In ‘ The New Italians’, journalist Charles Richards paints a compelling group portrait of the country & people, spanning football to Freemansonry, kickbacks to kidnappings. Italy has seduced generations with its sunshine, landscapes, art treasures & the warmth & vitality of its people, devoted to style, sensuality & the pleasures of life. The reality is less rosy. Italy is as exasperating as it is enchanting. Appalling public services, a rotten political class, the creeping tentacles of the Mafia, the all-forgiving Mother Church & infinitely indulgent ‘mamma’ have long prevented Italians facing up to their collective failings. Richards concludes that however much things change, the Italians will remain essentially the same, & pull through with their customary ‘brio’.