Literary reputation distorts a region’s perceived wealth of artifacts

Evidence

The remodeling of reality by art or fiction at times involves a degree of deception which secures undeserved reputation. For example, in the expectations of literary-minded tourists Sicily contains a variety of wondrous ruins in a variety of styles—Greek, Arabic, Norman, and Baroque—far more so than Apulia, when in fact what Sicily contains is many more gifted writers who have made those ruins famous. Apulia, which has produced few writers of renown, can probably boast as many artistic riches as Sicily. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 377

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reader’s framework: perceived mafia power may partly be a literary construction (like Sicily’s ruins), which matters for separating the real protection market from its fictional advertisement.