The Pursuit of Italy
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Review
David Gilmour's elegantly written book is full of impressive insights and can be recommended without hesitation as a stimulating, up-to-date and reliable guide to modern Italian history for the general reader. Gilmour's book displays deep knowledge of Italy and is scholarly but never dense. (Tony Barber Financial Times )
A highly idiosyncratic meander through the peninsula's history led by a witty guide with an elegant prose style and a mind delightfully furnished with anecdotes and dictums, sensual impressions and conversations. This is a clever and erudite book. (Lucy Hughes-Hallett Sunday Telegraph ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
A highly idiosyncratic meander through the peninsula's history led by a witty guide with an elegant prose style and a mind delightfully furnished with anecdotes and dictums, sensual impressions and conversations. This is a clever and erudite book. (Lucy Hughes-Hallett Sunday Telegraph ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
Visiting a villa built by Lorenzo de Medici outside Pisa, David Gilmour fell into conversation about the unification of Italy with a distinguished former minister: '"You know, Davide," he said in a low conspiratorial voice, as if nervously uttering a heresy, "Garibaldi did Italy a great disservice. If he had not invaded Sicily and Naples, we in the north would have the richest and most civilized state in Europe." After looking round the room at the other guests, he added in an even lower voice, "Of course to the south we would have a neighbour like Egypt."' These words stayed in the author's mind for a long time. The dream of a unified Italy, how and why it has never been more than a dream, became the subject of a book he has been thinking about and writing for the last twenty years. Was the elderly Italian right? "The Pursuit of Italy" traces the whole history of the Italian peninsula since the Romans in a wonderfully readable style, full of well-chosen stories and observations from personal experience, and peopled by many of the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero and Virgil to Machiavelli and the Medici, Garibaldi and Cavour, and the rather less inspiring political figures of the 20th century. Gilmour gives a clear-eyed view of the Risorgimento, the pivotal event in modern Italian history, debunking the many absurd and influential myths which have grown up around it but including a particularly sympathetic portrait of Giuseppe Verdi, one of many cultural figures he treats. Gilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinctive civic cultures, cuisine, art and identities. Similarly, most of the people of the peninsula have thought of themselves first as Tuscans, Venetians, Romans, Neapolitans or Sicilians and as Italians second, if at all. This, he argues, is where the strength of Italy lies rather than in misconceived ideas of unity. This wise and enormously engaging book explains the course of Italian history in a manner and with a coherence which no one with any interest in the country could fail to enjoy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Italy, complained Napoleon, is too long." It is hard not to warm to a book that begins in this vein. I think that Gilmour's aim is to show not only how Italy came into existence as a single nation state, but why it has proved so difficult both to achieve and sustain unification. Even now, the economic and social divide between north and south remains far stronger and more bitter than that of England.
The author uses his obvious knowledge and enthusiasm for Italy to create a popular history in which each chapter is like a self-contained essay, drawing not only on key events but also on the diverse geography, different regions, peoples and cultures of Italy. For instance, after World War 2, five peripheral regions had to be given special status, including a good deal of autonomy to stem strong separatist demands based on physical separation, as for Sicily and Sardinia, or different languages, as in northern areas speaking mainly French, Italian or Slovene. There are some useful maps to help identify the various regions.
I appreciate why Gilmour felt that a full analysis required him to go back in time to the Bronze Age traders travelling through Alpine passes. After an initial chapter to spell out the physical and social diversity of Italy, he moves systematically forward in time, with a unifying theme for each chapter e.g. the various empires which dominated Italy, starting with the Romans; the growth of city states from the Middle Ages or the period from C15 when Italy was a battleground for foreign warring armies.
Some chapters e.g. 5 on "Disputed Italies" proved hard to follow without a level of background knowledge which would have made it unnecessary to read the book in the first place! I can see that Gilmour wanted to avoid getting bogged down in facts, but perhaps needed to think himself more into the position of a willing reader who may not know enough about the history of say, the Hapsburgs in Austria and Spain versus the French dynasties to understand their complex activities, warring and installing puppets on Italian soil, from 1494 to the early 1800s.
I resorted to reading the chapters in reverse order. Perhaps because they interest him most, Gilmour seems to write best about more recent events such as the modern resurgence of "centrifugal Italy" and the rapid rise of the racist and divisive Northern League under Bossi. Once I had absorbed all the fascinating events from say, Garibaldi through Mussolini to Berlusconi, I had the motivation to go back further in time and make the effort to understand the more distant, important yet often less engaging detail which underpins the current situation.
Overall, this is quite an ambitious work, which might benefit from a slightly clearer stated aim, and sometimes becomes too fragmented in its attempts to provide a synthesis, but on balance it is for the most part informative and readable.
It ends on a provocative note. Despite creating "much of the world's greatest art, architecture and music and...one of its finest cuisines" and possessing "some of its most beautiful landscapes and many of its most stylish manufactures", united Italy has never lived up to its founders hopes, "predestined" by its history and geography "to be a disappointment....never as good as the sum of its people".
The author uses his obvious knowledge and enthusiasm for Italy to create a popular history in which each chapter is like a self-contained essay, drawing not only on key events but also on the diverse geography, different regions, peoples and cultures of Italy. For instance, after World War 2, five peripheral regions had to be given special status, including a good deal of autonomy to stem strong separatist demands based on physical separation, as for Sicily and Sardinia, or different languages, as in northern areas speaking mainly French, Italian or Slovene. There are some useful maps to help identify the various regions.
I appreciate why Gilmour felt that a full analysis required him to go back in time to the Bronze Age traders travelling through Alpine passes. After an initial chapter to spell out the physical and social diversity of Italy, he moves systematically forward in time, with a unifying theme for each chapter e.g. the various empires which dominated Italy, starting with the Romans; the growth of city states from the Middle Ages or the period from C15 when Italy was a battleground for foreign warring armies.
Some chapters e.g. 5 on "Disputed Italies" proved hard to follow without a level of background knowledge which would have made it unnecessary to read the book in the first place! I can see that Gilmour wanted to avoid getting bogged down in facts, but perhaps needed to think himself more into the position of a willing reader who may not know enough about the history of say, the Hapsburgs in Austria and Spain versus the French dynasties to understand their complex activities, warring and installing puppets on Italian soil, from 1494 to the early 1800s.
I resorted to reading the chapters in reverse order. Perhaps because they interest him most, Gilmour seems to write best about more recent events such as the modern resurgence of "centrifugal Italy" and the rapid rise of the racist and divisive Northern League under Bossi. Once I had absorbed all the fascinating events from say, Garibaldi through Mussolini to Berlusconi, I had the motivation to go back further in time and make the effort to understand the more distant, important yet often less engaging detail which underpins the current situation.
Overall, this is quite an ambitious work, which might benefit from a slightly clearer stated aim, and sometimes becomes too fragmented in its attempts to provide a synthesis, but on balance it is for the most part informative and readable.
It ends on a provocative note. Despite creating "much of the world's greatest art, architecture and music and...one of its finest cuisines" and possessing "some of its most beautiful landscapes and many of its most stylish manufactures", united Italy has never lived up to its founders hopes, "predestined" by its history and geography "to be a disappointment....never as good as the sum of its people".
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A one volume history of Italy which is immensely readable and full of fascinating insights into Italian culture, politics and mores. Essential reading for anyone who is interested in this wonderful and diverse country.
24 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The 150th anniversary of Italian unification is a good time to publish this book. Gilmour's thesis is that Italy lacks a coherent national identity, that Italian nationalism has caused enormous damage to people in Italy, and Italy's individual regions would be more successful as autonomous units within a larger European union. He produces elegantly devastating criticism of many of the leading Italian national figures since the Risorgimento, including both the Victor Emmanuels (II and III), military leaders such as Cadorna and Badoglio, Mussolini (naturally), post-war politicians such as Craxi and (equally naturally) Berlusconi. A thoroughly enjoyable, and informative, read.
I'd have liked Gilmour to develop a couple of relevant topics in greater depth. First, the Italian emigrant diaspora: people of Italian ancestry in the UK and the US seem to have a sense of an Italian national identity which is lacking in their cousins still living in Naples, Milan or Palermo. Second, the reduction in dialect use and the accompanying rise in the use of standard Italian: this is surely the consequence of national media, especially broadcasting. In 1861, Sicilians could not communicate with Venetians, nor Neapolitans with Milanese. Now they share a common language. Surely the ability to communicate with one's fellow-citizens in distant provinces has created, to some extent, a sense of national identity?
Overall, a good read for anyone interested in the origins of modern Italy and the very idea of "Italy".
I'd have liked Gilmour to develop a couple of relevant topics in greater depth. First, the Italian emigrant diaspora: people of Italian ancestry in the UK and the US seem to have a sense of an Italian national identity which is lacking in their cousins still living in Naples, Milan or Palermo. Second, the reduction in dialect use and the accompanying rise in the use of standard Italian: this is surely the consequence of national media, especially broadcasting. In 1861, Sicilians could not communicate with Venetians, nor Neapolitans with Milanese. Now they share a common language. Surely the ability to communicate with one's fellow-citizens in distant provinces has created, to some extent, a sense of national identity?
Overall, a good read for anyone interested in the origins of modern Italy and the very idea of "Italy".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Avoid Kindle edition
Unfortunately the Kindle edition lacks links between the text and footnotes/annotations. In an item so closely researched, this is a major drawback.
Published 1 month ago by Irish Mike
Oh dear. I'll be generous and give it a two.
Whilst David Gilmour is right that the old liberal Trevelyanview of Italian unification as an inevitability does not bear investigation and he is also arguably correct in his... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Richard Mann Roberts
An Eye-opener
I found this an enjoyable read if a bit fact-laden and at times tedious as a consequence. Nevertheless, it's given me an informed insight into Italy, the impact of its geography... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Red Wine
Interesting detail - disappointing analysis of Italy's problems
David Gilmour knows Italy well and has written interestingly on subjects such as the Sicilian writer Lampedusa. I was really looking forward to his general book on Italy. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Jeremy Dummett
Gilmour's Pursuit of Italy is the Italians Pursuit of Gilmour
Every ten or fifteen years a general history of Italy appears in English by an eminent British academic or by a new arrival to the peninsular with journalistic skills. Read more
Published 13 months ago by mangilli-climpson m
AN ITALY'S COUNTERHISTORY
We needed someone from abroad to be brave and honest enough to tell how things were and are in Italy. As an Italian amateur historian I did appreciate the book by Mr. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ermanno Arreghini
Breezy
I'm only halfway through the book; it's definitely readable, but overall "The Pursuit of Italy" disappointing. Read more
Published 14 months ago by J. Chaney
far too pessimistic
i was looking forward to this publication and am sorry to say at least imo i was left disappointed with it, i found it light on the history of italy and had the sense of having... Read more
Published 14 months ago by dm7
pursuit of italy
An outstanding book which fully and logically explains why after 2500 years of culture, the Italians are now stuck with Berlusconi, and not likely to see an improvement anytime... Read more
Published 14 months ago by lovaniensis
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