to-pupil ratio in
Europe but those same teachers are often forced to
take a second job to make ends meet. Free education
is guaranteed from the age of three but state school
children spend their formative years in crumbling
institutions in desperate need of repair and redecoration.
The nations falling birth rate has brought additional
issues, sounding the death knell for many rural schools.
Typically, all of the problems surrounding Italian education
are worst in the south of the country.
Finally, under initiatives introduced by Silvio Berlusconis
government, the ailing system is undergoing major
reform. However, the restructuring, unveiled in 2008, is
highly controversial. Like its buildings, educations policy-
makers appear stuck in the 20th century. Schools are
being offered greater autonomy from the traditionally
rigid, centralised system, but the education budget is
falling. Jobs are being cut (by not lling vacancies) and
conduct marks are being reintroduced, as is the old
system of one teacher/one class in primary schools,
whereby the tutor must teach across all subjects.
Teachers and students responded to the reforms
with strikes and street protests; some 2.5 million
people blocked the streets of Rome during the unrest.
Berlusconis sweetener of promising the best teachers
performance-related bonuses of up to 7,000 euros failed
to soften the anger.
Doing the maths
Education expenditure in Italy is around 4.5 per cent of GDP (lower than in France,
Germany and the UK, but higher than in Spain).
8.6 Class struggles: the education system
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Oh Mum, do I have to?
Grembiuli, the traditional
smocks worn by Italian
schoolchildren, are
making a comeback.
Government backed
the reintroduction of
the outdated school
outt in 2008, hoping
it would bolster levels
of discipline. Many
headteachers, who get
the nal say on uniform
in their schools, feel
the move will create a
more egalitarian school
environment.
How the schooling system breaks down
Scuola materna (pre-school)
With a growing number of Italian mums entering the
workplace, the optional scuola materna is lling up with
three to ve-year-olds. A free place is guaranteed to all,
although a fee-paying private sector version does exist.
Scuola primaria (primary)
Compulsory education begins for children in their sixth
year. For the next ve years, infants follow a broad range
of subjects including English and social studies. Primary is
the best performing sector in Italian education.
Scuola media (lower secondary school)
Between the ages of 11 and 14, students have 30 hours
of weekly classes, rising to 40 if they opt in for extra
lessons. Exams are taken in the third year if successful,
students are awarded the diploma di licenza media. The
secondary school system in Italy performs well below the
European average.
Scuola superiore (upper secondary school)
When children reach 14 theyre faced with a wide range
of further education options. Academic students will
choose a liceo, a college that specialises in one area of
study, be it classics, science, arts, teacher training or
another eld. Other students enrol in an instituto tecnico,
which again divide themselves along certain lines of
study, from agriculture to engineering or IT. In common
with liceo students, those at technical institutes spend
two years following a standard school curriculum before
moving on to three years of study in their specialist
subject. A third group of 14-year-olds head for the
instituto professionale, vocational colleges that teach
a trade, from car mechanics to carpentry, over a three-
year-course. They can top up their qualications with two
years at a liceo or instituto tecnico, should they want to
go on to university.
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modern Italy
Free vs fee
Italy doesnt have the wealth or class-driven division
between state and private education that affects some
other nations. Indeed, the state set-up is usually regarded
as having a comparable (perhaps even better) standard
of education to the private system. Parents tend to send
their children to an independent school because theyre
struggling academically, for reasons of faith (many private
schools are Catholic) or for the single sex environment (all
state schools are co-educational). Whilst state education
is free to all, parents are expected to buy exercise books
and to provide cash for schools equipment.
Drop out nation: higher education
If they pass their diploma di maturit at scuola superiore,
Italian 19-year-olds can apply for any course at university,
irrespective of their specialist subject at secondary school.
Universities in Italy have a long and proud tradition the
University of Bologna is the oldest in the Western world,
having taken its rst students in 1088; Salerno (1173) and
Padua (1222) werent far behind. University education
is free to all, and most institutions are lled to bursting
point. More young adults go to university in Italy than
almost anywhere else in Europe, and yet far less than half
of them graduate. The prohibitive cost of accommodation
dictates that the majority of Italian students attend
university near or in their hometown or city, ensuring
they can remain living with parents. Investment in Italian
higher education is among the lowest in the EU. The poor
pay dished out to lecturers is blamed for the brain drain
of qualied staff heading overseas to work, particularly to
America.
Days in the sun
Female in-tuition
Women dominate the
teaching profession in
Italy at primary level.
There are more male
teachers in lower
secondary schools but
women still account
for nearly 80 per cent
of the teaching staff.
Despite that dominance,
fewer than half of
lower secondary school
principals are female.
300
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Making the bridge
Italian workers often
save up saints days
and bank holidays in
pursuit of the three-
day weekend, leaving
businesses running a
slimmed down staff on
Fridays. If the holiday
falls on a Tuesday or
Thursday, some will
fare il ponte, taking a
day either side of the
weekend to make the
bridge.
In a country where
pleasure is one of lifes
dening themes, time
off is given its due. Italy
observes more bank
holidays and saints days
than any other country
in Europe, and, to the
consternation of northern
Europeans, still manages
the month-long shutdown in summer. During la vacanza,
Italians load up the car, abandon their homes and head
for the seaside or the mountains. The unfortunate family
member who still has to work may even commute from
the holiday home or campsite. Rather than move up the
housing chain, many Italians will persist with a city at or
modest house and spend any surplus money on a coastal
or countryside property to escape to. Of the Italians that
venture abroad (most prefer to stay on home soil), one in
ve makes the short trip to France; outside Europe the
most popular destination is Egypt.
Four state holidays
Capodanno (New Years Day) 1 January. A day to recover from the previous
evening, during which Prosecco will have been drunk, red underwear worn (for luck)
and, in a few places, furniture thrown out of the window in preparation for a new
start (as per an old tradition).
Anniversario della Liberazione (Liberation Day) 25 April. Commemorating the day
in 1945 when Nazi Germany surrendered its claim to Italy. Finds a balance between
celebration and sombre reection.
Festa del Lavoro (Labour Day) 1 May. The trade unions get their banners out and
go marching, not least to a huge free concert in Romes Piazza di San Giovanni.
Most people simply enjoy a day off with a picnic in the park.
Festa della Repubblica (Festival of the Republic) 2 June. The military and the
police force go out on parade to celebrate the republic, as chosen by public vote in
1946. The biggest display marches down Romes Via dei Fori Imperiali.
8.7 Time out: holidays, festivals
and free time
301
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Any excuse for a festival
Wherever you are in Italy, at whatever time of year,
you wont be far from a festival. Any event will usually
be loud, colourful, occasionally dangerous and will last
late into the night. Aside from state and religious dates
(see section 8.2 for the main religious holidays), each
commune in Italy celebrates the day of their particular
saint (some towns even have more than one). Venice,
for example, takes a day off to commemorate St Mark
on 25 April, while Turin, Genoa and Florence pay homage
to St John the Baptist on 24 June. In Rome everything
stops for Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June. Not all local
festivals have this religious base; some observe the
changing of the seasons and the attendant foodstuffs
or a long-held rivalry with the next commune, either of
which may involve a protracted historical re-enactment.
Local colour: ve Italian fests
Scoppio del Carro in Florence. Reaches a climax on
Easter Sunday when a mechanical dove plummets
through the cathedral and out of the front doors, igniting
a golden carriage packed with reworks. The resulting
explosion of colour symbolises the Resurrection.
Festa del Redentore in Venice. On the third Saturday of
July, boats form a bridge to Palladios Redentore Church,
while Venetians row out into the Giudecca Canal to picnic
and watch a vast rework display. The fest began in the
16th century, held in thanks that the plague had receded.
Carnevale dIvrea. The streets of Ivrea, north of Turin,
run with juice in February when nine teams of 3,000
braying ghters ing oranges at each other. Every one
gets a free meal of beans to help build strength before
the battle. The food ght may originate from a revolt of
1194 when locals expelled the Marquis of Monferrato.
Masochists take note: in particularly cold years the
oranges can freeze.
302
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Festival drama
The Macerata opera
festival was even more
exciting than usual in
1995. A faulty bullet
from the Tosca ring
squad left the tenor
playing Cavaradossi with
a bloody hole in his leg
(for more on opera see
section 4.1.3).
Its not how often, its
how well
Maybe Italians had more
time for love in the days
of Giacomo Casanova,
the 18
th
century Venetian
adventurer said to have
slept with more than
120 women. In a blow to
national pride, a recent
Durex Sex Survey placed
Italy 20
th
in terms of
frequency, at 106 times
a year way behind the
winners Greece at 138
times.
Guardia Sanframondis Riti Settennali di Penitenza.
Mercifully, the August penitential festival held in Guardia
Sanframondi, Campania, only occurs once every seven
years. It commemorates the discovery of a Madonna and
Child statue in a nearby eld with pious processions and
self-agellation, in which penitents beat their chests with
a cork containing spikes to draw blood.
Marostica Scacchi. A biennial game of living chess
that takes place in Marostica, north-west of Venice, in
September. It commemorates the day in 1454 when
two noblemen fought for the love of beautiful Lionora
by having a chess-off. Today, a large cast in medieval
costume acts the game out on a giant board at the foot of
the towns 14th century castle.
Italians and their hobbies
Italians dont pursue hobbies with quite the intent of
other Westerners. Spare time is often simply spent
with other people: chatting, eating and maintaining the
bonds of friendship and family. When Italians do partake
in more orchestrated pastimes, they do the things you
might imagine of a country with such ne food and
produce (garden and cook), rich heritage (visit galleries
and museums Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage
sites than anywhere else) and culture (go to the opera
or, more often, watch TV). Another Italian faithful, la bella
gura, ensures they spend a signicant amount of time
in clothes shops. And then theres the passeggiata, the
still popular evening stroll through town; a chance to chat,
irt, gossip or simply parade around looking good.
Cultural stimulation
During Aprils settimana della cultura, culture week, all state-run sights and
museums in Italy are free to enter. In Rome the authorities have also initiated an
annual notte dei musei, a day in May when museums open until 2am.
303
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foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Its not life and death its more important than that
Sport is as important to modern Italian culture as art,
music or literature. For spectators it can generate a
passion bordering on hysteria, an expectation of success
that inevitably brings despair in defeat. With its animation,
temperament, corruption and weakness for the aesthetic
(why head the ball when an overhead kick is on?), sport
reveals much about Italian life.
Participation is popular, although rarely invested with the
aggressive passion of spectating. Towns and villages
across the country have gyms, stadiums, tennis courts
and swimming pools, often thanks to Mussolini. The
dictator ploughed vast amounts of cash into sport in
the 1930s in his quest to prove the athletic prowess of
fascism. Winter sports are also popular with participants,
taking full advantage of ski resorts in the Alps and the
Apennines.
The clamour for success in Italian sport, fanatical when
it comes to football, brings its problems. In Italy, the
beautiful game (and they do it more beautifully than most)
has often been dogged by corruption, an afiction that
reached new depths with the match-xing scandals of
the 2005/06 season, when the web of deceit between
club owners, managers and referees saw champions
Juventus, the Vecchia Signora (Old Lady) of Italian
football, relegated from Serie A and deducted nine
points while Milan, Reggina, Lazio and
Fiorentina all received lesser penalties.
And it isnt just football that suffers
from the win-at-all-costs mentality
numerous Italian cyclists have
been banned for drug taking in the
Giro dItalia (Tour of Italy) bike race.
Bend it like Totti
One in ve Italians
regularly partake in
sport and 60 per cent
of the population will
get involved on an
intermittent basis. Men
are more likely to play
than women.
8.8 Passion plays: Italian sport
304
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Football scandals are
nothing new in Italy
Mussolini was
passionate about
football, especially
the fortunes of his
own team Bologna.
Numerous titles came
their way during his time
in power, accompanied
by bizarre score
lines and refereeing
decisions. However,
Mussolinis investment
in the national game
paid off when Italy won
World Cups in 1934
and 1938 even Il
Duce couldnt inuence
that competition. The
Fascists wider funding
for sport also achieved
second and third place
respectively in the
medals table at the 1932
and 1936 Olympics.
The key sports in Italy
Football
Football is a religion
in Italy and everyone
worships their particular
club, although the fervent
partisanship (at its most
extreme with the Ultras,
the diehard, are-lighting
and sometimes violent
rms of supporters) is
briey put aside when the
national team play. Only Brazil have won more World
Cups than the Azzurri, named for their azure blue shirts;
the most recent win of four came in 2006. At club level,
professional Italian football comprises a national league,
the Lega Calcio, of two divisions, Serie A and Serie B,
with 20 and 22 teams respectively. Below this, the Lega
Pro has two regional Prima Divisiones and three Seconda
Divisiones. Italian teams, the old guard of Juventus, Inter
Milan, AC Milan, Roma and Lazio at their heart, have won
more European titles than any others on the continent.
Cycling
The Giro dItalia is second only to the Tour de France in
world cycling, and the Italians watch it in their millions.
You can spot the leader by his pink jersey. Some of Italys
most iconic sportsmen have been cyclists. The vitriolic
duels between Gino Bartelli and Fausto Coppi in the
1940s and 50s are still discussed with passion by cycling
fans, no doubt inspiring the millions of amateur cyclists
305
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Thanks to the English
The cross of St George
features in the badges
of two Italian Serie
A teams thanks to
English workers who
brought football to Italy
in the 1890s. James
Richardson Spensley
established Genoa
in 1896 and Alfred
Edwards founded AC
Milan three years later.
who power over the hills and mountains of Italy each
weekend. Even the frequent doping scandals in the Giro
dont seem to dent the sports popularity.
Motorsport
The love affair began with the Mille Miglia (Thousand
Miles), an open-road endurance car race held in the years
between 1927 and 1957. Drivers died by the dozen (often
taking spectators with them), but legends like Clemente
Biondetti were born behind the wheel of the two most
successful teams, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. In the years
since, Italian cars have been a major force in motor sport,
from Lancia and Fiat in the World
Rally Championships to Ferrari in
Formula One. On two wheels, the
brilliant, controversial Valentino Rossi
has dominated modern MotoGP.
Rossi hasnt let pit lane punch-ups or
allegations of tax evasion hold him
back, achieving 153 podium nishes
just a handful behind Giacomo
Agostini who won 15 world titles back
in the 1960s and 70s. Perhaps the
greatest Italian racer of all was Tazio
Nuvolari or Il Mantovano Volante (The
Flying Mantuan), a legend of both car
and bike.
Rugby
A sport growing in popularity (both
for participants and spectators),
boosted by the nations entry to the
Six Nations Championship in 2000
and, more recently, with the proposed
acceptance of two Italian club sides
into the prestigious Celtic League of
Irish, Welsh and Scots teams.
306
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
The crash that ended a
dream
When the Fiat G-212
aeroplane carrying the
all-conquering Torino
football team crashed
into a Turin hill in
1949, Italian football
was torn apart. All
18 players perished.
At the time, Torino
were the best team in
Europe and had won
the Serie A title for ve
consecutive seasons.
The national team was
made up almost entirely
of Il Grande Torino
players. A year later,
still traumatised, the
surviving Azzurri refused
to travel to the 1950
World Cup in Brazil by
plane and so embarked
on a long Atlantic sea
voyage. Without their
best players, the return
trip came swiftly. As
for Torino, theyve only
won the Scudetto (Serie
A title) once since, in
1976, and have to live
with the agony of seeing
city rivals Juventus take
all the glory.
The tragedy of Marco Pantani
Bald, diminutive Marco Pantani was revered
as a cyclist who could ride every other
competitor off the road. In 1998, he won both
the French and Italian tours an incredible
achievement. When his face was on a
newspaper, sales soared; streets were named
after him; monuments built in his honour; and
his sponsors saw turnover triple. Loved for
his intellect as much as his athleticism, he
once explained what drove him to be king of
the mountains: I love the mountains, but in the moment of exertion, Im lled with
a deep hatred. So I try to shorten the suffering. And then, in 2004, he was found
dead in a cheap Rimini hotel room surrounded by empty booze and medicine bottles
and evidence of the cocaine addiction that, it transpired, had plagued his life. The
nation was plunged into despair.
Three Italian sporting legends
Pietro Mennea was one of the great track athletes of the
20th century. In 1979 he ran the 200m in 19.72 seconds,
a record that stood until 1996. He won gold in the same
event at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Mennea later
became an MEP and vociferous anti-doping advocate.
Roberto Baggio, Il Divin Codino (The Divine Ponytail),
scored more than 300 goals in his football career. When
Fiorentina sold him to
Juventus for a record fee
in 1990, there were riots
in Florence. A committed
Buddhist, Baggio shunned
the trappings of football
stardom preferring to
meditate after a game. Hes
the only Italian to score in
three World Cups: if only
he hadnt missed a penalty
in the 1994 nal against
Brazil
307
1. Identity: the
foundations
of Italian culture
2. Literature
and philosophy
and design
4. Music, theatre,
dance and comedy
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
the state of
modern Italy
Alberto Tomba or Tomba la Bomba (Tomba the
Bomb) to his fans, was a slalom skier. Perhaps best
described as hulking, he was a policeman in a suburb
of Bologna before skiing to three Olympic golds, two
World Championships and nine World Cup season titles.
He described himself as the Messiah of Skiing, had a
reputation for partying and once crossed the nish line
screaming Sono una bestia (I am a beast).
Two traditional Italian sports
Calcio Fiorentino (Florentine Football)
Originally played by aristocrats in the 1600s, teams of
27 proved their physical supremacy by getting the ball
from one end of a huge sand pit to the other. It made
a comeback in the 1930s and still draws huge crowds
in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence each June. These
days, head butting, elbowing, mild choking and the odd
punch all seem allowed, although convicted criminals
arent permitted to play. The winning side gets a cow.
Bocce
Every country seems to have its version of bowls or
ptanque; in Italy, competitors traditionally play on a
court of crushed oyster shells (although gravel will do),
throwing their metal balls underarm to gain prime place
next to the jack. In the 20th century, the sport had its
own legend Umberto Granaglia, world champion on 13
occasions.
HI S LEGEND HAS
BEEN BUI LT NOT
ON TI TLES BUT ON
MOMENTS.
Sports Illustrated on
Roberto Baggio
OTHER SPEAK THE CULTURE
BOOKS AVAI LABLE
COMING SOON
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on everything from history to lm.
Daily Telegraph
Speak the Culture: Britain
Visitors and locals alike will enjoy
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about Britain.
Britain Magazine
Take the cultural grand tour
No publisher has
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Thorogood are to be much
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Barry Forshaw, Travel Journalist
Speak the Culture Series
Every effort has been made to trace the owners of the various pieces of material in this publication. If further proof of ownership
should be made available then attribution will be given, or if requested the said material removed, in any subsequent editions.
The Italian Cultural Institute, London, supports and encourages understanding between people and cultures worldwide
and endorses this books aim of contributing towards a greater cultural awareness of Italy. www.icilondon.esteri.it
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not
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