Graham Elliot

Italy’s Achilles heel: corruption and cronyism

Tim Parks exposes egotism, string-pulling and academic intrigue in his adoptive country

Tim Parks (Getty Images) 
issue 01 August 2020

Tim Parks is a seasoned, incisive observer of football, the railways, work, domestication and plenty more in his adoptive country of half a lifetime. What is, what ought to be and the machinations in the delta between provide much of his material.

In this tale of two countries in one, bright, hard-working Valeria leaves Basilicata in southern Italy to study communications and marketing at a private university in Milan — shiny subjects in a city of business a long way from home (the same distance could take her to Tunis or Belgrade).

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