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Italy: a tourist’s guide to the mafia on sale

A Sicilian tour guide who got fed up with answering the same questions about the mafia has written a pocket-sized book he thinks visitors will be unable to refuse.

The Mafia Explained to Tourists, published in Italian, English, Japanese, German, Spanish and French, tackles questions such as: what a mafioso looks like, whether the mafia will exist forever and “why haven’t we seen a shootout in our 10 days here?”

“I included the 10 questions I am always asked, so from now I can just hand out the book,” says Augusto Cavadi, a Palermo-based guide and mafia scholar.

The template for his 55-page, €5.50 book was the frequently asked questions section in a washing machine manual. Cavadi also lists books and films which present the mafia realistically.

To clear up any doubt on the matter, the book contains the question: is it true the mafia will not kill priests? “They certainly kill them when they take a stand against the mafia,” Cavadi says. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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