The Dark Heart of Italy

An essential guide to the strange sometimes sinister culture of contemporary Italy.<br><br>When Tobias Jones first travelled to Italy he expected to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors and famous writers. Instead he discovered a very different country besieged by unfathomable terrorism and deep-seated paranoia where crime is scarcely ever met with punishment.<br><br>Now in this fascinating travelogue Jones explores not just Italy's familiar delights (art climate cuisine) but the livelier and stranger sides of the bel paese: language football Catholicism cinema television and terrorism. Why he wonders do bombs still explode every time politics start getting serious? Why does everyone urge him to go home as soon as possible saying that Italy is a 'brothel'? And why do people warn him that 'Clean Hands' only disguise 'Dirty Feet'?