[Alouion]

Josh - I notice that you like Italian football. If you have not already read it, try "A Season with Hellas Verona" by Tim Parks. Tim is a Manc who actually lived close enough to Old Trafford to be able to say United are his local team. After marrying an Italian he moved to Italy and fell in love with his local team there. Hellas have some points in common with us. They too are a yo yo club and are actually providing a place for Parma in Serie A this year.
The book gives a real flavour of Italian football and Italy itself.
I could also recommend the "Inspector Montalbano" detective series which is quite addictive once you get into it and is very evocative of Southern Italy,