The Italians review – a foreign correspondent’s illuminating study

Observer and Guardian correspondent John Hooper gets to the heart of Italy in his cliche-free account of the country’s character

Our houses are less clean than his grandmother’s poultry cage. Our diet is deplorable, while fish and chips is a dish that “makes you want to wash it with detergent before eating”. So said a Portuguese writer named João Magueijo in a recent book lamenting the worst of Britain.

The “fancy that” school of expat mockery is a long tiresome tradition. And yet there is always a requirement on the foreign correspondent to simplify and amplify for the reader.

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