Italian Neighbors

Italy and Italians

by Tim Parks

In this deliciously seductive account of an Italian neighborhood with a statue of the Virgin at one end of the street, a derelict bottle factory at the other, and a wealth of exotic flora and fauna in between, acclaimed novelist Tim Parks celebrates ten years of living with his wife, Rita, in Verona, Italy. Via Colombre, the main street in a village just outside Verona, offers an exemplary hodgepodge of all that is new and old in the bel paese, a point of collision between invading suburbia and diehard peasant tradition in a sometimes madcap, sometimes romantic always mixed-up world of creeping vines, stuccoed walls, shotguns, security cameras, hypochondria, and expensive sports cars.

Tim Parks is anything but a gentleman in Verona. With an Italian wife, an Italian made family, and a whole Italian condominium bubbling around him, he collects a gallery full of splendid characters who initiate us into all the foibles and delights of life in provincial Italy.

More than a travel book, Italian Neighbors is a sparkling, witty, beautifully observed tale of how the most curious people and places gradually assume the familiarity of home. Italian Neighbors is a rare work that manages to be both a portrait and an invitation for everyone who has ever dreamed about Italy.

Genres: Travel, Italy, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Italian Literature, Biography Memoir

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Born in Manchester in 1954, Tim Parks grew up in London and studied at Cambridge and Harvard. In 1981 he moved to Italy where he has lived ever since, raising a family of three children. He has written fourteen novels including Europa (shortlisted for the Booker prize), Destiny, Cleaver, and most recently In Extremis.
During the nineties he wrote two, personal and highly popular accounts of his life in northern Italy, Italian Neighbours and An Italian Education. These were complemented in 2002 by A Season with Verona, a grand overview of Italian life as seen through the passion of football. Other non-fiction works include a history of the Medici bank in 15th century Florence, Medici Money and a memoir on health, illness and meditation, Teach Us to Sit Still. In 2013 Tim published his most recent non-fiction work on Italy, Italian Ways, on and off the rails from Milan to Palermo.
Aside from his own writing, Tim has translated works by Moravia, Calvino, Calasso, Machiavelli and Leopardi; his critical book, Translating Style is considered a classic in its field. He is presently working on a translation of Cesare Pavese's masterpiece, The Moon and the Bonfires.
A regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, his many essays are collected in Hell and Back, The Fighter, A Literary Tour of Italy, and Life and Work.
Over the last five years he has been publishing a series of blogs on writing, reading, translation and the like in the New York Review online. These have recently been collected in Where I am Reading From and Pen in Hand.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the train from Zurich to Milan, announcements, not taking any chances, are delivered slowly and in every language thought conceivably relevant. ‘Prossima fermata: Lugano. Nächster Halt: Lugano. Prochain arrêt: Lugano. Next stop…’ ‘Fucking Lugano, by any chance!?’ one wants to scream. I am, though, struck by the fact that each language uses a different noun, and by the fact that fermata, halt, arrest and stop all exist in English.

At Milan, I change trains and head for Verona. Because I couldn't come up with a single Veronese writer in the two millennia since Catullus died in 54 BC, I am reading the closest thing I could find, which is Tim Parks's account of modern life in a little village just outside the city, where he's lived for nearly thirty years now. I am not normally a big fan of these ‘Englishman living abroad’ books, so I am reading it, a bit unfairly, at arm's length (as it were).

At Brescia, a woman gets on dressed like a parody of a fashion model: short, waxed blonde hair, pink-sequinned heeled sandals worn with pink ankle socks, a short turquoise skirt, and then a fluffy pink tanktop that ends two inches above her belly button. She looks absolutely ridiculous, and that's before I notice the labradoodle in her handbag. Nevertheless, there is something about her total confidence in this insane get-up that is endearing.

If I was Tim Parks, I would probably make this into a generalised observation on the Italian character, for he is not averse to a little indulgence in stereotypes. Can you imagine this anywhere other than Italy…? he asks rhetorically about innumerable quirks of bureaucracy and character, where the answer is a clear ‘yes’.

As so often in Italy, the picturesque is combined with a sharp edge of danger.

But this is not a description of Italy – rather, it's a description of somebody confronted with a new and strange country, which could be any of a hundred of them around the world.

Still, let's not be a dick about it. Parks doesn't take himself that seriously, he is having fun, and most of what he says will surely raise a smile from anyone who knows Italy, even if the majority of it is hardly unique to the peninsula. He's particularly good on the confusion of Italian political parties and coalitions which underlies the dispassionate way Italians tend to talk about politics.

The blunt analysis and sleeve-rolling gaucheness which forms the typical reaction of, for example, the English, inevitably carries the subtext that something could and should be done, and quickly: reform the poll tax, cut inflation, dump Thatcher, etc. etc. English people usually believe such things to be possible, or at least imaginable. But the Italian knows that nothing can or will be done in his country, and that if it is done it certainly will not be done quickly. This is his experience. After all, with the shifting coalitions and merry-go-round of prime ministers, most people here haven't seen a real change of government in their lifetime. Thus an Italian's satisfaction, when he talks about politics, will lie in feeling that he has analysed the situation accurately, appreciated its ironies, seen the pros and the cons, absorbed the subtleties, and above all gone beyond the crude simplicity of foreigners who talk in ingenuous terms about changing things.

On the other hand, he is disappointingly incurious about the local Venetian language, which he only ever refers to as ‘dialect’ and which sees him continually asking people, somewhat irritably, if they speak proper Italian. Back in the '80s, when this is set, many in the countryside didn't. Even now, in the farms and vineyards of the Valpolicella, many of the farmers I was there to meet chatted away to my colleagues in Venetian, which is still pretty active around Verona. (Occasionally this was a help, since my Italian is so poor – I've always found the Italian word ciliegie a bit of a tongue-twister, but round here they call a cherry a siresa instead, which makes a lot more sense to me.)

At the end of the day, a book like this is more about capturing the reactions of the writer than about capturing the vagaries of his subject, which means that the accuracy of his observations is, ultimately, less important than the tone of voice he uses to make them. Fortunately on this score, Tim Parks is excellent company – ironic, well-read, amused and generous, and the loving frustration he has for his adopted home of Montecchio comes across with great charm. A diverting read for any viaggiatori, Passagiere, voyageurs, or indeed passengers looking to while away a journey.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A birthday gift of my Milanese daughter in 1992, I read Parks with avid appreciation. Ironic intersection of English and Italian culture: for instance, the class of Italians who want to know foreigners, "They feel they have ideas bigger than the narrow mentality of the people around them"(74). But unlike in England, where such people would want to go to a city like Manchester or London, Italians feel it may be even worse in Rome.
"They look to the fairness and openmindedness of the efficient nations further north. Extraordinarily, they believe Britain to be such a nation."
Or the delicious conflict between a local, generous greengrocer and the village priest, who announces, "Something smells rotten in here." The grocer, "Maybe the carogna [rot] of the last person to walk in."
Or the women dressed in Sunday best (furs) out of church into the bar/restaurant: "There is a parade feeling about it all. From one institution to another: the host, the briosche" (131).
His Italian Education, three years later, is in some ways more profoundly and historically revealing.
In it I learned about the Freshman Composition I taught for 38 years, which was always under pressure to address national issues. During Viet Nam, the war, during the nineties, another war. Turns out, during WWII, Italian students' papers were judged on how well they praised Mussolini.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK. I've tried to like this book. I've started it -- and stopped it -- 3 times now. For some reason, I just can't get into it. I love the idea of living in Italy among Italian neighbors and wanted to love this book. It didn't happen. I'm moving on.

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arrival and first year of residence of the (English) author and his wife in Montecchio, a small suburb of Verona. They hire an apartment in Via Colombare. What follows is a process of getting to learn neighbors and villagers, but especially of getting to know the Italian peculiarities, good and bad habits. Parks' emotions evolve from wonder and surprise to discomfort and sometimes annoyance, but ending in increasing recognition and love. A must read to get an indepth perception of the Italian psyche.

[D.w. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a great deal of people giving this book praise. I can't be one of them. It was a good deal for the money that I paid, since I found it remaindered at Crown Books (Remember Crown?) for 2.99, instead of 19.95, which was indication then that too many of these books had been printed even then.

The problem that the telling is two fold. One of theme and one of technique. Reading Tim Parks was tiring. Short chapters that string together if you lead an existential life, but within these 5 and 10 page chapters are long paragraphs and almost non-existent dialogue told in first person. My brain aches from needing a rest between such long passages. Certainly I start to learn about the little part of the world Parks calls home, but the rhythm is all wrong. Good way to put me to sleep every night and that surely was not the intent of the author.

The second fault is that of theme. After more than half the book you realize that there is no story but to be told what life is like for the man in the city on the outskirts of Verona. There is no quest, there is no reason, it is just the telling of the exposure to the little world of Via Colombare, that you/I begin to wonder why? Do Frances Mayes and Peter Mayle have these same problems or are they more deft at showing us a story when one is transplanted to another culture.

For 2.99 instead of $20, it was worth an exploration but never a return visit.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm ready to give up on expat books. I'm reading books written by expats who lived in Italy, and they're all the same: dedicate a chapter to a very particular (and insignificant) detail of Italian life and use sarcasm to get some cheap laughs. That is what this book is all about.

Really, the sarcasm, the constant put-downs of Italians and their lifestyle, is so old-hat. And it's not funny.

[Dana Delamar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read by Parks about his experiences in Italy, and it was just as charming and well-observed as the first. (BTW, I read them out of order; this is the first one he wrote on the subject.) I recommend this book to anyone who loves Italy and Italian culture. And if you're thinking about moving there, this book and his other ("An Italian Education") are both must reads.

I'm looking forward to his new book on the subject, to be released in 2014. Parks has a knack for capturing what is so entrancing (and at times, maddening) about Italy.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting memoir of living in Italy - usually they're all romantic about the sunset and the flowers and the wine and restoring some villa - but this is the down and dirty nitty gritty of living in Italy as a foreigner, trying to earn enough income to survive by tutoring English and translating, and attempting to navigate the hardened traditions and prejudices of small-town locals, as well as the insane bureaucracy of Italy. Tim Parks is not at all bitter or frustrated, mind you. He seems to look on it all with grand perspective, and there's some incredibly funny moments in this book. His upstairs neighbor, Lucilla, is one of my favorite characters in recent memory. He writes her so well, she seems alive on the pages. And there's some good comic relief with his attempts to explain his residency status to a census taker, an interesting account of giving a bureaucratic bribe, and some eye-opening info on the social status in Italy based on state jobs. Not every story comes together as well, but it was definitely a good read, and it made me want to read his follow up about educating his children in Italy.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

JC gave me this book a few years ago and it is the only thing I have read about Italian life that comes close to my experiences during my semester abroad in Florence. Ok, so I was 21 and in college, not an English man married to an Italian lady, setting up housekeeping in Italy. BUT still. I found his observations of Italian life from someone trying to just live there--not vacation, not find themselves, not looking to have an "experience"--funny, insightful and from a mindset similar to mine. You learn things by transplanting yourself into a world so different from you own, yet when you stand back, it's not so different, either. I also like Frances Mayes books on Italy, but they have more of a romance and reverie to them than this does. Don't get me wrong, Parks truly does like living in Italy, it seems , but has a much different take on it.

[Amandine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting tidbits, but altogether I felt that it lacked a real plot line. It presents a very limited Italy, one from his own concrete apartment building, as the title suggests, it is almost uniquely about the quirks of his neighbors. There are a few humorous passages. I do not disapprove of his more negative approach towards the country, in comparison to say Frances Mayes' over zealous reaction to the country's sensory aspects (food, color, antiquity, etc.). Negative can be good. All in all it was not horribly written, it just left me by the end yearning for a different Italy, one of more depth and character.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book for exactly what it was, a peek inside the lives of Italians in a little town. Having a sister who has lived in Italy for 15 years, so many of the stories (the paperwork, the cemeteries, the postal service, the health obsession) were exactly what she has tried to explain to us. If you want a true look at what it is to be Italian, this is your book.

[Debra Gibes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a profound interest in learning about the Italian culture which is why I decided to read Italian Neighbors by Tim Parks. I actually bought the sequel in printed format first but learned about the prequel and decided to read it as an ebook before reading the sequel. I found the prequel both insightful and humorous to see how an expat living in Italy perceives Italians and their culture. At other times, however, the reading was a bit laborious as it seems that the author, Tim Parks, was focused on setting a tone that personified the word expat “living outside” their native country. As a result, I was also taken aback at the standoffish manner he described the birth of their first child as a foreigner in this country. Again I attribute this to the tone that the author seemed to want to adhere to. I think that if Parks had developed any applicable cultural understanding, he could have woven that in toward the end of the book especially at the birth of his child to bring the struggles of the expat to an “aha” moment with the understanding of acculturation perhaps making this culminating event a segue into the sequel which is called Italian Education. But of course, if Parks did not experience such an “aha” moment, his forthrightness is appreciated. In any event, I look forward to reading the sequel.

[Daniel Villines · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the benefits afforded to travelers to foreign places is the state of anonymity that envelopes the self. This wall-fly capacity affords the ultimate power to people-watch because those that I observe will never see me again, nor I them.

But who are these people that I observe in the moment? I may glimpse an interesting face or see an entertaining exchange, but I will never know the fuller (richer) circumstances of their lives. The homes that they occupy, the customs they respect, the society that surrounds them; all of these facets of life remain closed to the anonymous observer.

Italian Neighbors opens up the mystery behind one set of people that I have had the opportunity to observe. In my travels through Italy, I have stopped in a few small villages between the big cities, and I have had meals while sitting alongside their cobble-stone sidewalks. I have seen the characters in this book and have questioned my observations of high-heel spangled shoes, fur coats, and seemingly highly-charged discussions.

The focus of this book is a few of the people residing in the small town of Montecchio, Italy. Tim Parks, himself a traveler, provides a deeper perspective into the lives of people that are usually only seen and never understood. Parks, through his observations, allows us to see how religion, politics, family, and social customs shape these people's lives. For the people-watchers among us, this book is an opportunity to understand some of our observations. Parks gives meaning to the superficial and thus makes the superficial undeniably human.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't share all the author's particular prejudices, and I think he's a little cynical, but I do think he pins down something essential about what Italy is like. And it's helpful that he's funny.

My husband and I both read this book before we moved to Italy, and we have been surprised by how well Parks captured certain aspects of Italian life. It was probably a good thing that we read it ahead of time, because it has saved us a certain amount of utter disorientation. Most other books and movies about Italy that we've read/seen are too romantic. We like Italy, but it's not Letters to Juliet, thank goodness!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The specificity of this book about daily living in a little town near Verona makes it a pleasure. There was one particular passage that I'd like to mention because I found it so hilarious. The author describes a TV quiz show he watched for which the object is to have the best knowledge of Italian bureaucracy. Whoever is quickest on their buzzer, with the correct answer, wins. "Should an application for a no-parking sign for you garage or gate be made on plain paper, or stamped paper, and if the latter, how much does the stamp cost?" "How many years less does a woman teacher have to work for her pension if she has three children?" and so forth!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I've over-dosed on the "Briton living abroad" sub-genre of the memoir. The flow of the text seemed to get stuck so often when Parks would go out of his way to point out how different he found Italian culture. I found it quite tiresome after awhile.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was well-written. I am enamored of all things Italiano.

[De Ongeletterde · Rating 4 out of 5]

In dit leuk en vlot leesbaar boek belicht Tim Parks allerlei aspecten van het leven in Italië als Engelsman met gevoel voor humor en met veel gevoel voor de nuances van bepaald gevoel van ergens bij te horen (en ook weer niet). In Montecchio, in de Veneto niet zo ver van Verona, gaat hij wonen met zijn vrouw en hij beschrijft hun eerste jaar aldaar. Net als in zijn boek over het supporter zijn van Hellas Verona benadert hij als buitenstaander typisch Italiaanse sentimenten en gewoonten met een verfrissende blik.

[Sve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it took me a while to finish this book, I quite liked it.
Parks tells his experience as an Englishman living in a small village in the region of Veneto with a lot of humour and love for Italy. I think anyone who is interested in the country beyond the touristic attraction, would enjoy this book

[Blaise Sica]

Its a difficult read, with almost no dialog it really is just an outsider looking at rural italy and explaining to you in detail what happens around him. only a few chapters were truly entertaining. constantly speaking italian lingo is at first very fun and interesting but infuriating when your trying to use context clues to try to figure out whats being said

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir of the author's residence in a small town outside of Verona. Good slice of life description of the various residents of his apartment unit. This is a warts and all description. I thought it was a little slow at times, but I thought he tied it all together by the end.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect book to read while traveling in Italy!

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed the read, and learned a lot about Italy at the same time

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing story of the author settling in Verona.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an odd little book. The (British) author loves living in Montecchio, Italy (outside Verona, below the Alps) where he and his wife have been for over 10 years. He writes endearingly about his neighbors who are mostly eccentric and difficult but colorful, and often about the wonderful scenery and food. But so much of the book is about the dirty little secrets that most of us would HATE about living there! Chained, barking hunting dogs in every backyard? The "stench" of factory pig farms? Ditto chicken farms and chemical plants? Loud neighbors on every side? Incomprehensible forms, regulations, and no control of anything? I enjoyed reading about it all but he sure didn't make me want to live there or even visit. Say - maybe that's his point; he doesn't want to turn northern Italy into trendy Tuscany or the paradise of Provence! If so he accomplished his mission as far as I'm concerned.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember having originally read this a million years ago...the year before I worked in Lugano (Switzerland) and studied in Torino. It made me super excited to be working and living in a country(ies) with such interesting characters like Parks describes. And you know what, it was spot on. I reread it while I lived there, after I married an Italian there, and again when our beautiful girl was born. I love Parks narrative.

This isn't an analytical review. It's just one saying: Yup. This is perfect. It might be hard to truly grasp that this is really life in Italy without having been there for any period of time. So, I wholeheartedly recommend doing it-go stay and immerse yourself in a wonderful culture of people :-) Then reread his book again, nod your head, and say "yup".

[Aine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this on my first trip to Italy and it was a very timely read! I loved reading about Italian culture and society while I wandered the beautiful streets. Parks has a funny view of things - having grown up in England he struggles with the bureaucracy and religion and life in general. Being Irish, these irrationalities make much more sense to me - I reckon there is an interesting thesis here on Catholic / Protestant views of the world!

All in all a great read - but best read in Italy.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to start this book: I love to discover new places, love to learn about different cultures.
But this book simply didn't do that for me.
I missed dialogue, which was replaced with wonderful description, after description, after description, after description.
I didn't discover the author's story, didn't journey with him. For me, it was definitely lacking something.

[Rachel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the perceptive descriptions of peculiarities of Italian life, and very much recognized a lot of these subtle differences in culture. Did not like the ableist and mysoginist undertones (though in some intstances quite overt). Perhaps not unusual in 1992 when it was first published, but in 2025 some parts induced secondhand embarrassment.

[Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant read. Parks provides an inside look into the day to day life of small town Italians. He manages to capture the small details, beliefs, quirks, and traditions that make up the culture. By the end of the book you feel like you just spent a year living outside Verona!