La Bella Figura
A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
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 visitors—la bella figura—and highlights its maddening, paradoxical true self
You won’t need luggage for this hypothetical and hilarious trip into the hearts and minds of Beppe Severgnini’s 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, you’ll 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:…
BEPPE SEVERGNINI is an acclaimed columnist and an editor of Italy’s largest-circulation daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera. A longtime Italian correspondent for the Economist and a frequent contributor to the New York Times, he has traveled all over the world. Among his books are the New York Times bestseller La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind, Off the Rails: A Train Trip Through Life, and the international bestseller Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the U.S. He lives with his family outside Milan.
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La Bella Figura
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