Midnight in Sicily: on Art, Food, History, Travel and La Cosa Nostra

Product Information

Fortunately, there is still an important part of civil society that refuses to give up. The hope is that it will finally prevail and transform Italy into a truly European and independent country. Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.

Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb | Open Library Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb | Open Library

Peter Robb put into words the uneasy feeling I had while living there. I never quite knew what was going on...I never had that feeling in any other foreign country... It's a closed society and even though I speak both the Sicilian dialect of Italian and French (most Sicilians also speak French) I couldn't quite figure what residents were thinking. A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. On the other hand, some parts are extremely interesting, and the author manages to highlight with great effect the intimate relationship and deep links between organized criminality and the upper echelons of Italian politics, including the government itself and the prime minister himself. That being said, it cannot be doubted that the detailed narrative shines a very illuminating light on a host of figures who deserve opprobrium. Robb centres on Giulio Andreotti, several times Prime Minister of Italy and his associations with various corrupt, murderous ‘Men of Honour’ from Michele Sandona who caused the largest banking crash in Italian history, to Shorty Riina, a corpulent brutal butcher of a man, who all but waged war against the Italian state in the early 1990s as he attempted to bend the entire Mafia and Italian government to his will. The central place of Andreotti in the book works very well, once one becomes used to the way the narrative jumps around, providing an insight into how interlinked with crime key political players were.Over the years, I have become used to the condescension; I’m not bothered. There are endless examples of writers and artists who were never really understood. I like to concentrate on getting better at my craft and finding people who want to read what I have to say. Since then, my work has become this blog and many other things to my readers. And I still love the book and take it as inspiration for my work. Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues. A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.

Midnight in Sicily: Book Review - My Kind of Italy Midnight in Sicily: Book Review - My Kind of Italy

One of my favourite books, I've just re-read it for the third time (I've got an appalling memory, so it almost reads like new each time if I allow enough time to pass).

Help

Off the southern coast of Italy lies Sicily, home to an ancient culture that–with its stark landscapes, glorious coastlines, and extraordinary treasure troves of art and archaeology–has seduced travellers for centuries. But at the heart of the island’s rare beauty is a network of violence and corruption that reaches into every corner of Sicilian life: “La Cosa Nostra,” the Mafia.In an intoxicating mix of crime and travel writing, Peter Robb, a writer who lived in Southern Italy for fourteen years, sets out to understand both the historical roots of the Mafia and its central place in contemporary Italian politics. And whether he’s touting the gustatory pleasures of Sicilian ice cream, unveiling the Arabic origins of pasta, or unraveling the criminal history of a bandit, Robb seductively brings Sicilian culture to life. Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb – eBook Details I had thought of leaving this out on the grounds that it tells us more about Goethe than Italy. But it is one of the first accounts – and the most beautiful – of how the chaotic, impulsive, sensual south seduces we ratiocinating northerners, making Goethe, the creative outsider, “feel at home in the world, neither a stranger nor an exile”.