Thomas Beeston’s Reviews > A Season with Verona: Travels Around Italy in Search of Illusion, National Character . . . and Goals! > Status Update

"I have been halted beneath a huge poster showing Silvio Berlusconi's strange smile. This immensely powerful man, owner of a vast media empire and leader of the main opposition party, has something of the beaten dog about him. It's an expression I have never figured out. The lips are lifted in a smile, but the eyes are pained, as though anticipating that you won't trust him."