Rating: 
Summary: Ciao, America: An Italian Discovers the U.S.
Review: In the tradition of Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself and In a Sunburned Country, Ciao, America! Is a good natured but sharp-eyed look at American culture from the point of view of an Italian foreign correspondent who spent a year in America's capital.
Rating:
Summary: Cheerful and good-natured
Review: It is easy to agree with those who note that book feels distinctly out-of-date (notes on internet and cellphones, for example) - but this is the only drawback. The book reads beautifully and author's skills as newspaper columnist are evident. Yes, columnists tend not to linger on subjects for too long and the quest for readability often does not allow for deeper analysis - but then again this is not an analytical book. Many compare Beppe Severgnini with Bill Bryson. I think, frankly, that Severgnini has a distinct advantage of being much more good-natured than Bryson. The latter often gets annoying with his moralistic ramblings and who shamelessly exploits cheap stereotypes and cliches ...Thank God this book knows better than that. In addition, Severgnini - despite being able to laugh at himself - does not assume the role of being stupid and proud of it, which Bryson loves so much. This is probably because, again, Severgnini is very, very good natured, this is something that endears him to a reader. I was very pleased I bought this book. I hope you will be too.
Rating: 
Summary: Outdated and offhand
Review: The author, an excellent journalist, didn't knock himself out writing this book--back in 1994. The stuff is old and the apparoach very offhand. He goes to Washington, D.C. for a year with his family and presumes to describe America. But he never goes past the Beltway, and we all know not to trust the opinions of people who do that. The things he's amazed at--email, supermarkets, casusal clothing--are all now part and parcel not only of life in America, but of life in Italy, too. He tells of Newt Gingrich being the new hot power in D.C., Clinton jogging, smoking sections in airplanes, the exciting dotcom , cellphones not being very popular in the US--you can see how ten years ago this is. Plus, this is a book written for an Italian audience that was then translated into English for a British audience--just sort of sloughed off on us Americans. So the translation--besides being stiff and ponderous--is full of Britishisms. There are a few good observations, but all in all it's a snooze. And it's hard to believe ANYONE could think Spam (the meat spread) was actually one of America's most beloved foods and that poems about Spam (a la the Spam Haiku website) are serious! A major disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: A pleasant side table book
Review: There are some books which are destined for one chapter at a time reads: waiting for the school bus to come, for the half hour between lunch and dentist, time after work and before the evening news. Beats fifty-four chanels and nothing on, but it's not great, compelling page turning prose. That's what you'll find here. Not too shocking, not too sharp, and not a lot of garlic in the sauce. Where the author is perhaps most telling is in the shared yet differing Italian/American institutions: commercial bureaucrats, ie.the phone company, communion in Catholic Churches, domestic architecture/drapery. Here he is as perceptive as witty, which earns forgiveness for Yanks /Brits pointers. We know 'em already. And please, no more discussions of "OK." The author's suffering with the arctic nature of Washington supermarkets and theatres is understandable, but to some of us the appealing point may be nostalgia for the un-airconditioned forties and fifties when anyone who could left D.C. during July and August. Nice to recall those days of politicos on vacation. They caused a lot less trouble in ten months than twelve.
Rating:
Summary: amusing
Review: This book is full of interesting snapshots of what we Americans are like from the point of view of a European. Of course, living in D.C. is not going to give a perfect picture of American life style or Americans, but the whole book is interesting and funny. For Americans who have traveled in Europe a lot, maybe there is not much here that is new, but seeing America through the eyes of a European, written in such a humorous style, was for me really entertaining. It is great "light" reading - easy to pick up for a few minutes at a time.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, light reading, wait for the paperback
Review: This is an interesting reading for italophiles. I would rate the book higher except that the hardbound volume is padded with numerous blank pages and title pages (two separate pages that say nothing but "Ciao Italia" for example), so I would recommend waiting for the paperback edition. Severgnini's impressions of America are interesting if not profound. Not a lot of detail really. At least a couple of his observations I now see are typical of the Italian world-view, things I thought were specific to people I know personally. For example, he mentions that the native Americans (Washingtonians) are quick to shed their winter clothes in the middle of a winter warm spell, but he and other Italians would never think to wear spring clothing out of season. He is appalled that Americans cannot spell, and lists two pages of mispellings of his own name, which most Americans will not find remarkable. Nor will Americans be surprised that journalists in the USA don't know Italian. The book suffers a little bit from a narrow view of the U.S. based on living for one year in Washington, D.C. A lot of what he describes as typical american life will strike Americans as "inside the beltway" stuff. He even overestimates the significance of the National Spelling Bee, which most Americans think of as a kind of camp event, presumably because (as we all know) it is held in Washington. But the wrong impressions, of which there are few, make for fun reading. There really isn't a cult of people who like to eat Spam, nor is it really an integral part of American cuisine. On the other hand, his observations are often right on, for example he truly understands what sort of people gorge themselves (and smoke) at a house of pancakes.
Rating: 
Summary: A "must read" for any foreigner.
Review: Witty, humorous but absolutely true. Severgnini outlines a picture of the U.S. from the point of view of a cultured Italian who accepted a temporary relocation in Washington DC as correspondent for the major Italian newspaper.
The book does not aim to be a sociological portrait of the U.S. society, not at all; it is rather focused on explaining some urban legends that the European media have created along the years on America and the Americans.
I believe that any European or Canadian citizen will find this book amusing: when they will eventually relocate in the U.S. they will find that it is also sadly true.
Although I consider this book a "must read" for any foreigner (more so before you accept a relocation to the U.S.), I would like to suggest it to US citizens too, provided that they can stand some criticism.
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