The Italian Job
A Memoir of an American Reporter in Rome

Quotes

“There is a delight to be found on every page of The Italian Job. I devoured it like a bowl of perfect Roman carbonara.”
—Daniel Silva, New York Times bestselling author of the Gabriel Allon Series

“Filled with vivid glimpses of politicians and popes and ordinary mortals, Jason Horowitz’s wonderful memoir is a candid, clear-eyed, revelatory love letter to Italy from a fantastically observant journalist who manages at the same time to be a sympathetic human being.”
—Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of The Swerve

“Bursting with wit and insight, The Italian Job offers a compulsively readable look into the marvels and foibles of Italy and Italians. Horowitz paints a rich portrait of the colorful cast of characters in Italian politics and at the Vatican, while seamlessly weaving in a highly personal account of life as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. Not to be missed!"
—David Kertzer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Pope and Mussolini

"A wildly entertaining and deeply intelligent dispatch from one of the finest American writers decoding Italy today. In The Italian Job, Jason Horowitz captures Italy without flattening it into fantasy, grievance, or postcard mythology, moving effortlessly from Vatican intrigue and Berlusconi-era shenanigans to Roman street life and the strange tension of exile and belonging. The result is funny, sharp, deeply reported, and gloriously unsentimental. This is one of the smartest, most perceptive books about contemporary Italy I’ve read."
—Katie Parla, New York Times bestselling author of Rome

“Jason Horowitz is the ultimate American in Italy—an inquisitive, exuberant, and discerning authority on the country’s transformations over the past quarter century. How lucky for us that he’s also so charming. The historic sweep of this book is equaled by its attention to the most improbable, hilarious details of neighborhood dramas and family life.”
—Lauren Collins, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of When In French and They Stole a City

“A love letter to a country and a city Americans love to visit but never stay long enough to understand, The Italian Job is as gorgeous, absurd, and hilarious as the place it describes, a book written with verve and humor, with tenderness and fluency, and a deep, deep empathy—in other words, a pure delight.”
—Julia Ioffe, National Book Award finalist and author of Motherland

“The Italian Job is that most pleasurable kind of book because it combines and defies genres. In witty, antic, and often lush prose, Horowitz unspools a twenty-five-year journey that is part memoir, history, reportage, and, most memorably, romance. Amid the portraits of everyone from Pope Francis to Georgia Meloni, there are two love affairs—one with the art of foreign correspondence and one with his burgeoning American-Italian family, both of which Horowitz expertly portrays with tenderness, wisdom, and grace.”
—Suzy Hansen, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Notes on a Foreign Country and From Life Itself

"This clear-eyed portrait of a nation in transition makes for essential reading."
- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"His frank and at times amusing discussion of Italy’s grimy underbelly, overflowing with both trash and conspiracy theories, punctures the romance of picturesque vistas and exported traditions...A mix of forewarning and reassurance from someone with a distinct viewpoint."
- Kirkus

"Horowitz brings an equally sharp eye to his coverage of Vatican politics, chronicling papal succession contests that bear more than a passing resemblance to Conclave."
- Bookpage