Mafia Madness and ‘The Miracle of Castel di Sangro’ – A Book Review

Tom Bogert

12th April 2018 | 12:58 AM

Joe McGinniss’s The Miracle of Castel di Sangro is everything a story should be. Tom Bogert tells you exactly why this maddening tale of mafia mischief and football is a book everyone should read. Especially you.
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro's author, the late Joe McGinniss, when writing about a small provincial Italian football team, went down the rabbit hole and came out into a real-life Mario Puzo novel, with a larger-than-life cast of characters.
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro’s author, the late Joe McGinniss, when writing about a small provincial Italian football team, went down the rabbit hole and came out into a real-life Mario Puzo novel, with a larger-than-life cast of characters.

Stay with me here: You need  to read a 400-page nonfiction book about an inconsequential Italian club you’ve never heard of, from an inconsequential area you’ve never heard of, with inconsequential players you’ve never heard of, under an inconsequential manager you’ve never heard of, that had one improbably inconsequential season in Serie B from the 1990s.

Being overly simplistic is the framework and reality in which the story lives. But atop that framework rests a mansion of a novel, with an eclectic range of rooms featuring separate, idiosyncratic subplots, all interesting on their own, but which converge together under the roof that is the 1996/97 season in the Serie B.

A distinct description that continually made an appearance was referring to the Serie B as glamorous, without a hint of jest. Many fans, dare I say all fans outside of Italy, pay little to no attention to the Serie B, let alone the tiers below. Then, there are few that would describe the Italian second division as glamorous.

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