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I have often heard that some Western celebrities prefer to give their interviews in a cordial atmosphere, say, at a restaurant. As to me, it was the first time I had been invited to enter such a contest between a brain and a menu. Feeling shy, I did my best to exploit the brain. I mean, of course, the brain of the one I was to talk with. I have long been won over bу his books but meeting him was the farthest thing from my mind. Now I am having my dinner at a Milan restaurant called Tavernetta. My companion is Indro Montanelli, a legend in the Italian newspaperedom. His most recent, the fourtieth, book which has just been published, was written with Mario Cervi “Italy of Dirty Years”. The dirty years of 1978 – 1993 with their utter corruption came to replace the “leaden years” full of a violent, “red” terror to which Montanelli himself fell victim. Fortunately, he escaped the attempt on his life with nothing more than a mild limp.