Sport Italia

The Italian Love Affair with Sport

Nonfiction, History, Italy, Sports, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology
Cover of the book Sport Italia by Simon Martin, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Simon Martin ISBN: 9780857730602
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: July 30, 2011
Imprint: I.B. Tauris Language: English
Author: Simon Martin
ISBN: 9780857730602
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: July 30, 2011
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Language: English

The Italian love affair with sport is passionate, voracious, all-consuming. It provides a backdrop and a narrative to almost every aspect of daily life in Italy and the distinctively pink-coloured newspaper 'La Gazzetta dello Sport' is devoured by over three million hungry readers every day.

Narrating the history of modern Italy through its national passion for sport, Sport Italia is a completely new portrayal of one of Europe's most fascinating and chaotic countries. Uncovering the role of major and minor sports in its social, economic and political modernization, Simon Martin connects the politics of each period with the sporting issues, personalities, heroes and villains that have shaped Italy's development. Questioning why sport is so important in Italy, he sheds light on the stereotype of a nation obsessed by football, fights, fast cars and fast women, while showing its broader contribution to mass popular culture, through film, tourism, the Ferrari and the Vespa.

Following the highs and lows of the nation's history, from Liberal Italy's sporting pioneers, to Mussolini, the 1960 Rome Olympics and the Berlusconi era, Sport Italia's marathon journey uncovers heroic defeats, national triumphs, canonised cyclists and sporting Popes, along with the drug dealers, fraudsters, terrorists and politicians that have tarnished its name.

The one thing capable of uniting Italians, sport is also revealed as one of the nation's greatest sources of division: one that has probed and occasionally widened the deep fractures within its identity. Tracing how sport became a pillar of Italian society and a political football in its own right that has changed the face of Italy, Sport Italia reveals a novel and previously unexplored element of the history of a society and its state, which will be an essential read for sports fans, historians and students alike.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Italian love affair with sport is passionate, voracious, all-consuming. It provides a backdrop and a narrative to almost every aspect of daily life in Italy and the distinctively pink-coloured newspaper 'La Gazzetta dello Sport' is devoured by over three million hungry readers every day.

Narrating the history of modern Italy through its national passion for sport, Sport Italia is a completely new portrayal of one of Europe's most fascinating and chaotic countries. Uncovering the role of major and minor sports in its social, economic and political modernization, Simon Martin connects the politics of each period with the sporting issues, personalities, heroes and villains that have shaped Italy's development. Questioning why sport is so important in Italy, he sheds light on the stereotype of a nation obsessed by football, fights, fast cars and fast women, while showing its broader contribution to mass popular culture, through film, tourism, the Ferrari and the Vespa.

Following the highs and lows of the nation's history, from Liberal Italy's sporting pioneers, to Mussolini, the 1960 Rome Olympics and the Berlusconi era, Sport Italia's marathon journey uncovers heroic defeats, national triumphs, canonised cyclists and sporting Popes, along with the drug dealers, fraudsters, terrorists and politicians that have tarnished its name.

The one thing capable of uniting Italians, sport is also revealed as one of the nation's greatest sources of division: one that has probed and occasionally widened the deep fractures within its identity. Tracing how sport became a pillar of Italian society and a political football in its own right that has changed the face of Italy, Sport Italia reveals a novel and previously unexplored element of the history of a society and its state, which will be an essential read for sports fans, historians and students alike.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book The Gentle Art of Tramping by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Anecdotal Shakespeare by Simon Martin
Cover of the book The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary American Playwrights by Simon Martin
Cover of the book The Court of Justice of the European Union by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Scars by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Kicking Off by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism by Simon Martin
Cover of the book A Political Philosophy by Simon Martin
Cover of the book European Merger Remedies by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Pentecostal Theology by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Hotchkiss Machine Guns by Simon Martin
Cover of the book The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime by Simon Martin
Cover of the book You Can by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Ivo van Hove by Simon Martin
Cover of the book Democratic Statehood in International Law by Simon Martin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy