Before national elections in April, I was surprised several times when friends, all intellettuali di sinistra, fashionable leftists, added a new idea to the classic after-dinner political rant. After exhausting the usual laments about Italy’s shortcomings, they declared that the only solution was a dictator with a mano forte — the big fist. The idea was that only a unilateral supra-parliamentary force would cut through the mess and … Continue reading Mano Forte

This spring, we visited a friend in Calabria. As in past trips, we refreshed ties with friends and met relatives. This time, though, we added a horse trek in the Aspromonte, Calabria’s mountainous spine. We drove down to Reggio’s outskirts along rough, two-lane roads, lined with olive and citrus trees, and spotted with squashed oranges. The autostrada to these parts only began operation 1974, finally linking Calabria … Continue reading Past, Present, Calabria

Milan’s chronic inability to inspire passion is an old theme. I am not alone in finding it felt soulless without a visible identity or graspable spirit. None of the unual explanations — the city’s dedication to work and its focus on the here and now — satisfy me. They seem more effect than cause. On reflection, it occurred to me that the cities that I … Continue reading Dreaming of Waterland

For two decades now, I have failed to convince Italian friends that I not a natural convert to their political right. Somehow they think my traditional style and my political background as an economically conservative (free-market liberal for Europeans) but socially liberal Rockefeller Republican background translate into enthusiasm for Silvio Berlusconi and his right coalition Popolo della Libertà. My failure explains why I was recently invited … Continue reading The Dinner Party

March brings to fruition our household’s major fall project; my 15-year-old son’s application to “highly selective” American boarding schools. This isn’t the place to discuss the project’s merits or implications. But it has given us all much to think about. My mother-in-law warned that my son may stop loving me if he goes away. Other mothers were suspicious at the apparent ease with which I … Continue reading Privileged Duty

Readers may recall my first column in this magazine in which I discussed how my car’s satellite navigation system affected my sentimental life. Since then, it has also taken the drama out of my weekends — namely my children’s rugby or volleyball games. Pre-GPS, we were (regardless of extra time allotted for being lost and late) invariably lost and late. We roamed the fog of … Continue reading No Exit

Smiley, winner of a Pulitzer prize and author of over a dozen books, took a year off from her own writing to read one hundred novels. But her break was only that and she soon returned to writing; this book is the result. In two parts, the first is a 13-part essay on novels — their history, their psychology and art — and on their … Continue reading 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

I’ve been in Italy a long time and am proud to speak Italian well (not necessarily a given). I speak it well enough, in fact, that when an obtuse Telecom employee who ascribed her inability to understand my (admittedly complex) problem was “because you are a foreigner,” I was able to hit back. “I may be foreign,” I said sweetly, “but I’m the only one … Continue reading Loss for Words

Recently I started traveling again. But the thrill is gone. In every airport of every country it’s the same rushing and waiting, the same routine: Shoes off, shoes on; jacket off, jacket on; laptop in, laptop out. Zippers, laces, buckles, buttons. Clearing security in Rome, a guard demanded that I undress. “I don’t have anything underneath,” I said. “Non importa,” the guard replied. “Sarò in … Continue reading Smoke Gets in My Eyes

One summer, when I was about 10, I became obsessed with the Guinness Book of World Records. Together with my brother’s penchant for slot-car racing and my sister’s yearning for her new (and first) boyfriend, our obsessions turned family meals into parallel monologues. Recently, two news items brought forgotten fixations back to mind. Obituaries citing Luciano Pavarotti’s record for curtain calls (165) alerted me to … Continue reading Milan “Healthy”