venerdì 23 luglio 2010

Gomorrah, Roberto Saviano


Alcune recensioni e commenti a un libro che è stato tradotto in più di 25 lingue: Gomorra di Roberto Saviano.


Gomorrah, A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System
A groundbreaking major bestseller in Italy, Gomorrah is Roberto Saviano’s gripping (avvincente) nonfiction account of the decline of Naples under the rule of the Camorra, an organized crime network with a large international reach and stakes (interessi) in construction, high fashion, illicit drugs, and toxic-waste disposal (eliminazione di rifiuti tossici).

Known by insiders as “the System,” the Camorra affects cities and villages along the Neapolitan coast, and is the deciding factor in why Campania, for instance, has the highest murder rate in all of Europe and why cancer levels there have skyrocketed (sono saliti alle stelle, sono aumentati a dismisura) in recent years.

Saviano tells of huge cargoes of Chinese goods that are shipped to Naples and then quickly distributed unchecked (senza essere controllati) across Europe. He investigates the Camorra’s control of thousands of Chinese factories contracted to manufacture fashion goods, legally and illegally, for distribution around the world, and relates the chilling details of how the abusive handling of toxic waste is causing devastating pollution not only for Naples but also China and Somalia. In pursuit of his subject, Saviano worked as an assistant at a Chinese textile manufacturer, a waiter at a Camorra wedding, and on a construction site.

A native of the region, he recalls seeing his first murder at the age of fourteen, and how his own father, a doctor, suffered a brutal beating for trying to aid an eighteen-year-old victim who had been left for dead in the street.

Gomorrah is a bold (audace) and important work of investigative writing that holds global significance, one heroic young man's impassioned story of a place under the rule of a murderous organization.
More Information: As of January 2008, Gomorrah has sold 750,000 copies in Italy alone - earning 28-year-old Roberto Saviano death threats and a round-the-clock police escort.
The great value of Gomorrah is to highlight two points: the power and wealth that southern Italy's Mafias have accumulated in recent years, and the fact that their globalisation makes them an issue of concern for us all.

His description of the effects of gang war on ordinary people (“Women stop wearing high heels—too hard to run in them”) is masterly. His final chapter, set in the apocalyptic wilderness of the Camorra's smouldering waste dumps, is inspired—and prescient, as the garbage crisis in Naples unfolds.





An undiscovered Caravaggio painting may have been found in Rome

The painting depicts (rappresenta,descrive) the martyrdom of St Lawrence and belongs to the Jesuits in Rome.
It will now be examined in detail by art historians to find out if it really is the work of the famous Baroque painter.
Italy celebrated the life of the great master over the weekend on the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death.
A gallery housing (che ospitano) his work and several churches stayed open overnight to mark the anniversary.
An image of the work was published on the front page of the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano on Saturday.
It shows a semi-naked man, with one arm outstretched as he leans over leaping (guizzanti) flames beneath him.

But while the Vatican newspaper article points out that the painting is typical of Caravaggio's style - such as the perspective from which the subject is seen - it conceded that no known document mentions St Lawrence in relation to Caravaggio.
A leading Caravaggio scholar, Maurizio Marini, expressed scepticism about the painting's authenticity.
"In certain moments, such as Caravaggio's anniversaries, it's no surprise that a lot of paintings come out that are supposedly Caravaggio's work," Marini told the AP news agency.
Caravaggio was born in either 1571 or 1573, according to varying scholars, and spent the last few years of his life fleeing (sfuggendo a) justice in southern Italy.
Caravaggio was famed for his wild lifestyle - he was often involved in street violence, culminating in him stabbing and killing a man before going on the run in 1606.
He fled to Naples and died four years later in the town of Porto Ecole.
His works include Bacchus, The Supper at Emmaus and Sacrifice of Isaac.
A group of Italian researchers recently revealed they had found human remains found in a church in Tuscany almost certainly belong to Caravaggio.

From BBC News