Jennifer Clark, Best-Selling Author

People About Town: Interview with Jennifer Clark, Best-Selling Author

Jennifer Clark is an American journalist and author, celebrated for her in-depth exploration of Italian history and culture. With her latest book, L’Ultima Dinastia: La Saga della Famiglia Agnelli da Giovanni a John, published by Solferino Libri in May 2024, Clark delves into the complex narrative of one of Italy’s most iconic families. Her career as a foreign correspondent in Milan has spanned several decades, during which she has covered Italian business and finance for major media outlets, including Bloomberg, Reuters, and Dow Jones Newswires, where she served as Italy Bureau Chief. Now a freelance writer, Clark continues to captivate readers by bridging American and Italian perspectives. Originally from Chicago and now settled in Milan with her Italian husband, journalist Dino Messina, she offers a unique lens on Italy’s dynastic legacies and the evolving cultural ties between Italy and the United States.

Your new book “L’Ultima Dinastia” focuses on real Italian history and dynastic relationships. Many people say that Italy has some of the oldest history. What is it about Italian culture that cultivates your interest?

Italy’s history goes back to pre-Roman times with the Etruscans, whose faces still smile at us from Rome’s amazing National Etruscan Museum. I love feeling connected to people who lived centuries ago, it makes me feel grounded. And I am always fascinated to untangle the thread stretching across the centuries that leads us to the way we live today.

There is a growing fascination with Italian dynasties, such as the recent interest in the House of Gucci film or the assassination of Gianni Versace, etc. What is captivating about the Italian family dynamic, especially for expats?

People can relate to family dynasty stories because everyone has their own family with its own ups and downs. People love to discover that other families are just as crazy! Then there’s the fascination of seeing what goes on behind the closed doors of the rich and famous.

Alongside being both informative and engaging, I think your book also speaks to the general atmosphere of Italian family life. What do you think about family values within Italian culture?

An American sociologist named Edward Banfield studied life in Southern Italy in 1958 and coined the term “amoral familism.” It sounds horrible, but it really only means that Italians tend to trust the family before they trust the state or institutions. This stems from Italy’s history as a fragmented country governed by foreign powers.

In your book, Marella Caracciolo, Gianni Agnelli’s wife, is half American; did you focus on this side of her experience as someone who is American themselves? And why do you think there is a continuous stream of Americans coming to Italy, do the two cultures share similarities?

Marella Caracciolo’s mother Margaret Clarke was from Peoria, Illinois, and was one of the well-heeled Americans who travelled to Italy in the 1920s looking for culture, excitement, and an aristocratic husband. She found all three! Americans have been fascinated with Italy for centuries because its ancient culture makes it so different from the United States.  Plus it is a very glamorous stage for personal drama.

This story has a lot to do with merging, not only in terms of the Fiat merger with US car company Chrysler but also in terms of the merging of families and cultures. Do you feel connected to this side of the story, as someone who has also had to merge their cultures, and do you think this aspect of the story will attract expats? Is it important to equally represent all sides of your culture as an expat?

I think I was able to write this story because as an expat I understand both the Italian culture and the American culture without judging either one. I like to try to explain them to one another. As an expat, I am continually challenged by trying to get the balance between the two cultures right. It’s not easy.  

How do you feel that learning Italian to a professional level is important for expats to integrate themselves, and would you have any advice for American expats trying to learn Italian for the first time?

My advice is, don’t give up! Learning a language takes a long time, and can be frustrating and even humiliating at the start. I am still learning after decades. But the rewards are huge. Italian history and culture is vast and varied, and has given me a lifetime of joy. And if you can command professional-level Italian, you reap huge respect and authority. Even in a non-professional setting, family members and in-laws will only really accept you if you can speak their language. 

You have been a very prominent content writer. How do you manage being in the world of finance journalism as well as being able to write longer books? Where do you feel most fulfilled and are these two fields similar if at all?

I am extremely grateful to be able to make my living as a writer, first as a journalist, then a content writer, and now as an author. They are similar in that a writer needs to be able to spend time alone concentrating, and be able to put themselves in the reader’s shoes. I love the stimulation of working for clients, and the satisfaction of being an author when I can create something lasting.

As an American, do you think writing about Italian culture and history immerses you in the Italian experience?

Absolutely! The Agnelli family saga starts at the end of the 1800s when Italy was a very poor country, and continues into the present day, so I had to read a lot of Italian history books, old newspapers, and archive documents. The family comes from Turin, so I had to spend a lot of time there. And my research took me all across Italy.

As someone successfully living and working  in Italy, what helps you connect with your environment, and do you have any advice for people who moved here for work?

When I first moved to Italy, I found that watching a lot of the classic movies by Fellini, Visconti, De Sica and Pasolini helped understand the history and culture. Invest the time in reading one book about Italy’s contemporary history.  Travelling to southern Italy is important if you live in Milan, because the country is so diverse. When I first lived in Rome and in Milan, I would literally visit the city with a guidebook in my hand on Sundays to look at churches, palazzi and museums.

What would you say helped you the most in finding your way in Milan?

I was very fortunate because I had a few acquaintances already when I moved here in the mid 1990s, and they because my social network. The Milanese can be very closed. Joining a club, volunteering, or getting involved through children’s schools is a great way to get integrated. Italian social life revolves around food, so invitations to your home are important.

As a freelance writer, you must do a lot of writing in a lot of different places what is your favorite writing spot in Milan?

I work at the Associazione della Stampa Estera (Foreign Press Club) in Milan, on a small street off of via Torino. It’s in the heart of the old city in an area full of winding streets. I’ve been a member for over twenty years and really enjoy the company of my journalist colleagues for inspiration.

Do you have any final tips on navigating work life in Milan, as you seem to be an expert at it?

Learn to ski! The Milanese all go away skiing every weekend in the winter.

Interviewed by Amie Louie for Easy Milano

How Gianni Agnelli introduced Jackie Kennedy to Campari on her trip to Ravello sixty years ago…

From “L’Ultima Dinastia”:

Gianni and Marella’s arrival on the scene in his yacht Agneta four days after Jacqueline settled in at Villa Episcopio in Ravello caused the excitement surrounding her trip to go up a notch.

“The 82-foot long, two-masted yawl glided in like a prima ballerina making her grand entrance onstage, with its spinnaker flying,” remembers Jackie’s bodyguard Clint Hill. The sails “were all a deep red color, like a fine Chianti, and as the yacht cut through the water, its sails stood out against the blue sea like beautiful scarves, flying in the wind.”

Gianni immediately offered Jackie and her group the use of Agneta for the rest of her vacation, which helped shield her from the press and the public so that she could swim, read or sketch as she pleased. Gianni and Marella stayed for a week. They were not on the yacht for most of the time. But when they were, the group enjoyed an aperitivo at sunset, to open the evening festivities.

One evening, Gianni served Jackie a Negroni cocktail made from Campari, sweet vermouth, an orange, and what Gianni claimed was “just a dash of gin.” Jackie said, “It’s very refreshing. I rather like it. I’ll have to remember to have Campari on hand at the White House for our Italian guests.”

Purchase Jennifer’s book L’ultima Dinastia on Amazon.