Midnight in Sicily: On Art, Food, History, Travel and la Cosa Nostra

But how does one approach such a vast reserve of secrecy? Australian expatriate Peter Robb has hit upon a kind of double helix organizing principle that involves slowly rotating around its subject matter from several different points of view. In this helix are mixed food, history, culture, art, landscape, and all that is Sicily. We find Giuseppe di Lampedusa, Lucky Luciano, the painter Renato Guttuso, Michele Sindona, and the Vatican enmeshed in a kind of dance of death. But in the end, we are no closer to proof that arch-politician Giulio Andreotti sold his soul to Uncle Toto Riina of the Cosa Nostra.

Arriving at this proof is not Robb's goal. His spiralling book has taken it all in and fascinated us with stories of how the fork was invented, how di Lampedusa's talent was made known to the outside world, what happened to Palermo's Vucciria market, how Guttuso's friends were all kept from visiting the dying painter by a cabal of servants -- and perhaps by Andreotti?

This maddening book that goes nowhere and everywhere lacks only two things (for which I blame the publisher): maps and photographs. I kept getting lost, but I never lost interest. The lines of Eugenio Montale that form the book's epigraph describe it all:

History isn't
the devastating bulldozer they say it is.
It leaves underpasses, crypts, holes
and hiding places.


This book IS Italy...   March 2, 2000
Ryan Lynch (Melbourne, Australia)
25 out of 27 found this review helpful

Not knowing much before about Italian culture, history and politics, Peter Robb's wonderful book has made me feel much more enlightened. It uses as its central subject the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, but it goes so far beyond this. This is Robb's journey into the heart of all things Italian. Not only does he allow amazing insight and understanding into the mafia - a feat in itself - but he gives his readers knowledge about Mezzogiornio politics, art, culture, gastronomy, intelligentsia and more. His subjective overview is dotted with personalities which constantly recur throuhgout the book to haunt you, characters such as: Guilio Andreotti (former Prime Minister of Italy and member of the Cosa Nostra), Salvatore Riina (the ruthless boss of the Cosa Nostra), and the late Giovanni Falcone (the miliant Palermitan chief prosecutor who initiated the mafia maxitrial in the mid-1980s). Such is the ability of Robb as a writer, he is able to get interviews with key figures in this web of intrigue - a lot of which is reproduced in the book. He often quotes from writers such as Lampedusa and Sciascia who, we learn, knew more about Sicily than most. He puts you there, in the heart of Sicily: from his stuffy boat ride into the port at Palermo at midnight up until his final coffee at midnight in the Sant'Andrea Piazza. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in more than a historical account of Italy as it uncovers all that lies behind its mysterious beauty. Alone, this book is a triumph of the spirit, but to realise that this book was written by an outsider (an Australian) is to gasp in awe at what is a little masterpiece. 5 out of 5!


a truely gripping book, very well-written   April 13, 1999
18 out of 19 found this review helpful

I read this book during a recent one week stay in Sicily and was entranced by it and by the many perspectives it opened, not only on culture and politics in Sicily but in Italy as a whole as well. 'Midnight in Sicily' contains many interesting sections relating to the Sicilian kitchen, classical art and important literary works related to Sicily. The most gripping part of the book, however, deals with the eternal question of the Sicilian mafia and its deadly involvement with broader Italian politics. Robb offers a picture of a political system which was (is?) thoroughly corrupt and penetrated by Cosa Nostra. One is used to read such things about present day Russia for instance, but it's amazing to find out that things in Italy are basically not much better. The astonishing thing is, of course, that Italy is still widely considered a democracy in the West. This in itself is an amazing feat. The central figure in this book is the many times former minister and prime minister Giulio Andreotti. On the plane out of Sicily, I read in the paper that fifteen years was demanded against Andreotti by the prosecution in the trial against him which is presently running. If only a fraction of what Robb implies about Andreotti is true, those fifteen years are well-deserved. A truely gripping book. Reading it in Sicily is especially recommended!


A one-of-a-kind book   December 29, 1999
Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful

This book was an impulse buy for me - what a pick up. I've never quite read anything like it: part history, part political thiller, part travelogue, part food/art criticism. It's an amazing stew that Peter Robb pulls off magnificently. He's especially enlightening on the complex character of Guilio Andreotti. You'll cast a very arched eyebrow at Andreotti's recent acquittal on all charges after reading Robb's account of 'The Honorable Senator.' If you have any interest whatsoever in post-WWII European history, this is a volume you can not live without. It's a finely researched set of insights into Italy's evolution from 1945 to present.