An account of the Mafia's hold on Naples has been voted Book of the Year in the first annual literary poll by Italy's leading news programme.
The book, Gomorra by 27-year-old journalist Roberto Saviano, beat off stiff competition from an expose' of the Italian political system called La Casta (The Caste).
Gomorra is Italian for Gomorrah, the Biblical sister of Sodom. The title is a play on the name of the Naples' crime syndicate, the Camorra.
The book is so revealing that Saviano has been placed under police protection.
Saviano's mixture of investigative journalism and vivid crime writing recently earned his book a major foreign accolade, being named one of the New York Times' 100 most notable books of the year.
In its review, the NYT called Gomorrah ''the most important book to come out of Italy in years''.
The book has already been adapted for the stage and a film version is in the works, directed by one of the leaders of a new wave of Italian cinema, Matteo Garrone.
''It'll be a war film - a war taking place in 2007 just 150km south of Rome,'' Garrone said recently.
