It was mostly a fun read that inspired me even more to visit Italy as soon as possible! It makes you fall in love with the people and culture.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I must admit I so loved the idea of this I saved it to read and did so over the Xmas period
Wonderful, engrossing
Got completely lost in this and can't recommend enough

Anything about Italy I would read. Sing me up. And when you add humor to it all then you have yourself a nice little read.

This story was nice one to read and I loved all the humor in it and getting to know Italian culture even more.

Another entertaining read from Beppe Severgnini! Fun for anyone who loves Italy or dreams of visiting Italy.

A series of fifty very short essays about what Italians can teach us about life, food, beliefs, and responses to the pandemic. I did not love this book as much as I expected, but it was still an enjoyable read and because each of the essays is self-contained, can be picked up and read as time and interest permit. #ItalianLessons #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with a digital ARC of this book. This was written during the pandemic and it’s effect on Italy and the Italians is a large part of this book. This book gives the reader insight into the Italian approach to life and offers lessons on dealing with life through both the good and not so good times. The book is composed of essays dealing with various topics. The cover is attractive and definitely catches the eye of the reader. I found this book very interesting and illuminating. Definitely recommend for those interested in learning more about the Italian culture and people.

This book of short essays provided insight into the heart and soul of Italy and Italians. The author described the Italian culture and values that make up the Italian way of life. I could see glimpses of my grandparents and parents in the descriptions of Italians in general - why they made the decision that they and how they instilled Italian values into me and my brothers.
Yes, the pandemic changed Italy and the world, but I think that the author started out describing the impact of the pandemic on Italy, but got off on a political tangent which ruined the last half of the book for me.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and am leaving thsi review voluntarily.

Beppe Severgnini's Italian Lessons is a delightful exploration of Italian culture, values, and the many differences between Italians and Americans. With a blend of humor and insight, Severgnini tackles topics ranging from family dynamics to politics to the importance of food and wine. Severgnini's writing is full of personal anecdotes which illustrate the themes he touches on. He also does an excellent job of weaving in historical and cultural context for the reader, making it easier to understand why certain values or customs are important to Italians. A fun read for a lover of Italians and for Italians trying to understand the complexities of life in the U.S.

A collection of essays about the Italian way, which is more political than you might expect from its cover. The clumsy way opinions were shoehorned into the text turned this into a problem.

I enjoyed reading this. I like learning about how other cultures think. I started with the French and now I've progressed through Europe with this book.

Although there are a couple of nice articles in the book, this is definitely not going to be my favourite book of the year. The premise was certainly interesting: stories about Italy and Italians during the COVID pandemic giving a unique insight into the Italian mind and spirit. I must say that some of the stories were very recognizable but for me the book fell short of it's promise however.
Certainly, the book contains a couple of very interesting story's but there were also parts I found rather tedious and after a while I found myself starting to skip certain chapters (there are 50 in all) bases on the first paragraph because they just couldn't hold my attention.
Somehow the stories also lacked the promised Severgnini wit.

I guess I will stick to the occasional article in the corriere della sera.

3 stars for the articles I enjoyed.
I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

We have so much to learn from the Italians, their ease at dealing with life and 'dolce vita' approach. This collection of witty essays explores the Italian take on the post-Covid world. I admired the warmth of his tone and the delivery, giving you a broad approach to Italian life without delivering too many stereotypical views. Severgnini does tend to pound out political viewpoints, and this tended to ground the experience and take the fun out of the book. However, it is a great book for any Italophile.

Many Thanks to NetGalley for the copy.

DNF at 8%. I wish I could have given this book more of a chance, but I’m just so over books that get political with no warning about it in the description, especially a book about Italy getting political about the U.S. and the U.K.

Trump is mentioned in this book 14 times. He’s already been mentioned 4 times at 8% of the way through… Brexit is mentioned 5 times. BLM and MeToo even get a couple of honorable mentions.

COVID is mentioned 33 times and the word “pandemic” is used 40 times.

While the description mentions that this book is about how the Italian identity has evolved since the pandemic, I suspect this book is going to be about nothing BUT the pandemic and politics, so I’m going to put it down.

I loved parts of this book so much but other parts were mired in political viewpoints without a lot of explanation and covid examples and detracted from the book’s overall beauty. It took me awhile to get into this book, and I had to make myself keep coming back to read more at first. The first few chapters were so covid heavy and seemed like vast generalizations that, while applies to the Italians, could also apply to many others. However, about 1/4 of the way into the book, the author moves away from covid examples and begins to use stories from earlier in his life or the lives of those he knows and loves, and that is where the beauty of this book lies. Once I hit that portion of the book, I could not put it down. I began this book a week before traveling to Italy, and I finished it on the plane coming home. By the end of the book, I walked away with a soft spot in my heart for the author, the stories he told, and the people he shared. The heart of Italy that I’d seen on my 2.5 weeks visiting was reenforced by the author’s words from the majority of the book.

Beppe Severgnini is back with a wide-ranging look at Italians and the essential Italian character as seen through a post-Covid lens. While I am very wary of generalizations (and Severgnini addresses this very point), this was an interesting and illuminating group of short essays that deal with everything from the current state of Rome and Milan to the future of the Italian small grocer. Severgnini has traveled and taught widely, so he is hyper-aware of the ways in which the world views Italy. His opinions on the subject are well worth the read for a reflective italophile.

Written by a well-known Italian journalist, this book offers fifty lessons on Italian ways of dealing with life. It mixes irony with serious observations and with deeply felt affection for Italy and its people. It was prompted by COVID invasion, and it's a great reminder of how courageous and resilient Italians, the first Europeans hit with the virus, were in dealing with pandemic. It is also a great explainer of Italian ways. The book is a great read for people who are interested in Italian character and culture, those who plan to travel to Italy, and for everybody who wants a good laugh.. Beppe Severgnini calls himself "“an impassioned student of the world”, "Italian in my heart, a European by conviction, with deep ties to the United States.” People of similar affinities will all appreciate the lessons of this book.

I want to begin this review by saying this was a DNF for me, but I wanted to leave a review because I felt like the cover and description were misleading. While the parts of the book that I did read were a little rambly, it was informational and had lots of interesting tidbits. My issue is that I was expecting a typical "la dolce vita", living in Italy is wonderful type book. As someone who is absolutely infatuated with Italy and it's lifestyle, I was ready to devour this book. Instead I got a book that was covid this, covid that, covid, covid, covid. In the prologue Mr. Severgnini even says "this is not a book about covid", but there were just too many references to covid. It also seems distasteful to market a book specifically towards Americans gushing about how wonderful it is that the pandemic is over and how we've survived this era, when America is not over anything and people are still dying everyday. In case Signor Severgnini hasn't noticed, there are a vast number of people still fighting for their lives.

This book isn’t what I thought it would be but I was pleasantly surprised! Short chapters on a wide variety of topics pertaining to Italy and beyond from a well respected author.

3.5 stars out of 5

Italian Lessons by Beppe Severgnini was just an okay read. It tried to show readers the Italian way of doing things. There were interesting insights and stories into the Italian culture and people and the time during the pandemic. However, it ended abruptly. I thought it would have more of a wrap-up.

#ItalianLessons #NetGalley

I love everything Italian! Who else can compete with the food, and Italy as a vacation destination is an incredible experience. Therefore, I wasn't about to pass up a book with an intriguing title like this, written by a popular author.

The book contains chapters titled after the fifty things we know about life now. Much of it has to do with how life has changed during COVID. Often I come across surprising similarities between Italian thoughts and behaviors compared with ones that I know are also prevalent in the U.S.

This is an interesting book.