Napoli' 44

I've already read the English version of this excellent book. And now I can practise my Italian by dipping into the Italian edition. It is fine for those who have reached intermediate or advanced level Italian. I will re-post below my review of the English edition.Secondo me, tutti dovrebbero leggere questo libro!This brilliant book is based on the diary of the author, which he kept whilst posted in Naples and the surrounding area as an intelligence officer with a British Army Field Security unit in 1943-44.Naples had just been liberated, and was under the control of the Allied armies. It should be remembered, though, that the liberation of Italy from fascism between 1943 and 1945 was not just achieved by the Allied armies. Italian anti-fascist partisan fighters in the Resistance and striking workers also played a big part. Before the Allied armies reached Naples, the city had been liberated by a popular uprising against the Nazis in the “Four Days of Naples”, which Lewis briefly refers to.Naples was in a mess when Lewis arrived. It had suffered massive bombing by the Allies, and now, after Italy’s surrender, it was being bombed by the Germans. There was also starvation. Lewis describes how this led to thousands of women resorting to prostitution in order to feed their families. It also led to a widespread black market, mainly in US military supplies. There was at one point even a black market in penicillin – which reminded me of the film “The Third Man”.The other things that Lewis’s diary tells us about include: the influence of the Mafia and Camorra on the Allied Military Government; war crimes committed by Allied troops (though not on the scale of those committed by the fascists/Nazis, of course); a gunfight with bandits (in which Lewis wanted “…to avoid killing or getting killed.”); visits to the magnificent ancient temples at Paestum and to the Sibyl’s cavern at Cumae; and the eruption of Vesuvius in March 1944.Overall, the book paints a vivid picture of the horrors and tragedies of war, but also of its confusion and absurdities. There is quite a lot of cynical humour in the book. In fact, at times, for example in the description of the rivalries between different intelligence agencies and police forces, the tone reminds me of the cynicism of the fictional intelligence officer in Len Deighton’s “The Ipcress File”.I strongly recommend this book.