One of the pleasures of living in Italy is watching the way the 'facts' of its postwar history slip and slither about. It's like looking down a child's kaleidoscope: every few weeks new evidence emerges to twist the lens, causing the colours to spill into disconcertingly different arrangements. Nothing stays in its place. Prompted by the confessions of a politician or pentito, events from decades ago suddenly find themselves once again splashed across the front pages and are caught up in an on-going, rolling revisionism.

LRB 8 March 2001 | PDF Download