Don Pedro de Toledo
Paracazzo ingegnato
Registrato: 29/02/08 03:24
Messaggi: 116
Residenza: “Abbascio â Chiaja”- Quartiere perbene SdG (paracamorrista only)
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 Inviato: 11 Mar 2008 - 16:42 Oggetto: “See Naples and die”: a blogger recommends R. Saviano's book |
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From Motorcycles diary
See Naples and Die
| Citazione: | Mar. 9th, 2008 at 10:30 AM
«I found this book on a browsing expedition. It's written by Penelope Green, a young Australian journalist who, having set out upon one of those adventurous attempts to try living in another country for a while, ended up in her fourth year in Italy with a job in Naples and living in the quartieri Spagnoli - one of those parts that tourists look upon with trepidation.
The book is a story about her life during her first year in Naples. Being a journalist she focuses a lot on the Camorra and the crime rate (it is Italy's homicide capital) and not enough on the other qualities of the city - although you can see she's making an effort in that regard. She also manages to convey, mainly through her circle of friends and acquaintances, the extraordinary level of artistic and musical endeavour .
I kept expecting to come across people I'd met, but I didn't. Almost as if there's nothing else to do if you don't want to leave the city and you don't want to join one of the camorrista gangs - it's also Italy's unemployment capital! I enjoyed revisiting a lot of places I've been to and finding one or two new things (especially, her discovery, among one of the multitude of roadside shrines to the Madonna, one "sacro capello miracoloso di Diego Armando Maradona"!
She interviews everybody from the mayor down on how to solve the city's problems. There is clearly a consensus view, revolving around educating the young and motivating people to take charge of the problem themselves, but few ideas on how to achieve such a massive cultural change. There's also a consensus that intervention from the central government is pretty useless, focusing as it does on law and order rather than the underlying economic problems. »
A good, quick read. |
| Citazione: | « The Camorra are in the fabric of Neapolitan life. Paolo apparently had his car smashed up not long ago. It was parked and some guy drove into it. It was a complete write off. Paolo saw it happen and approached the driver for his insurance details. Was told to fuck off. Rosi was there too and because she'd worked in one of the Camorra districts, knew who he was. She said “I know you, you're the son of so-and-so who is the cousin of so-and-so”. So everything is OK. Me: “So did he get the insurance?' Laura: 'I don't know, but he wasn't beaten up or killed, so it's fine.”
Actually there is a civil war going on in Naples right now. There were 130 murders last year and regular gun battles take place between the gangs in some of the outer districts (Laura: 'It's OK, we won't go there.') So the government ordered reinforcements from the national police. This move resulted in a popular uprising.
When the police went into the area, people were cooking their pasta or fritti, so they poured the lot, including the boiling water and oil out of their windows onto the police. This was the first thing I heard about Naples, on my way in from the airport! »
The blogger's impression on his journey diary over Naples .. |
Read more about the author's perceptive notes on his journey to Naples
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Don Pedro de Toledo
Il sonno della Ragione, della Coscienza e della Memoria genera i Napos; e per voi non ci sarà più scampo. Ci sarà solo Scampìa. |
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