Gomorra by Roberto Saviano

You should read this book if you want to get a glimpse into the world of  camorra, the other Italian mafia from the south of Italy.  In itself the book  is also about the problems of South Italy the underdeveloped "third world" and the poor part of the country whereas the North is industrially developed. But the south is not just that, it  has cheap labour force which is used by the blackmarket and  also by the Italian fashion companies who produce here their famous "Made in Italy" products and also it is used as a garbage dump, a deposit of industrial waste polluting the land and making the people sick.  Probably you ask: what does it have to do with the mafia or with the camorra. Camorra takes part in producing the high quality counterfeit fashion clothes and it's firms deposit illegally the waste in the former farm lands of south poisoning the earth. In the end camorra reinvests the money in the northern firms making their own people poorer and the north richer. The book takes us in a land similar to wild west, where the weapons are at home, Camorra is also a weapon dealer. We read about Neaples where camorra is at home about how the mafia is holding grip of the economy in a "liberal" way, we read about it's drug affairs, we read about Secondiliano outskirt of Neaples which is the poorest and where the fashion clothes of Hollywood are made, we read that this is the region in Europe where the most killings happen, this the region where most of Mercedeses are sold to. It's not a novel or fiction but an interesting page-turner documentary on the lives of the people of Campania region (which includes also Naples) , the lives which are run by Camorra (the System as he calls himself) by his own laws.

The story of San Michele by Axel Munthe

I received this book on last Christmas from my girlfriend, it gives a delectable experience, an interesting and engaging reading. The title of the book holds the name of San Michele Villa from the marvelous Italian Capri island, a villa which was build by the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe as his home. In the book Axel Munthe tells his own life story ,a remembrance of a life spent as a doctor of poor, of high society and that of an animal lover. We find him in Paris as a former assistant of Charcot at Salpetriere and as a popular and successful doctor with rich clientele, in his native Sweden in Lapland, in Naples in the time of cholera fighting the epidemic, in his beloved Anacapri of Capri island where he builds his villa from ancient ruins in the garden of Cesar Tiberius and were he writes his memories. In his garden found refuge his pets: his dogs and Billy the nasty monkey. His villa still remains on of the attractions of Anacapri. The cover is of the Hungarian edition titled San Michele regénye. The Story of San Michele at Amazon. If you are keen you can read online the The story of San Michele at Internet Archive.org. Other online books by Axel Munthe are available at Open Library.