On one hand, there is this romanticized notion of Italy," says Joseph Luzzi, professor of Italian at Bard College and author of the recently published My Two Italies. "It's a place where you go for the Tuscan sun, to fall in love; an antidote to a modern world's problems.

On the other hand, you have The Sopranos and Jersey Shore, the glamorization of violence and some of the more negative stereotypes associated with Italian-Americans. How are they connected? That's one of the questions I asked myself when I started the book."

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