La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind |  | Author: Beppe Severgnini
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy Used: $0.96
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Seller: atlanta-book-company
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 53929
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0767914406
Dewey Decimal Number: 945.093
EAN: 9780767914406
ASIN: 0767914406
Publication Date: June 12, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780767914406 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
Join the bestselling author of Ciao, America! on a lively tour of modern Italy that takes you behind the seductive face it puts on for visitorsâla bella figuraâand highlights its maddening, paradoxical true self
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You wonât need luggage for this hypothetical and hilarious trip into the hearts and minds of Beppe Severgniniâs fellow Italians. In fact, Beppe would prefer if you left behind the baggage his crafty and elegant countrymen have smuggled into your subconscious. To get to his Italia, youâll need to forget about your idealized notions of Italy. Although La Bella Figura will take you to legendary cities and scenic regions, your real destinations are the places where Italians are at their best, worst, and most authentic:
The highway: in America, a red light has only one possible interpretationâStop! An Italian red light doesnât warn or order you as much as provide an invitation for reflection.
The airport: where Italians prove that one of their virtues (an appreciation for beauty) is really a vice. Who cares if the beautiful girls hawking cell phones in airport kiosks stick you with an outdated model? Thatâs the price of gazing upon perfection.
The small town: which demonstrates the Italian genius for pleasant living: âa congenial barber . . . a well-stocked newsstand . . . professionally made coffee and a proper pizza; bell towers we can recognize in the distance, and people with a kind word and a smile for everyone.â
The chaos of the roads, the anarchy of the office, the theatrical spirit of the hypermarkets, and garrulous train journeys; the sensory reassurance of a church and the importance of the beach; the solitude of the soccer stadium and the crowded Italian bedroom; the vertical fixations of the apartment building and the horizontal democracy of the eat-in kitchen. As you venture to these and many other locations rooted in the Italian psyche, you realize that Beppe has become your Dante and shown you a country that âhas too much style to be hellâ but is âtoo disorderly to be heaven.â
Ten days, thirty places. From north to south. From food to politics. From saintliness to sexuality. This ironic, methodical, and sentimental examination will help you understand why Italyâas Beppe saysââcan have you fuming and then purring in the space of a hundred meters or ten minutes.â
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 This was great in Italian - Don't miss it in English March 28, 2006
Hank n Tennessee (Virginia, USA)
60 out of 73 found this review helpful
I read the Italian language version (La Testa Degli Italiani)before my family's trip to Italy last summer (my family is Italo-American). Severgnini was European Journalist of the Year last year, writes a wonderful daily letters column in Corriere della Sera entitled "Italians" which is available on- line at www.corriere.it, and has written other delightful books about his travels in America, England and Germany. There is no better person to explain, with sharp insight and great good humor, the marvelous complexities and contradictions of this amazing country. With its shining successes, its glaring faults, and its self critical population, few countries are so delightful and so maddening at the same time. Read and enjoy. Then go to Italy and see for yourself! You'll never regret the journey.
La Bella Figura October 26, 2007
Antonio Tigona (La Lucila, Buenos A ires Argentina)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As an Italian I enjoyed the book greatly. It is witty, inteñigent and very true.
I normally don't bother... November 25, 2009
B. Barclift (Birmingham, AL)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I normally don't take the time to write reviews, but I felt I needed to do so this one time. My wife and I have made several visits to Italy. We rent a car and travel on our own. What great experiences we have had. I do not hold myself out as an expert on the subject of Italy, but I am enthusiastic. After reading Bepe Severgninni's musing on the Italian character, I thought it would make a perfect gift for a like minded friend. Upon seeing a number of negative reviews on this website, I thought I would post my five stars and write this comment. This book is not a travel log, it is not a reference book. But, if you have a fascination with Italy and its complexities and contradictions La Bella Figura makes for a most pleasant read.
If you Have Italian Friends or Family, You Absolutely Will Like this Book August 24, 2006
David De Sousa
23 out of 33 found this review helpful
The Author, Bepper Severgnini, offers a funny look at the lifestyle and manners of his modern Italian countrymen, how they thing and how they interact with each other. The book offers an interesting and pleasant read for anyone who knows or have close contact with people with an Italian background.
Many of my friends' parents in College where Italian Immigrants and currently I'm working overseas in an Italian Owned Company, so many of my co-workers and friends are from Italy. Additionally back at home my Sister's Husband is Italian so In my case I really found the book to be both revealing and hilarious, helping my understand many of my friends habits and the way they act under certain circumstances. Of course the book is not a sociology study but an enjoyable look at the "Modern Italian Mind"
Everything you always wanted to know about Italy, but nobody told you. September 1, 2006
dr.Gaynor (Boston,MA)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
I think that this book is really well written, witty and serious at the same time. It is a balanced description of the Italian "real life", leaving apart emphasis or stereotypes. As a matter of fact the Author did not run after what most of the foreigners want to ear or read about "il Bel Paese" (the Beautiful Country). Mind the title. Severgnini goes beyond the behaviours of the people, he tries to analyze when, how and why the "Italian mind" acts in a specific situation. This is a complex matter (i.e. Italians are so different despite they share the same flag), but he succeeded to write a clever, deep and also funny book. I'm convinced that North Americans overall like the Italians. If you belong to this category, then go for this book, you may learn more, if not buy it anyway. You may change your mind ! A Must.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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