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The Unexpected Origins of the Mafia
by Amedeo Feniello
A fresh perspective on the early mafia as a means of resistance against invasion, this gripping history illustrates the previously unknown extent of these families' power in the 14th century.
1343: there is famine in Naples. After nightfall, a Genoese ship loaded with wheat is attacked by members of two local clans who brutally kill several sailors and their captain. The attackers returned to the city, greeted by the cheers of their countrymen, and the blind eye of the authorities. The Republic of Genoa presented the Kingdom of Naples with a formal protest against the incident. But, in a historical document of great importance today, King Charles I of Anjou admitted he did not control his own city, that the true rulers of Naples were the "family."
The purpose of this book is not to retrace the birth of the Camorra through the traditional roads of ethnology, anthropology, sociology, or even folklore for the umpteenth time. Amedeo Feniello takes a new route through a number of previously unstudied elements and makes a unique observation: that these "families" of Naples were in power at the time of the birth of the Angevin Kingdom of Naples—one of the first European nation states. They would have been leaders of the new state, actively participating in the business of the royal family and serving as a new class of directors, officers, and bureaucrats.
"[Naples 1343] unravels not just a particular crime but a culture. The text has a fascinating meta quality; it's as much about the process of reconstructing a nearly 700-year-old event as the event itself…This history of place and culture reads like a detective story. Certain to intrigue historians, cultural anthropologists, and general readers alike." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Of some interest to students of medieval Italian history, less so to those of organized crime." —Kirkus Reviews
"Feniello's cutthroat book…reconstructs life and crime in Neapolitan history. Personal and inviting, with language that trades between academic and direct, this is a book built on the idea that the past reverberates in contemporary Italy." —Foreword Reviews
"If Naples was often said to be a 'paradise inhabited by devils,' Amedeo Feniello, in this superb study, shows how these demons entered and then flourished—and how and why they continue to torment the South. Feniello crafts his arguments with expert precision and delivers them in a lively, engaging style. History writing at its finest." —Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome and The Shortest History of Italy
This information about Naples 1343 was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amedeo Feniello teaches Medieval History in the Department of Social Science at the University of L'Aquila in Italy. He has taught and conducted research at the EHESS in Paris and at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Naples 1343 is his first book to appear in English.
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